A wild new rumor claims the money issues between Nico Iamaleava and the Tennessee Volunteers football program began months ago.
Team building in college sports has been completely changed due to the addition of name, image, and likeness rules. No longer is being able to recruit talented high school players and develop them the way to become and stay an elite program. Now, similar to professional teams, the depth of NIL collective bank accounts is a huge difference maker.
Tennessee’s football program has seen the benefits of that paradigm shift first-hand in recent seasons with top star Nico Iamaleava. After giving him a huge NIL deal allegedly worth $8 million, the stud quarterback has helped bring the program back to elite status. Including a birth in the 2025 college football playoffs. However, getting back to the postseason early next year is now in serious doubt.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that Iamaleava is entering the transfer portal after he reportedly wanted a nearly $2 million pay bump on the $2.4 million he was set to make next season. It is a huge blow to the Volunteers football team and creates a hole they may not be able to properly fill before next season.
Well, it seems that Iamaleava’s issues with his pay didn’t start this spring, and he tried to put Tennessee in a bad position during the playoffs. And he allegedly wasn’t the only star player with the same idea earlier this year.
Nico Iamaleava tried to squeeze a big bonus check out of Tennessee during college football playoffs?
“This stuff was happening last December during the playoffs, with this [Nico Iamaleava] included, but not just this kid,” popular college football report and podcast host Josh Pate claimed this week. “They were trying to get more money from Tennessee and other playoff teams before the playoffs. They were trying to leverage playoff participation.
“The explainer was, ‘Our client is being paid X amount of money to participate in 12 games, maybe a 13th if you make the conference championship game. But you guys made the playoff. He should make more money.’ This is the kind of BS that’s happening behind the scenes right now.”
The accusation is unexpected but not shocking. With the number of players using the transfer portal as a college version of free agency, athletes are looking to cash in on their value to universities. While it is ethically problematic, using certain leverage at certain moments is a common negotiating tactic in many industries.
It will be interesting to see if the negative reputation Iamaleava may have created for himself around the game hurts him at all when looking for a big payday in the portal.
