Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal over the weekend after holding out from Tennessee's practice on Friday. Iamaleava was in contract discussions with the Volunteers, looking to reportedly receive at least $4 million for the 2025 season from NIL after his previous deal was worth $8 million and meant to cover the entirety of his collegiate career. After Iamaleava skipped practice, Tennessee decided to move on, with head coach Josh Heupel explaining that no one is bigger than the program.
Iamaleava's holdout and departure from Tennessee has now become a major storyline, particularly with the effects of NIL and the transfer portal looming over many college athletic programs.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, who just led his team to the College Football Playoff national championship game, shared his own opinion on the Iamaleava situation while speaking with J.D. Pickell of On 3 Sports.
"That was a situation that became public, but I think it happens all over the country," Freeman said. "You have representatives for players, representatives for the university that are having those discussions. That one was a public one. The reality is our players are getting compensated, deserve to get compensated. What you don't want to do ... you don't want players to make a temporary decision based off a temporary situation that's going to affect them long-term.
“Transactional decisions aren't always the best ones for your future. ... At the end of the day, you want to do what's right for college football, what's right for our players. You don't want this public disagreement to really tarnish what's so good about our profession and our spot."
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman speaks on the Nico Iamaleava/Tennesssee situation⬇️
— On3 (@On3sports) April 15, 2025
"Transactional decisions aren't always the best ones for your future."
(via @jdpickell) pic.twitter.com/hmVFRJKoES
Freeman is not the only college football coach that has offered his thoughts on the situation. Miami coach Mario Cristobal had a more blunt take than Freeman about Iamaleava's holdout and departure over the weekend.
"We're not gonna do that at Miami," Cristobal said. "And I say that without any hesitation. If anyone's thinking that—and they could be the best player in the world—if they wanna play holdout, they might as well play get out. We don't wanna do that. We don't want Miami to become that. Too many guys have sweat, bled, and have laid on the line in that field to ever become that kind of a program."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman Shares His Thoughts on Nico Iamaleava Leaving Tennessee.
