Micah Parsons rips Nico Iamaleava, state of college football amid holdout

As the Nico Iamaleava situation unfolds at Tennessee, reaction continues to pour in from across the football world. That includes the NFL, where Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons made his thoughts clear on the state of college football.

Parsons reacted on social media to Iamaleava’s apparent holdout, calling for more accountability. The Tennessee quarterback was absent from Friday’s practice, one day after On3’s Pete Nakos reported “active negotiations” between the two sides about a new NIL deal.

Parsons also called out the current landscape in college football. He called for it to become “semi-pro” given the impacts of NIL and transfer portal.

College football a joke now! Yall minds well just make college into a semi pro league! Actually hold players accountable to the contracts they sign! https://t.co/9gmrCOlZgi

— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) April 11, 2025

“College football a joke now!” Parsons wrote on X. “Yall minds well just make college into a semi pro league! Actually hold players accountable to the contracts they sign!”

Iamaleava’s situation unfolded just before Tennessee’s Orange and White spring game on Saturday. On3 reported he is seeking a new NIL deal, and the goal was to finalize an agreement before Saturday’s scrimmage, and multiple sources told Nakos Iamaleava’s current contract is somewhere between $2.2 to $2.5 million.

However, Friday’s practice provided another twist in the situation when Iamaleava was absent, VolQuest’s Austin Price reported. According to ESPN’s Chris Low, there has not been much – if any – contact between Iamaleava and the Tennessee program on Friday.

“From the best I can tell, the quarterbacks coach and OC Joey Halzle met at his house and they had dinner. Nico was there. After that, there was not really any contact with him from anybody that I’ve talked to,” Low said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “And then he didn’t show up for practice this morning. Tennessee practices in the morning. It was a surprise to his coaches, to his teammates, nobody heard he wasn’t coming. He just didn’t show up. And I don’t know that they’ve talked to him (since), unless something’s happened in the last hour or so.

“And tomorrow is the Spring game, if you want to add more drama to it. You’ve got fans coming on campus, you’ve got the Spring game, there’s going to be media opportunities after the game. I think his parents or at least his father was certainly planning on coming to the Spring game,” Low continued. “So I don’t know where any of that stands right now. Nor do I think anybody at Tennessee necessarily knows what’s going on right now. It’s a bizarre situation, but I can’t emphasize it enough, I don’t think this is the last of these types of things we’re going to see around college football the next year or two.”

As a sophomore last season, Nico Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns in his first year as Tennessee’s starting quarterback. He previously sat behind Joe Milton, and NIL was a central part of the recruiting process. As The Athletic reported at the time, Iamaleava received a lucrative NIL deal when he arrived on Rocky Top.