Luther Campbell takes shot at Arch Manning while defending Nico Iamaleava

Luther Campbell, also known as “Uncle Luke,” defended former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava amid his departure from the team after NIL negotiations. He did so while also taking a shot at Texas QB Arch Manning.

Campbell made the argument that Iamaleava should be paid like the other highest paid quarterbacks in college football based on what he’s done. He led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season.

He wants to be on par with others while Manning was a backup last season and current Miami quarterback Carson Beck just transferred in but hasn’t thrown a pass all spring. Count the former rapper as one in the corner of Iamaleava.

“Trying to make this make sense,” Campbell said. “So everybody is all up in arms the Tennessee quarterback wants to get paid amongst the highest paid quarterbacks in 2025. So make this make sense. ‘Hey, look, I love the University of Miami, I love the fact that Carson Beck is here, but he ain’t throw a pass the whole spring. Tulane quarterback goes to Duke and get $8 million. Really? Arch Manning is the leading paid quarterback right now in the NCAA. And what did he do last year? Sat the bench. He sat the bench. Oh, because his name is Manning?

“Make it make sense. What is Beck getting like, four or $5 million? (Nico Iamaleava) took his team to the playoff. All y’all full of (expletive) for even questioning the fact that he’s there and he’s asking to be paid amongst the highest paid. Half y’all running your (expletive) mouth on social media. You know damn well if you were put in that position, you would be like ‘yo, I took my team to the playoffs. I want to get paid, amongst the best.’”

Fans weren’t the only ones caught by surprise of Iamaleava’s holdout and eventual departure. After Tennessee’s spring game on Saturday, Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel revealed how the team handled the stunning news.

“Our team needs to handle it with maturity too,” Heupel said. “These guys have an appreciation for Nico and what he’s done since he’d been here too, just like I said at the beginning of the press conference.

“At the end of the day, everybody in college football’s dealing with this as the portal opens up here this week. And at the end of the day, it’s my responsibility, our staff’s responsibility, to find 105 guys that are going to go give their all for Tennessee day in, day out and certainly on game day too, and we’ll do that.”

Iamaleava reportedly made $2.25 to $2.5 million dollars per year on his NIL deal with Tennessee. However, Iamaleava and his agent were seeking a deal worth $4 million a year, per ESPN’s Chris Low.