By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Nico Iamaleava’s name will go down in college football history as one that created a turning point for players in multiple ways.

Which part fans remember might depend on how the rest of Iamaleava’s football career plays out.

As he prepares to enter the transfer portal amid a public breakup with Tennessee about name, image and likeness re-negotiations, this first-of-its-kind NFL-style holdout situation was possible only because of what had come before it.

Iamaleava once again has brought college football a lot closer to … whatever its future will be. His NIL deal going public before enrolling at Tennessee and the legal defense of it led to more money for players. Iamaleava gave a lot more leverage to the players by knowing the value of college athletes.

On the other hand, his public breakup with Tennessee gave leverage to the universities. Had Tennessee and its collective balked or hesitated, more stars might’ve started public holdouts. Instead, Vols fans backed coach Josh Heupel, and players are anticipating that fans won’t be on their side.

It started in 2022, an $8 million multiyear for Iamaleava while he was still in high school.

It was one of the first sets of public NIL numbers, and this caught more attention from the public because Iamaleava hadn’t played a single down of college football.

When the NCAA looked into it, the state of Tennessee’s attorney general sued the Tennessee collective, leading to a settlement that allows boosters to negotiate NIL with athletes and their agents before players enroll.

Both of those situations will likely lead to more millions going to players. The public contract leak in 2022 reset the market for active players and recruits and has removed the possibility of universities underpaying athletes who are inexperienced in negotiation.

The AG’s lawsuit opened the door to more direct NIL conversations with recruits. Cracking the NIL and creating a more lucrative space for athletes is part of Iamaleava’s legacy.

That is why the whole idea of calling this “NIL” remains farcical. The millions and millions spent on players for NIL come from boosters, local business owners, and rich alumni who want these players to represent their business the same way they represent their university.

This has created tension between regular fans, who don’t care about any individual’s success, they just want to see their team win…

College football is a transient sport; because of that fans root for a team more than a player because the players are only there for 4 years MAX.

The NCAA was able to keep up amateurism and cheat athletes for so long. The NCAA has purposely made the unionization of players hard on the principle that fans, more often than not, will show up on Saturdays no matter who’s on the field, even if they’re showing up with paper bags on their heads.

That reminder is the message coming out of Iamaleava’s impending divorce from Tennessee. Tennessee was one of the only states in America that never outlawed sharecropping, and their slave-owner mentality with college athletes is what bit them in the ass financially and on the field.

There is no college football without college athletes, and there is no excellence in college football without excellent college athletes.

The story is far from over. Perhaps Iamaleava finds a new home, continues to succeed, and earns whatever amount of money he’s worth.

Perhaps Tennessee can’t find an adequate replacement internally or in the portal and struggles in 2025.

The Vols appear willing to live with the potential consequences of fumbling a world class athlete, and the fans support being a worse team in 2025.

Players are worth what organizations are willing to pay them. That’s basic business. This breakup is a reminder that it only goes so far.