Nico Iamaleava has quickly become the face of college football’s NIL era for all the wrong reasons, but unfortunately for the former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback it’s likely because of some bad advice from someone very close to him.
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The freshman signal caller reportedly walked away from Tennessee and its $2.4 million NIL deal after seeking roughly $4 million, however, now Iamaleava is quickly finding out that he’s likely not going to receive close to that amount at any other NCAA program.
Nico Iamaleava walked away from $2.4 million at Tennessee in an effort to get to $4 million. Now, even the $2.4 million might not be available elsewhere. https://t.co/4VrBXXI7xw
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 15, 2025
Iamaleava reportedly had interest from several programs after leaving the Volunteers, but since his decision to move away from Tennessee on the advice of his father there has been little discussion of any top football school pursuing the quarterback.
In a lot of ways, Iamaleava is simply falling into a bad situation because of his family’s decisions and the fact that the NCAA has opened up the door for players to seek out new deals at any given time.
“[The NCAA] should be ashamed that now [Nico Iamaleava] is going to get targeted and pinpointed as the person being selfish, when he’s a kid still.” @danorlovsky7 sounds off on the events surrounding Nico Iamaleava’s release from Tennessee 👀 (via @FirstTake) pic.twitter.com/GliA0YKG9u
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) April 14, 2025
Unfortunately for Iamaleava, that now leaves his college future very much up in the air as he seems to be running thin on options as to where he’ll be able to suit up next season.
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