Paul Finebaum Says He Would 'Stay Away' from Nico Iamaleava

College football analyst Paul Finebaum says he would stay away from Nico Iamaleava.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) throws the ball during the first quarter at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

College football analyst Paul Finebaum says he would stay away from Nico Iamaleava.

The biggest news of the entire college football offseason has been going on for almost a week now as former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava searches for his new home. This comes after Tennessee and Josh Heupel announced they were moving on from the former five-star amidst contract negotiations and him skipping practice on Friday.

The spring transfer portal window officially opened on Wednesday, but before that even happened, multiple teams have made it known they are not interested in the SEC signal caller. North Carolina and Tulane both have reportedly stepped out of the recruitment of Iamaleava.

A lot of opinions have formed around the situation and college football analyst Paul Finebaum made his thoughts known on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Monday.

“I would stay away from him,” said Finebaum. “You know, buyer beware of this guy.”

Finebaum continued to elaborate.

“It’s not even Nico. It’s the whole apparatus. I mean, you’re not dealing – something tells me Nico is not personally in the middle of these negotiations. Team Nico is,” Finebaum said. “And I mean there is a toxic feeling about this player because of the attention and because he is the one that everyone is talking about. And I would be very careful.”

It appears that teams are being very careful about this recruitment. As of right now, it doesn't appear that there is a front runner in Iamaleava's recruitment and his options have already begun to dwindle. Now that the portal has officially opened, it will be inertesting to see where the former Volunteers lands in the end of it.

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