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The 2024 World Series matchup is set, and it will be a star-studded showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.

After the Yankees put away the Cleveland Guardians on Juan Soto‘s extra-innings home run in Game 5 of the ALCS on Saturday night, the Dodgers finished off the New York Mets with a Game 6 win in the NLCS on Sunday.

What carried New York and Los Angeles this far — and will it continue to work in the Fall Classic? What can we expect from Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani? And which other stars must shine for each team to win? Our MLB experts are here with your first look at a showdown between two of MLB’s premier franchises.

New York Yankees

What is the No. 1 factor that has carried the Yankees to the World Series?

Jorge Castillo: The stress they apply on opposing pitchers. The Yankees, in particular the top four hitters in their lineup, have made pitchers work. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt succinctly described the challenge before Game 5 of the ALCS: They’re on the fastball, and they don’t chase. The Yankees are averaging four pitches per plate appearance in the playoffs. They are drawing walks at a high clip. The constant traffic creates constant pressure. And it starts early: Leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres has reached base in the first inning in eight of the Yankees’ nine playoff games. Juan Soto, their 2-hole hitter, has done it in seven games. That increases pitch counts early, which leads to a quicker hook for opposing starting pitchers, which taxes bullpens over a series. It’s a grind, and it’s an effective blueprint.

Bradford Doolittle: Patience. Those walks galore have kept the pressure on opposing pitchers and set up the big moments for the Yankees’ offense, which have usually come in the form of clutch, multi-run homers. Runs have been at a premium on the AL side of the proceedings and instead of getting out of their approach in an effort to make something happen, from top to bottom New York has been able to maintain this key aspect of its regular-season attack.

Jeff Passan: Their ability to get on base. The Yankees have an AL-best .347 on-base percentage and are walking in a staggering 13.9% of plate appearances. Walks are up across the board in the postseason — the playoffs-wide walk rate is 9.9%, compared to 8.2% in the regular season — but among their nine regulars, seven Yankees are walking at least 11.1% of the time. What’s especially impressive is their on-base percentage to lead off innings: .450. By now, it should be boilerplate: the easiest way to score runs is to put people on base. And the Yankees have scored enough to make it to the World Series.


Why will — or won’t — it continue against the Dodgers?

Castillo: The guess here is it will. Like the Guardians, the Dodgers have relied heavily on their bullpen in the postseason. Their three starters — Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler — have had uneven postseasons. They have combined to make eight playoff starts. Four of those starts have lasted fewer than five innings. Add in at least one bullpen game, if not two, over the course of the series, and the Yankees have the recipe to grind the Dodgers’ pitching staff down.

Doolittle: I think it will continue, but the problem is that the advantage the Yankees have in this department disappears because the Dodgers are just as good collectively when it comes to grinding down opposing pitchers. The key to the series might be the walks department, either because one team does a better job of preventing them or does a better job of capitalizing on them in the form of big home runs.

Passan: It will, because the Dodgers are susceptible to the walk — and L.A.’s pitchers don’t strike out oodles of hitters. Los Angeles’ advantage early in the series is that it will be able to give the Yankees plenty of different looks among its array of bullpen arms. If the Yankees weather those early games, the familiarity penalty could work in favor of New York’s offense later in the series. (This goes both ways, to be clear.) New York’s hitting depth has blossomed this October, and it’s the sort that’s smart enough not to get bullpenned to death.


It has been an up-and-down postseason for Aaron Judge. What should we expect to see from him in the World Series?

Castillo: More success. Judge hasn’t been MVP Judge in the postseason. Going 5-for-31 with 13 strikeouts isn’t ideal. But he has been productive. He has walked seven times. He has hit two home runs. He hasn’t been a zero. Remember that tying two-run home run he hit off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 3 of the ALCS? Not many people on Earth would’ve hit that pitch out. He reached base in four of five ALCS games. He’s due for a breakout.

Doolittle: A big series. He’s just too good for this (lack of hits) to continue. Getting to the Series in the first place should ease his mind, and those around him — Soto, Stanton, Torres — have been going so well that Judge needn’t feel any special burden. I think he’ll hit at least four home runs against the Dodgers.

Passan: Up. It’s always eventually going to be up with Judge. Even as he “struggles” this postseason, he has still been a near-average producer, with a wRC+ of 94. No, it’s not to Judge’s standards, but acting as if he has disappeared is just counterfactual. Much of the production came in the ALCS, which suggests that Judge could be ready to go on a jag. If he does, he’s the sort of player who can carry a team to a championship.


Which other player is most crucial to the Yankees’ chances in this series?

Castillo: Gerrit Cole. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner — he has that title for about another month — is the best starting pitcher in this series. He is lined up to start Game 1 on nine days’ rest. If all goes well, he’d take the ball in Game 5 and be able to help out in Game 7. He could have the opportunity to make a huge impact on this series. His postseason has been a mixed bag thus far: One dominant outing and two solid showings. Something like his performance in Game 4 of the ALDS — seven one-run innings on the road in a series-clinching win over the Royals — in Game 1 against the Dodgers on Friday could significantly boost Yankees’ chances to win the championship.

Doolittle: Luke Weaver. This entire postseason has been defined by the successes and lack thereof of ninth-inning relievers. Weaver has been terrific but not perfect as the Guardians took him deep a couple of times. The Yankees’ bullpen looks a lot more formidable if Aaron Boone can assume an on-point Weaver to take over at the end of games.

Passan: Weaver. The newly minted closer finally showed a crack after an almost-impermeable postseason during Game 3 of the division series, allowing Jhonkensy Noel blast to tie the game with two outs in the ninth. Prior to that, Weaver had been the most unhittable pitcher in baseball for a month, and he has the arsenal to back it up with a four-seamer, changeup and cutter that are all above-average pitches. But Boone has leaned on him heavily. If Weaver can muster the ability to regularly finish games as he has done for a majority of the postseason, the Yankees will feel much better in the most high-leverage situations.

Los Angeles Dodgers

What is the No. 1 factor that has carried the Dodgers to the World Series?

Alden Gonzalez: Their offensive approach, which basically boils down to this: Ignore balls and be aggressive against pitches in your preferred area. It sounds a whole lot easier than it actually is, of course. And the Dodgers’ hitters were as good as any throughout the year at luring opposing pitchers into their desired nitro zones, a skillset they used expertly against Jose Quintana — the New York Mets left-hander who thrived all year at getting chase — during their 10-run onslaught in NLCS Game 4. The Dodgers’ pitching continues to be a concern, but their lineup — even with a hobbled Freddie Freeman — has the depth and talent to carry them through every October round. And when they’re stubborn in their zone, they can seem unbeatable.

Jesse Rogers: Let’s not overthink this: Shohei Ohtani impacts games in ways no other player can right now. Yes, the Dodgers have had some good pitching performances, but their bread-and-butter is their offense and it starts with Ohtahi. Take Game 4. The leadoff home run set the tone for the night, and that’s not just cliché talk. After putting the Dodgers up 1-0, the Mets pitched him so carefully that he walked the next three times and scored three more runs because of it. His damage (7-for-11, five walks) with men on base this postseason should not be glossed over. He’s the reason the Dodgers are here.

David Schoenfield: More than anything, the roster depth from No. 1 to No. 26. It seems just about everybody has stepped up at some point. Or let’s put it this way: That depth has allowed the Dodgers to overcome the injuries in the rotation as well as injuries to Freddie Freeman (who has just one run scored and one RBI in the postseason) and Miguel Rojas (who wasn’t on the roster for the NLCS). The bullpen saved the season with that the shutout in Game 4 against the Padres, Mookie Betts finally broke out of his multiyear postseason slump, Tommy Edman drove in 11 runs in the NLCS and Kiké Hernandez has continued his Mr. October persona after getting a chance to start when Rojas went down in the NLDS against the Padres.


Why will — or won’t — it continue against the Yankees?

Gonzalez: Because if there’s one team better than the Dodgers at not chasing outside the strike zone and being aggressive within it, it’s, you guessed it, the Yankees. And New York’s lineup seems exponentially more challenging to navigate with Gleyber Torres consistently getting on base from the leadoff spot and Giancarlo Stanton continually crushing big homers behind Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Unlike in the NLCS, for which they weren’t able to reset their rotation, the Dodgers will probably require only one bullpen game in the World Series. But it goes without saying that they’re nonetheless going to need their three-man staff of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler to be effective. That was a tough task against the Mets. It will be exceedingly difficult against the Yankees.

Rogers: The short porch at Yankees Stadium will benefit Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy, Freddie Freeman and others, but Dodgers pitching is trending toward being on fumes. Can Yamamoto give them a few more innings? Did Jack Flaherty hit a wall in his last start? Which direction is Walker Buehler trending in this October? There are just too many questions heading into another potentially long series. Additionally, the Dodgers have had success leaning on their bullpen so far, but asking for another round of covering about five innings per night could be asking too much. The Yankees are set up better on the mound for what could be a high-scoring series.

Schoenfield: It’s going to have to continue. They still have just three starters, and Jack Flaherty’s second outing against the Mets (eight runs and no strikeouts in three innings) doesn’t exactly inspire confidence for the World Series. After that game, Dave Roberts mentioned in regards to Freeman, “I do think his swing is not right. I’m certain it’s the ankle.” In other words, it’s hard to know what to expect from Freeman in the World Series. In the end, while the bullpen seems hot, Roberts will have to manage those innings carefully. Still, the Dodgers probably can’t keep relying so much on guys like Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernandez. They’ll need more Teoscar Hernandez and Will Smith — and, of course, big results from Ohtani and Mookie Betts.


Shohei Ohtani has had mixed results in his first postseason. What should we expect from him in the World Series?

Gonzalez: One thing I don’t expect to see is a lot of strikes. Ohtani has drawn 11 walks in his first 11 postseason games and is seeing only 39.0% of pitches within the strike zone. Teams clearly prefer to make those batting behind Ohtani beat them. And given that the vast majority of the Yankees’ best arms are right-handed — all except Tim Hill, who’s technically below three other relievers in the pecking order — they’ll probably pitch Ohtani just as carefully as everybody else. If Mookie Betts stays hot, of course, that won’t be a problem. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has said that when Ohtani is right, he’s “stubborn in his zone” and drives pitches into the left- and right-center-field gaps. That approach has come and gone this month.

Rogers: Greatness. Yes, he has made a few outs when the bases were empty — so what? He’ll find the dimensions at Yankees stadium to his liking and already is beginning to reverse his trend of hitting only with runners on, as evidenced by his leadoff homer in Game 4 of the NLCS. And who knows, maybe we’ll see him on the mound. He’s nearly ready to face hitters — though the Dodgers might not want the first time to be in the World Series. Anything can happen in baseball, but Ohtani will show up in the box score one way or another. Bank on it.

Schoenfield: Ohtani has been fine. Through his 11 postseason games, he has three home runs, 10 RBIs, 11 walks and 12 runs – season-long paces of 44 home runs, 145 RBIs, 160 walks and 160 runs. I think our expectations were a little unrealistic given his absolutely ridiculous stretch to end the season, so his very good performance almost seems like a letdown. The only things he hasn’t done: steal any bases (he’s 0-for-1) and deliver a signature game to remember. I think we’ll get one of those games in the World Series.


Which other player is most crucial to the Dodgers’ chances in this series?

Gonzalez: Pick a starter. Any starter. I’ll go with Jack Flaherty. He’ll probably get Game 1 because he can come back on the traditional four days’ rest to pitch again in Game 5 (if Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts Game 1, the Dodgers would be forced to stage two bullpen days within the first five games because Yamamoto requires five days of rest). Flaherty pitched seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS but got roughed up in a Game 5 start in which he threw with a diminished fastball. The Dodgers desperately need Flaherty to recapture the life of that pitch. It’s hard to see them winning a championship without him being effective.

Rogers: I’m going outside the box on this one: Yamamoto. He’s trending in the right direction, and the Dodgers desperately need some innings out of somebody on the starting staff, especially if Flaherty’s rough last outing is closer to who he’ll be going forward. He looked like he hit a wall, while Walker Buehler has been grinding through his starts for a while now. Meanwhile, Yamamoto threw 73 pitches in Game 4 of the NLCS, striking out eight Mets over 4⅓ innings. If he can add another 10 pitches to that this round, he’ll be as important as anyone on the mound for L.A.

Schoenfield: I’m going with Teoscar Hernandez. Given the state of the Dodgers’ pitching and the potential of the bullpen hitting the wall a little bit, they’re going to have to score runs. And with Freeman limited, it’s up to Hernandez to offer that big bat behind Ohtani and Betts. He didn’t get a hit the first five games of the NLCS. That can’t continue if the Dodgers are going to win.

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My first bet: 2025 Kentucky Derby picks

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My first bet: 2025 Kentucky Derby picks

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

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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