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  • John N. Minton III

ON FEB. 7, 2018, 33-year-old Randel McCoy sits in his car, alone, in an empty parking lot. He’s processing the life-changing news he has just heard, contemplating a world in which he will slowly lose everything — his strength, his freedom, his life. Through tears, he reaches for his cellphone. He calls his brother. Then he dials the person he knows he can’t do this without, despite having known her for only six months.

Brianna LaFontaine, a daughter of New York Islanders legend and Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, grew up in the seaside hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Randel was raised by his mother, a hairdresser in a nearby town. Their paths converged after college: He was an assistant coach on the high school wrestling team where Brianna grew up, and she was a special education teacher at a neighboring school. They met in a chance encounter through a mutual friend and soon became inseparable.

For six months, it has never been difficult for Randel to pick up the phone to call Brianna. It’s the best part of his day. But this call, from the parking lot, is different. When Brianna answers, Randel is beside himself. She can’t understand him as he struggles to catch his breath. When he finally finds the words, it still isn’t much more than three letters.

ALS.

WRESTLING MEETS ARE loud. You can hear everything and nothing at the same time. The shouts of parents trying to will their children to victory bounce off the walls and merge with the grunts of athletes exerting themselves to their limits. For Randel — Coach Rans, as his wrestlers call him — the symphony can be a challenge. His voice isn’t as crisp as it used to be, but it’s as purposeful and impactful as ever.

“He would say ‘You got six minutes in a match. You don’t know how much time you have in your life, but you got to give it your all, all the time,” says Jacob Bruno, a former Cold Spring Harbor wrestler who graduated in 2020. “You’ve got to keep fighting. You’ve got to keep pushing.'”

Randel attained that wisdom at an early age.

His mother, Evelyn McCoy, raised him and his older brother, Tahid, in a small house in Huntington Station, New York. Her lessons on morals and manners have never left her sons. “She raised gentlemen,” says Tahid, a 42-year-old father of four who works as a custodian in the Cold Spring Harbor Central school district.

Randel’s grandmother and two uncles were fixtures in his upbringing, almost as much as sports. Whether it was lacrosse, track, football, basketball, baseball or wrestling, Randel had the natural talent to be the best athlete on any team. His mother was a constant at all his games, always cheering him on, until she no longer could.

Randel did not know that his mother was living with HIV. She was diagnosed with the virus in 1993, when he was 8 years old. Soon, her trips to the field to watch Randel play were replaced by doctor’s appointments. But in his young mind, they were just checkups, even when the appointments turned into hospital stays.

“I had no idea. And even telltale signs, as a kid, I didn’t recognize,” recalls Randel, who learned the truth in his mid-20s. “There was a slow transition of us moving from our house to my grandmother’s, which was supposed to be until Mom gets better.”

Randel’s grandmother would take him to the hospital to see his mother often. He would climb into the hospital bed and lie next to her. On one visit, he was startled as his mother kneeled down to vomit into a nearby garbage pail. She was just sick, he thought.

Randel’s last day with his mother isn’t a vivid memory for him; he never expected it would be the last. He can’t remember whether his mother said goodbye as he left her hospital room. It’s possible he was too distracted by the excitement of his 9th birthday that was just a few days away.

His mother wouldn’t be there to see it. Evelyn McCoy died on Jan. 21, 1994. She was 36 years old.

THERE WERE ALWAYS blueprints for home remodeling projects strewn around Brianna LaFontaine’s house. It’s part of the reason she believed that her father was an architect growing up, one who just happened to play hockey in his spare time. Brianna’s father didn’t fight that narrative. He didn’t want his kids to feel different because of his real profession. As parents, Pat and Mary Beth LaFontaine made it a priority to be nothing more than Mom and Dad to Brianna, her older sister, Sarah, and her younger brother, Daniel. But at some point, the kids started to notice the random requests from fans when they were out in public, like the time a man asked their father for an autograph on a Chinese takeout menu.

Pat was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003, with 1,013 points and 468 goals scored over his 15-year career. Hockey provided a comfortable life, but Pat and Mary Beth always pushed compassion over privilege.

“I always would always say, ‘Listen, guys, score your goals when you’re young, because in life, it’s about the assists, the assists are bigger and they matter more,'” Pat says now.

That left an impression on Brianna, who was an assertive child with a quiet confidence. Her parents called her an M&M, hard on the outside but soft on the inside. She graduated from Marist College in 2014 and became a special education teacher in the neighboring town of Huntington.

Of the three or four aides she worked with, she grew especially close to Melissa Sarducci. On Aug. 18, 2017, they were at Melissa’s house baking cupcakes for her niece and looking at pictures of Melissa’s recent birthday party. Brianna was scrolling through when she stopped on a picture featuring a handsome man with an athletic build and a charming smile.

“Oh, that’s Randel,” Melissa told her. “He’s like my brother. We’ve been best friends forever.”

Melissa jumped at the chance to play matchmaker after she saw the look on Brianna’s face and invited Randel over. “I had never met someone who was able to just make me laugh like that,” Brianna says. “He took all the pressure off. He was hilarious.”

The next day, Randel and Brianna followed each other on Instagram. She waited about 24 hours for Randel to send her a message before she slid into his DMs with a note to Melissa that she accidentally sent to him.

“I knew what I was doing,” Brianna says with a smile. “I thought he would believe it [was meant for Melissa], and he never did. He knew right away.”

The two have talked every day since.

WHEN JACOB BRUNO first joined the Cold Spring Harbor wrestling team, Coach Rans served as his wrestling partner. Randel saw his potential and was eager to build his skill set. For Bruno, it was mostly a beginner’s class full of technical lessons on grappling and takedowns. On occasion Randel would show a burst of speed or strength that would instantly remind Jacob of who the man across from him actually was, a former all-county wrestler and football player on Long Island.

By 2017, Bruno was captain of the team, and Cold Spring Harbor was one of the top-ranked programs in New York State. Brianna hardly ever missed a meet.

During one practice, Bruno and Randel were grappling when the coach suddenly stopped. He joked that he was just getting old and needed to go get a drink. But then Bruno saw Randel struggle with his hands to open the bottle cap.

It had happened before. In 2015, Randel was reaching for a fork at breakfast when his hand began to tremble. He shrugged it off and set some new goals in the weight room to help build back some strength he figured he was losing with age. After all, he was in his 30s now.

But the tremble didn’t go away. It wasn’t constant, and it wasn’t overt. But it would happen, a feeling of weakness that was progressing. At a weekly Tuesday dinner with some friends, Randel reached for his coffee mug and the tremble returned. Randel assured the group he was fine. Perhaps it was an early sign of the diabetes that ran in his family. But he wasn’t keen on finding out anything more.

A few months after they’d begun dating, Brianna caught on that something was wrong, and that Randel needed a push to seek answers. It was a difficult conversation; she knew he didn’t want to talk about it. Randel had worked so hard after the loss of his mother. He put himself through school and built a career. Randel felt that whatever was happening to him could threaten all of that, and much more. He was in love with Brianna.

He told her one October night in 2017, while they waited for an Uber after a party in New York City.

He glanced over to her and just said it.

“You know I love you, right?”

“My heart just fluttered. I felt it,” Brianna says.

“I love you, too.”

Brianna approached Randel with a pact. She had picked up smoking, and she wanted to stop. She knew it bothered Randel, so she made him a promise. She would quit cigarettes cold turkey if he would just go to the doctor for an examination. He agreed. She quit, and he went.

Test results came flooding in from bloodwork and MRIs. Everything was normal. News that might have been comforting instead only heightened the anxiety. Randel knew the progressive weakness wasn’t normal. He began seeing multiple doctors, then multiple neurologists. Then, one day after practice, Randel was on his way to Brianna’s apartment around the corner from the school when his phone rang. It was a nurse with information about his next appointment, and a suggestion that this time, he bring someone with him for support.

“That’s when I knew it was serious,” Randel says.

Randel disregarded the advice and went to the appointment by himself. When the doctor came into the room, Randel had already made up his mind that whatever the news, he would remain calm. He was stoic and attentive as he received his diagnosis. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. ALS attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. When the cells die, muscle control and movement are lost, eventually including the ability to breathe on one’s own. There is no cure.

The appointment ended, and he walked to his car.

Brianna was at home, waiting by her phone. When it rang, she was met with an unfamiliar sound. Randel was sobbing. She went numb.

She called her parents crying. Randel was 33, 22 years younger than the average age of diagnosis. Brianna was convinced there was a mistake.

There were second and third opinions, but still, only one diagnosis.

“It’s me being cut short,” Randel says. “The same way I felt about my mother was the same way I felt about me. With ALS, the only word that you see is ‘terminal.'”

In the days that followed, Randel went back to work. Coaching was his passion, and he needed it now more than ever. It wouldn’t help him forget the diagnosis, but it did allow him to suppress the fear, however briefly. The first day he walked back into the gym, his childhood friend and fellow coach, Anthony Servidio, greeted him with a huge embrace. Every wrestler in the program followed suit. They wanted him to know, above all, that he wouldn’t be fighting alone.

“The kids help you to realize that there was more to live for,” Randel says.

Later that month, Randel and Brianna decided to escape the harsh New York winter and headed to St. Maarten in the Caribbean for a vacation. On the surface, the trip was purely for rest and relaxation, but Randel had the future in his thoughts. He was nervous.

He was in love with everything about Brianna. Their families got along famously. But he had been diagnosed with a terminal disease just 16 days before. Their future was now a much more challenging path.

Impossible questions and answers occupied his mind. What am I going to subject her to? How much will she be able to handle? But Randel found clarity on that trip. He was not going to allow ALS to dictate how he lived out the rest of his days.

It was a serene Tuesday night on the island. Randel didn’t want Brianna to miss it, so he coaxed her out for a walk down to a small rock wall alongside the white sand beach. Randel took a deep breath and spoke from a part of his body that ALS would never touch.

“I’m offering myself to you,” he told her. “You understand where I am, where I will be. If you can accept that, then I want you to be my bride.”

There was no hesitation. It was yes. It was always yes.

“We need each other,” Brianna says. “ALS stands for A Love Story to me.”

They were married on Nov. 8, 2019, in front of family and friends at a vineyard on Long Island. A framed picture of Randel’s mother was on the aisle seat of the front row.

“At the end of the day, all we have is love,” says Brianna’s father, Pat. “It conquers all.”

THE LaFONTAINES’ DRIVEWAY is lined with white and silver stone bricks that wind some 100 yards before revealing a stunning 6-bedroom, 6½-bath home on a 2-acre lot. As you approach the house, the driveway forks. To the right, a three-car garage sits adjacent to the combined basketball court and hockey rink. Above the garage is the apartment Brianna and Randel call home.

Every morning, just after he opens his eyes, Randel gingerly walks to the beige and brown bathroom and finds his toothbrush sitting on the edge of the sink. It’s already coated with the perfect amount of toothpaste, straight out of a Colgate commercial.

“She’s always one step ahead of me,” Randel says.

It’s January 2020, and every gesture, no matter how small, can become a memory. It’s how Randel and Brianna choose to live — not in years, but in moments. Randel’s arms and hands have grown weak, and his balance is suffering. A month earlier, he suffered a serious fall that scared everyone. Cognitively, Randel is who he always was, but now Brianna helps him get dressed, from his shirt down to his shoes and socks. She doesn’t want him struggling with the toothpaste tube, either. Today, Brianna is helping him get ready for a big meet against a rival school, Manhasset, coached by Randel’s childhood friend Stephon Sair. The meet had been scheduled for some time, but it has turned into something much more: a celebration of Randel and a fundraiser for the New York chapter of the ALS Foundation.

“He deserves to be honored,” Sair said. “What better way to do that than around kids that love him, coaches that love him and his family that loves him.”

The gym is adorned with lights of blue and orange — Manhasset’s school colors — and wrestlers and spectators wear white T-shirts with blue and red letters that read “Takedown ALS” on the front and “Wrestle for Rans” on the back. Randel is in his red Cold Spring Harbor coaching polo, sitting on a folding chair with his feet on the wrestling mat as the meet begins.

Cold Spring Harbor’s younger wrestlers fall behind early. At one point, it looks as if the night will end early. Cold Spring Harbor head coach Mike Ferrugiari pulls his team off to the side.

We can still take this match back, he tells them. And you know who you’re wrestling for. … This is about something bigger than yourself.

Before the meet continues, Bruno and co-captain Ethan Burdo walk to the center of the mat with a microphone. They address Randel in front of the few hundred people in attendance.

“Coach Rans, you’ve decided to make every minute count. Tonight, so are we,” Bruno says. “Let’s all come together to raise some awareness, watch some great wrestling, support our friend, brother, coach, and inspiration, Coach Randel McCoy.”

The crowd rises and showers Randel with applause. He smiles and nods his head in appreciation. Brianna stops clapping only to wipe the tears streaming down her face. Another moment, another memory.

Moments later, Burdo takes to the mat and pins his opponent to finally change the tide. Soon after, Burdo’s teammate Greyson Meak earns a huge pin against a tough opponent before Jackson Polo seals the match with a victory of his own.

“It’s the best high school athletic experience that I have,” Bruno says. “It’s more than a comeback win. We were wrestling for someone who meant so much to all of us.”

THE AVERAGE LIFE expectancy for an individual diagnosed with ALS is two to five years. This February will mark four years since Randel’s diagnosis.

His voice continues to strain, which on occasion, can lead to some misunderstandings. He once mentioned to Brianna how much he loved “C.C.,” as in Sabathia, the former New York Yankees pitcher. Brianna misheard him and instead gifted him a jersey signed by “Didi,” as in Gregorius, the former Yankees shortstop. Randel smiles thinking back on it.

This journey is not what he or Brianna had imagined it would be, far from it. Still, the two feel a heightened recognition of everything that makes life worth living.

Brianna still marvels at the energy that brought them together the afternoon they met. A part of her believes it was Randel’s mother, her spirit, seeking her out with Cupid’s arrow. But cherished memories aside, the pair doesn’t spend too much time mulling the past. Or the future, for that matter. They choose to spend their time in the present.

“We don’t have time to get upset over dumb things or to dwell on the past,” Brianna says. “It’s just he and I.”

“Everyone eventually perishes. I’m just getting a better view of my clock,” Randel says. “Nothing is on the disease. We won’t allow that to weigh in on our decisions. That’s how we live.”

Living on their own terms, in spite of the disease, provides a kind of satisfaction in the daily fight for their future. About a year ago, they bought their first house, just as they always dreamed they would. It’s a quaint ranch on a quiet street in Huntington. The single-floor living makes the day-to-day a little bit easier on everyone. Recently, Randel received a motorized wheelchair but would rather fight to walk on his own. Although it can be a struggle, it’s much easier with Brianna by his side.

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My first bet: 2025 Kentucky Derby picks

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My first bet: 2025 Kentucky Derby picks

  • Anita Marks

Apr 27, 2025, 12:58 PM ET

The first race in the quest for the 2025 Triple Crown is nearly upon us. The post draw for the 151st Kentucky Derby was Saturday night, as we found out where the horses will line up, trained by Michael McCarthy, Journalism opened as the 3-1 favorite as he enters on a four-race winning streak. Meanwhile, Bob Baffert will have two horses in the race, Citizen Bull and Rodriguez.

The Kentucky Derby will be held Saturday, May 3 with post time at 6:57 p.m. ET from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Last year’s winner was Mystik Dan at 18-1 odds.

Best bet: Exacta box (4, 8, and 9)

Burnham Square (12-1 to win) got a very good draw at the No. 9 post. The son of Liam’s Map won the Holy Bull Stakes, was fourth in the Fountain of Youth, and was impressive in the Blue Grass Stakes. He is peaking at right time, and I’m expecting a massive effort on Saturday.

Journalism (3-1) is the best horse in the field, and got a great draw at No. 8. The son of Curlin hasn’t lost a race yet (4-0). The No. 8 post has produced nine winners since 1930, and he will have speed to his inside and outside, which will benefit him. He was bred for this distance.

Rodriguez (12-1) is one of Bob Baffert’s horses. He has a lot of speed, and should fly out of the gate at the No. 4 post. I’m expecting him to have a clear lead early. Taking off the blinkers was a great move by Baffert, hence him winning the Wood Memorial. This is Baffert’s best chance of walking away with roses.

Note: An Exacta box bet is when you pick at least two horses to finish in the top two. It differs from an Exacta bet by not having to specify the correct order of the top two.

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Inside the monthslong saga that led to Nico Iamaleava’s shocking Tennessee transfer

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April 27, 2025

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Inside the monthslong saga that led to Nico Iamaleava's shocking Tennessee transfer
Apr 23, 2025, 08:00 AM ET

FOUR MONTHS BEFORE Nico Iamaleava shocked the college football world by leaving Tennessee for UCLA, signs of his discontent were apparent.

On Dec. 28, hours before the winter transfer portal window closed, Tennessee sources say Iamaleava’s representatives, including his father, Nic, reached out to the Tennessee NIL collective, Spyre Sports Group, and were looking to increase Iamaleava’s pay for 2025 to around $4 million. Hitting that target would put him closer to the amount eventually procured by transfer quarterbacks Carson Beck (Miami) and Darian Mensah (Duke) during the winter portal. Iamaleava was set to make around $2.4 million at Tennessee this year, sources said.

Sources close to the quarterback deny they were seeking $4 million.

Iamaleava wasn’t returning phone calls from coaches at this point. Sources close to the quarterback said he needed to take a “mental break” following the Vols’ 42-17 loss to eventual national champion Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff, but they acknowledged that they did seriously consider entering his name in the portal.

Tennessee sources say they believe the Iamaleavas reached out to several schools, including Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon, to gauge interest. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was seemingly able to smooth things over and keep Nico on board for 2025, but the quarterback did not receive a new deal or more money.

But while the deterioration of the relationship between Iamaleava and Tennessee was months in the making, the whirlwind that followed his decision to skip practice on April 11 — a day ahead of Tennessee’s spring game — and enter the transfer portal was dizzying.

Coaches and teammates attempted to reach him that day, a Friday, but were met with silence.

“As the day went on, it started to become obvious. He was gone and wasn’t coming back,” a Tennessee source said.

A little more than a week later, Iamaleava had signed with UCLA. A source described Iamaleava’s UCLA agreement as paying him less than what he was earning at Tennessee but more than the $1.5 million that some have reported. A day after UCLA announced Iamaleava’s signing, the Bruins’ expected starting quarterback, Joey Aguilar, left and reportedly joined … Tennessee.

It became the crystallization of college football in 2025 in which million-dollar quarterbacks can become free agents every season and Power 4 starters can essentially be swapped for each other. The ripple effects will be felt far into next season, when the fortunes of a Tennessee team with playoff aspirations and a UCLA squad under pressure to turn things around quickly hang in the balance.

How did a once-promising relationship between school and QB fall apart so swiftly? What does Iamaleava’s big move mean for UCLA? And what comes next for both sides after the most prominent college football breakup in recent memory?

THE DAY OF Iamaleava’s no-show at Tennessee, UCLA coach DeShaun Foster spoke with ESPN about the start to the Bruins’ spring practice session. Foster had completed his first full offseason leading the program and had made key changes to the coaching staff and to the roster, including the additions of offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri and Aguilar, a transfer from Appalachian State.

Foster was complimentary of Aguilar during the interview. UCLA was prepared to “lean on” Aguilar’s experience, especially with Sunseri coming in from Indiana and installing a new offense.

“I don’t want to say he’s just a pocket passer, but he does a good job of getting the ball out of his hand, anticipating some throws,” Foster said. “Being that this is a new system for him, I just like the way he’s approaching each practice. You can just tell that he’s getting more vocal, he’s getting more comfortable, and he’s been able to assert his leadership a little bit more.”

But by the end of the day, UCLA’s quarterback situation seemed foggier because of what was happening more than 2,000 miles away in Knoxville. Once Iamaleava was officially in the transfer portal, the Bruins emerged as the front-runners for the Southern California native practically by default.

Sources close to Iamaleava were confident he could secure a deal for more than $4 million at his next school, but he was working with little leverage. SEC players cannot transfer to another SEC program in the spring and immediately play in the fall, so those schools weren’t involved. Iamaleava’s absence from the Friday practice also created a perception among coaches that he had attempted a holdout.

High-profile players and their reps seeking offseason pay raises is nothing new in the era of NIL and the portal, especially this year with the imminent arrival of revenue sharing. But rarely do these discussions devolve into a public feud.

“It’s been going on in a lot of programs for a while,” a Power 4 personnel director said. “You just don’t hear about it. It’s happening more than people think. It’s just public because it’s Tennessee and it’s Nico.”

Sources at USC, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Texas Tech and several other Power 4 programs told ESPN they weren’t getting involved with Iamaleava. Some had quarterbacks locked in; others were hesitant to deal with Iamaleava’s representatives. The Bruins, meanwhile, were debating whether to move forward but would be interested if the price was right.

Although UCLA had been pleased with Aguilar as a good fit for Sunseri’s offense, it also viewed Iamaleava as a clear upgrade. He had started a full season for an SEC team that went to the CFP. UCLA recognized some of the drama in Iamaleava’s orbit, but the player himself was well-liked by those inside the Tennessee program until his no-show and was fairly productive on the field while staying healthy. Iamaleava passed for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns, but in his eight SEC games and the playoff game against Ohio State, he passed for more than 200 yards only twice.

“If it wasn’t a local kid, it would’ve been a little bit more difficult. But being able to see him play in high school and evaluating that film at Tennessee wasn’t hard to do,” Foster said. “A lot of the kids on the team know him and have played with him.”

IAMALEAVA’S ATTEMPTED NIL renegotiation was just the start of a tumultuous offseason. It soon became increasingly evident to those at Tennessee that Iamaleava’s camp was looking into options elsewhere.

Multiple sources at Tennessee told ESPN that Iamaleava missed two offseason workouts in February and that his father told Tennessee coaches that Iamaleava’s attorney advised him to skip workouts until he worked things out with Spyre. Iamaleava’s camp contends the absence was over a payment issue with Spyre. A Spyre representative told ESPN that there were no missed payments. Nic Iamaleava could not be reached for comment. The quarterback returned to workouts the next week, but his NIL deal remained unchanged.

Before Tennessee’s spring practices began in March, school officials were alerted by Oregon’s staff that Iamaleava’s camp had contacted the Ducks inquiring about their interest, according to sources at Oregon and Tennessee. Oregon told the Iamaleava camp it wasn’t interested.

Sources close to Iamaleava told ESPN that the family’s primary concern in the offseason was less about his compensation and more about Tennessee’s efforts to build up a better supporting cast on offense. Those close to Iamaleava were concerned about pass protection and his overall health. Iamaleava sat out the second half of the Mississippi State game after a concussion, but he went through the concussion protocol and was cleared the next week by medical personnel and played against Georgia.

Those in Iamaleava’s camp expected Heupel to shore up the offensive line and reload at wide receiver this offseason, with one source saying the coach made “false promises” about those efforts. When asked to respond, Heupel declined to comment through a university spokesperson, saying he was done talking about Iamaleava.

The Vols must replace four starting offensive linemen in 2025 and brought in two transfers who had been starters, Arizona’s Wendell Moe Jr. and Notre Dame’s Sam Pendleton, as well as five-star freshman tackle David Sanders, who was part of a 2025 recruiting class ranked 11th nationally by ESPN. The receiving corps will feature considerable youth in 2025 after Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Bru McCoy graduated and Squirrel White transferred to Florida State.

The lone wideout added via the portal in January, Alabama’s Amari Jefferson, is a redshirt freshman. Former five-star recruit Mike Matthews will be a sophomore next season after catching only seven passes in limited opportunities in 2024. Matthews and fellow freshman Boo Carter, who will play receiver and defensive back next season, both considered entering the winter portal before agreeing to return to Tennessee.

“You kept hearing rumblings all spring that [Iamaleava] one way or the other wouldn’t be here in the fall,” one Tennessee source told ESPN. “A lot of people were surprised he missed that practice, but it wasn’t the first time he missed something he was supposed to be at, so I don’t know if anybody should have really been that surprised.”

According to Tennessee sources, talks continued into the spring between the collective and Iamaleava’s side. There had been opportunities in place for Iamaleava to make “well into the six figures” in additional NIL earnings, one source said, if he agreed to certain appearances and requests, but he declined to do so.

Even though Iamaleava participated in spring practice, sources told ESPN that a general uneasiness still lingered throughout the program and athletic department about whether the quarterback would stick around for the 2025 season.

“We were just hoping we could make it to December [2025], and then we knew he was gone, either to the NFL or transferring somewhere else,” a source within the Tennessee program said.

AS TENNESSEE’S SPRING practice reached its final week, sources said Iamaleava told at least one teammate after the Vols’ Wednesday practice that he planned to enter the transfer portal on the Sunday after the spring game.

“I’m getting in the portal, if you need to handle your business,” Iamaleava said as he was walking off the practice field, according to a Tennessee player who heard him say it.

One of the teammates went to Heupel to alert him. Heupel met with Iamaleava to make sure everything was OK and didn’t mention anything about the information coming from teammates, and Iamaleava assured his coach that everything was good and that it was “all a bunch of rumors.”

The following day, a report from On3 emerged that Iamaleava and Tennessee were in “active negotiations” for a new deal. Iamaleava’s camp tells a wholly different story. Cordell Landers, an adviser who previously worked as assistant director of player personnel at Florida under Dan Mullen, and Iamaleava’s father took to social media to adamantly deny that negotiations were taking place.

Iamaleava does not have an agent. His team of advisers includes his father and Landers, who has been close with Nic since high school, as well as sports attorney Michael Huyghue, the former commissioner of the United Football League.

Sources close to the quarterback insist they’ve had zero conversions with Heupel or Spyre since January regarding his deal and deny they were seeking $4 million, even going so far as to suggest Nico was already making that much. “The family is happy with Tennessee,” a source told ESPN that night, in response to the On3 report. “Nico is happy. We’re good.” But the report itself sowed far more distrust and a suspicion that Tennessee coaches or the NIL collective was responsible for leaking information.

“It was a false narrative and they took that s— and ran with it,” a source close to Iamaleava said. “It became bigger than what it was, when it wasn’t even the case.”

As his phone blew up Thursday with calls and texts, Iamaleava was blindsided. He still attended a dinner along with his fellow Tennessee quarterbacks Thursday night at the home of Joey Halzle, Tennessee’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

But later that night, sources close to Iamaleava say he reached his breaking point. He couldn’t understand why the reports were coming out, where they came from or whom he could trust going forward, and he felt pressured to make a decision about his future. He was ready to leave, sources said, but his father encouraged him to sleep on the decision.

That next morning, Iamaleava didn’t show up for Friday’s practice or meetings and didn’t alert anyone in the program.

Nic Iamaleava urged his son to go in and meet face-to-face with Heupel and his coaches to work things out, but Iamaleava felt betrayed, sources said, and did not speak with Heupel on Friday. Several people within the Vols’ program tried to reach out to the quarterback to no avail.

“He’s hurt and he’s disappointed,” a source close to Iamaleava said Friday morning. “They’re making him look like the villain and the scapegoat.”

On Friday night, Iamaleava called Halzle to inform him that he was completing his paperwork and planned to enter the transfer portal when it opened April 16.

“He was never a troublemaker,” a Tennessee source said, “worked hard and didn’t cause problems in the locker room. He was quiet and kept to himself a lot, sort of had that California cool to him, but it’s unfair to paint him as a bad kid.”

Iamaleava’s locker was cleared out early Saturday morning before Heupel told the team its starting quarterback would no longer be part of the team.

“I want to thank him for everything he’s done since he’s gotten here, as a recruit and who he was as a player and how he competed inside the building,” Heupel said after the spring game. “Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him. I said it to the guys today. There’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T. That includes me.”

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UCLA’s Foster talks about landing ‘No. 1 player in portal’ Iamaleava

UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster opens up about how the Bruins were able to land Nico Iamaleava in the transfer portal.

REGARDLESS OF THE drama, UCLA’s ability to land Iamaleava after his surprise departure from Tennessee is considered a major move. And now his brother Madden — the nation’s No. 145 recruit last year — is also transferring to UCLA in a package deal that elevates expectations for the program.

“When’s the last time we had this many people here talking to us?” Foster asked Tuesday. “You guys know what I’m saying, so this is a good buzz for us.”

Arkansas’s NIL collective, Arkansas Edge, is expected to attempt to recoup some of the money it paid to Madden Iamaleava, a source told ESPN, after he had signed a one-year agreement but departed within two months of joining the program. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek announced Tuesday that he’ll support those efforts because “enforcement of these agreements is vital in our new world of college athletics.”

Once it became clear Nico Iamaleava could be on his way to Westwood, representatives for Aguilar began evaluating their options. Aguilar continued to participate in practice with the Bruins last Friday despite reports that a commitment from Iamaleava appeared imminent. UCLA coaches notified the quarterbacks of their decision Sunday. Less than 24 hours later, Aguilar was back in the transfer portal.

Tennessee inquired with the agents of several Big 12, Big Ten and ACC starting quarterbacks about the possibility they would become available in the transfer portal, sources said, a tactic that has become commonplace across the sport as players increasingly seek representation. But it’s not easy to pry one away in the spring with most returning starters already locked into seven-figure deals with their current teams. Illinois’ Luke Altmyer, TCU’s Josh Hoover and Kansas State’s Avery Johnson were all rumored to be interests of Tennessee but couldn’t be flipped, according to sources.

“We got a damned wall built around him,” a Kansas State source told ESPN, referring to Johnson. “They better bring the Tennessee National Guard.”

In the end, Tennessee’s best option ended up being the quarterback who had to leave UCLA.

And now the Iamaleava-Aguilar swap will be closely watched from coast to coast this season.

“You want to be in conversations,” Foster said Tuesday, “you want to play big-time ball, you want to have haters, you want all this stuff because that means that you’re trending in the right direction, so if you want to play big-time ball, you can do that at UCLA.”

ESPN college football writer Paolo Uggetti contributed to this report.

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