When a report from Pat Forde first revealed that the NCAA was investigating the Tennessee athletics departmment for NIL violations on Jan. 30, the University of Tennessee’s top staff members quickly put their foot in the ground to fight back.
Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman sent an email to NCAA President Charlie Baker on the day the report was published, ripping into the NCAA’s “morally wrong” and “intellectually dishonest” decisions, intentions, and investigation.
“The leaders of intercollegiate athletics owe it to student-athletes and their families to establish clear rules and to act in their best interest,” Plowman stated according to KNS. “Instead, two and a half years of vague and contradictory NCAA memos, emails and ‘guidance’ about name, image and likeness (NIL) has created extraordinary chaos that student-athletes and institutions are struggling to navigate. In short, the NCAA is failing.”
The day after the report was released, the State of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia filed a federal lawsuit against the NCAA, prompting a week of back-and-forth statements from both sides.
“We need to be spending our time and energy on solutions to better organize college athletics in the NIL era — something that NCAA leadership failed to do back in 2021,” Tennessee AD Danny White published in a statement in February. “Student-athletes, prospective student-athletes, coaches, and administrators across the country deserve better, and I refuse to allow the NCAA to irrationally use Tennessee as an example for their own agendas.”
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel even penned a statement to the NCAA in support of the State’s legal fight.
“Because we’re unable to help recruits navigate these issues, [student athletes] don’t have the full picture of all the opportunities that are available to them, which can cause them to make poor decisions,” Heupel wrote to the NCAA. “Recruits often don’t know, like we do, the reputation and trustworthiness of who they are working with; without that information, they can pick a school that isn’t the best fit for them based on false promises of NIL that never come to fruition.”
These statements are just three of the many examples of Tennessee’s fight against the NCAA – a fight that the Vols’ student-athletes felt the weight of.
While working out with his teammates and coaches during Tennessee spring camp practices in March, Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava detailed what it was like to see Tennessee to go to bat for their student athletes and their athlete’s name, image, and likeness rights.
“It felt great,” Iamaleava said. “All the guys behind the scenes are behind us and all the student athletes.”
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Despite the off-the-field drama of the spring, though, Iamaleava’s focus has been on football. Iamaleava enters his second year at Tennessee this fall and is set to become the Vols’ starting quarterback for the 2024 season.
“I thought Coach Heup, you know, everybody as a whole staff has done a great job and keeping us focused on what the main goal is, is to be a student-athlete here at the university,” Iamaleava continued on to say. “And focused on ball and I’m glad all that’s passed us.”
Focusing on football is exactly what the rising sophomore has done this fall. Iamaleava led Tennessee to a 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, took a few days off when he got back, and quickly hit the ground running again.
“After the game I probably took a week off and then I was back to work,” Iamaleava said. “Really trying not to pay attention too much to stuff like that (bowl game/preseason hype). I know what I came here to do and it’s my job to get that done.”
Nico Iamaleava and the Tennessee football team will continue spring workouts up until the 2024 Orange & White spring game on April 13 from Neyland Stadium.
