Tennessee was the college football story of the weekend with the Vols and quarterback Nico Iamaleava parting ways over NIL contract negotiations.
Things hit a tipping point on Friday morning when Iamaleava skipped Tennessee’s final spring practice before the Orange & White game effectively creating a hold out situation why the two sides negotiated. But the move had the reverse effect, forcing head coach Josh Heupel and Tennessee to move on from Iamaleava to keep the respect of the locker room.
Asked about the possibility of a player holding out of practice for more money on Saturday, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal sided with Heupel and Tennessee’s stance toward Nico’s actions.
“We’re not going to do that at Miami,” Cristobal said. “And I say that without any hesitation. If anyone is thinking that, they could be the best player in the world but if they want to play hold out, they might as well play get out. We don’t want to do that. We don’t want Miami to become that. Too many guys have sweat and bleed and laid it on the line on that field to ever become that type of program.”
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Cristobal’s response illustrates how unpopular Iamaleava and his camps’ handling of the situation was. Miami has been extremely aggressive in the NIL era and reportedly signed Georgoa transfer quarterback Carson Beck to a $3 million deal back in January.
But skipping practice to negotiate a new deal is a major red flag due to the way it affects the rest of the team. That’s all the more true at the quarterback position where the starter is expected to be one of the top leaders in the room.
With Iamaleava headed to the transfer portal, Tennessee football is now looking for a quarterback of its own in the transfer portal. The Vols have two remaining quarterbacks on their roster in redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and early enrollee freshman George MacIntyre. With neither having much college playing experience, Tennessee needs to find a capable starting quarterback in the portal.
2 Responses
NIL, transfer portal, ticket prices going through the roof…etc…. For what it’s worth, I have watched the races at Bristol get significantly smaller as the greed of NASCAR escalated prices through the years. Don’t think for a second that college sports are going to be better off until the reins are pulled in and limits to the madness imposed. Nico, or should I say, “No Show” may get his money elsewhere but thank goodness it’s not in Knoxville!
He can choose to go anywhere he wants. Good for him. Tennessee fans don’t really care and are already tired of seeing it everywhere. Please stop posting about him and concentrate on players that want to be at UT!!!