In the last few months, two things have headlined in the college football world. The QB position and the NIL chase. After Bryce Underwood’s hunt ended, there arose another QB from Knoxville who just might have created one of the most, if not the most, public divorces in NCAA history– Nico Iamaleava. Within 72 hours, the QB went from being one of the top recruits who brought them big wins like over Alabama as their No. 8 hero at Tennessee to being their villain with a “greedy” tag attached to his name because a $2million/year NIL contract he signed as a high schooler was not enough. Although it all began with Nico’s camp reaching to Tennessee for contract negotiations, asking for at least $4M/ year on April 10, it quickly whittled down to the QB missing the practice and team meetings the next day and Josh Heupel finally announcing “moving on” from him by April 12. 

Now off to his native place at UCLA, for even lesser money than he got at Tennessee, for a school at a losing curve, and a city where rent would be much more than Knoxville, many believe Nico has lost the bet he made and became a hate magnet even if he said this decision was “not something I expected to make this soon.” While there are some supporters who believe that the QB was only asking for the money that his skills prove, most of the noise surrounding the case has been negative. In fact, analysts like 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.” And then came the accusations.

In April, he was blamed that he “tried to sit out and throw” the CFP game against Ohio State that the Vols lost 42-17. Of course, the young QB had a response: “Damn I tried to sit out and throw the playoff game too? 😂😂 These boys just make me laugh man ain’t no way. 😂” He did not back down and then posted another Instagram story with his former teammate quarterback Navy Shuler, joking how the two were talking about “how ima throw this game rq.” And although he has moved to the West Coast, he is still continuing to keep up with his social media shenanigans, resorting to cryptic messages while his future in the Bruins squad is likely to fall flat because of a legal hoopla, not exactly related to him.

The former Vols quarterback re-shared a post on his Instagram story 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, showing his full support to the message, added, “In a real way tho 👁️.” Was it an indirect attack for the critics? Was it him showing his stance on what his former HC Josh Heupel had said when he made an appearance on the 104-5 The Zone podcast?

On the podcast, 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?” 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, who interestingly decommitted from UCLA hearing about Nico’s entry. “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 Heupel to at least acknowledge him, but he was the one who turned his back.

However, the Long Island could be happy knowing that his younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, too, would be close to him. But there might be an iffy situation there too. So, 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 Madden 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 as profitably, quite literally!

Turns out, Arkansas will not let go of Madden easily. The Razorbacks made it known that they would seek legal restitution. A part of the Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek’s tweet on April 21 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.

Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports tweeted, “NEWS: Arkansas’s NIL collective has sent two demand letters to players asking to fulfill buyout clauses, source tells @FOS. The AD’s comments yesterday were referring to multiple players who left before NIL contracts expired, including Madden Iamaleava.”

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.