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Danny Kanell, Damien Harris paint grim outlook on Nico Iamaleava's future

Chandler Vesselsby: Chandler Vessels14 hours agoChandlerVessels
nico iamaleava
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Things continue to go downhill for Nico Iamaleava to start the 2025 college football season. After transferring from Tennessee to UCLA this offseason due to NIL negotiations gone wrong with the Vols, the QB is off to an 0-3 start with his new team.

The latest loss came Friday as the Bruins fell 35-10 against New Mexico. Iamaleava threw for 217 yards and a touchdown with one interception, also adding 33 yards rushing.

CBS Sports analyst Danny Kanell reflected on the offseason move from Iamaleava and how the decisions he made came back to haunt him. Now he serves as a cautionary tale to other players in the NIL era.

“I think this should be a warning for every player out there that is considered making a move, and I think even more so it’s a warning to those players (to) be careful of the advice you’re getting,” Kanell said Saturday on air. “I don’t think this was Nico’s fault. I think it was his dad got heavily involved, he had some representation that was heavily involved and they thought they could get more money from Tennessee.

“But if you’re gonna bluff and act like there’s a lot of great opportunities out there, you better make sure you have one. Because they were scrambling to find a place for him to go to and they ended up at UCLA and it made zero sense whatsoever. The excuse they said with Tennessee was, ‘We’re not real thrilled about them not giving much help around us with the offensive line. We weren’t gonna get helped with the NFL development.’ This move could derail his entire career.”

Damien Harris, who was also on the pregame show, interjected. He made it clear the damage was done.

“Not could, it already has,” he said.

A former five-star prospect in the 2023 class, Nico Iamaleava stepped into a starting role for the first time last season as a redshirt freshman. He ended the year with solid numbers of 2,616 yards passing, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions while leading the Vols to a College Football Playoff berth.

Things were setting up for Iamaleava to return and potentially take another step forward as Tennessee aimed for another shot at the CFP. HoTwever, after Iamaleava sat out of practice and team meetings while seeking more compensation on his NIL deal, coach Josh Heupel announced the team was moving on from the QB.

In the end, Iamaleava is much worse off than he would have been by staying in Knoxville. Not only is he making less money after the whole saga, but is clearly on a much worse team. Tennessee is off to a 2-0 start and facing Georgia this week.

Iamaleava, on the other hand, is almost certainly headed toward missing out on the College Football Playoff and the chance to further his career. In fact, Kanell estimated that the quarterback is “probably gonna be somewhere else next year.” If that’s the case, it only makes his decision from this offseason look even worse.