In days of old–a.k.a prior to 2021–the only relevance college football had this time of year was providing footage of the star players about to enter the NFL via the draft and giving those who can’t get enough of it one typically bright spring Saturday watching those returning play an on-campus intersquad game, a de facto practice that was only the first step in setting a fall roster.
But in the days of NIL, those more tranquil events are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. And in the case of Nico Iamaleava, the antics that he and his handlers foisted upon the University of Tennessee resulted in one of the uglier divorces of student and program in the brief history of pay-for-play.
The ATHLETIC’ s David Ubben and Ralph D. Russo broke the story last Monday that describes what went down in an otherwise tranquil week in the land of Rocky Top:
On their off day ahead of Saturday’s spring game, Tennessee’s quarterbacks sat around the table at quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle’s home. His wife, Cara, made tacos. It was mostly business as usual, despite a report earlier in the day that returning starter Iamaleava was in negotiations for a new contract.
A few hours after the initial report emerged, Iamaleava’s father blasted both the report and reporter, denying negotiations were taking place a week before the 10-day spring transfer portal window opened. “More games being played off the field than on the field,” his X post read in part.
It was part of a whirlwind 72 hours that ended with the Volunteers publicly parting ways with their returning starting quarterback after a contract dispute that could shift the power dynamics of college sports and impact programs far beyond Tennessee. Three years after signing a game-changing deal, Iamaleava became college football’s first high-profile, public holdout.
After Tennessee’s 2024 season ended in Columbus, Ohio, with a lopsided loss to eventual national champion Ohio State in the first round of the 12-team College Football Playoff, Iamaleava’s camp had explored the possibility of a transfer, including engaging in conversations with representatives at Miami, who eventually signed Georgia transfer Carson Beck, paying him more than $3 million.
With Tennessee’s spring season about to wrap, Iamaleava’s camp, including family friend and former Florida personnel staffer Cordell Landers, was adamant nothing was happening. “The family are happy (with Tennessee),” Landers told CBS Sports. “There are no (contract negotiations); they’re happy with the contract they have.
It quickly became clear that wasn’t true, despite the public denials. Friday morning after Iamaleava’s father hit send on that post, Tennessee took to the practice field for its final workout before Saturday’s Orange & White Game. The Vols’ starting quarterback was a no-show. Iamaleava hadn’t informed Tennessee he planned to be absent, according to a team source. No one on staff could get in contact with him throughout Friday. And when Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel walked off the practice field, he learned there was still no word from Iamaleava.
In that moment, Heupel decided the program would be moving on from Iamaleava…“I’m proud of the stand we took as a university,” former Tennessee coach and athletic director Phillip Fulmer told The Athletic.
If the story were to end right there, this would be merely be a tale that would support the desires of so many longtime college football fans that the laundry is who your root for first and foremost. But for every hero, there’s usually a villain. And in this case, it’s right in my neighborhood.
It fell to THE KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL’s John Leuzzi to update his Volunteer-loving minions with the latest salvo that dropped yesterday:
Nico Iamaleava has found his new home, and it’s far away from Rocky Top and the SEC.
Less than a week after initial reports first surfaced Iamaleava was entering the NCAA transfer portal, which all took place because of an NIL contract negotiation dispute, the former Tennessee starting quarterback has committed to play for UCLA. USC, North Carolina and Tulane all pulled out of the Iamaleava sweepstakes over the last few days, according to several reports. He is now set to take over a UCLA team that finished near the bottom of the Big Ten last season at 5-7 overall, 3-6 in conference play under first-year coach DeShaun Foster.
They clearly need help, but a closer look at Iamaleava’s stats which Ubben and Russo denoted suggests that any bets on the Bruins to advance to the levels that Tennessee attained–a berth in the expanded College Football Playoff–might be a fool’s errand:
Iamaleava, who had mixed results in his first year as a starter as a redshirt freshman. He threw 19 touchdown passes, with six in six games against SEC bowl teams; four of those six came in the season finale against Vanderbilt. In three consecutive games at midseason against Arkansas, Florida and Alabama, the Vols failed to score in the first half…Iamaleava was good, but not good enough for Tennessee’s staff and collective to decide to satisfy a demand nearing the top of the quarterback market at $4 million, according to the source briefed on the conversations.
But when you compete for a share of a market and talent in transition with a far more well-heeled and better-coached school like USC, beggars can’t necessarily be choosers. So the hometown boy (he’s a native of Long Beach) is returning to the area a conquering hero of sorts.
Still, Bruins fans might urge that he scrap the playbook he operated from. Leuzzi documents what the goals of the hardball strategy of Iamaleava and company were:
ESPN’s Chris Low reported on April 11 that Iamaleava’s representatives were looking for an increase of $4 million per year in NIL pay for him. As previously noted by the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks, Iamaleava’s original NIL deal with Tennessee, which he signed when he committed to the Vols in 2022, was for $2 million per year.
But he also sourced a more recent revelation that suggests that the Bruins are likely getting some sort of damaged goods discount:
(A)ccording to On3’s Pete Nakos, UCLA is not expected to give Iamaleava that $4 million asking price as it is “holding strong on its offer,” which is “significantly less” than $4 million per year. Iamaleava and his representatives not getting that $4 million per year ask is quite telling, but perhaps not surprising as his market was “dropping” heading into April 16 per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
“Lets start with his market, Pat. … What is certain is about Nico’s market is that he will not get what he is asking,” Thamel said on ESPN’s “Pat McAfee Show.” “He will not get what he is asking the $4 million-ish that was desired by Tennessee, which would be top of the market in this college football 2025 season. That is not going to happen.
He added: “What is expected is, he’s going to get less than what he was making (at Tennessee), which is the low to mid-$2 million range.”
Give credit to those state school guys for at least being budget-conscious. But don’t expect to see either UCLA or Tennessee in next year’s College Football Playoff. That’s too steep a price of admission for these kinds of operators to pay.
Courage…