Dan Lanning in the Oregon football program could face backlash if rumors regarding Nico Iamaleava’s exit from Tennessee turn into verified reports.
Iamaleava chose to hold out of practice this week before the Volunteers’ scrimmage. The quarterback was seeking $4 million in NIL funding, which would have been $1.6 million more than what he was set to receive for the upcoming season.
On Saturday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel informed his players that the team was moving on from Iamaleava, who led the program to a berth in the College Football Playoff in 2024 in his redshirt freshman season.
Rumors: Dan Lanning tipped off Tennessee
Rumors are circulating social media from people who follow the Tennessee program that Iamaleava showed interest in Oregon and USC this spring, and it was Lanning who first tipped off Heupel that Iamaleava was
WOW… Reports surfacing that Dan Lanning was coach who initially contacted Tennessee HC Josh Heupel and let him know Nico was sniffing around for a deal 👀
Dan Lanning respect 📈 pic.twitter.com/qHeDpoqFrl
— UGA Football (@UGARecruiting20) April 12, 2025
Blowback could be coming for Oregon football
So far, the rumors have not been confirmed by a legitimate journalist, and there’s a good reason why that information might be hard to prove from a credible source.
Lanning would be putting a target on his back by letting his CFP competition know a potential transfer tried to contact him. Future transfer players would shy away from contacting Oregon, knowing that there’s a good possibility Lanning would snitch on them if he wasn’t interested.
A verified report would hurt Oregon’s chances to recruit players via the high school or transfer pipeline, as players would fear retaliation from the 39-year-old head coach.
Frankly, it wouldn’t be a good look for Tennessee to burn Lanning by confirming the report.
As rumors circulated about Lanning and Iamaleava online, some college football fans called Lanning a snitch. (Fans of Tennessee praised Lanning of course.)
“Hold up………Dan Lanning is a snitch? This story keeps getting more and more wild,” wrote a fan.
“Lanning is a beta snitch,” posted a fan.
“Lanning is a snitch,” asked another.
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