Insider who broke Nico Iamaleava's transfer expected him to work things out with the Vols

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava is in the transfer portal after a drama-filled week. On April 10th, insider Pete Nakos reported that Iamaleava was negotiating a new NIL contract with the Volunteers and could enter the portal. Although this was initially denied by Iamaleava's father, it would later be proved to be true.

Nakos had another report on April 12th, that Iamaleava had missed Friday's practice and would enter the portal. The move came as a shock to the college football world as Iamaleava was slated to start for the second straight season at Tennessee.

On Friday, Nakos appeared on "Crain & Company" to talk about the Iamaleava story. He spoke about how he had heard rumblings that Iamaleava could enter the portal, but did not think it would happen. He thought the situation would resolve itself, and Iamaleava would be a Vol for life.

"You know he did miss a couple winter workouts though as kind of a contract ploy," Nakos said. "That was kind of a red flag but then he got through a spring ball and everything and I thought everything was gonna work out. (starts at 3:40)

"To be honest with you, when I put out the story last week, I just thought it was going to result with Nico coming out and saying something like, I'm a Vol for life, we're gonna work this out or something like that. Then the exact opposite of that happened."

UCLA is among the top contenders to land Nico Iamaleava in the transfer portal

By entering the spring transfer portal, Nico Iamaleava immediately became one of the most coveted players in the spring window. However, the spring window is more limiting to SEC players. According to SEC rules, players cannot transfer between SEC schools in the spring if they want to maintain their eligibility for the following season.

As a result, if Nico Iamaleava wants to play next season, he will need to transfer to a team outside of the SEC or return to Tennessee. It does not appear that a return to Tennessee is likely, so he will probably leave the SEC.

UCLA has emerged as one of the top contenders to land Iamaleava, according to a report from ESPN on Wednesday. Sources also told ESPN that Iamaleava wanted an NIL contract of at least $4 million from Tennessee, and similarly, UCLA is unwilling to offer him that large a number. So, it will be interesting to see how things play out.