Steve Spurrier defends Tennessee in Nico Iamaleava split

Former coach Steve Spurrier defended Tennessee amid the Nico Iamaleava split. The quarterback entered the NCAA transfer portal following a failed renegotiation of his NIL deal with the program.

Tennessee was seemingly in a no-win situation with Iamaleava, who he and his reps thought he had leverage. But instead of upping the price of their starting quarterback, Josh Heupel and crew moved on.

But as Spurrier pointed out, college athletics are in a precarious situation with players in all sports practically being free agents at the end of each season. Iamaleava might get paid elsewhere, but he won’t get the asking price at Tennessee.

“It’ll be interesting to see who picks him up,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “But Tennessee, I think they did the right thing. They said, ‘Hey, we had a deal for four years.’ I think they had with him, and now he wanted to open it. And they said, ‘No, we’re not going to do that’. So they’re looking for a quarterback. So many schools are. Basketball coaches are the same way, and it’s just open season on everybody. 

“Everybody’s a free agent every year in all sports in college now. Let’s have some rules here and go from there. But they haven’t yet. We’re going to be in this till somebody changes the rules. I don’t know who’s going to do it.”

Now, whether he gets his desired figure is anyone’s guess. On3’s Pete Nakos reported UCLA, Tulane and North Carolina were initially in on Iamaleava’s services in the transfer portal.

However, the Tar Heels are out, leaving the aforementioned other two schools as the likely suitors for the former five-star prospect. So while there are no winners right now, the end of the story can be vastly different, depending upon the outcome.

“There are no winners in this and how it impacts the future depends on how this story ends,” ESPN’s Heather Dinich said on Get Up. “Watch what happens in the portal with Nico Iamaleava. Does he eventually wind up getting the money that he wants? Because if he does, he might wind up looking like a hero to other players. If he doesn’t, this is a cautionary tale.”

Iamaleava originally sought a huge payday back in December, per ESPN’s Chris Low. His representatives looked to increase the quarterback’s deal to the “$4 million range” in NIL just before the end of the transfer portal window, per his report. Still, those with the Volunteers “weren’t going to blink” at those demands.

Last season, Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, five interceptions, a 63.8% completion percentage. He also had 358 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.