Reports: Vols QB Nico Iamaleava out of practice amid NIL talks
April 12 - Tennessee football received a surprise when quarterback Nico Iamaleava opted not to attend Friday's spring practice, according to multiple media reports.
Iamaleava, 20, is attempting to negotiate for more NIL money, per On3.com, with his absence presumably tied to those conversations.
Tennessee is scheduled to hold its Orange & White Spring Game Saturday, while the spring transfer portal window opens on Wednesday.
The current situation might qualify as one of college football's first-ever contract holdouts.
ESPN reported that Iamaleava's existing deal, which is scheduled to pay him more than $8 million over his entire college career, is being rejected by Iamaleava and his camp, who desire $4 million a season instead.
Iamaleava played sparingly as a freshman in 2023 before taking over the starting role last fall. In his first season as a starter, he completed 63.8 percent of his passes for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns against five interceptions, leading Tennessee to a 10-3 record and a College Football Playoff appearance.
The Vols finished ninth in the final AP poll following their 42-17 first-round loss to eventual champion Ohio State.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
Aaron Rodgers signs with Pittsburgh Steelers to end free agency odyssey
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers' ended his long-running free agency saga as the polarizing four-times NFL MVP launched a new chapter of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. The team posted on social media a photo of Rodgers wearing a Steelers hat with a pen in his hand and a smile on his face two days after reports of the first broke. 'Done deal,' the photo caption said. The one-year contract is for $13.65m, which includes $10m guaranteed and has a maximum value of $19.5m, ESPN reported on Saturday, citing sources. The deal is pending a physical, the team said. Rodgers will hold a press conference on Tuesday after minicamp practice. Months of speculation gave way to frustrated impatience from fans seeking any clue to his future following Rodgers' acrimonious split from the New York Jets almost four months ago. The 41-year-old left the team after a turbulent two-year-tenure that began with a torn achilles tendon and ended with a clumsily concealed behind-the-scenes spat with owner Woody Johnson. Analysts laid out a few possible destinations for the twice NFL passing touchdown leader but as teams recruited talent in free agency and at April's Draft, the odds Rodgers would play again appeared to dwindle with each passing day. NFL experts and insiders indicated last week that the Steelers were no closer to sealing the deal. 'We've heard Art Rooney, the Steelers owner, say they expect that Rodgers will eventually sign. But here we are, June 4, nothing but silence,' ESPN's Adam Schefter said. But Rodgers, once criticised for misleading fans and reporters about his Covid-19 vaccination status, again confounded expectations on Thursday, as news broke he would join the Steelers on a one-year deal. Rodgers produced a solid 3,897 passing yards and 28 touchdowns across 17 games last season, but some experts are skeptical. 'It's a joke. What are you going to do? Bring him in just for a year? He should stay [at home] in California,' four-times Super Bowl winner-turned-broadcaster Terry Bradshaw said on his 'Morning Mayhem' radio show last week. Once the face of Green Bay during his 18 seasons with the Packers, Rodgers hoisted the Lombardi Trophy with the team in 2011 and will come face-to-face with them again – playing for the team they beat in the Super Bowl – in Week 8. He will open the season against the Jets.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
A $2.8 billion settlement will change college sports forever. Here's how
A federal judge has approved terms of a sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that will upend the way college sports have been run for more than a century. In short, schools can now directly pay players through licensing deals — a concept that goes against the foundation of amateurism that college sports was built upon. Some questions and answers about this monumental change for college athletics: Q: What is the House settlement and why does it matter? A: Grant House is a former Arizona State swimmer who sued the defendants (the NCAA and the five biggest athletic conferences in the nation). His lawsuit and two others were combined and over several years the dispute wound up with the settlement that ends a decades-old prohibition on schools cutting checks directly to athletes. Now, each school will be able to make payments to athletes for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). For reference, there are nearly 200,000 athletes and 350 schools in Division I alone and 500,000 and 1,100 schools across the entire NCAA. Q: How much will the schools pay the athletes and where will the money come from? A: In Year 1, each school can share up to about $20.5 million with their athletes, a number that represents 22% of their revenue from things like media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne famously told Congress 'those are resources and revenues that don't exist.' Some of the money will come via ever-growing TV rights packages, especially for the College Football Playoff. But some schools are increasing costs to fans through 'talent fees,' concession price hikes and 'athletic fees' added to tuition costs. Q: What about scholarships? Wasn't that like paying the athletes? A: Scholarships and 'cost of attendance' have always been part of the deal for many Division I athletes and there is certainly value to that, especially if athletes get their degree. The NCAA says its member schools hand out nearly $4 billion in athletic scholarships every year. But athletes have long argued that it was hardly enough to compensate them for the millions in revenue they helped produce for the schools, which went to a lot of places, including multimillion-dollar coaches' salaries. They took those arguments to court and won. Q: Haven't players been getting paid for a while now? A: Yes, since 2021. Facing losses in court and a growing number of state laws targeting its amateurism policies, the NCAA cleared the way for athletes to receive NIL money from third parties, including so-called donor-backed collectives that support various schools. Under House, the school can pay that money directly to athletes and the collectives are still in the game. Q: But will $20.5 million cover all the costs for the athletes? A: Probably not. But under terms of the settlement, third parties are still allowed to cut deals with the players. Some call it a workaround, but most simply view this as the new reality in college sports as schools battle to land top talent and then keep them on campus. Top quarterbacks are reportedly getting paid around $2 million a year, which would eat up about 10% of a typical school's NIL budget for all its athletes. Q: Are there any rules or is it a free-for-all? A: The defendant conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12) are creating an enforcement arm that is essentially taking over for the NCAA, which used to police recruiting violations and the like. Among this new entity's biggest functions is to analyze third-party deals worth $600 or more to make sure they are paying players an appropriate 'market value' for the services being provided. The so-called College Sports Commission promises to be quicker and more efficient than the NCAA. Schools are being asked to sign a contract saying they will abide by the rules of this new structure, even if it means going against laws passed in their individual states. Q: What about players who played before NIL was allowed? A: A key component of the settlement is the $2.7 billion in back pay going to athletes who competed between 2016-24 and were either fully or partially shut out from those payments under previous NCAA rules. That money will come from the NCAA and its conferences (but really from the schools, who will receive lower-than-normal payouts from things like March Madness). Q: Who will get most of the money? A: Since football and men's basketball are the primary revenue drivers at most schools, and that money helps fund all the other sports, it stands to reason that the football and basketball players will get most of the money. But that is one of the most difficult calculations for the schools to make. There could be Title IX equity concerns as well. Q: What about all the swimmers, gymnasts and other Olympic sports athletes? A: The settlement calls for roster limits that will reduce the number of players on all teams while making all of those players – not just a portion – eligible for full scholarships. This figures to have an outsize impact on Olympic-sport athletes, whose scholarships cost as much as that of a football player but whose sports don't produce revenue. There are concerns that the pipeline of college talent for Team USA will take a hit. Q: So, once this is finished, all of college sports' problems are solved, right? A: The new enforcement arm seems ripe for litigation. There are also the issues of collective bargaining and whether athletes should flat-out be considered employees, a notion the NCAA and schools are generally not interested in, despite Tennessee athletic director Danny White's suggestion that collective bargaining is a potential solution to a lot of headaches. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been pushing Congress for a limited antitrust exemption that would protect college sports from another series of lawsuits but so far nothing has emerged from Capitol Hill. ___
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- The Herald Scotland
Texas softball vs Texas Tech live updates: Start time, TV channel
The Longhorns earned the Game 1 victory behind the heroics of catcher Reese Atwood. The following day, NiJaree Canady led the Red Raiders back into the win column in Game 2 after taking responsibility for a major mistake on Atwood's game-winning hit in Game 1. Texas ace Teagan Kavan is expected to be back in the circle for the Longhorns to try and clinch the championship. Despite throwing 495 pitches in five games at the WCWS, Canady is expected to throw the majority of innings for Texas Tech. USA TODAY Sports is bringing you live updates, scores and highlights from Game 3 of the WCWS finals. Follow along: Watch WCWS finals with ESPN+ Texas vs Texas Tech softball live score This section will be updated TEAM1234567FTexas Tech--------Texas-------- Here's the Longhorns' starting lineup for the third game of the WCWS final: Ashton Maloney, RF Kayden Henry, CF Mia Scott, 3B Reese Atwood, C Katie Stewart, LF Joley Mitchell, 1B Leighann Goode, SS Katie Cimusz, DP Kaydee Bennett, 2B For the third straight night, NiJaree Canady is the starter for the Red Raiders. Canady has thrown 495 pitches in five games in the WCWS. Here's the lineup for the Red Raiders in Game 3 of the WCWS final. Texas Tech is the designated road team. Mihyia Davis, CF Hailey Toney, SS Lauren Allred, 1B Alana Johnson, RF Alexa Langeliers, 2B NiJaree Canady, SP Demi Elder, LF Victoria Valdez, C Bailey Lindemuth, 3B Game 2 of the WCWS final between Texas and Texas Tech was the most-watched Game 2 ever with 2.1 million viewers. The game peaked at 2.6 million viewers and was up 5% from 2024's Game 2 between Texas and Oklahoma. The game is the fifth-most watched college softball game across ESPN platforms. Not only is Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady flourishing in the circle in the WCWS this week in Oklahoma City, she is also doing well for herself off the field. She has reportedly signed a new NIL deal ahead of Game 3. Read more about the details of her latest deal here. Texas and Texas Tech are set to square off in a winner-take-all Game 3 in the Women's College World Series championship series. Since the format was adopted in 2005, this marks the seventh Game 3. Here's a look at the history of Game 3s. What time does Texas vs Texas Tech softball start? Time: 8 p.m. ET 8 p.m. ET Date: Friday, June 6 Friday, June 6 Location: Devon Park (Oklahoma City) First pitch for Game 3 of the WCWS finals is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET from Devon Park in Oklahoma City. What TV channel is Texas vs Texas Tech softball on today? TV channel: ESPN ESPN Streaming: ESPN app | ESPN+ Game 3 of the national championship series between Texas and Texas Tech will air live on ESPN, with streaming options on the ESPN app (with a cable login) and ESPN+, the latter of which serves as the network's streaming service. WCWS finals schedule
