Nico Iamaleava wants to be very clear that he did not at any point consider not playing during the first round of the College Football Playoff. The 20-year-old quarterback finally broke his silence on the ongoing NIL fallout at Tennessee to address the most ludicrous rumor.
At no point was he going to sit out of the College Football Playoff. Or so he says.
Iamaleava, the No. 2-ranked prospect in the college football recruiting Class of 2023, signed an NIL deal worth approximately $8 million over four years with the Volunteers out of high school. It was the biggest recorded contract in the history of collegiate athletics at the time.
However, Iamaleava’s father decided that his son is worth as much as a guy like Carson Beck. Beck is getting paid around $4 million to play one single season at Miami.
The patriarch started to test the waters on the open market while actively negotiating a new deal with Tennessee for increased money. He also wanted things like an increased NIL pool for wide receivers and offensive lineman. The relationship with the coaching staff in Knoxville completely unraveled from there.
Nico Iamaleava was told to kick rocks after he did not show up to spring practice. His father was filmed packing up a U-Haul to move back to Los Angeles earlier this week. The rising junior will play next season on a lesser NIL contract at UCLA next year.
Although things did not go as Nico or his dad might’ve thought, there have been a lot of conflicting and/or entirely untrue reports about this unusual and historic saga.
Josh Pate, one of the most inflammatory analysts in the sport, claimed that Iamaleava and other players on Tennessee were in search of more money prior to the College Football Playoff game in Columbus. He said that they considered sitting out of the biggest game of their lives.
This stuff was happening last December during the playoffs — with this kid included, but not just this kid. They were trying to get more money from Tennessee and other playoff teams before the playoffs. They were trying to leverage playoff participation.
— Josh Pate
His understanding of the situation was rooted in the length of season.
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 money money.’ This is the kind of BS that’s happening behind the scenes right now.
— Josh Pate
I can neither confirm nor deny this report. I don’t know whether this is true or not, but I admittedly find it hard to believe that anyone would sit out a playoff game regardless of the finances.
Nico Iamaleava had yet to comment on the ongoing drama prior to Friday night. He posted to Instagram to mock Pate’s report. His initial post made it seem like he did try to throw the game.
His follow-up post made it clear that he was being sarcastic.
You can say a lot of things about Nico Iamaleava. The soon-to-be Bruins quarterback won’t let you criticize his competitive attitude. He was going to play against Ohio State. Pate’s account of what supposedly happened made him laugh. Ain’t no way!