I agree, connerito. Nico's stunt wasn't surprising given the state of CFB these days. But whoever advised the kid (dad?) to 'put pressure on the Vols' by skipping a Spring practice session was an idiot. What a great way to alienate your fans!!! It also causes other programs to 'think twice' before making an offer out of the portal.
I think there are many issues. The SEC does not allow team/college transferring during the spring. This eliminates all those money teams immediately. There were also other restrictions with the transferring and I don’t see how he’s gonna make the money, at least for next year, that he may or is making a Tennessee. I am glad that he played his cards the way he did and got burnt.
He was making over 2 mill a year already, so they were paying him, and he wasn't going to be a heisman candidate unless he has improved a lot from last year. He was a big recruit but he certainly hasn't lit the world on fire.
https://www.si.com/betting/2024-hei...ewers-dillon-gabriel-chasing-in-crowded-field he was high on that list last year too and didn't end up anywhere in the conversation because he wasn't nearly as impressive as the hype surrounding him. His UT career ended with a playoff game where he went 14-31 for 104 yards. I never thought he looked like a top tier qb and never thought he looked as good as UTs previous qbs under Heupel. Plus the kid who will likely start is a redshirt who has been in the system and was a 4 star recruit, so it's not like they don't have guys behind him.Tennessee Volunteers QB, Nico Iamaleava One of the Favorites to Win 2025 Heisman
The Tennessee Volunteers enter the 2025 Season with ample expectations for their starting QB, Nico Iamaleava. His Heisman odds would indicate it's not just thewww.si.com
2025 Heisman Odds, Per FanDuel
Garrett Nussmeier +850
Arch Manning +850
Cade Klubnik +1200
Drew Allar +1200
Nico Iamaleava +1200
2 million is a drop in the bucket for a CFP run.
I don't know what you are trying to say...
I think he is over valuing his worth, that's the point. If someone else will pay him what he wants more power to them, but obviously UT thinks he is already making what he's worth, and weren't going to put up with him holding out. I don't blame them. I don't think he has played well enough to be making these demands.
Your worth is only what others will pay for it. Take real estate for example, a lot of people fall in love with their home or they fall in love with another home. If they love their place and want to sell they of course they think it's worth a lot or perhaps more than market value. Let's say you think you know your home us worth $900,00 because you put in all these custom features that mattered to you. You put it on the market and all your offers are $797,000 .
He wasn't in the top 50 in yards or top 40 in td passes, all of these rankings are based on potential, not production. And he does have potential, but why in the world would UT give him a raise when he didn't really earned a raise?
He is No. 1 player overall for the entire portal cycle. He is worth every penny.
Tennessee has a top 15 QB from the 2024 and 2025 class. If you watched them this year, they won in spite of the QB play not because of it. Defense carried them.
From what I am reading it seems his handler is mostly his dad, who likely has no clue how all of this works.
He will obviously be on a team next year, how much he will make is the question. If he doesn't make what he was asking from UT then what was the point? And even if he does make that, UT still did the right thing IMO. He would also have competition at some of those schools. The projected OSU starter was the top recruit in the country a couple of years ago, the projected Oregon starter was a 4 star recruit who sat behind Gabriel last year and already knows the offense. I have a hard time seeing either of those schools breaking the bank for him when they should be pretty good at qb already.
And the kid will be coming in during the summer and taking a crash course in a new offense without the benefit of Spring ball to help him get acclimated. He'll also come in with zero chemistry with his new teammates and will have to overcome their perception of him being a selfish, "it's all about me" player.
He committed to a contract. I think UT should sue but don’t see that happening as that would affect future recruits
Commentator Joel Knapp is a Colorado guy n supported this crazy decision
That is true, but on the other side the vast majority,98.4% will never play in pros. So improving their skill set is less important than raking in the $$ while they can. A lot of these kids will at a very young age will make 1/2 to 3/4 of their life's income before leaving college.
Coaches have to negotiate for a deal? Thought all ADs just had out extensions/pay raises regardless.
One of the issues is that he and his people overvalued his worth. If he was coming off a season where he had established himself as a great player then I think he would have had some leverage, but that's not the case. He was a solid player last year, but he certainly wasn't great, and he completely folded in the playoffs. He was already making a lot of money, but didn't have the type of season that justified what he was asking for.
