Adding My Nico Iamaleava Take To The Pile Of Nico Iamaleava Takes

Nico Iamaleava is headed for the transfer portal. The five-star quarterback is the talk of the college football town. Reports surfaced earlier this week that Iamaleava was searching for a new NIL deal and was willing to hold his team hostage just days before the spring transfer portal window opened. One thing led to another and Tennessee made the decision to move on from Iamaleava sparking all kinds of debate and discussion throughout the CFB world.

We refuse to be the exception. We're going to talk about it here at GEHB as well. Buckle up, folks. It's time to get our Tennessee Volunteer on. Who is to blame in all of this?

The Case Against Tennessee

If Patrick Mahomes demanded more money from the Kansas City Chiefs, don't you think they'd find a way to get it to him? If Jayden Daniels said he was going to walk after his rookie deal was up unless he landed some big time money deal from the Washington Commanders, don't you think that Washington would find a way to make it work? Teams spend their entire existence looking for franchise quarterbacks. Once they get one, they do not want that quarterback to walk out on them unless they absolutely have to.

It's not exactly apples-to-apples when looking at Tennessee's situation with Iamaleava, but the underlying principle remains the same: Hold onto top-flight quarterbacks at all cost.

Tennessee knew what they had in Iamaleava. They could have upped his NIL deal following the season. Iamaleava wasn't perfect last season, but he did take the Vols to the College Football Playoff as a sophomore. Now, the Vols were looking to build on that success this season and make a real run at a national championship. They know that an experienced and talented quarterback is pivotal to making that run, so why wouldn't they pay him?

To be clear, I'm not talking about paying him this past week under the threat of transfer. I'm talking about paying him in December as soon as the playoff run ended. Go to Iamaleava and find out what number he needs to stay happy. Then follow up with him again before the semester starts. Then see if that number is still good going into spring ball.

It's easy to say that Tennessee thought they had a deal in place so they didn't need to worry about it. Companies make that mistake all the time. You assume your top performer is happy, you give them a 3% cost of living increase at the end of the year, and you believe all is well. You certainly would have paid them more, but you didn't have to. All was well.

But then that employee gets a 50% raise from another competitor and you're stuck scrambling. If you match or exceed the raise, the employee is left wondering why you didn't do that all along if you could have. If you don't match the raise, your top performer is about to walk out the door. It's a story that Corporate America sees every day.

Like the less-than-proactive employer, Tennessee could have done more to avoid this entire situation to begin with.

The Case Against Nico Iamaleava

One thing that the player-empowerment era has done is somehow put players above all criticism. Jay Bilas likes to constantly remind the world that the coaches transfer portal is always open and coaches are never criticized for it, so why are players held to a different standard?

Simply put? They aren't.

Coaches get criticized for making moves all the time. Darian DeVries had an agreement with Indiana so fast after West Virginia didn't make the NCAA Tournament that it almost looked like he was happy to not extend his season another week by playing in the NCAAs. Will Wade had accepted a job with NC State while still leading McNeese State into the Big Dance. He was open and transparent about it, but still scrutinized when he officially made the move.

Pretending like coaches aren't criticized for jumping ship is just as silly as pretending like there are different standards for coaches and players sometimes.

So, what do we do when we can't make out good from bad? We turn to The Office. Why? Because The Office never leads us astray.

Let's go back to Stamford, CT on the day that the Stamford Branch and Scranton Branch were set to combine. Josh was set to be the leader of the new branch and was a critical piece in all of Jan and David's plans. What did Josh do? He took his new offer and title and leveraged that into a new offer with Staples.

Was that within his purview as an employee of Dunder Mifflin? Of course it was.

Did he have the leverage and choose to play it at the most advantageous time for him? Yes, he definitely did.

Would Dunder Mifflin have laid Josh off as quickly as they were planning on laying off Michael if that's what they needed to do? Absolutely they would have.

So, Josh did everything within his rights and power to find a situation that he found more suitable for his own personal life.

That doesn't mean he wasn't a giant asshole.

We as fans love to use an analogy in these transfer situations where we try to compare what players to do our own lives. Raise your hand if you've heard, 'All of us would leave our jobs to double our salaries too so this can't be the player's fault.'

But here's the thing... that's simply not true.

Sure, sometimes it's true. If I could leave my job to go be a full-time YouTuber for twice my current salary, I'd do it in a heartbeat. If I could match my salary to take Jarom Jordan's job, I'd do that too. But would I take a raise to do my same bank job?

I mean, I've turned down a bunch of job offers before.

It's a misnomer to reduce these kinds of decisions down to 'well if any of us could then any of us would.'

I turned down a job offer that would have added a significant chunk to my salary, given me a fancy new title, and a whole lot of credibility among the banking world. Why did I turn it down? I was happy where I was. I trusted the people I worked with. I felt some kind of loyalty to the company that took a chance on me as a young college kid who needed a job, even if that loyalty was misguided. I was making plenty for my lifestyle at the time and I didn't need to jump ship. Even though the offer was more money and more prestige, I turned it down.

I could have taken that job. Some people in my same scenario might have taken that job. There isn't a clear-cut right or wrong answer in that situation. It isn't black and white. And it isn't as simple as 'well if you could add 40% to your salary, wouldn't you?'

If I had taken that job, there would have been reactions to the decision as well. I might have damaged some relationships with co-workers. I probably would have been blamed for most of the bad things that happened at my previous job over the next several weeks or months. It's possible that a bridge would have been burned and I wouldn't have been able to return to the company I had just left. Even if the decision had been right for me, doesn't mean that there wouldn't be consequences, feelings, and emotions left behind me.

Such is the case with Iamaleava. Just because he had the leverage doesn't mean that he had to use it. He has legitimate NFL potential, especially had he taken Tennessee to where Vol fans believed Tennessee could go this year. He threw all of that away for a couple million dollars. It might work out. It might not work out. The decision might be right for Iamaleava or it might be wrong.

But that doesn't change that there are a lot of people in Knoxville that this he's an asshole. And they are perfectly justified in that line of thinking. What Iamaleava did was completely within his rights and his power. It's also exactly what Josh from Stamford did.

There will be consequences that Iamaleava has to face now. He will face loyalty questions from his new team. He will be a hated man in Knoxville. If he ever has to ask Josh Heupel for a reference of any kind, he should probably just accept defeat. Whether he was justified or not, there will be consequences. If Iamaleava is big enough to make millions and throw out ultimatums, then he's big enough to deal with those consequences too. Pretending that just because he could do something makes it objectively right is crazy.

The Case Against The NCAA

The NCAA is a town without a sheriff right now. It's easy to pile on and point fingers at the NCAA when situations like this happen. They haven't governed and now they are stuck living in the anarchy that they've created. They deserve a lot of criticism.

But, and it's shocking to me that I'm actually going to write these words down in this syntax, I'm not so sure that we can really blame the NCAA. And there is actually some poetic justice here for the NCAA too.

It was 2024 when the NCAA had to settle with the state of Tennessee (and Virginia, among others) and concede that NIL deals could be negotiated while a player was still being recruited.

Remember when that happened? The NCAA launched some kind of investigation into Tennessee's questionable NIL dealings and Tennessee got the state government to file a lawsuit so they could get their way. Ultimately, the law sided with Tennessee and the NCAA was rendered powerless.

And I'm supposed to blame the NCAA when Tennessee reaps exactly what they sowed just a year ago?

The NCAA has been beaten and bruised to a pulp when it comes to NIL and transfer rules. Every time they have tried to enforce a rule, some lawyer from somewhere gets involved and sues them into oblivion. We've sat idly by and watched it all happen. But then we criticize the NCAA for not leading and enforcing rules? I mean, what can they even do? Every rule they try to enforced gets challenged and eventually eradicated in court.

I'm not stranger to blaming the NCAA for a lot of things. They have been one of the weakest and most futile organizations in modern sports history. But in this specific case? Blaming the NCAA is like Winnie The Pooh blaming the bees for stinging him. Get your naked ass out of the beehive, Pooh. If you go poking around for honey with your pants off, why should I feel bad that you got stung?

Well Then... Who Do You Blame, Jeff?

I don't blame Tennessee for not being more proactive. I don't feel bad for them for being caught a little flat-footed, but I don't think they can realistically be held to blame here.

I don't blame the NCAA for throwing its hands in the air when it comes to NIL and transfer topics. We've seen again and again what the court does to the NCAA when they try to show their teeth in these situations.

So, that leaves Iamaleava for me. He didn't do anything wrong. He did exactly what many other people in his situation would do. He is doing what he thinks is best for him and for his future. Whether or not it works out is kind of irrelevant at this point. Iamaleava is part of the generation that wanted more player rights and he is exercising those rights. He is doing exactly what so many ahead of him wished they could do. He did nothing wrong.

But I hate it. I think it was a terribly short-sighted move. I think he deserves all the heat that is coming his way from Tennessee fans. I think whatever team decides to bring him in has to ask themselves some very serious questions before they add him to the roster. He has enough natural talent that he could have struggled the rest of his college career and still made NFL money at some point. But now he is going to have to perform really well in college to the point that an NFL team is willing to overlook any questions they might have to add his production onto their locker room. I think Iamaleava made a really dumb move.

Do I blame him? Not really, I guess. He's doing what is within his rights to do. Blame really isn't necessary at this point.

But I definitely think it is stupid.

So... The Real Question Is Whether Or Not BYU Should Add Him, Right?

That might be the real question but the real answer is simple.

No. BYU should not.

His talent is undeniable and BYU needs as much talent as they can get. If he were to come to BYU, assimilate with the rest of the team and the coaches, and get to work, there is a chance that BYU might be better for it.

But there is a bigger chance that he comes to BYU with a bunch of baggage and everything that Kalani Sitake has been working for with his locker room culture and motivating guys to play for each other would be completely out the window. BYU can't forget who they are. They can't forget their identity. Talent is king but BYU is still BYU.

Maybe he goes to his next school and balls out and I look like an idiot. But I think the gamble is too great for BYU to make. The Cougars have a good thing going and need to continue to stay on target.