Arkansas Hires Prominent Attorney To Go After Madden Iamalaeva NIL Contract Buyout

Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek was not playing to the crowd last week when he released a statement on social media detailing how the Razorbacks collective will pursue money owed by players who breach their NIL contracts. Now, the ‘Edge’ collective has hired attorney Tom Mars to recoup money they say is owed by Madden Iamaleva, the younger brother of Nico Iamalaeva. 

All of this started when Nico decided to transfer from Tennessee.  That started a ripple-effect that led to his younger brother Madden, who played at Arkansas, to enter the transfer portal to follow him to UCLA. 

But, we have a battle brewing off the field, as Blueprint Sports, which runs the Arkansas collective ‘Edge’ has retained noted attorney Tom Mars to represent them in their fight to recoup around $200,000 in NIL money that they say Madden owes the Razorbacks, according to a representative. 

This stems from a contract that Iamalaeva signed when he enrolled at Arkansas, which was a one-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $500,000 for his services, according to multiple sources. As OutKick reported last week, the collective has already sent demand letters to Iamaleava, along with another Arkansas player that has left the school. 

Arkansas Collective Hiring Tom Mars Means They Have A Good Case?

In the contract signed, there is a section that calls for Iamalaeva to pay 50% of the financial sum that is still remaining on the contract that was signed by both parties. Since Madden was set to make $400,000 on the remainder of his deal, the buyout would be right at $200,000 that Iamalaeva would owe. Known for his cases against the NCAA, attorney Tom Mars is being tasked with recouping the money, and he is no stranger to some of the most interesting battles in recent memory. 

In the past, he has represented Tennessee student athletes in their fight for eligibility, while also fighting for Nico Iamalaeva, and the Vols collective, in their fight against the NCAA, which was tied to an NCAA investigation into Iamalaeva last year. 

Now, the veteran attorney, who is known to be a pitbull in these situations, is going after the Iamaleava family for money that Arkansas' collective says it is owed from their NIL contract. 

We have been waiting to see if a collective would go after a player for breach of contract, with the court of public opinion playing a major factor in why we have not seen something like this before, especially playing out in the public eye. After athletic director Hunter Yurachek released his statement on social media, it was a clear sign that they were going to fight for what they thought was owed. 

In this changing landscape of college athletics, players will soon be signing contracts with the schools itself, given that the House settlement will be approved in the next few weeks. But, for a collective to go after a player for what they discern as a breach of contract, it's certainly a new era in college athletics. 

Do Collectives Have A Case Against Players? A Good Question

The problem that we are seeing right now with these contracts that are signed between collectives and players is that there is so much wiggle room with the language that it's hard to interpret if they actually have a case. 

A lot of these contracts that athletes sign have ‘liquidated damage’ clauses, and trying to determine how much money an athlete would actually make a collective, or school, is hard to determine. If an athlete performs the services asked, the collective would have to present a strong case that they would lose a specific amount of money from a player leaving that school. 

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - OCTOBER 05: Fans of the Arkansas Razorbacks storm the field after a game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 05, 2024 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Razorbacks defeated the Volunteers 19-14.  (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

If Madden Iamaleava was set to make $500,000 over the life of a one-year deal, and he is being payed to perform these services at Arkansas, I could see that type of language helping the collective. But, if it's the NIL rights that are being signed over, this could lead to an argument that it's just the rights, now where they actually perform services at that could be argued as well. 

As for Iamaleava, his attorney will have a conversation with Tom Mars this week regarding the ‘buyout’, which could go one or two ways. Either way, somebody is getting paid over the next few months. Whether that's the Arkansas collective or the attorneys fighting that matter is left to be determined.