Tenner C QB Nico Iamaleava doesn’t show up for spring practices

Was wondering when players would start holding out of camp for contract disputes like the NFL. Here we are.

What’s the point of signing a contract if the player can renege and demand more with no consequences?

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What’s the point of signing a contract if the player can renege and demand more with no consequences?

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If he isn't fulfilling his contractual obligations, then he won't get paid.

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this makes Nuss look even better

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College football is fricked now

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we have fricking holdouts in CFB now. the game is ruined.

Crazy you go 14-31 for 104 yards and get your doors blown off 42-17 the last game you played in and you think your worth even more money now somehow.

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If he isn't fulfilling his contractual obligations, then he won't get paid.

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True. But his contract obligations can't be to play football or contingent upon him playing football for a certain school. That's what makes this all a big mess. He could, realistically, sign a new NIL deal today, then go to the HC in August and say he wants a new, more expensive NIL deal than the one he just signed in April and there is nothing Tennessee could do to force him to play. Of course, he would have less leverage then than now because by the time August comes around he likely wouldn't be able to transfer to a new school and be immediately eligible (academically). He also likely wouldn't be able to play immediately simply because he'd have to integrate to the team, learn the system, etc. His biggest leverage then would be to sit out the season (which he may not want to do).

It's a high-price game of chicken that we, the fans, are partially at fault for facilitating. Tennessee fans, like every SEC fanbase, demand success. Heupel could call his bluff and not be willing to "renegotiate". The risk is Nico leaves. Losing your starting QB is not exactly a recipe for success. But would the fans support Heupel if goes 8-4 next year because he would allow himself to be leveraged by his starting QB? Or will they not care that he lost his starting QB and demand he win big anyway?

The players hold a LOT of the leverage because they know how great of a demand there is to win on the HC from the fanbase. If the HC loses the fans will want him fired, and they won't care if a big reason for the losing is because the HC wouldn't keep paying the players' ransom.

This won't be just a Tennessee problem. Slick pro agents are writing these deals for kids and they much savy than school NIL reps in most cases. Tennessee should have accounted for this shite in the original deal. No sympathy for them. And no end in sight for College Football. All schools will just have to adjust and catch up.

Geaux Tigers!!
And F$%k Bama!

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Crazy you go 14-31 for 104 yards and get your doors blown off 42-17 the last game you played in and you think your worth even more money now somehow.

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Supply and demand.

The supply of starting QBs with SEC experience, or the physical traits to play in the SEC is low. The demand of the number of teams wanting a QB with SEC experience and physical traits is higher. It Tenn doesn't "come to terms" with Nico, they are left with (a) going with someone already on the roster as a starter or (b) trying to fish for a starter in a smaller transfer pool. It's not like they could make a trade with, for example, LSU for Van Buren (tough I guess they could, through backchannels try to get him to enter the portal)

LSU ran into this issue last year at DT when they didn't bring in a transfer in the fall. The pool DTs in the spring was small and unremarkable. The demand for the few better ones was high. That meant LSU either had to overpay for a slightly above average DT or take a very average player at a more reasonable cost.

IMO, you are going to see more and more players used the scarcity of the spring portal to leverage their current schools. They are coming to realize that if they bail in the spring it puts their HC in a very tough spot to replace them ahead of the season. One, that a coach might be willing to overpay to avoid.