The really smart decision that Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel made ahead of SEC Media Days

Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel made a decision that won't be popular with the media, but it was a very wise choice on his part.

Heupel will head to Dallas on Tuesday to appear at SEC Media Days, which essentially serves as the unofficial kickoff to the 2024 season (we're still over a month away from actual football games, but once SEC Media Days happens, it's basically football season in the south).

Accompanying Heupel to Dallas will be three Tennessee players who will also speak with the media throughout the day on Tuesday -- offensive lineman Cooper Mays, defensive lineman Omari Thomas, and linebacker Keenan Pili.

Notably absent will be starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

The media would obviously love to talk with Nico on Tuesday. The former five-star recruit has been one of the most talked about players in college football this offseason. That's thanks to his elite abilities as a player, his humble demeanor, the fact that he's replacing Joe Milton as Tennessee's starting quarterback, and, of course, his lucrative NIL deal that was the subject of an NCAA inquiry earlier this year ( which led to a lawsuit from the state of Tennessee against the NCAA).

The NIL/NCAA inquiry is the most likely reason why Heupel (and the folks at UT) opted to not bring Iamaleava to Dallas.

And that's absolutely the right call.

The media -- specifically the national media -- would undoubtedly love to pepper Iamaleava with questions about his NIL deal, how it came about, and the subsequent NCAA inquiry/lawsuit that rocked sport earlier this year. But there's nothing positive for Tennessee that could come from that line of questioning. The Vols are ready to move on from that storyline. And the media, for the most part, has seemingly already moved on. Why bring that story back to the limelight by sending Nico to Dallas?

Heupel is making the right call by leaving his starting quarterback in Knoxville. It's a decision that protects Iamaleava as well as Tennessee. The last thing Heupel wants is to create any big storylines coming out of SEC Media Days. His objective, as is always the case when he's dealing with the media, is to get in and get out without providing a bunch of negative/speculative headlines.

Related: Tennessee HC Josh Heupel and Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin provided an important reminder for college football fans this offseason