Tulane Reportedly Pulls Out of Race For Controversial Top Portal Quarterback

The Tulane Green Wave is not going to be landing the top transfer quarterback after his controversial exit.

Dec 21, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. (97) hits Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) during the first half of a College Football Playoff first round game at Ohio Stadium. | Adam Cairns-Imagn Images

The Tulane Green Wave is apparently dropping out of the race for the most high profile player about to be in the spring transfer portal.

After shocking reports emerged that Tulane was a contender to be a transfer destination following the earth-shattering weekend news of the Tennessee Volunteers moving on from Nico Iamaleava following a dispute surrounding his NIL package, this is no longer the case.

According to a report from Pete Nakos of On3 -- who has been at the forefront of the news cycle surrounding the entire situation -- the Green Wave has pulled out of the race and are no longer pursuing Iamaleava.

What led to the decision to no longer pursue is not known exactly, though it's safe to say the price tag for Iamaleava is too high for numerous teams who have shown even the slightest inkling of interest.

The rising junior was set to make roughly $2.5 million on his deal from Tennessee this season and wanted an increase to upwards of $4 million, which prompted Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel to cut his losses and simply say his program is moving forward without its starting quarterback.

Despite the fact that Iamaleava has taken all of the spring practice reps as the starter, Huepel likely rightfully so believed that he was better off cutting ties rather than continuing the charade.

Seeing Tulane and head coach Jon Sumrall have interest at all was a little bit of a surprise, though the Green Wave clearly still do not feel comfortable with what's currently in the building following the suspension of TJ Finely.

Tulane was rumored to be in contact with Jaden Rashada as well, a former fellow high profile recruit in the same class as Iamaleava two years ago.

Rashada, who has already had stops at Florida, Arizona State and Georgia over the first two seasons of his career, is in the portal again following not playing a snap for the Bulldogs this past season.

The initial fear when the Iamaleava news broke was that the Volunteers could impact the chances of landing Rashada if they wanted to replace Iamaleava with him which led to the inquiry into the latter, but clearly it's not the right fit.

In terms of what's currently on the roster if Finley remains suspended and no one else is brought in, the Green Wave also brought Kadin Semonza from Ball State and Donovan Leary from Illinois during the previous portal window.

How things play out moving forward remains to be seen, but the one thing that's known for sure is that Iamaleava is not coming to New Orleans.