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The NIL landscape and the transfer portal has become a massive talking point in college football this offseason. The Iamaleava family has sparked a lot of that discussion with the transfers of both Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava and Arkansas football passer Madden Iamaleava.
Nico, who was the starter on a College Football Playoff-bound Tennessee squad last season, ended up holding out this spring in an attempt to earn more NIL money. After Tennessee moved on from him, the former five-star recruit transferred to UCLA.
That decision was quickly followed by his younger brother, Madden, quickly entering the transfer portal and following Nico to UCLA. The four-star recruit was originally committed to the Bruins in his home state of California before flipping to Arkansas just before signing.
Now, Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek may pursue a buyout from the incoming freshman's contract with the NIL collective Arkansas Edge, via Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports.
“I have spoken with the leadership team at Arkansas Edge and expressed my support in their pursuit to enforce their rights under any agreement violated by our student-athletes moving forward,” Yurachek said, via Marcello. “We appreciate Edge's investment in our student-athletes and acknowledge the enforcement of these agreements is vital in our new world of college athletics.
“We look forward to continued dialogue with all parties resolving these matters.”
If Arkansas were to take legal action against Iamaleava, this would be a massive next step in college sports. Even if buyout terms have been in NIL contracts before, those terms have not been honored when players transfer away more often than not. Arkansas pursuing legal action for what would be a “six-figure buyout,” according to Marcello, would be a groundbreaking development.
Many people, including college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, have suggested buyout clauses in NIL contracts in college sports as a way to try to suppress the amount of transfers that we see in both football and basketball during the offseason. Whether that would work if it is implemented remains to be seen, but it is something that will become more prominent after this Arkansas-Iamaleava debacle.
