Joined by Colin Cowherd, Joel Klatt shares his reaction to the Tennessee and Nico Iamaleava drama. It all started with the Quarterback departing from Tennessee following the NIL dispute over not agreeing to pay him $4 million.
The drama unfolded following the confirmation from Tennessee after Nico missed the training session. In the days following Imaleava’s exit, the media narrative pointed out that Nico Iamaleava looked forward to a more lucrative NIL contract, but the Vols, along with coach Josh Heupel, refused to meet the ask.
Joel Klatt Joins Colin Cowherd To Address the Nico Iamaleava Situation
As the deal goes, Nico was making $2 million on his old deal. His ask from Tennessee was a significant jump, with $4 million per year. Moreover, the young quarterback had other concerns regarding the offensive scheme under coach Heupel.
NIL and the XFR portal did not ruin College Football…The pathetic and inept NCAA not enforcing rules is threatening to ruin College Football…So, we need a governing body to step in and enforce mutually agreed upon rules…it is really that simple
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) April 12, 2025
Josh Klatt has shared his thoughts on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, addressing the drama.
“What’s Fascinating In This Instace is that part of his [Nico Iamaleava] Recruitment was brought as an infraction To the NCAA, and Tennessee fought tooth and nails and actually sued the NCAA. and that lawsuit is what led to, almost directly, a memo being sent to the member institutions of the NCAA that said verbatim basically, we no longer will enforce anything around nil, so Tennessee pretty much created the vacuum and is now crying foul when the vacuum is being exploited by one of the players that play on their team.”
Josh referred to this as a little bit of backstory. He pointed out that there is very little rules regarding the NIL and that is where the problem is. Josh eventually talks about a bigger system that everyone will agree on following these ongoing issues.
What Klatt Told Kay Adams
Prior to joining Colin Cowherd, Klatt joined the up & Adams show on Monday to share his thoughts on Nico Iamaleava following the news unfolding. He mentioned:
“There was some talk from his camp about wanting the offense at Tennessee to change a little bit,” Klatt told Kay Adams. “Because that offense in its nature does not prepare you well for the National Football League. It’s basically the old Baylor offense from Art Briles, and we have not seen a quarterback succeed going from that particular offense into the next level.”
KEEP READING: How Much is Nico Iamaleava Worth?
Klatt went on to share his thoughts on Nico’s possible next move.
“I think West Coast,” Klatt said. “Basically, it leaves those four Big Ten West Coast schools: Washington, Oregon, UCLA, or USC. He’s from Southern California, I’d be pretty surprised if he doesn’t land at either USC or UCLA.”
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