In super cool and fun NIL developments, at the college level we now have contract negotiation holdouts 🙄
Sources: Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava did not attend Tennessee spring practice today. He's been in conversations with Tennessee about a new contract. The no-show of practice came as a surprise. pic.twitter.com/VXsXTPDZpu— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 11, 2025
If I'm Tennessee, I think I'm leaning towards wishing him luck and cutting ties, as suggested my Matt Hayes in this article:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2025/04/11/tennessee-nic...
A guy half the player of former Tennessee star quarterback Hendon Hooker is holding the Volunteers program hostage.
And now it's time to cut him loose.
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Seen inklings Drones is on their short list if they walk away. SEC rules mean they can't target other SEC QBs in Spring Portal.
Sweet. Get established as the VT to Tenn QB pipeline🫠
Having a "short list" sounds a lot like tampering when people are not in the portal!
In this case it sounds more like reverse tampering. Sounds like Nico's people were reaching out to other schools. Saw one report say it was Dan Lanning at Oregon that called Josh Heupel to tell him that Nico's people reached out to them
I was speaking to the Drones comment, but nonetheless this speaks to needing actual contracts in place.
Looks like Healeava all right.
Yep his short list purportedly Ohio State, Oregon and Colorado. Guess he better hope one of those works out as Josh Heupel has reportedly told the team they are moving on from him
Came here to see this. Was not disappointed.
With Nico specifically- does he have an NFL future? If not, and he's trying to bank as much as he can while in college...I guess he's just playing the game that has been created.
If he does have a future in the NFL, I would have to think this would hurt his draft stock.
He was really hyped out of high school but his stats last year don't scream superstar.
• 201 Pass YPG (76th)
• 63.8% Comp. (43rd
• 19 Pass TDs (42nd)
• 70.5 QBR (36th)
Another case of a kids camp giving him bad advice on his NIL worth is how I see this. Reportedly was asking for $4M.
So I guess we're on Drones watch now
ESPN reporting that Nico is out! Hilarious!
Watch Tennessee bring in either Drones or Pop to backfill
Yeah, Heupel runs largely the same system as Montgomery (variant of the veer and shoot). So would be pretty easy transition and more talent around him. Instant better landing spot.
We've had only spring practice to learn Montgomery's system so I don't think that would be the reason. Also Drones injury and last season, I would expect Tennessee to shoot for someone better.
I am glad to see it. The NIL scene is too loose. It seems the players end of the deal is voluntary and the schools are expected to honor it. Adios muchacho!
Yeah, this is probably the wrong situation to pull this in, Heupel has never had a losing season and just went to the playoffs. He well liked and the fan base and donor base are old enough that they probably back Huepel. This isn't neuvorich donors. Huepel could have done this and not had to think twice bout ramifications because if you want to make a name for yourself beating UGA and Bama then right now Tennessee is the place to go.
EDIT: fixed typo
Imagine how much more painful/ridiculous this statement becomes if they end up bringing in Drones now that they've moved on from Nico. 🤦🏻
He's got a helluva sales pitch..."You saw what we did with Hendon, right?"
You see what Castellanos at BC said? About how Auburn was the team that got him into the portal, but once he was there he felt FSU was the best fit
There is absolutely tampering
What? Tampering is absolutely NOT a thing! It's against the rules.
/s
He sucks anyway. what is he "worth"? nothing if we are being real in a real market. There are 1000 fucking castellano's out there.
Maybe AI isn't so bad, because that's NOT what wikipedia says
Nico GotLeft
Stuff happens fast in the world of NIL football.
Nico Im-a-leaver?
New Monkees' "I'm a Believer" parody: "Then I saw their pay, now I'm-gonna-leave-there"
So evidently the new norm is for players to threaten opting out of the playoffs to try to get more money out of their team
https://allfortennessee.com/josh-pate-confirms-nico-iamaleava-threatened...
i knew backups were doing this but not starters
New norm in a league without rules. Waiting to see new NIL deals with incentives for performance and playoffs in mind. Basically "base" NIL contract with escalators.
I saw something the other day (on instagram, so consider the creator) that basically said schools should give kids a dose of reality. "Not happy with your contract that you signed and now you are backing out? Fine - we just traded you to West Point. Go learn some character. Good luck."
Made my day
Found it -
https://www.instagram.com/p/DIWoY-0ReC8/?igsh=MWZzb3h1dTF2Mjg4ag==
This kid lives in America and goes to school in the southeast - well he doesn't go to any real classes. Because of those 2 things, he is entitled to millions of dollars. Plain and simple. After all, his coach gets a salary and ESPN pays tennessee to air their football games. Thus, millions for him- no brainer, totally sound logic.
Predictions are pointing to Nico going to UNCheat next year so he can continue to not take classes without penalty.
They should pay him what he is entitled to as a baller and what makes sense- 5 million for one year to try to grind out wins against Wake and UVA. makes sense on every and all levels.
I just read they're out of that race and looking at S Alabama's QB.
And they got him.
If he goes to UNC, he's taking a pay cut. They are using a lot of creative accounting to get to $20m in 'rev share'
I believe Nico was wrong here, but I also find it ridiculous that coaches are attacking his loyalty, even head coaches that were under contract at a school and left for another giving a bigger paycheck...so doing the same thing they are criticizing Nico for.
In what other job/profession anywhere in the world do we pretend two entirely different jobs/roles are the exact same? I can't think of one. Does Tim Cook has the same job as a UI developer? nope. Does Whit have the same job as a low level athletics graohics person? nope. Do you have the same job as your boss? No. Only in the baller complex are player and coach the same job- only there. Who gives a fuck if coaches leave due to signed buyouts by their employer? and how in the fuck does that relate to the job of "football player". tell me any legitimate reason Pry has the same job and rules as our punter... go ahead?
If your boss is asking for loyalty, but displays none themselves, then that's hypocritical. It doesn't matter that the two hold different positions
The ultimate sign of loyalty is your boss giving your ass a job. You would quit in a heartbeat and leave him 2 weeks to find a replacement for 5K more a year and make no apologies. But in your case, your co-workers wouldn't equate your employment terms with your bosses and nor would they pretend it was a crime if he chooses to leave on his own accord, but you can't do the same- when in fact you can anyway. I've never read an article related to bosses leaving but employees being questioned about loyalty anywhere in my life. Only on CFB blogs are the 2 jobs the same and have the same rules- else hypocrisy. lol
Semantics, but the word "given" is erroneous. Jobs are earned. Playing time is earned. Scholarships are earned.
Nobody is "given" something in this context
I dont think jobs are given or earned. Jobs exist because there is a need. I created a job becuae I bought a house with a lawn I don't want to mow, so I have a need, to have my lawn mowed, the guy that mows my lawn did nothing to earn it, he just picked up the phone when I call, there was no audition. Also didn't give him a job, he already had a job.
Now the company that mows my lawn has to earn the repeat business by not messing up, but it's a lawn, its a low bar, I'd prefer no grass.
The job of do, I didn't earn it, I interviewed and didn't screw something up in the interview, that's no really earning anything. They didn't give me the job as if this position not being filled means they don't earn as much money as they could.
Ironically, Tim Cook as CEO has way more restrictions to move (aka non-competes), trade stock, etc. than said UI developer.
Yes because Tim Cook works in the real world, as I have said
I get that NCAA football is unlike anything else. You have rich donors pouring money into a team because seeing their team win brings them happiness and bragging rights. It's absolutely insanely silly.
But it does seem weird to me that, historically at least, the most restrictions have been applied to the individuals on the bottom of the totem pole, while those at the top have almost unlimited freedom (or at least the freedom to buy their way out of any situtation).
Personally, I think players should have buyouts/transfer fees, just like coaches.
"the most restrictions have been applied to the individuals on the bottom of the totem pole, while those at the top have almost unlimited freedom "- COACH AND PLAYER ARE NOT THE SAME JOB. THEY ARE NOT. To argue this is silly
Neither is CEO and UI Developer. But they're at the same organization.
The point is, typically, the higher your rank in an organization, the more important you are to that organization, thus you get more pay, but also more restrictions.
This is my beef with the anti-paying-players standpoint. I don't think it's reasonable to argue that, on one hand, players don't have intrinsic value (or that that value should be capped/limited), and on the other hand, argue that players should have their movement limited (if the players don't have value, then let them go anywhere they want, next man up).
Either players are interchangeable, and all that matters is the name on the front of the jersey, so it doesn't matter if players leave. OR Players have value, they have the right to pursue/maximize that value, and coach.
I'm empathetic that, as a fan, you no longer get the satisfaction of watching a kid develop over 4/5 years. I understand (though I quibble with) the complaints around lack of parity in the sport. I'm even empathetic to the idea that, maybe you just want to hear about ball, and hearing about NIL, revenue, contracts, etc sucks.
But we're at this point because Conferences and Schools wanted to make as much revenue as possible. If OU and UGA never sued the NCAA in 1984, and every school ceded centralized authority to the NCAA, then we wouldn't be in this position.
"Either players are interchangeable".... This is 100% a proven fact of course, which no honest person can dispute. Ohio State might lose 1 game next year- maybe- with largely a whole new team. There are countless examples of this every year. Tennessee will find a guy to replace that kid next week at QB for example. The definition of interchangeable. Alabama had dozens leave for the NFL every year under Saban, and did not miss a beat. We replaced Dorian Strong in part with a kid from D2- too many examples for this server bandwidth really. If you want to argue that if Drones leaves next week, we will suck and people will forget about VT football, well you would be wrong too. OF COURSE the players are interchangeable- they leave after 7 years anyway and are replaced by new ones. I don't have a problem with the freedom to leave school like a regular student- fine fucking leave. The issue I have is going to the highest bidder and pretending you are a slave. Fuck that. Also yes, competitive balance is a joke under the current system.
The slave analogy is utter trash, and completely underscores the reality of slavery in America.
Moving past that, I don't think players are asking for sympathy in a post-Alston world. They're pretty candid that they are asking for money.
I didn't make the slave analogy. Jay Bilas did though, and so have others on this board. and the players are getting their fucking money.... so they can shut up and stop suing and making a mockery out of competition and higher education ANY time now.
Man, the schools are making a mockery of higher education, not the players. If schools actually cared about higher education, then they wouldn't admit subpar students who play sports. They wouldn't sign billion dollar contracts with media companies. They wouldn't do everything imaginable to entice subpar students to attend their school so they could win at sports.
All this criticism directed at the athletes. No one calling out the schools. That's my problem. You hate the state of college sports? It didn't have to be this way. Schools/conferences didn't have to negotiate billion dollar contracts.
If schools didn't make so much revenue from football, players wouldn't be filing lawsuits because there wouldn't be anything to sue for.
Schools got greedy long before players did.
I've called out the schools for taking kids that can't read. Many times. In life people benefit from something or eventually they don't do it. Until recently, players thought that getting a world class education and out of the ghetto in many cases was a damn good deal vs. the alternative. You pretend they got nothing of value and that exposure from being on said TV deals that the evil schools use to actually field womens sports is worthless. Nonsense. The players benefitted GREATLY from the old system and you know it. Now, that's not enough. And there were 12 people at the VT spring game because of it. The machine will collapse soon and you will be watching the UFL. The golden goose died on emotion and nonsense. I do NOT blame VT for using TV money to field an athletic department beyond football and paying market rate for coaches (even though we often don't) its not like we have a huge profit war chest- that lie is being pushed too.
I already watch the UFL. Defenders are a fun watch.
Are you also one of the roughly 4 people that attend their games in person?
I think you meant 14,000. Yes I have been to a couple games at Audi Field. Rowdy environment as they get alot of DC United crossover. They set a beer snake goal of 1000 cups in the end zone each game and come close or surpass it most games.
If everything breaks perfectly, the league might survive past this season. Get to a game while you can.
Got to give the Defenders Social media team credit for this tweet. Simple yet Savage after a win.
Go Big? ONLY 1000 cups? At a VT game when I was a student in the mid 80s against (I think ) Duke where we were up 30 or so late in the 3rd (ah those were the days), the student side built a stadium cup chain that stretched from field level to the top of the East side of the stadium -row 5P! Not sure how many cups it was but SIGNIFICANTLY more than 1000. Each cup only added 3/4-1" to the chain. It even had the announcers commenting on it especially since the game itself was boring at that time.
But those weren't beer cups! Soda snake doesn't have the same ring to it, lol. Hard to believe how much soda the students drank at those games (wink, wink).
I like watching the games, but they get horrible coverage by ESPN, etc. No stats for games, etc.
I LOL'd
Tennessee has the dumbest fans in CFB, but they did good here.
yall keep mocking me.....
12 to play 12
UCLA's offer is reportedly no where close to what he was making at Tennessee and I'm all for it 🤣
https://www.outkick.com/sports/nico-iamaleava-transfer-portal-ucla-colle...
Well now they're saying it's not about the money it's about the Vols offense which *checks notes * was one of the best in the country when he arrived and was indeed the offense he was recruited to play.
Glad it's not about the money leaving a no income tax state for less money at a state known for their taxes lol
This is college football now. Enjoy. It's not homecoming or the Rose Bowl or even the old college game day. It's pro football- without any rules or semblance of competitive balance. Why? Because ESPN pays monopoly money to the SEC- no other reason. Enjoy.
I am sure he is getting lowballed after the power move he failed to pull off. Who is going to write him big check just to watch him hold out of the bowl game?
I would not touch him with a 10 foot pole.
You guys see where Cuse WR Trebor Pena signed a 2 million dollar endorsement deal with Nike? oh no, he signed no endorsement deal at all because nobody outside of his family knows who he is. The 2 million is 100% pay for play from loser boosters laundering money. Kudos to Fran Brown for telling him to fucking walk.
Hopefully this will encourage other programs to tell players who are demanding outrageous amounts on top of what they are already receiving to beat it.
As some random person put it earlier this week:
What does that have to do with pretending he is being compensated for appearing in ads? You miss my point. The booster lighting money on fire economy is what it is - and yes free (tax fraud) market. So the fuck what? not my point here.
But isn't "pretending he is being compensated" simply a feature of the system and just the overall free market regulating itself?
Man, he brought this up during the playoffs too. Unreal. Threatened to sit out.
I bet the coach was half tempted to say, "no it's cool you're gonna sit and you can enter the portal when it opens."
https://allfortennessee.com/josh-pate-confirms-nico-iamaleava-threatened-sit-out-vols-playoff-game
He threatened to sit out of a playoff game. That's about as low as you can get.
Honestly, this whole thread can just burn. I don't want to hear another word about this motherfucker.
I don't understand this hate. Everything worked exactly as it should. Nico pushed the boundaries enough to upset the coaching staff, and the coaching staff responded.
No one's abusing the system here. The checks/balances worked.
With more freedom of choice comes less freedom from consequence. Nico's squad overplayed their hand and had to deal with the consequence. That's life. Great learning experience for a young adult imo.
Do I think that players should have slightly less freedom of choice in exchange for exposure to slightly less consequence? Yes. But that's not possible until a collective bargaining agreement is in place. Do I think this is better than what players had before, where power dynamic was 97% slated towards the school/coach? Yes, personally I do.
I know, poor Nico. Feel so bad for him. Shame on Tennessee for trying to make him play football in a playoff without gross overcompensation.
I don't feel bad for Nico or Tennessee. I hope that's not how my post was received.
Nico gambled his rep for an extra couple mil. He lost. His fault. Don't feel bad for him.
Tennessee has done more than any other program in the last 5 years to dismantle the ncaa and introduce the Wild West of NIL. The amount of lawsuits that state's AG has been involved in is insane. They invited this upon themselves.
I don't feel bad for anyone here. The system worked 🤷♂️
Yes- this bullshit - could fix itself. When Kevin Garnett signed his rookie deal with the Timberwolves, veterans like Jordan etc said WTAF??? - So they threatened to strike if the rookie wage scale wasn't much much less in the CBA. And it worked. Rookies no longer got that huge bag without playing a game. Another example is the running back market in the NFL. Teams were like- meh- not important anymore and their salaries dipped well below WRs, etc. Enough of these punks that can't play holding out for millions and the market will correct.
are you suggesting that college athletes unionize and collectively bargain with the NCAA?
Maybe. I'm suggesting a system where when any rules are put in place to try to keep competitive balance, some judge that never played football shoots them down. If players sued for 5 downs in college instead of 4 or 8 yards for a first down, it would win right now. If you want no rules, unlimited movement, unlimited salaries- the sport dies. The stands look like the Florida Marlins- who are not able to spend like the yankees because there is no salary cap. Its only a matter of time before activist judges running your sport kills your sport. Matter of time.
I would like a way to actually enforce multi year contracts. I think that fixes the biggest issue for fans.
There's three ways that could happen:
I'm all likelihood, it's going to require some combination of these.
Unfortunately, I don't see any of these things happening, for a variety of reasons.
"Contracts come with buyouts/transfer fees"- This won't change a damn thing. You think a buyout would have stopped LSU from pursuing Delane? no chance. What I want is a governing body, amateurism rules in terms of academics and years eligible and true/traceable/legitimate NIL. That is a structure that is reasonable and achievable. If Tyler Nickel really appears in commercials for nashville honkey tonks- good for that young man. If the next Johnny Manziel comes along and he is hawking splurtals during the telecast- I wouldn't have an issue with it. My plan would be that these collectives show the NCAA clearinghouse these marketing deals or else the player doesn't play. If you are an unproven HS recruit and you don't demand a commercial or endorsement deal, well you have a fucking choice to make don't you? Do you go to Alabama to play football as an internship to your NFL pay day for no legit endorsement money that first year? Or do you go get a job? Its a fair choice absent just having NFL 2.0- which will hurt more players than it helps. Real, traceable, legitimate NIL I have no issue with and it would actually restore some semblance of balance. Let's see Mansoor Delanes actual endorsement deal from quiktrip in baton rouge. should be pretty easy to produce. Like a HS transcript is. Let's see it. The problem is that it doesn't exist.
If there's a cap on school spending, buyouts would need to be part of it. Means there's still a market for top-end players, but it would roll off quickly.
And what you're describing is the plan, at least for true NIL, right? There's the schools paying the athletes, which is capped, and an actual NIL clearinghouse to ensure that any additional money coming in is real and traceable, and is commensurate with some idea of actual value. I don't want to be the person actually deciding any of that, sounds like a miserable, thankless job. But, it's at least in the cards.
But it could get us another 6 figures that could be used to land the next delane.
Amateurism will never be back. These players have shown that their roster spots have value to the people who fund athletic departments.
This is very true - however, market value largely is not driving these NIL deals. When 10% of the funding for the payment comes from true NIL deals with businesses and the other 90% is donors throwing wads of cash, you have a clear market failure. I think this is just going to be the separation of a small group of top elite schools/brands who want to continue to spend this amount of money on college athletics, with the rest of FBS forming a lower division. And given that there are probably only approximately 30 or so schools who will spend like this and have the brand recognition (and that might be being generous - I'm also still waiting for the SEC and Big Ten to shed some of their deadweight as far as revenue), that still leaves a ton of college athletes who need to find a home somewhere.
So the biggest brands may attract the top talent for an NFL Lite (which I don't think is going to have staying power long-term), but the rest of FBS may adopt some sort of modified amateurism. Long-term, I think the tv networks are missing the fact that so much of the viewership from college football is from fans of schools across the country who follow and love the sport. Consolidating the top brands I think is going to alienate and hurt a large chunk of their viewership, and at that point they're just competing against the NFL. Who wants to watch a glorified developmental league head-to-head vs the NFL if you're a casual viewer? Eventually an Ohio State or Alabama will get tired of sharing revenue even with a small elite group and we'll end up back in decentralized regional conferences where they can be the big dog against lesser competition.
These aren't NIL deals. They are pay-for-play. That's the market I'm talking about. Fans want to win, and fans are willing to pay money to win.
Working fine (from a business perspective) for European soccer.
Replying to your edit:
I think this might have been true a decade or two ago, but I don't think that's the case any more. I don't think college students are planning 9am to 1am around college football outside of their school/conference. Gen Z and younger millennials don't do this. Older Millenials and Gen X are starting to have families/not have time for this.
This is the point that I think you're wrong on. The casual fan, who doesn't know what a message board is, who just likes sports, who makes up the majority of viewership, wants fewer, more recognizable teams. That person cares about Penn State vs Oregon. That person has zero interest in WVU vs Pitt.
If you're a sicko on a message board, you get WVU vs Pitt, and that game is going to interest you any weekend. But that's not the bulk of viewers.
I do think this is the inevitable outcome. 20ish teams in a super league, 2-6 mid-major conferences with 8-16 teams each, then a new layer in between the FCS and the new-mid-major.
And even if that does happen, it doesn't have to be terrible. It could even be better than things are now.
"fans are willing to pay money to win."- nonsense. "Fans" complain about paying for the spring game and the cost to stream games and ticket prices etc- constantly. Mega Boosters- the same people that sit in suites at NFL games- are paying to win now. Not "fans"
Why are the mega donors paying that money? There are people willing to pay money to win because of their fandom. The fact that you are a fan and you disagree doesn't mean that everyone who calls themselves a fan disagrees. Sure, it's a skewed distribution, but the fandom is still the driver.
Because (a) they have the money (most don't), and (b) a winning team gives them bragging rights.
Very few truly rich people are reckless with money. Jerry Jones killed construction workers because he used a blow up dome for practice for the richest franchise in the NFL. He could afford a fixed roof place with his change in his ashtray. The definition of reckless is throwing away money for bragging rights. Real rich people don't do that.
That's fair, and true... I don't think it changes anything about what I said... yes, there is inequity amongst the most passionate CFB fans, and a small handful are driving the market.
I don't think that's a solvable problem. Amateurism isn't enforceable (without subpoena power).
Entitlement fueled by mouth breathing UT boosters bit him in the ass. Good. I agree with you on that.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/44789528/ucla-qb-joey-aguilar-plans-transfer-tennessee
It keeps getting better and better
I wonder if any one realizes making a trade to save on cap space doesn't make any sense when there's no cap.
The only cap is your cash reserve.
Which is why it pays to be a big dawg.
The fans that drive the machine are going to tire of this shit really fast. Not fast enough, but fast.
Agents do the tampering between themselves. Players follow along. And now we have essentially player trades between teams. Pro ball all the way.
money, money, money, money
MONEY!
Arkansas Edge, the Arkansas collective, is considering suing Madden Iamaleava for violating NIL contract. Tennessee's exploring similar action against Nico Iamaleava. Could set precedent on the enforceability of NIL contracts.
Madden enrolled at Arkansas in the winter and was on a one year NIL contract.
Both announced they are going to UCLA
I hope they do and they win, add some semblance of contractual obligation to NIL.
Please sue and win. Force the players to think more about both the Contracts they sign and consequences of actions. NIL's should start suing for partial money back on games that the players decide to sit out. Bowls, etc.
As the kids say... people generally don't "play" with their money. I hope every bit of fucking greed is exposed. I hope players that turn out to suck sign huge deals. It's going to have to police itself obviously. And the only way that happens is if a Devon Hunter gets 3 million and can't play dead in a western. It's coming.
I am patiently waiting for the entire system to crash and burn.
Honestly, same. My interest will pick back up when it gets rebuilt, in whatever form that is, and wherever Virginia Tech lands. Until then, I can't be emotionally invested in anything that results in the current system, whether that's player movement or game results.
But I do love my fellow Hokies and the community we've built here, so I'll always be around here looking for a good laugh and learning something new.