Nico Iamaleava's Camp Says 'We Did Nothing Wrong' In Breakup with Tennessee

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) exits the field after the game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the latest reporting from Front Office Sports, a source involved with Nico Iamaleava's camp claims that they did nothing wrong in the breakup with the Tennessee Volunteers.

The very public and ugly breakup between the Tennessee Volunteers and former five-star QB, Nico Iamaleava has been the headline news topic in college football for nearly a week now.

Starting on Thursday, April 10th, reports began to surface that Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee were in heated negotiations regarding his comensation. Iamaleava's current reported salary of $2.5 had been demanded to be raised to $4m per reports. Then upon holding out of practice on Friday of last week, Tennessee directed Iamaleava to enter the Transfer Portal.

Wednesday, reports from Front Office Sports surfaced with quotes from representatives in Nico Iamaleava's camp. A source close to the negitiaon sitaution on Iamaleava's side claims they did nothing wrong.

“His representation hasn’t steered him wrong,” the family told Front Office Sports says. “At the end of the day, what did we do wrong to steer him and put him in a bad situation? We didn’t.”

EXCLUSIVE: Nico Iamaleava's camp says he did not push for more NIL money from Tennessee.

"The narrative was bullshit," a family friend involved in the negotiations tells FOS—though other sources dispute the claim.

Inside the QB's ugly breakup with the Vols ⬇️

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 16, 2025

Nico Iamaleava is currently in the transfer portal market with really no suitors at the moment. UCLA remains the only team that hasn't publicly moved on from the current negotiations. Tulane has moved on. UNC has moved on. Other power 5 schools have expressed interest, but no where near the reported $4m that Iamaleava's demanded. The market currently resides somwhere near $1m.

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