Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially entered the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. He has a do-not-contact tag.

Iamaleava’s transfer saga began when Nakos reported Iamaleava and his camp sought an increase in his NIL compensation. However, when Tennessee wouldn’t budge, head coach Josh Heupel announced the team was moving on with the quarterback.

Now with Iamaleava in the portal, he seems to know where he’s going to end up, hence the do-not-contact tag. Tulane and North Carolina, who showed interest, are reportedly pulling out of the sweepstakes.

Everyone wants to know where Iamaleava goes next in this storyline from out of Knoxville. Still, where he does end up, he’ll be bringing a lot of a new reputation with him that ESPN’s Paul Finebaum knows will have an effect on his recruitment by any possible teams in the portal.

“You also have to decide what is the cost,” Finebaum said. “Every, everywhere he goes, there’s going to be this halo around him that says he held out, he asked for money, he’s a problem child, stay away.”

Iamaleava originally sought a huge payday back in December, per ESPN’s Chris Low. His representatives looked to increase the quarterback’s deal to the “$4 million range” in NIL just before the end of the transfer portal window, per his report. Still, those with the Volunteers “weren’t going to blink” at those demands.

Last season, Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, five interceptions, a 63.8% completion percentage. He also had 358 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.

As former coach Steve Spurrier pointed out, college athletics are in a precarious situation with players in all sports practically being free agents at the end of each season. Iamaleava might get paid elsewhere, but he won’t get the asking price at Tennessee.

“It’ll be interesting to see who picks him up,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “But Tennessee, I think they did the right thing. They said, ‘Hey, we had a deal for four years.’ I think they had with him, and now he wanted to open it. And they said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that’. So they’re looking for a quarterback. So many schools are. Basketball coaches are the same way, and it’s just open season on everybody. 

“Everybody’s a free agent every year in all sports in college now. Let’s have some rules here and go from there. But they haven’t yet. We’re going to be in this till somebody changes the rules. I don’t know who’s going to do it.”