Former Big 10 GM takes odd shot at the Tennessee Vols in the wake of Nico Iamaleava’s departure from Rocky Top
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Former Big 10 GM takes odd shot at the Tennessee Vols in the wake of Nico Iamaleava’s departure from Rocky Top
Zach RaganApr 23, 2025 9:19 AM EDT
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Tennessee Volunteers News
There have been a lot of questionable takes about the Tennessee Vols in the wake of quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s departure from the program, but former Maryland Terrapins general manager Gerald Dixon might have the worst take yet.
Dixon, who is now an analyst for 247Sports/CBS Sports, suggested this week that Tennessee’s football program is heading back to where Jeremy Pruitt left it a few years ago.
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“You’re running right back to where Jeremy Pruitt left it, in my opinion, when you don’t have a quarterback that can get you to 10 wins,” said Dixon when asked what Tennessee’s ceiling is in 2025 after landing UCLA transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar. “We’re talking about the team that just lost to the national champions in the playoffs. So you’re going down a level, and down a step, in terms of quarterback play. Regardless of what everyone thinks about Nico’s ability or how he played or how Tennessee’s offense was last year in terms of heavy run, 76th in passing offense, he still was a player that defensive coordinators had to stay up late at night [planning for]. Just because, if he was on, Tennessee was almost unbeatable because they played great defense as well.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, because this take is all over the place.
For starters, the reference to the Pruitt era is completely absurd. Tennessee’s program was in complete disarray during the Pruitt era (and that wasn’t all Pruitt’s fault…the elite alignment in the athletic department that UT currently has wasn’t present during the Pruitt era).
Nothing about the program is in disarray right now. Iamaleava and Tennessee went their separate ways. The relationship just didn’t work out like everyone thought it would. That’s pretty common in college football these days (there are thousands of players in the transfer portal currently). The Vols are coming off a playoff appearance in a season where only two other SEC programs reached the playoff. That appearance didn’t happen because of one player. That appearance happened because of where Tennessee’s program is as a whole, which is a far cry from where the program was in early 2021 when UT fired Pruitt.
Dixon’s take on what the Vols will be missing without Iamaleava is where this take really falls apart. Look, I thought Iamaleava played well in 2024. He made some mistakes, and he seemed to play tight at times, but we saw plenty of flashes of his elite talent. All of the NIL drama aside, I thought Nico was going to take a big step forward in 2025. But Tennessee’s offense isn’t why the Vols reached the playoff last season. That was because of the elite defense that Tennessee put on the field.
The Vols averaged 25 points per game in SEC play. This isn’t a shot at Nico, but it’s not like Tennessee is losing Joe Burrow-type production. Considering the Vols’ past offensive success under Josh Heupel, I think it’s reasonable to suggest that Tennessee could easily average at least 25 points per game in SEC play in 2025 with either Joey Aguilar or Jake Merklinger under center.
It’s far too early to make any grand predictions for the 2025 season — we have no idea how any of Tennessee’s quarterbacks will fare this fall — but this take from Dixon, who played college football at Alabama, is so crazy that it almost seems personal.
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By Zach Ragan
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