Nico Iamaleava's Camp Says They Didn’t Steer Him In Wrong Direction, As Transfer Portal Opens

Nico Iamaleava officially entered the transfer portal on Wednesday morning, with a ‘do not contact’ tag applied to his name. The former Tennessee quarterback has been the talk of college football over the past five days, since his tumultuous departure from Knoxville. 

Now that the portal is officially open, you can expect a plethora of players to test the waters, looking for another team, or a bigger payday. 

As for Nico Iamaleava, the ‘do not contact’ tag means he does not want schools reaching out to him, but rather, his side will reach out to schools. Usually, when a player has this tag attached to their name, it means that they have already found their next school.

Multiple sources tell OutKick that UCLA has offered Nico Iamaleava, but the money being discussed is nowhere near what he would’ve made at Tennessee this season, factoring in his asking price of $4 million. Don't forget, Nico did not have to pay state income taxes while living in Knoxville, which is not the case for California. 

So, it would have to be a very nice deal to offset some the money he would've received at Tennessee. 

But, I don't know how much this is the case for this particular player. As of Wednesday, teams like North Carolina, Tulane, Notre Dame and Texas Tech were reportedly not interested in the services of Iamalavea. 

Right now, UCLA is the school that has gained the most traction, but there is currently not a deal in place for the quarterback to return to the West Coast. How this plays out over the next few weeks will be fascinating to watch unfold. Given that plenty of schools are not willing to pay the $4 million he was looking to get from Tennessee in a renegotiation, the market for Nico is headed for a dip. 

Will Nico Iamaleava Find A New Home For His Asking Price? 

So, where does Nico land? A lot of that depends on what schools are willing to offer from an NIL standpoint, along with how revenue-sharing will play a part in a new contract for the former five-star quarterback. 

One thing to remember is that Nico Iamalaeva could be on a college campus for just a year, compared to a player like South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez, who is likely headed to North Carolina to play for Bill Belichick, and has multiple years of eligibility remaining. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this entire conversation around Nico Iamaleava is that he's actually a nice young man, but has gotten some very bad advice during this process. This has led some teams to back off of the transfer quarterback. 

While he certainly didn’t help himself with the way he left Tennessee, one school is going to get a talented player with a high upside. The problem is that he will enroll at a school without much time to prepare for the upcoming season. 

Either way, one team will end up getting a talented quarterback who has a little extra baggage to check. 

Update: Nico Iamaleava Camp Says They Didn’t Put Him In A Bad spot

We knew that Nico's side would finally come out and address his departure from Tennessee, but I don't expect folks thought they'd argue that they did nothing wrong in the process. 

In an interview with FOS, a ‘friend’ of the family came out against the narratives that are being reported about why the former Tennessee quarterback decided to leave Knoxville, and what led to the point of no return. 

After not showing up for practice last week, it was clear that the relationship between both sides was over. But, if you're trying to blame the people that were in the quarterbacks' ear during this process, they are claiming that nothing they did was wrong. 

"His representation hasn’t steered him wrong," a family friend told Front Office Sports. "At the end of the day, what did we do wrong to steer him and put him in a bad situation? We didn’t."

As we've reported multiple times over the past week, Nico Iamaleava's camp went to Tennessee during the winter portal period and asked the Vols to help them out through the transfer portal, by adding more weapons around the quarterback. There was also a request for more money, at the last minute. 

But, according to the ‘family friend’, none of this had to do with money, but more so trying to help him with players from the transfer portal. According to multiple sources, the two sides had been discussing a financial restructuring of the contract. 

One other key aspect of the reported conversation with a friend of the family was the health of Iamaleava. It was pointed out that Nico suffered ‘multiple concussions and two cracked helmets throughout the course of the 2024 season’. This is the Iamaleava camp saying that the well-being of Nico was a concern, specifically along the offensive line. 

There was going to be mud thrown from Nico's side, and it came on the day that the transfer portal opens in college football.