Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava saga made its way to the ESPN television network on Monday morning. No, not just the routine SportsCenter or Get Up programs – they had the big dogs on this one.
ESPN tasked First Take with breaking down the Iamaleava storyline on Monday as hosts Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe, and Dan Orlovsky tackled the drama happening in Knoxville and the college football landscape.
Host Molly Qerim posed the question to kick off the debate: Who’s the most at fault between Iamaleava, Tennessee, and the NCAA?
Stephen A. led off the segment by picking Iamaleava for not honoring the contract that he had agreed to. Smith didn’t let the NCAA off the hook, but felt that Iamaleava (and his camp, subsequently) should have honored the contract he had after signing on the dotted line.
“You were getting about 2.2 million dollars, that’s the agreement that you reached,” Smith said on First Take. “According to the valuations out there, you’re worth about $3.1 million and you were asking for $4 million. Damn near double what you agreed to. I don’t recall Tennessee winning the National Championship or anything like that. But it’s a bigger thing to this situation for me, personally, than anything else. And that’s honoring your contract.”
1:08 – Stephen A. Reacts
3:03 – Dan Orlovsky Reacts
5:17 – Shannon Sharpe Reacts
6:08 – Debate
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Orlovsky followed Smith’s comments by vehemently placing the blame on the NCAA. His issue is with the NCAA allowing an environment to emerge that fosters poorly managed portal and NIL situations in certain circumstances.
“This is what happens when you place people in leadership roles that the NCAA did, and then you just open the door,” Orlovsky said. “Because while you Stephen A., and I understand the point of, well, he’s got to honor his contract, when you leave the opportunity for that person not having to honor the contract, by allowing other doors to be opened by other places offering you more money, no one in their right mind is going to just say, ‘No, I don’t want another 1.7 or 1.8 million dollars.’ Because if you can get it, you’re going to go get it. That’s just the reality of human beings… This is such a flaw by the leadership of the NCAA.”
Shannon Sharpe entered the conversation in his patented exciting way, starting out by stating that he honors his contract and believes that’s the right thing to do, but immediately followed up by saying that Iamaleava put the target on his own back. This led to a fierce debate between the hosts in the back half of the segment.
“But to do it like he did it, this is what I disagree with,” Sharpe said. “Hey, get all the money you can! But don’t nod yes and mean no.”
Orlovsky ends the conversation by bringing up an important side in the entire sage: representation.
“Second of all, and another part of this is who are we allowing to represent these kids?” Orlovsky asked. “Because we can’t just allow this wild, wild west of anybody can represent anyone because – I don’t like the fact that we’re sitting here saying this young man went and said this and that or didn’t show up. Because he’s probably listening to the adults in the room. He’s still a young man.”
This was a fascinating breakdown from people who are intelligent in the football world but maybe aren’t as involved in the college football world collectively. That doesn’t diminish their opinions and actually makes the insight even more interesting as a knowledgeable yet outside perspective.
