So many ways to look at the sad case of former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Perhaps the best way is this: He is a walking, talking, five-star illustration of just how remarkably screwed up college football has become in this NIL, open transfer era.
For those that don’t know, Iamaleava was the gifted, 20-year-old starting quarterback for the Vols until last Friday when he failed to show up for practice before Tennessee’s annual spring football game. As a Class of 2023 recruit out of Long Beach, California, he was the nation’s second-rated quarterback behind only Arch Manning, who signed with Texas. While still in high school, Iamaleava signed a four-year $8 million deal with Tennessee.
Iamaleava then served as a backup most of his true freshman year in 2023 before starting and earning MVP honors in the Citrus Bowl. He became the Vols starter for 2024 and helped his team reach the NCAA’s first 12-team college football playoffs. Iamaleava then decided – or his advisers decided – to renegotiate his deal with Tennessee. He wanted more money. Tennessee said no. Now, he’s in the transfer portal.
I have several thoughts on this:
- People ask me: Could this happen to one of our Mississippi teams? It already has. There are several parallels with the Iamaleava case and that of former Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins, who wanted more money from Ole Miss after two productive seasons there and eventually left for Ohio State, where he helped win a national championship. The biggest similarity is that in both cases a parent was calling the shots. With Judkins, his mother was essentially his agent. With Iamaleava, his father reportedly directed the show. In both cases, the schools weighed their options and decided its football program would be better off letting the star player go. Would Ole Miss have made the playoffs with Judkins on the team? Perhaps. But what precedent would that have set and how would Judkins’ teammates have reacted? Said one Ole Miss staffer, “If you give in to that kind of demand, you’re going down a really slippery slope. No one player is bigger than the program.”
- In many ways, Tennessee is reaping what it sowed. Iamaleava signed a four-year, $8 million deal to play quarterback for the Vols while still in high school. That’s an incredible gamble to take on an 18-year-old kid. Tennessee did more than gamble Tennessee’s attorney general sued the NCAA to prevent the organization from investigating potential infractions by Tennessee in its initial recruitment of Iamaleava. The organization’s response was to stop investigating all third-party participation in NIL-related activity the NCAA crapped out. So did the Vols.
- There were five five-star quarterbacks in the Class of 2023 in what was judged by many experts to be the most talented in recent memory. Of those five, Manning is the only quarterback who will play next season for the school he originally signed with. Iamaleava’s decision means that the other four will have transferred at least once. Think about that. That’s college football today in a nutshell.
- Was Iamaleava overrated? Statistically, you can certainly make that case. Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions in 2024. Those are good, not great, numbers. A closer look shows that much of Iamaleava’s excellence was achieved against the weaker teams on the Vols’ schedule. Ten of those 19 touchdowns came against Mississippi State, UTEP and Vanderbilt. Against the likes of Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Ohio State, he threw for a grand total of one touchdown. In the playoff game against Ohio State, Iamaleava completed 14 of 31 passes for 104 yards. He also rushed for 47 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
- How much more money can Iamaleava expect to earn in the portal? Hard to say, but. I would bet all of what I could afford that he won’t get the $4 million a year he was asking from Tennessee. I wouldn’t be totally shocked if gets less than the $2.25 million he was to make at Tennessee this year. My best guess is that it will be a case much like that of Judkins, who received similar money at Ohio State to what he had been making at Ole Miss.
Back to my original point: The Iamaleava situation is a sad, sad commentary on college football today. It has become pro football without the rules – i.e., salary cap, collective bargaining, enforceable contracts – that make pro football work. I have spent nearly six decades covering – and mostly loving – college football. It is an understatement to say I have never loved it less.
The post In case of Nico Iamaleava, there are no heroes, only laments appeared first on Mississippi Today.
