Tennessee Vols move on from starting QB Nico Iamaleava over holdout for more NIL money

As college football completes its transformation into professional football, a contract dispute has led a star quarterback and the team he led to the playoffs to go their separate ways.

Tennessee is moving on from starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, Pete Thamel of ESPN reports.

That comes a day after Iamaleava skipped practice in a holdout designed to get more money from Tennessee’s name, image and likeness collective.

NIL money in college football has become massive, with starting quarterbacks making millions of dollars a year. Iamaleava was reportedly slated to make $2.4 million from Tennessee’s NIL collective this season, but he wanted something more like the $4 million that quarterback Carson Beck got when he transferred from Georgia to Miami in January.

Now Iamaleava will have the opportunity to shop himself in the transfer portal to whatever team will pay him the most. The team that lands him will be getting a quarterback who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. And Tennessee will hope that it can afford a new quarterback will lead them back to the playoff.