Tennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava is now the face of college football contract holdouts after his attempt to get a raise in NIL backfired and Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel and UT AD Danny White dismissed the Long Beach, California native from the program.
GoVols247’s Wes Rucker believes Iamaleava isn’t a bad kid for having essentially quit on his team, but claimed that he was simply the one carrying the grenade when it detonated.
Rucker also admitted shock for having seen Iamaleava’s father get thrown under the bus in what was the QB’s only face-saving move.
“The coast-to-coast vitriol in this NIL era was a grenade, and some player somewhere was going to be holding it when it exploded,” Rucker wrote.
“Nico Iamaleava isn't a bad kid. Never has been. But he was the one holding the grenade.
“What I mean about Nico Iamaleava: Imagine being 20 years old, and the ONLY thing you can do to save your own face is throw your own father under a bus.
“Who's throwing their dad under a bus? I wouldn't. I wouldn't at 42, let alone 20.
“That's absolutely a part of this story.
“The minute you forget that human beings are the characters in these stories, you start losing the plot.
“Many things are being said. Many of them are harsh but fair. But I think that part of this story is being overlooked.”
Iamaleava ghosted Tennessee a day before the program’s annual Orange and White game. Regardless of whether that was Iamaleava, his father, his reps, or some combination who decided to do that, the 20-year-old followed through with it.
For all we know, that could play into his NIL negotiations. It’s not hard to imagine some behavioral clauses in his next deal.
Iamaleava will get paid and will most certainly have a future Power 4 home imminently. Players get away with a lot worse than no-call, no-showing.
Iamaleava’s reputation won’t escape for this for the rest of his football career, though.