Kyler Gilliam, Staff Writer

The debacle between the University of Tennessee Volunteers’ football program and its former starting quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, has dominated the conversation about the current structure of college athletics, this April. 

Collegiate player freedom is at an all-time high with the changes to rules allowing unlimited transfers and new financial opportunities through Name, Image and Likeness and revenue sharing.

Compared to the past, where athletes would sacrifice years of eligibility to transfer and could not earn any money off of their athletic ability — even though the institutions were profiting billions of dollars — the system in today’s landscape is finally starting to favor the players.

However, this power shift and changes to the rules have severely damaged the structure of college athletics. 

The NCAA tried for years to stop the movement to pay college athletes, but their legal defense of amateurism started to crumble in the federal and state courts. The organization was not proactive enough in setting up a foundation that would allow players to earn off their athletic ability, essentially establishing a free market that has been reaching a boiling point in recent years.

Iamaleava is a former five-star quarterback in the 2023 class out of California. During his recruitment process, more opportunities for college athletes through NIL started to open, leading him to sign a four-year $8 million deal with Tennessee before even taking a collegiate snap, according to Forbes.

This deal shocked the college athletics world. Some were happy that college athletes could earn that much money, while others were angry that their game was changing. But I saw that this system, as it’s currently structured, cannot last and it has to be fixed so everyone involved prospers.

Iamaleava helped lead Tennessee to its first College Football Playoff berth in program history. However, it was widely believed that he still underperformed in comparison to his college recruitment rating and price tag.

This next year should have been a breakout season for the 20-year-old QB, however, he decided to sit out of spring practice to acquire a new deal from the Vols, becoming the first college player to hold out for a new contract, signaling a major crack in the current system. 

One of the main problems with dealing with the new landscape of NIL and collective groups is that deals happen behind closed doors. When an NFL or NBA player signs a legally binding contract, the public knows how much and how long the contract is, but in college, it is all speculation. 

There is also no agent certification and registry for college athletics. Professional leagues require agents who represent talent to abide by certain regulations and must have certain qualifications to even be able to be on the registry. This process protects players from representatives who are either trying to make a disproportionate amount of money off of them or representatives who truly do not know what they are doing.

The college level does not have this level of protection, leading to players losing money, receiving bad advice and setting them back, both on the field and off.

Sadly, this is what happened to Iamaleava. He was set to make $2.4 million this year for Tennessee. But his representation believed he deserved more and thus led them to decide to hold Iamaleava out of spring practice to receive more money from the Vols. 

This ultimately did not work for the young QB and he officially entered the transfer portal on April 16, according to On3 Sports.

Iamaleava found a home with the UCLA Bruins. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels and Tulane University Green Wave showed initial interest but sought out other options at the quarterback position, according to NBC Sports. 

Iamaleava is on a worse team, is making less money and has a tarnished reputation. Sadly, the major blame does not fall on him, it falls on his representation that didn’t have to go through the same rigors as professional agents. 

With the NCAA not establishing a true payment system for its athletes, it allows for private, behind the curtain deals instead and leaving the rest of the collegiate athletic world in the dark.

Additionally, the transfer portal expedited this crumbling of the college system, with tampering spreading like wildfire.

Coaches are in a tough place due to the NCAA’s incompetence and reluctance to change when it needed to, putting the whole collegiate athletic world at risk of crumbling within.