On3’s Pete Nakos caused some panic on Rocky Top on Thursday when he reported that the Tennessee Vols and quarterback Nico Iamaleava are engaged in contract negotiations (you can read about the details of those negotiations in Nakos’ report).
Essentially, the NIL deal that Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, signed in 2022 is now a below market deal. Iamaleava is simply looking get a deal that’s more in line with what top quarterbacks are currently earning (and make no mistake, Iamaleava is a top college football quarterback — he’s one of a handful of quarterbacks that will have College Football Playoff experience under his belt next fall).
It’s just business.
And that’s what Tennessee fans need to understand.
This isn’t the college football that you or your parents (or your grandparents) grew up with. Amateurism is dead. College football, thanks to rising ticket prices and multi-million dollar television deals, is a billion dollar industry. There’s more money flowing through college football than some professional sports leagues.
College football players are essentially pro players at this point. And the system, as it stands right now, allows for the type of free-flowing negotiations that we’re currently seeing. College players are simply utilizing the system that’s in place. Just like nearly every pro athlete utilizes the systems that are in place in their respective sport. Players place a certain value on themselves within that system and then they wait to see if someone will pay them that value.
It’s just business.
We see players hold out for new contracts in the NFL. We see players demand trades left and right in the NBA. MLB is a bit unique thanks to its CBA, but those negotiations aren’t without their drama, too.
In pro sports, teammates let teammates handle business. Everyone has their own approach, and teammates, in most cases, respect that approach.
If Iamaleava wants to be at Tennessee, and if UT’s coaching staff wants him to be at Tennessee, then a deal will be worked out. It’s that simple. If both sides want to continue their partnership, then that’s what will happen, one way or the other.
That’s why there’s no reason for fans to freak out about this current situation. And they certainly shouldn’t hold these negotiations against Iamaleava, because this approach is now the standard across the sport.
Here’s the thing — Iamaleava could enter the transfer portal and almost immediately get $3 million (or whatever the number is that he’s searching for) from someone. If he’s at Tennessee in 2025, it’s because he wants to be at Tennessee. And it’s because Josh Heupel wants him at Tennessee.
Think about it like this: If your kid had a job and a company tried to pull him/her away from that job by offering him/her a bigger salary and your kid went back to his/her employer and asked for the same salary and his/her company said “nope”, what advice would you offer?
It would be dependent on how he/she feels about working for that company, what the difference in the salary is, job location, etc — a myriad of factors, right?
This situation with Iamaleava is no different.
It’s just business.
