Madden Iamaleava, Arkansas football saga reportedly takes $200K NIL turn after UCLA transfer

Zain Bando

Madden Iamaleava, Arkansas football saga reportedly takes $200K NIL turn after UCLA transfer image

Like his brother, Madden Iamaleava appears to already be in hot water.

Wednesday, On3's Pete Nakos confirmed a Front Office Sports nugget from Amanda Christovich that there is more fuel to the fire by reporting the Razorbacks are allegedly not happy with how Iamaleava left the program and will stop at nothing to get what they want.

"Arkansas’s NIL collective has sent two demand letters to players asking to fulfill buyout clauses, source tells Front Office Sports. The AD’s comments yesterday were referring to multiple players who left before NIL contracts expired, including Madden Iamaleava.”

The number the collective is seeking is eye-opening: $200,000

Arkansas has already released a statement regarding the matter, according to AD Hunter Yurachek, without mentioning either brother by name.

"I have spoken with the leadership team at Arkansas Edge and expressed my support in their pursuit to enforce their rights under any agreement violated by our student-athletes moving forward,” Yurachek's statement read. “We appreciate Edge’s investment in our student-athletes and acknowledge the enforcement of these agreements is vital in our new world of college athletics. We look forward to continued dialogue with all parties in resolving these.”

📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp

This story is likely just reaching a boiling point, as it rocked the college football world over the past week

For now, it won't be the last time these two schools will be linked to one another. It may end up being the beginning of a longer cycle.

Only time will tell.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Tuesday nights and Wednesday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been seen across many mediums, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).