A bombshell came out of Knoxville, Tennessee as the Volunteers' head football coach Josh Huepel announced that starting quarterback Nico Imaleava will no longer be with the football team anymore.
Imaleava had missed meetings and practices as the Volunteers prepared for its spring game on Saturday. The dispute centered around the idea that the signal-caller was making two million dollars, but he was requesting to increase that figure to four million dollars.
The crazy part was that the Tennessee quarterback recorded 2,616 passing yards for 19 touchdowns and five interceptions. 11 of his 19 passing touchdowns came in three contests against Chattanooga, UTEP, and Vanderbilt. It wasn't like Imaleava recorded elite statistics versus elite competition.
Volunteers had a bad taste in their mouths last season in the College Football Playoff matchup versus Ohio State where they lost by a score of 42-17. Even though they ended up winning the national championship, it was a performance where Imaleava completed 14 of his 31 passes for 104 yards for zero passing touchdowns and zero interceptions.
That does not sound like a four-million-dollar signal-caller to me. There were Florida State football fans who wondered if the Seminoles would go after Imaleava, but I am here to tell you that newly-acquired quarterback transfer Thomas Castellanos is not much different than the former Tennessee quarterback.
Castellanos had 1,366 passing yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions in nine games with the Eagles in 2024. I also believe that the rushing ability of the former Boston College quarterback fits a Gus Malzahn offensive scheme, which is more run-heavy.
A quarterback who is asking for four million dollars per year wants to be a focal point in an offense. While Imaleava is a talent, does Florida State want to deal with that sort of drama in the locker room in a year that head football coach Mike Norvell has to win and win now in 2025?