Commitment vs. Chaos: Raiola Buys in While Iamaleava Walks Out

Author

TJ Birkel
April 17, 2025

As I listened to the Omaha World Herald’s Evan Bland talk about Dylan Raiola on our most recent Common Fan Podcast episode, I couldn’t help but think about the contrasts between Raiola and former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava. 

The situation involving Iamaleava has been front page news in the college football world recently. Here’s what we know for sure: Iamaleava started at quarterback for Tennessee during the 2024 season, passing for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Volunteers, as you may recall, went 10-2 on the regular season and made the college football playoff. Then last week, reports surfaced that Iamaleava had skipped Tennessee’s practice on Friday, April 11. He followed that up by skipping the team’s spring game the following day, and he is now in the transfer portal, looking to take his talents to a new school. 

To paraphrase Captain Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon’s character) in A Few Good Men, these are the facts, and they are undisputed. After these facts, though, there are conflicting reports about the “why” behind what happened. ESPN reported that…