Well, well, well; it looks like the Nico Iamaleava fiasco is on its way to simmering down. Following his highly visible departure from Tennessee, a plethora of arguments and opinions have surfaced. This is a key event in the history of modern CFB, which further highlights how NILs have become more powerful in a player’s career. Iamaleava didn’t hit a rough patch with Josh Heupel; he just wanted more money. But now that Tennessee is in the past, what does this mean for his now uncertain career?
The highlight of the whole drama was the role Iamaleava’s father, Nick, and the agent played in the negotiations. They reportedly acted rashly, and it is now known that Oregon’s Dan Lanning sent a heads-up to Heupel that all of this was unfolding at Knoxville. Nico, who was getting a yearly pay of $2 million, wanted that number to be hiked to $4 million. More importantly, we have to note that Nico’s voice in the whole of this drama seems to be absent. “There is not a more influential person in my life than my father, but there are certain things that my father can and cannot advise me on, and that’s just respect,” said Cam Newton, talking about the way Nick got involved in this in the first place.
He’s most likely headed to UCLA now, as reports say the Bruins QBs have been informed of the star prospect’s possible arrival. However, the media can’t help but say that Iamaleava was the one who inflicted this blow on his own career. But now that he is close to ending his Tennessee chapter for good, On3’s J.D. PicKell stressed that Iamaleava should take more control of his choices. “I hope he balls out at UCLA, but that only happens… when Nico decides to own Nico’s career,” he declared. “Not my agent said this, not my counsel saying this. I should ask for more money. I should do this. It’s my career,” is what PicKell said Iamaleava’s mindset should be from now on.
PicKell continues, saying, “When I [Nico] am done playing ball, and I’m at the country club playing golf with my buddies talking about the good old days when I played ball, I’m talking about my career. Not anybody else’s.” He stressed again that it should be “what [Nico] did between the white lines.” It’ll be pretty hard to shake off the shadow of this allegation that it wasn’t his running point on these negotiations.
But PicKell remained positive about Nico Iamaleava’s future. “[He] got the five-star tools, man. I hope he balls out. And this is all just like a blip on the resume for him, what his college career is, and when he’s hopefully throwing dimes on Sunday,” the analyst said. Sadly for Nico, his most defining career move might be his worst.
A career-shifting move has Nico Iamaleava headed for a downturn
Iamaleava requested an increase to nearly double his current pay. However, Heupel refrained from increasing his pay. The QB, on the other hand, had years of eligibility to spare and impressive rankings. His team thought that they would bring better prospects if he moved out of Tennessee, but that wasn’t the case. Now, if Nico had ended up with Bill Belichick, as rumored initially, they would’ve been happy. But much to their dismay, even that veteran coach backed out.
The only other team that was hot in pursuit of Iamaleava was UCLA. Now, the QB joining the Bruins is a win for the latter, not Nico. Because there are fewer reasons to assume that UCLA will actually meet him for his word and pay that exorbitant amount. Pete Nakos, the culprit who broke the news of Iamaleava’s transfer plans in the first place, said that the amount UCLA is offering him is “going to be far less than the $4 million he wanted from Tennessee.” That is more than enough to see how brutally Nico’s play backfired on his career.
As Tennessee’s starting QB in his second year, Iamaleava passed for 2,616 yards and 19 TDs alone. He was clearly on the way to making the future seasons even better for himself and Tennessee. However, this backfired transfer should be a teaching moment for Nico and encourage him to have better ownership of his life. UCLA might be ecstatic at getting someone like Iamaleava on their team. But Nico? Not so much, maybe.
The post Nico Iamaleava Receives National Analyst’s Clear Ultimatum as $4M Tennessee Demand Backfires Drastically appeared first on EssentiallySports.
