Almost as quickly as they had been excited about him, Tennessee Football fans have begun to sour on Nico Iamaleava. A report by ON3 said the Vols quarterback’s team is in the process of renegotiating his NIL deal, and he then released a series of photos in an Instagram post a couple of hours after that story leaked.
None of those photos suggest anything about him leaving, but many fans believe there is a cryptic message in there. Others believe that, given the fact he made headlines for getting $2 million a year just to attend UT, the Vols should now just let him off.
Sorry, but Vol fans have no leg to stand on.
Didn’t the University of Tennessee administration and the state itself declare open war on the NCAA over the right for players to do this very issue last year? Wasn’t Iamaleava at the heart of that PR battle? Isn’t it true that Tennessee Football fans everywhere supported the school and their quarterback?
What’s wrong? Have the circumstances changed now that he didn’t live up to the hype his first year as a starter? Sure, Iamaleava did complete 213 of 334 passes (63.8 percent) for 2,616 yards (7.8 yards per attempt), 19 touchdowns and six interceptions while rushing for 358 yards and another three touchdowns.
However, that’s far below what many expected of him going into the year, when they were all supporting the open lawsuit against the NCAA. Beyond just the overreaction that he still can’t be great, you can’t change your principle just because his production hasn’t lived up to the hype.
Also, we have no idea who is behind this. Perhaps this was always a planned renegotiation with the transfer portal ending. What if the school was always planning to talk with him about more NIL money, and now is just the right time to to it. After all, ON3 itself reported Iamaleava is very happy with the Vols.
Even if there are more nefarious motives out there, Iamaleava may not be at the heart of that. There’s a very good chance somebody in his camp is trying to take advantage of his talents and leaked this story to put pressure on the school. Maybe Iamaleava wants nothing to do with that.
Simply put, Tennessee Football fans need to back off Iamaleava. Even if the worst is true, he’s just doing what they all supported was his right to do just last year. You can’t flip your opinion on a dime. Also, there are many reasons he could take an amazing jump this year. Letting that opportunity go to waste would be silly.
