Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman has a subtle but strong take on result for players who make the same move as former Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava
Former Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava has been the talk of the country since dodging practice last Friday and the Vols deciding they'd had enough and moving on from their starter. Iamaleava's NIL dispute and Josh Heupel's response has certainly been the first of its kind – at least out in the public eye – […]
Former Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava has been the talk of the country since dodging practice last Friday and the Vols deciding they'd had enough and moving on from their starter.
Iamaleava's NIL dispute and Josh Heupel's response has certainly been the first of its kind – at least out in the public eye – in the new world of college sports that's intertwined talent and dollars. And both current and former coaches have had plenty to say about it.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was asked about the subject by On3 Sports' J.D. Pickell on Tuesday, and while he wasn't as pointed as some coaches – such as Miami's Mario Cristobal and his "if anyone wants to play holdout, they might as well play get out" comments – his response delivered a strong message to those players that might be thinking about following Iamaleava's example.
"What you don't want to do is – I'm sure you've heard many coaches say – is, you don't want many players to make a temporary decision based off a temporary situation that's going to affect them long term, and that transactional decisions aren't always the best ones for your future. I think every situation is different. Every football program is different.
"But at the end of the day, you want to do what's right for college football. Between what's right for college football, what's right for our players. But you don't want this public disagreement to really tarnish what's so good about our profession and our sport."
The message from Freeman is pretty clear. Making a decision short term based on money can affect your prospects down the road.
And we're seeing that already not very far down the road with Iamaleava. While he just entered the portal officially on Wednesday, the schools that have allegedly reached out to him have been very limited. Where he ultimately ends up and how much money he ends up getting will tell the tale on whether the short-term benefits were worth the trouble from all of this.
And, of course, if Iamaleava ends up in the NFL one day, the questions will surely be put to him by NFL executives as they do their due diligence in advance of the NFL Draft, which Iamaleava will be eligible for next spring. Teams will surely want to know what happened and why a player would leave a program in the manner that he did.
We'll see soon enough how things shake out with Iamaleava with the spring portal opening. But Freeman's message is right for those thinking about taking the same route. Chasing the quick dollars now might end up costing a lot more, both in the near future and well beyond.
‘Tennessee saw the same thing, and that’s why he is no longer on the roster’ — Paul Finebaum argues factor as to why Nico Iamaleava was allowed to leave
The ex-Vols QB has been a lightning rod of national controversy
