It is the offseason for college football, but Tennessee football has been grabbing the headlines for the wrong reasons, with the NCAA all over the program amid an ongoing investigation into the school's utilization of name, image, and likeness benefits.
The NCAA's scrutiny of Tennessee is not sitting well with plenty of people, including former college football star and ex-NFL player Danny Kanell. The former Florida State Seminoles quarterback recently went off on the NCAA for being overbearing. It's not exactly the first time that the organization has been passionately criticized, but Kanell's tirade is surely another hit in the image of the NCAA.
“They are trying to hold on to the tiny ounce of power that they think they have… they have completely lost control of college football,” Kanell said about the NCAA's investigation of Tennessee that is mainly rooted in the recruitment process of Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava (h/t College Sports on SiriusXM).
Article Continues BelowThe NCAA is mainly looking at a potential violation Tennessee committed in the recruitment of Iamaleava and his NIL deal with the SEC program.
In 2023, Iamaleava's first season in college football, he appeared in five games for Tennessee and passed for 314 tards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions on 28/45 completions. Before committing to and enrolling at Tennessee, Iamaleava received plenty of offers from other big programs like the Alabama Crimson Tide, Arizona Wildcats, Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, Michigan State Spartans, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks, Ole Miss Rebels, and Oregon State Beavers among the many..