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Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava skips practice in an NFL-style NIL holdout
When NFL players want more money, they often exercise their leverage by skipping offseason practices.
When NFL players want more money, they often exercise their leverage by skipping offseason practices. Now that tactic is coming to college football.
Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava skipped spring practice on Friday without his coaches' knowledge or permission as he seeks a pay raise, according to ESPN. Iamaleava is scheduled to make $2.4 million from Tennessee's NIL collective this year and his representatives wanted to renegotiate to pay him in the $4 million range.
The obvious next step, if Tennessee isn't willing to pay Iamaleava what he's asking for, would be to look into transferring to a team that will. Carson Beck reportedly got a guarantee of more than $4 million when he transferred from Georgia to Miami in January, so Iamaleava's request is not out of line with what a starting quarterback can make in college football in 2025.
The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Iamaleava led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season, and if his presence can make another team a College Football Playoff contender, then his presence is worth a lot more than $4 million. Which means this holdout is likely to pay off for Iamaleava, either because Tennessee pays him what he's asking for or because some other team does. Traditionalists may not like it, but the NIL holdout era has arrived in college football.
