Iamaleava and his representatives reportedly first asked Tennessee in January, one day before the close of college football's winter transfer portal window, for his NIL contract to increase, but the university declined to do so. The signal-caller asked to be paid $4 million per year, according to multiple reports.

Tennessee held its spring game on Saturday afternoon in the midst of a public breakup with starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Right before the festivities began, coach Josh Heupel addressed the decision to move on from Iamaleava for the first time.