It’s been a rough college start for the five-star QBs from 2023

There was a time when we asked whether the 2023 quarterback class will go down as the best in Rivals history.

That story remains unfinished, still yet to be determined, but the first few years have been a gigantic bust, with the latest twist being Saturday’s news that Tennessee is parting ways with Nico Iamaleava over a reported NIL dispute.

The upcoming season could change the narrative as Arch Manning finally starts at Texas, Jackson Arnold looks poised to take over at Auburn and Dante Moore gets his chance at Oregon.

But it’s been a rough few opening chapters.

Manning has waited two years behind Quinn Ewers at Texas. Moore got thrown to the wolves at UCLA by Chip Kelly only to transfer after one season, intentionally sit behind Dillon Gabriel in Eugene last season and now take over.

Arnold got flip-flopped in and out of the lineup at Oklahoma in a bungled operation by coach Brent Venables and his staff only to leave after last season and head for Auburn where it looks like he could finally thrive surrounded by coach Hugh Freeze and elite receivers.

Malachi Nelson has been a massive bust. He understandably sat behind Caleb Williams at USC in his freshman season but then couldn’t beat out Miller Moss and left for Boise State, where he couldn’t beat out Maddux Madsen. He’s transferred again, and is now at UTEP.

And now we get to the Iamaleava situation.

The five-star quarterback, who was heavily considered for the No. 1 overall spot that went to Manning in the 2023 class, chose Tennessee over Oregon, Georgia, Alabama and Miami.

Many believed it was largely because of Iamaleava’s massive (at that time) $2 million per year NIL deal with the Volunteers, which ultimately was his undoing in Knoxville.

But I also remember meeting with Iamaleava and his father at their hotel in Las Vegas during a 7on7 tournament to talk about the Tennessee commitment.

The NIL deal helped but Iamaleava loved coach Josh Heupel and especially offensive coordinator Joey Halzle. Iamaleava’s dad raved about that relationship and the opportunity in Knoxville.

That has all been shot to hell after two seasons – only one starting – on Rocky Top. It was reported by multiple outlets Saturday morning (one day after Iamaleavea no-showed for spring practice) that Tennessee was moving on from Iamaleava, the five-star stud quarterback.

In one starting season, Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions and also was third on the team in rushing. His stats were not blockbuster ones but similar to Williams’ first season at Oklahoma before blowing up at USC and being the No. 1 pick.

Tennessee also had only its second double-digit win total in 17 seasons in 2024 and Iamaleava helped lead the Vols to its only College Football Playoff appearance where they lost to Ohio State, the eventual national champion.

For what it’s worth, nearly everyone is reporting that Iamaleava wanted to rework his NIL deal to $4 million a year (that is the reported going rate for Carson Beck at Miami among others) and that Tennessee’s collective, Spyre Sports Group, didn’t want to play ball.

According to a source on Friday, Iamaleava had not talked to the collective since January and there were some bad feelings about the idea of Tennessee floating out information about Iamaleava to reporters about the NIL situation.

I wrote Friday that Tennessee – right or wrong – should pay Iamaleava the NIL money. It would be recouped handsomely if the five-star quarterback led the Vols back to the playoff or even more.

Now the Vols have only redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and freshman George MacIntyre at quarterback and might be active in the portal when it opens Wednesday.

There was so much hope for the five five-star quarterbacks in the 2023 class. So much could still happen positively, especially with Manning starting at Texas, Moore starting at Oregon and Arnold starting at Auburn this season.

But we once thought this could be the best quarterback class in Rivals history. It has a long way to go in a short time left to make that reality.

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