Nico Iamaleava breaks silence over Tennessee CFP rumors and fires back at haters

Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has had quite a week since skipping practice and ending his relationship with Tennessee ahead of the Orange & White Game. 

He has since entered the transfer portal and is expected to land at UCLA, although the deal has not been officially completed. 

Since he departed from Rocky Top, rumors have been swirling about his time at Tennessee. From skipping out on engagements in his NIL contract to missing practice and attempting to hold out of the Vols' College Football Playoff game against Ohio State, he is being called out for many mistakes made in his two years in Knoxville. 

Whether all of that is true is to be determined. Only the coaching staff and possibly other players can confirm if he tried to hold out of the CFP game, but Nico has broken his silence and denied those claims. 

Josh Pate hinted that Nico tried to sit out of the Vols' CFP game on his show last weekend, stating Nico and his team demanded more NIL earnings, or he wouldn't play. 

"This stuff was happening last December during the playoffs — with [Nico] included, but not just this kid," Pate said on his show. "They were trying to get more money from Tennessee and other playoff teams before the playoffs. They were trying to leverage playoff participation.

Nico breaks silence and calls out the haters

Nico finally responded to these claims on Instagram, calling out the haters and saying, "damn, I tried to sit out and throw the playoff game too? these boys just make me laugh man ain't no way."

Nico posted several stories on his Instagram account before taking all of them down. His second targeted Instagram story was another shot at Vol Nation, saying "me and @navyshuler talm bout how ima throw this game [real quick]."

Nico has since taken down the Instagram stories as I am sure it was advised by his dad/camp. Nico trying to sit out of the CFP game fits the bill from everything else we have learned about how he and his camp have approached NIL negotiations since arriving on campus.

The Nico story has been interesting, to say the least. There have been two distinct sides to the Nico saga, one coming out of Knoxville and the other denying everything being said coming out of California. 

Now Nico and his camp look to make the $4 million a year they were demanding out of Tennessee back in California with UCLA, although the rumored deal is significantly less than what Nico made at Tennessee, and the Vols are in the market for another quarterback.