Knoxville, TN.- We have a brand new development in the world of NIL and College Sports.
Earlier this morning (April 11), reports coming out of Tennessee’s Spring Practice stated that the Vols’ star Quarterback, Nico Iamaleava was a no show for workouts, due to an NIL related hold out. Nico’s absence would come as “a shock” to his teammates and coaches, per release.
Over the past few days, it has been reported numerous times that Iamaleava has been searching for a new NIL related contract. In 2022, before enrolling in Tennessee, Nico signed an agreement with Tennessee’s NIL collective that would value him at $8 million (2.5M annual) by the end of his junior year. Reports coming out of Knoxville suggest that Iamaleava and his family are requesting his annual valuation increase from $2.5M to $4M.
With that being said, has he really earned a raise? Let’s discuss.
Bad Looks on Nico
Before I give my honest take on this situation as both as an analyst and an enjoyer of football, I’d like to preface one thing: I am a fan of Nico Iamaleava. I think he’s a talented player and a great kid (based off the one interaction I had with him following his first start). With that being said: we are now negotiating contracts like you are a professional athlete, and therefore you have opened yourself up to be criticized like a pro.
Nico is a phenomenal athlete, nobody can take that away from him. He was considered one of the top high school QB prospects of the past five years, and had all the hype surrounding him when he put on the orange and white. During Iamaleava’s first year as a starter for the Vols’ I believe more questions were raised rather than answered. Honestly speaking, many Volunteer fans became upset with Nico’s lack of “Wow factor” as SEC play drew on. Over the course of last season, Tennessee’s offense became one dimensional, as Running back Dylan Sampson stole the show, rather than a dynamic passing game.
While flashes of greatness were shown, they were far from consistent. Iamaleava would go onto finish his redshirt freshman season tossing for a little over 2,600 yards (#57 CFB) and 19 touchdowns (#42 CFB) to 5 interceptions. Nico would also add 358 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Of Nico’s 19 passing touchdowns last season- 10 of them came against Chattanooga, UTEP, NC St. and Kent State. Of the remaining 9, 4 came against Vanderbilt, who boasted bottom tier defensive numbers in basically every statistical category.
Long story short: By no means did Nico Iamaleava produce jaw dropping stats or highlights on a consistent basis to be in a position to demand more money. Now from a marketability standpoint, Nico’s going to need to produce Heisman Trophy/ All-American caliber numbers all next season for the Tennessee faithful to even begin to forget about this off-season drama.
Next Steps for NIL
Name, Image and Likeness has been a topic that’s divided the college sports faithful since its inception in 2021. Since the beginning of the NIL era of college sports, I’ve personally a firm believer that student-athletes should capitalize on a pay day any chance they can get, because they only have a finite window of time to earn generational money.
Over the past few weeks, regardless of your personal stance on NIL, one thing has become clear- there NEEDS to be regulations. It may sound contradictory to my previous point, but there’s officially too much power in the hands of athletes and agents. College athletes should NOT be allowed to hold out during contract negotiations, especially in season.
Collegiate athletes already are blessed to receive athletic scholarships from the school, meaning a free education, room/board and meals throughout their time on campus. Players holding out to receive more monetary benefits is a complete slap in the face to the coaching staff who recruited them.
