Over the past couple of months, one position in college football has kept the fans on their toes. No brownie points for guessing. It’s the quarterback position. It started with the big Bryce Underwood chase. This showed Sherrone Moore’s desperation as a recruiter to hunt down the No.1 quarterback prospect and dishing out a fat NIL cheque. While fans got a breather after the Underwood unrest, Nico Iamaleava entered the chat. Again, the NIL stirred the pot in the case of the former Tennessee quarterback. While Nico is off to UCLA, it turns out that he has been hurt by Josh Heupel’s decision. As he continues with his social media shenanigans, resorting to cryptic messages, Nico’s quarterback future in the Bruins squad is likely to fall flat because of a legal hoopla, not related to him.
When Iamaleava boarded Heupel’s wagon, hardly did he know that he would leave with a “greedy” tag attached to his name. Yes, it just took three days for the quarterback to lose all the hype. On April 10, Nico’s camp approached the Tennessee NIL collective, Spyre Sports Group, for a maximum possible pay, doubling his $2 million a year NIL deal. While Heupel must have been going through the possibilities to enhance a little bit, if not to Nico’s expectations, the quarterback missed the team practice and meetings for the Orange and White Spring game, and did not return calls the next day. After that, he applied for a transfer. On April 12, Heupel confirmed that the Vols would proceed without Nico.
That’s when the quarterback turned into a hate magnet. CFB critic Paul Finebaum landed an attack on the Iamaleava family: “We’re talking about a greedy family who didn’t think $2.4 million was enough.” Forget the discussions about the player going to great lengths for money, he was even questioned about his loyalty as a player. Talks arose that the ex-Vols quarterback threw the playoff game against Ohio State. The fact that the Vols lost in convincing fashion, 42-17, in Columbus in the event’s opening round, fanned the rumor. However, Nico did not let the attacks pass by. And posted a sharp retort on his IG story. “Damn I tried to sit out and throw the playoff game too? These boys just make me laugh man ain’t no way. ”.
On May 13, he re-shared a post. To make things more fiery, he added a cryptic take. The former Vols quarterback re-shared a post that had quotes from The Godfather Part II. It read, “Your biggest supporter is a stranger. Your biggest hater is someone you know.” And Nico stood in full support of the message that went by. As he wrote, “In a real way tho .” Was it an indirect attack for Heupel? The Tennessee head coach made an appearance on the 104-5 The Zone podcast. There, the host came up with a question related to the most obvious topic.
“Obviously the Nico situation. I’m just curious from your point of view in today’s world of college football with all of the transitions and everything. How surprised were you with the way that all played out and that he’s no longer on that roster?” To which the head coach smartly refused to include Nico’s name in the conversation. Instead, he placed all the limelight on his present quarterback, Joey Aguilar. “Let’s start calling it the Joey Aguilar situation. At the end of the day, that’s just the landscape.” So, maybe Iamaleava must have hoped for Huepel to shield him, but he was the one who turned his back. How is Nico’s chapter 2 going to be like?
Nico Iamaleava’s brotherly bond is interrupted by legal hoopla
Not quite smooth. Nico Iamaleava announced his return to his native place and joining the UCLA Bruins. Just a few days later, it was reported that Nico’s younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, would be leaving Arkansas to join his brother at UCLA. Not many know, Madden was committed to UCLA all the way until signing day in December. However, he fell prey to Arkansas’ lucrative deal and ended up swapping wagons. But, turns out that Nico’s dream of sharing the same wagon with Madden might not come true.
That’s because it’s not going to let go of Madden easily. The Razorbacks made it known that they would seek legal restitution. The Arkansas athletic director, Hunter Yurachek, had shared a tweet on April 21. A part of it read, “I have spoken with the leadership at Arkansas Edge and expressed my support in their pursuit to enforce their rights under any agreement violated by our student-athletes moving forward.” These dealings are typically handled quietly behind the scenes, and both parties come to an agreement.
According to Andy Staples of On3, “Arkansas Edge is seeking about $200,000 from [Madden] Iamaleava, which is half the remaining amount of a deal originally worth about $500,000 that has yet to be paid to him.” As if Nico Iamaleava’s new chapter which was stained by the NIL hoopla, was not enough. The quarterback’s dream to play with his brother hand-in-hand is likely to get crushed as Madden will now have to clear the mess.
The post Nico Iamaleava Hints Further Tensions With a Cryptic 5-Word Message After Legal Roadblock Involved at UCLA Future appeared first on EssentiallySports.