Tennessee Football’s Nico Iamaleava story has taken over the college football world this week.
With spring games happening around the country this past weekend, the media had plenty of opportunities to ask players and coaches alike about the developing situation with Tennessee and quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Some of those names include Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, LSU head coach Brian Kelly, and even former Tennessee-turned-Florida quarterback Harrison Bailey.
Cristobal didn’t hold back any thoughts when talking about the negatives of players trying to hold out on programs over NIL negotiations. That was essentially the case in Knoxville this past weekend when Iamaleava no-showed the Vols’ Friday practice during reported contract renegotiations with Tennessee’s NIL collective.
“We’re not going to do that at Miami,” Cristobal said while speaking with reporters on Saturday. “And I say that without any hesitation. If anyone’s thinking that, they can be the best player in the world, but if they want to play hold out, they might as well play get out. If you really want to do that. We don’t want Miami to become that. Too many guys have sweated blood, have laid on the line on that field to ever become that kind of program.”
Strong words from Canes Head Coach Mario Cristobal in the wake of Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava’s hold out-turned departure.
“If they wanna play hold out, they might as well play get out.” pic.twitter.com/pqJZbIVqmk
— Clay Ferraro (@ClayWPLG) April 12, 2025
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Tennessee’s actions show the same thought process on Rocky Top. Once Iamaleava no-showed practice on Friday, Tennessee made the decision to part ways with the rising redshirt sophomore quarterback before the spring game on Saturday.
“Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him,” Tennessee head coach said of Iamaleava on Saturday. “I said it to the guys today: there’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T, and that includes me.”
Cristobal wasn’t the only head coach to receive an inquiry from the media on Saturday, though. After the Tigers’ spring game on Saturday, LSU head coach Brian Kelly was also asked his thoughts on the Tennessee storyline and if his program has any guardrails to prevent situations like that in Baton Rouge. Kelly used a bit more word salad than Cristobal to present his thoughts but still shared an answer that was nearly two minutes long.
“Well, I think we’re in this period of adjustment, right? I mean, I think we’ve got a settlement that is in the throws of being decided,” Kelly said to reporters. “The House settlement is coming close, that will bring us, most likely, some form of revenue sharing. I think there’s changes coming in NIL. I think this is the first version of corrections, maybe? And I think that we’re going to see a lot of this, you know? This was a new world. And I think we’re going to navigate it the best that we can, but I think that there’s going to be other situations that come. And we’re just going to have to do the best we can. I think there’s going to be better information out there that will allow people to look at comps for positions and say, ‘That makes sense, that doesn’t make sense.’ It’ll allow us to navigate this a lot more reasonably moving forward, for good or bad… I think this the natural course that would happen when there weren’t that many guidelines out there.”
Brian Kelly asked about Nico Iamaleava situation at Tennessee:
“I think we are going to see a lot of this, this is a new world.
“I think this is the natural course when there weren’t many guidelines out there.” pic.twitter.com/8gSQPWxDnJ
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) April 12, 2025
Former Tennessee quarterback Harrison Bailey was also asked about the situation after he competed in the Florida Gators’ spring game this past Saturday. Bailey began his career at Tennessee and had stops at UNLV and Louisville before ending up in Gainesville for his final season of college football.
“Yeah, that was, um – I didn’t even know until some of the Gator fans were running up to me, telling me,” Bailey said during the Florida press conference. “It doesn’t su- eh, I don’t really know. It’s a tricky – I don’t know the full situation, so I can’t really comment too much on it. But I’ve met Nico before, and I know how Coach Heupel and the group is. They’re all great people. I have nothing negative to say about them. Maybe the situation just wasn’t right at the time and, you know, they parted ways.”
