The latest offseason storyline in college football follows Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who appears to be leaving the program after a tense NIL holdout with the Volunteers.
Iamaleava is reportedly set to enter the transfer portal after attempting to renegotiate his NIL deal with the school which paid him roughly $2 million per year. The former five-star recruit drew attention for missing team meetings and Tennessee's spring practice as he staged college football's first-ever holdout over an NIL deal.
Tennessee ultimately called Iamaleava's bluff, and now the young quarterback will be taking his talents elsewhere hoping to be paid what he believes he's worth.
Amid the controversy over Iamaleava's bitter break-up with the Vols, college football analyst Joel Klatt shared his honest take on the situation. Klatt commended Tennessee for holding its ground and admitted that Iamaleava was taking advantage of his situation, as was his right.
But, Klatt had harsh words for the "incompetent" NCAA, which he thought needed to enforce stricter rules on the business of players' NIL deals to prevent things like this from happening in the future.
"NIL and the XFR portal did not ruin College Football...The pathetic and inept NCAA not enforcing rules is threatening to ruin College Football...So, we need a governing body to step in and enforce mutually agreed upon rules...it is really that simple," Klatt wrote on X.
NIL and the XFR portal did not ruin College Football...The pathetic and inept NCAA not enforcing rules is threatening to ruin College Football...So, we need a governing body to step in and enforce mutually agreed upon rules...it is really that simple
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) April 12, 2025
This Tennessee/Iamaleava situation is wild and yet totally predictable! Of course this was going to happen when there are no guard rails and rules to govern the business and movement of the sports players. You may not like what Nico is doing but it is certainly his right.
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) April 12, 2025
There's a good amount of truth in Klatt's words—at the end of the day, the NCAA makes up the rules and could do better to regulate business in the modern NIL era. Iamaleava received what was at the time a historic NIL deal when he joined Tennessee back in 2022, and he chose to chase more money at the expense of school allegiances, something well within his right given the largely unregulated world of college football.
Iamaleava going back to the table to ask for more money may seem like a greedy move to some, but he's technically playing by the rules (or lackthereof). Credit to Josh Heupel and Tennessee for standing their ground and moving on from Iamaleava to set an important precedent for their program.
As Klatt notes, if the NCAA really doesn't want to see this kind of situation arise again, it's in their power to lay down the law.
Iamaleava is coming off his redshirt freshman season and has three years of eligibility remaining. He'll be one of the biggest names when the spring transfer portal opens Wednesday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joel Klatt Rips NCAA Over Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee NIL Holdout Drama.
