NCAA Unsuccessfully Tried to Rule Tennessee Volunteers Star QB Ineligible

The Tennessee Volunteers almost lost their star quarterback Nico Iamaleava to NCAA efforts to rule him ineligible for his NIL deal.

Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) throws during the second half of the College Football Playoff first round game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Dec. 22, 2024. Ohio State won 42-17. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers and quarterback Nico Iamaleava have been under scrutiny from the NCAA since his commitment and the league apparently made another failed attempt to go after him.

Iamaleava was one of the first high school quarterbacks to land a massive NIL deal, putting him at the forefront of changing laws and guidelines.

Spyre Sports is an NIL collective that is partnered with the Volunteers and was the company lead the efforts to get the star quarterback to Knoxville with a deal worth up to $8 million.

A recent report from CBS Sports' John Talty delved back into the situation and goes deeper into the fact that the NCAA had been trying to get Iamaleava ruled ineligible because of this deal, but had failed.

For whatever reason, the organization has Spyre Sports in its sights as they continue to try to get Tennessee to part ways with the collective.

The world of NIL has spiraled out of control in recent years, so this is likely in some sort of effort to get it back in grasp. The guidelines have been hard to understand for some time now, and it is a big reason that their efforts to get Iamaleava ruled ineligble have fallen apart.

"I really felt strongly, as did our athletic department, that we hadn't done anything wrong and that they had changed the rules midstream and were trying to apply a rule back to before it was a rule. That just seemed wrong to me. I felt strongly the need to speak about it." said Volunteers chancellor Donde Plowman to Talty per the report.

This is not the first time in recent history that the Tennessee football program has had some run-ins with the NCAA. Former head coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff was fired by the university in an effort to get ahead of punishments.

Plowman was much more cooperative with the organization back then, when it was much clearer that some wrongdoing had occurred.

Iamaleava was a five-star recruit in the 2023 class and the second-ranked player in the country according to 247Sports. It was a massive signing at the time and has proven to be an impactful one as he led the school to a playoff berth in his first season as the starter.

The 20-year-old redshirt freshman completed 63.8% of his passes this season for 2,616 yards with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also rushed for 358 yards and three more touchdowns.

The school was rewarded with a solid season after its efforts to keep him on the field and will look for an even better campaign next year.