The vast majority of the college football world, especially the college football coaching world, have sided with Josh Heupel and Tennessee after its public divorce with quarterback Nico Iamaleava over the weekend. But former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer has a different, more negative outlook on the Vols’ situation.
“Coach Heupel making a stand and that’s great, that’s his prerogative, he’s the head coach,” Meyer said on The Triple Option Podcast Wednesday.
It was the only nice thing the former Florida head coach said about Tennessee and Josh Heupel as they look to move on after Iamaleava’s departure.
“Here’s the reality,” Meyer said. “Tennessee is screwed. They got a problem. You lose a potential high draft pick. You have the backup quarterback left last year and now you have a redshirt freshman that threw nine passes as a freshman. You have zero experience, and the portal opens as we speak. They are going to have to go get one.”
When it comes to Tennessee’s need to add a quarterback in the spring transfer portal window, Heupel said as much following Saturday’s Orange & White game.
Jake Merklinger is a redshirt freshman quarterback who was Tennessee’s third string quarterback a season ago, completing six-of-nine pass attempts for 48 yards. Early enrollee freshman George MacIntyre is a former four-star recruit.
So Tennessee undoubtedly needs to add a quarterback, likely a starting quarterback in the portal, but Meyer indicates that losing Iamaleava was a bigger negative then the potential ramifications of bringing him back on the roster after he skipped practice and left his teammates high and dry.
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“Everybody’s saying, ‘Nice job Tennessee, making a stand.’ I’ve got a little comment on that,” Meyer said. “Tennessee plays Florida usually every year in October. Can you imagine that game’s going the other way and Josh Heupel, Coach Heupel grabs the microphone and stands on the 50-yard line in Neyland Stadium and says, ‘hey, it’s okay, I made a stand way back when.’”
While Meyer expressed his concerns about Tennessee’s roster without Iamaleava, he also was critical of the quarterback’s performance in his lone season as the Vols starter where he completed 64% of his passes for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions.
“Very talented quarterback. Did not have a great year,” Meyer said. “That’s the thing I’d push back on a little bit. When I saw he only had one 300 yard game, eight games under 200 and a playoff (game) with 104 passing yards. We watched him a lot. I think he’s super talented but he did not have a great year. Had a good year and they won games.”
Meyer is one of the most successful college coaches of the 21st century, winning two national championships at Florida (2006 & 2008) and another at Ohio State (2014). But the on field success came with a good deal of scandal off the field.
At Florida, Meyer failed to suspend dozens of players who were arrested and he eventually stepped down in six years. At Ohio State, Meyer resigned in disgrace after failing to report or fire assistant coach Zach Smith’s physical abuse of his wife. He spent seven years as the head coach at Ohio State.
Meyer briefly returned to coaching with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 in a disastrous, scandal filled year. Jacksonville fired Meyer after just 13 games. The 60-year old former coach has spent the last three years as a college football media personality for Fox.
