Nico Iamaleava negotiations: Insider reveals final communication with Tennessee staff before missing practice

Tennessee fans might as well be playing “Where in the world is Nico Iamaleava?” The Volunteers redshirt sophomore quarterback is missing in action after skipping out on Friday’s Spring practice amid ongoing NIL negotiations.

And, at least according to ESPN insider Chris Low, it appears there aren’t many on the Tennessee campus that know exactly where Iamaleava is at the moment. Low revealed the last contact Tennessee officials have had with their former five-star quarterback was a Thursday night dinner with Vols offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle at Iamaleava’s house in Knoxville.

“From the best I can tell, the quarterbacks coach and OC Joey Halzle met at (Iamaleava’s) house and they had dinner. Nico was there. After that, there was not really any contact with him from anybody that I’ve talked to,” Low told ESPN colleague Paul Finebaum to begin The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday afternoon. “And then he didn’t show up for practice this morning. Tennessee practices in the morning. It was a surprise to his coaches, to his teammates, nobody heard he wasn’t coming. He just didn’t show up. And I don’t know that they’ve talked to him (since), unless something’s happened in the last hour or so.

“And tomorrow is the Spring game, if you want to add more drama to it. You’ve got fans coming on campus, you’ve got the Spring game, there’s going to be media opportunities after the game. I think his parents or at least his father was certainly planning on coming to the Spring game,” Low continued. “So I don’t know where any of that stands right now. Nor do I think anybody at Tennessee necessarily knows what’s going on right now. It’s a bizarre situation, but I can’t emphasize it enough, I don’t think this is the last of these types of things we’re going to see around college football the next year or two.”

This report will be updated.

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