Rece Davis is a strong advocate for player empowerment, but that stance appears to wane in the case of Nico Iamaleava. The former Tennessee quarterback is officially transferring to UCLA, as first reported by Colin Cowherd. While figures like Kirk Herbstreit hesitated to question the sophomore quarterback’s character, the College GameDay star did take the opportunity to express frustration at the media’s trend of not holding players accountable. In contrast, Davis criticized Iamaleava and his representation for their “extraordinarily ungrateful” approach.
“There are a lot of different ways to look at this,” Davis said on the College GameDay Podcast, “and if you’ve followed my thoughts on this podcast or on GameDay, you know that I support players getting paid. They’ve been shortchanged for years, and we might see this change with the House settlement.” However, Davis believes there is a proper way to conduct business. He described how Iamaleava and his team mismanaged their situation with the Volunteers, misjudging their leverage and lacking a clear landing spot. “You need to have a landing spot before you start demanding extra money,” he remarked, adding that they came off as extraordinarily ungrateful, damaging their reputation.
“Nico Iamaleava, for those unaware, was approached by Tennessee while still in high school and received an NIL deal,” he noted, emphasizing that it was all within the rules. “Later, the Tennessee state attorney general even fought for him to ensure the NCAA couldn’t declare him ineligible to play for Tennessee. He received some upfront money and a payment during his non-playing year, showing glimpses of talent despite an unspectacular season.” Davis highlighted that while Iamaleava showed promise, other influences may have swayed him, preventing him from asserting himself and saying, “This is not the way we’re going to do business.” This ultimately led to him skipping a practice, marking the end of his career at Tennessee.
At the time of the podcast, the news of Iamaleava transferring to Deshaun Foster’s UCLA program had yet to surface, but Davis expressed skepticism about the quarterback’s market. “He’ll play,” Davis stated. “He’s talented enough to excel, and I believe he can bounce back from this setback. However, it’s undeniably a significant hurdle.” Given his mishandling of the situation at Tennessee, this could serve as either a wake-up call for Nico or a cautionary tale for others attempting to overextend their leverage.
