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The biggest story in college football this spring is coming out of Knoxville, where Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava is no longer with the team after holding out in the midst of NIL negotiations. Once Iamaleava didn't show up for spring practice just before Tennessee's spring game, the program decided to cut ties with him and move on.
Of course, this sparked all kinds of reactions, from takes about Iamaleava himself to takes about the current NIL system in college football and the lack of regulations around it at the moment.
Naturally, most people aren't siding with Iamaleava after he left Tennessee for financial purposes. However, there is real discussion to be had about whether this hurts Iamaleava's NFL prospects. Albert Breer of Spirts Illustrated called it a “real mistake” from the former five-star recruit before going into detail about the potential consequences.
“Let’s say Iamaleava has a chance to be a first-round pick,” Breer wrote. “By transferring, he’ll be forcing himself into a new situation, having already missed spring practice, in a new system with a new set of teammates. He’s also naturally raised questions that weren’t there previously about his commitment to a team. Yes, there’s the argument that coaches do this sort of thing all the time, which is true. But if we’re just talking Iamaleava in a vacuum, it seems obvious that NFL teams would look at this and wonder what might happen three years from now.
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“So if there’s a little natural regression from the transition after a promising first year as a starter, and those questions lingering, it sure looks like he could have just negatively impacted his draft stock for whatever extra he makes, if there is even extra at UCLA or some other place. And even if it drops him, say, 15 slots in the draft, that means something.”
There's no doubt that Iamaleava has all of the talent in the world, hence his high rating coming out of high school. However, he is a little rough around the edges as a quarterback, as evidenced by his first season as the starter at Tennessee which was a bit rocky at times.
Playing in a more NFL-ready system outside of Knoxville will likely help him grow, and he will be happy with the extra cash that he gets wherever he lands. However, his trajectory and his draft stock over the next few seasons is absolutely something to monitor coming out of this unprecedented situation.
