Report: Nico Iamaleava recruitment part of NCAA investigation into alleged Tennessee NIL violations

More details are starting to come out about the NCAA’s investigation into alleged NIL violations at Tennessee. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde first reported the inquiry into “major” violations across several programs.

The New York Times reported part of the investigation involves the recruitment of Nico Iamaleava. During the process, an NIL collective allegedly paid for Iamaleava to come to campus on a private jet. According to NCAA rules, NIL collectives cannot be involved in the recruiting process.

Iamaleava’s recruitment was highly publicized, and The Athletic reported he agreed to an NIL deal worth up to $8 million upon his arrival at Tennessee. He spent last season behind Joe Milton as the Volunteers’ backup quarterback, and he’s now preparing to take over as the starter after Milton ran out of eligibility.

After SI reported the NCAA’s investigation into Tennessee, university president Donde Plowman released a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker blasting the investigation.

“The leaders of intercollegiate athletics owe it to student-athletes and their families to establish clear rules and to act in their best interest,” the letter read, in part. “Instead, two and a half years of vague and contradictory NCAA memos, emails and ‘guidance’ about name, image and likeness (NIL) has created extraordinary chaos that student-athletes and institutions are struggling to navigate.

“In short, the NCAA is failing.”

Toward the end of the three-page letter, Plowman blasted the NCAA’s current guidelines and what collectives’ roles are in the current space.

“It is intellectually dishonest for the NCAA staff to issue guidelines that say a third-party collective/business may meet with prospective student-athletes, discuss NIL, even enter into a contract with prospective student-athletes, but at the same time say that the collective may not engage in conversations that would be of a recruiting nature,” Plowman wrote. “Any discussion about NIL might factor into a prospective student-athlete’s decision to attend an institution. This creates an inherently unworkable situation, and everyone knows it.”

The NCAA’s investigation into Tennessee is the third major inquiry into alleged NIL violations this month. On Jan. 11, Florida State received multiple major penalties as a result of NIL-related violations, including a three-game suspension and two-year show cause against offensive coordinator Alex Atkins.

Then, just over a week later, The Tampa Bay Times’ Matt Baker reported Florida was at the center of an NCAA investigation. The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy later reported it centered on the recruitment of Jaden Rashada, who ultimately got a release from his National Letter of Intent and chose to attend Arizona State this past season.