ESPN's Heather Dinich on Nico Iamaleava exit at Tennessee: 'There are no winners'

ESPN’s Heather Dinich claimed there were no winners in the Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee situation. He and his representatives played hard ball, but it backfired and resulted in his departure from the program.

Now, whether he gets his desired figure is anyone’s guess. On3’s Pete Nakos reported UCLA, Tulane and North Carolina were initially in on Iamaleava’s services in the transfer portal.

However, the Tar Heels are out, leaving the aforementioned other two schools as the likely suitors for the former five-star prospect. So while there are no winners right now, the end of the story can be vastly different, depending upon the outcome.

“There are no winners in this and how it impacts the future depends on how this story ends,” Dinich said on Get Up. “Watch what happens in the portal with Nico Iamaleava. Does he eventually wind up getting the money that he wants? Because if he does, he might wind up looking like a hero to other players. If he doesn’t, this is a cautionary tale.”

Heck, fellow ESPN college football aficionado Paul Finebaum said teams should stay away from Iamaleava. Basically, it’s your own fault for taking the risk.

“I would stay away from him,” Finebaum said. “You know, buyer beware of this guy. It’s not even Nico. It’s, it’s the whole apparatus. I mean, you’re not dealing – something tells me Nico is not personally in the middle of these negotiations. Team Nico is,” Finebaum said. “And I mean there is a, there is a toxic feeling about this player because of the attention and because he is the one that everyone is talking about. And I would be very careful.”

Everyone wants to know where Nico goes next in this storyline from out of Knoxville. Still, where he does end up, he’ll be bringing a lot of a new reputation with him that Finebaum knows will have an effect on his recruitment by any possible teams in the portal.

“You also have to decide what is the cost,” Finebaum said. “Every, everywhere he goes, there’s going to be this halo around him that says he held out, he asked for money, he’s a problem child, stay away.”

Iamaleava originally sought a huge payday back in December, per ESPN’s Chris Low. His representatives looked to increase the quarterback’s deal to the “$4 million range” in NIL just before the end of the transfer portal window, per his report. Still, those with the Volunteers “weren’t going to blink” at those demands.

Last season, Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, five interceptions, a 63.8% completion percentage. He also had 358 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.