Rocky Top turning actually rocky for Josh Heupel? What Nico Iamaleava pulled with the whole contract drama and his flip to UCLA just sealed the deal—Heupel’s “greatest QB hire” claim aged like spoiled milk. Not only did Iamaleava flop next to other top QBs, but he also managed to waste a rock-solid Vols O-line. And now this guy had the audacity to demand a raise? Please. With a brutal Cali tax bite and a pay cut at UCLA, Nico’s learning the hard way. Meanwhile, Josh Heupel can finally smash the reset button and try molding a real playoff-caliber QB—but let’s be real, Tennessee’s QB love story has more tragic twists than Romeo and Juliet, minus the poetry.

Hence, coming in like a blindside block, one of Heupel’s biggest QB grabs is about to be picked by the Orange. On3 shared that, “Notre Dame transfer Steve Angeli is visiting Syracuse on Monday.” Now this is straight-up dangerous territory for Heupel—’cause if ‘Cuse is gunning hard for Steve Angeli, then Vols better start counting their last dimes and brace for 2025 with a couple of green freshmen at QB. See Fran Brown just lost Michael Johnson Jr. This means that even with Rickie Collins as their QB1, Brown’s backup room still needs some solid talent, and Angeli is the perfect fit for it.

Let’s not forget—this is the same kid who got tossed into the Penn State fire on short notice after Riley Leonard went down. Landed 6 out of 7 passes for 44 yards. No fumbles. No panic. Just pure poise. Oh, and to make matters worse—On3 is already calling ‘Cuse the favorite. Buckle up, Heupel.

If it comes down to a 3-way brawl between ‘Cuse, Tulane, and VT—best believe Angeli’s throwing his chips in with Brown and the Orange. The kid knows where the sauce is, and it sure as h-ll ain’t in New Orleans or Blacksburg. All in all, Rocky Top is not even present in the equation, and this makes the future bleak.

With just Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre in the room, expecting Heupel to even scratch the surface of a solid 2025 run feels like asking for filet mignon at a gas station. It is kind of sad to think that this Angeli blow ain’t the only big bombshell Heupel had to deal with in the last 24 hours.

7,073-yard Cyclones upset

Rocco Becht. 7k+ career yards to his name with a solid record at Iowa State. Dude demolished the ‘Canes—do you really need anything else to prove how good he is? Naturally, Vols Nation was in a frenzy trying to link Becht to Heupel’s QB room.

Sadly, not all dreams come true. “Becht is happy with the Cyclones.” When Steve Wiltfong announced this news, it pretty much dashed all hopes of Vols fans having their plug & play QB. With Becht gone and Angeli practically off the board, if we were in Heupel’s shoes right now—we’d be sweating bullets.

At least last season, Tenn managed to drag itself to the playoffs. This year? We are afraid they won’t even crack a Bowl game. Vols might’ve dodged the NIL drain by not letting their QB bleed ’em dry—but in the process, they lowkey ended up chopping off their foot.

Heupel and Rocky Top have lost complete control of the narrative, and that’s a dangerous game to play this close to the 2025 conquest.