Nico Iamaleava Saga Continues: Transfer Portal Set To Open, Players Looking To Cash In Before Revenue-Cap

Are you ready for another round of transfer portal moves? The second period opens on Wednesday, and there will be plenty of movement around college football, with a lot of eyes on former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava. 

This is the one portal period that coaches in college football are not as fond of, and that's putting it nicely, especially when you go through an entire spring camp, only to see some of your key contributors bolting for another school. 

But, that's the world we are currently living in, until coaches get their way and this spring period is either moved, or wiped out completely. While there will be a number of players that decide to test the waters, there is also a lot of negotiating that is currently ongoing. As most teams come out of spring practice, players will take this time as an opportunity to ask for more money from their respective team. 

Now, if they are worth it, then sure, schools will try to sweeten a deal for certain players. But, these athletes are also playing with fire, as the Nico Iamaleava situation proved. 

Teams looking to take a quarterback, with a very high pricetag, this late in the process has led to schools backing off the former Tennessee athlete. Now, reports indicate that Tulane has pulled out of the Iamaleava recruitment, which comes just 24 hours after an ACC school moved in a different direction. 

Point being, this is turning out to be an awful situation for the folks handling Nico's recruitment behind the scenes, as his price is also going to take a hit. This could certainly change, with schools looking to make moves over the next few weeks. But right now, this has been nothing short of a disaster for the Iamaleava campt. 

One of those ripple effects of the Nico move involved North Carolina, where Bill Belichick was looking for another quarterback to bring in and compete for the starting job. 

Nico Iamaleava Ordeal At Tennessee Is Not A New 'Holdout' Trend, It Was Just Bad Business

Bill Belichick Finds QB Help? How Nico Iamaleava Situation Is Unfolding

That situation seemed to be solved on Monday night, when South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez made his intentions to enter the transfer portal known. Why is this big for the Tar Heels? Well, from all indications, they decided not to move on Iamaleava, and instead bring in Gio Lopez from the portal, when it officially opens on Wednesday. 

Ok, so that's one school down in the Nico sweepstakes. So, who could be the other suitors? Even though UCLA did not have a good experience with Nico's brother, Madden, who decided at the last minute to attend Arkansas over UCLA, some fences have at least been mended. The problem with Nico potentially ending up in Westwood is that the Bruins will need to pay Iamaleava a pretty hefty salary to offset the taxes he wasn't paying at Tennessee. 

Think about it this way. If you're set to make around $2.4 million from Tennessee, but get more money from UCLA, you have to remember about the state income taxes that Iamaleava will have to pay in California. This is why it's good to have a very experienced accountant. 

Also, there are other teams that are interested in the services of Nico, but they might not have an opening yet. If Tennessee decides to go out and poach a starting quarterback from another top-tier school, this could have a ripple effect that actually helps Iamaleava. While this could be a nice thing to keep in their back-pocket, it was still a massive gamble for Nico's camp to take if they did not have a destination already lined up. 

It most certainly doesn't help that other schools have now watched this play out over the last few days, while some schools have known about this for months. While I don't think it was Dan Lanning himself, someone from Oregon alerted Tennessee that Nico was being shopped around, which Josh Heupel had kept in mind over the last few months. 

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - OCTOBER 05: Head Coach Josh Heupel talks with Nico Iamaleava #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers on the sidelines during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks 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)

Until House Settlement Is Approved, It Could Be An Expensive Portal

The lingering House settlement could be coming in for a landing over the next week. Parties involved submitted a new filing on Monday night that addressed some of the concerns of Judge Claudia Wilken. 

But, one thing that wasn’t altered was the reduction in roster size, which would've allowed for players who aren't on scholarship to be ‘grandfathered’ into the process, and not have their roster spot yanked from them immediately. 

On the other hand, there were schools across the country that were hoping this would all be settled before the transfer portal opened. The worry was that if the revenue-sharing cap was not in place, it would lead to schools having to entertain the thought that current players would be asking for more money, as teams have been front-loading deals to beat the settlement rules. 

You might be asking why this is a big deal. Well, since there is technically no revenue cap at the moment, and schools do not have to keep their payroll at a level playing field with others, it opens up the opportunity to entice star players with more money at another school. 

Most Players Entering Transfer Portal Know Where They Will Play Next

On Monday, Cal running back Jaydyn Ott decided he would enter his name into the portal, which came as a surprise to those of us covering the sport. While his 2024 season was hampered by an ankle injury suffered in the season-opener, the Bears running back accounted for 1,305 yards and twelve touchdowns during the 2023 season, finishing ninth in the country for average yards per game. 

The Oklahoma Sooners are an early favorite to land Jaydyn. Which goes back to my point that these star athletes don't usually enter the portal without a new home waiting for them. 

If you're looking for a current database of players that are entering the portal, or potentially leaning that way, there are plenty of sites like 247Sports, On3 and others that have up-to-date breakdowns of each athlete that decides to test the waters. 

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 12: Head Coach Bill Belichick of the North Carolina Tar Heels speaks to the media during a press conference on December 12, 2024 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Let me also be clear about this portal period. Most of these athletes that are deciding to transfer have already secured their spot on another team. IF they haven't, then their agent is not doing a good enough job. The biggest risk of entering the transfer portal in the spring is not finding the right fit at a new school before the season begins. 

And, there's also a mad dash to sign a number of players to contracts that wouldn't be controlled by the House settlement. Meaning, these teams can get the bulk of their payouts to a certain athlete taken care of before July 1st, when the new rules will take effect. 

No matter what transpires over the next eleven days, this will already go down as one of the wildest spring portal periods since its inception. 

Based on the happenings of the last few days, I hope these players have really good representation.