Oklahoma GM Jim Nagy calls Nico Iamaleava departure 'a doomsday scenario' for Tennessee

Oklahoma general manager Jim Nagy watched along with the rest of the college football world as Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee divorced. The star quarterback is headed to the into the NCAA Transfer Portal after NIL negotiations with the Volunteers turned ugly over the past couple of days.

Nagy, who’s in his first season with the Sooners after serving as the executive director of the Senior Bowl, realizes it’s a delicate situation. Still, it’s something he knows can’t happen under his watch in Norman: “This can’t happen here,” Nagy told George Stoia III of Sooner Scoop. “There are red flags along the way. … That’s a doomsday scenario.”

It’s easy to see why the Oklahoma general manager would feel that way. The heat was turned up on the situation as a whole when On3 insider Pete Nakos reported Iamaleava and Tennessee were in active negotiations on a new NIL deal ahead of the coming season.

At the time, it was unclear how those negotiations might impact Iamaleava’s decision about the Spring transfer portal, which opens next week. Tennessee ended up making the choice for him.

Nakos suggested Iamaleava was seeking to amend the original multi-million dollar NIL deal he received when he signed with Tennessee as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. At the time, Iamaleava’s deal was consideted one of the first significant NIL contracts issued. But the market has since adjusted significantly — especially at the quarterback position.

According to Nakos, Iamaleava’s current contract is somewhere between $2.2 to $2.5 million. In the time since he agreed to his deal, transfers like Miami’s Carson Beck and Duke’s Darian Mensah have reportedly both signed contracts this offseason worth more than $3 million annually. Michigan even gave five-star freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood over $3 million per year, as well. 

Moreover, ESPN’s Chris Low added that Iamaleava’s team wanted his deal upped into the $4 million range before the winter portal closed, and with the spring portal opening up on Wednesday, the topic has come to fruition again. According to Low’s sources, Tennessee officials said they “weren’t going to blink” regarding the quarterback, and they didn’t.

Regardless of how it played out for Nico Iamaleava at Tennessee, a dangerous precedent is being set in college football at the moment, as there aren’t exactly any rules governing NIL or the transfer portal. What happens next remains to be seen, but Jim Nagy is trying to keep Oklahoma on the right path, and he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure it for the Sooners.