Brian Kelly addresses Nico Iamaleava departure from Tennessee: 'We're gonna see a lot of this'

Brian Kelly addressed the Tennessee QB situation with Nico Iamaleava leaving the program following a reported renegotiation of his NIL deal. The LSU head coach was asked his thoughts and he simply said it’s not going to be the last time this happens.

Iamaleava is set to hit the NCAA transfer portal once the spring portal opens up next week. Tennessee is moving on with the quarterbacks it has and head coach Josh Heupel might add another when the portal opens as well.

But as it stands, this is the reality of college football, and college athletics as a whole. Kelly broke it down following LSU’s latest practice.

“Well, I think we’re in this period of adjustment, right,” Kelly said. “I mean, I think, you know, we’ve got a settlement that is in the throes of being decided. The house settlement is coming close to bringing us, most likely, some form of revenue sharing. I think there’s changes coming in NIL, I think this is the first version of corrections, maybe. And, you know, I think that we’re going to see a lot of this. This was a new world, and I think we’re going to navigate it the best that we can, but I think that there’s going to be other situations that come, and we’re just going to have to do the best we can.” 

As far as what comes next, Kelly thinks more information being available will aid how to navigate NIL. But without proper guidelines, there could be more situations like this in the future.

“I think there’s going to be better information out there that will allow people to look at comps for positions and say, that makes sense, that doesn’t make sense,” Kelly said. “And it allow us to navigate this a lot more reasonably moving forward for good or bad, and people can make decisions. If you want to pay ‘X,’ then that’s what you can do. 

“But I think this is the natural course that would happen when there weren’t many guidelines out there. And moving forward, I think, with the house settlement, and, you know, with potentially, a clearing house for NIL, I think we’ll see a better place as we continue to move forward.”

According to VolQuest’s Austin Price, Iamaleava was absent from Friday’s spring practice amid ongoing negotiations with Tennessee to amend the original deal in name, image, and likeness. It would be a massive jump in price.

As a sophomore last season, Nico Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns in his first year as Tennessee’s starting quarterback. He previously sat behind Joe Milton, and NIL was a central part of the recruiting process. As The Athletic reported at the time, Iamaleava received a lucrative NIL deal when he arrived on Rocky Top.

That agreement was a seminal moment in the NIL era, and something the NCAA was getting ready to investigate before Tennessee fought back. That led to a preliminary injunction and, ultimately, the NCAA allowing NIL discussions to take place during the recruiting process.