QB Holds Out for More $$$, School Stands Firm; Two Warriors' Takeaways; Belichick's Back At It

Back in September, a quarterback named Matthew Sluka quit the UNLV football team after leading the Rebels to a 3-0 start, alleging that they'd failed to deliver on promises of NIL dollars when he transferred from Holy Cross.

Sluka's exit wasn't that surprising. We knew it was only a matter of time before a college player who'd been promised a boatload of money to transfer would quit on his team when the promises weren't kept.

We also knew it was only a matter of time before we'd see an NFL-type holdout and a public breakup at a major Power 4 Conference school.

Well, it happened this week at Tennessee.

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who made headlines back in 2022 when he signed an $8+ million deal to play at Tennessee, is suddenly unhappy with the $2.4M he was going to get this season.

Poor baby.

You see, Carson Beck, formerly of Georgia, reportedly just got $4 million to transfer to Miami, and Nico thinks he deserves the same deal.

When Iamaleava demanded the additional dollars from Tennessee, head coach Josh Heupel said, "no way." 

Iamaleava then notified offensive coordinator Joey Halzle he was going to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Wednesday, basically saying "I am a leaving".

The tipping point came last Friday, when Nico was a no show for practice and team meetings. Heupel wasted no time cutting the chord.

"Obviously, we're moving forward as a program without him," he said. "There's no one that's bigger than the Power T, and that includes me."

Iamaleava's deal was one of the biggest in history--second only to Jaden Rashada's $13M deal at Florida, which ultimately blew up in his face--and was reported to be $8 million when he signed it. But he actually started getting payments while still in high school in Southern California, and the total value was closer to $10 million, according to ESPN.

Last season, his first as a starter, he helped lead Tennessee to a 10-3 season and the College Football Playoffs. He passed for 2,616 yards, 19 TDs and 5 interceptions.

But much of his production came against weaker teams. 11 of his 19 TDs came against Chattanooga, UTEP and Vanderbilt. In Tennessee's first round CFP game against Ohio State, he completed only 14 of 31 for 104 yards and no TDs. 

Still, he and his agents think he's worth $4M. It'll be interesting to see if he can find another school willing to pay that freight.

I've watched them both, and Beck and Imaleava are not elite quarterbacks.

I keep thinking back to all the great Bay Area quarterbacks--Jim Plunkett, Craig Morton, Dan Pastorini, John Elway, the late Joe Roth, Steve Bartkowski, Andrew Luck, and so many others--who played for tuition, room and board.

Back when football was an extracurricular activity, and not a massive business. When players attended classes and the term "student-athlete" wasn't a national punchline. Before TV rights and the almighty dollar corrupted the sport we love.

This is what college football has become, and it's sickening.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Nico.

Warriors Takeaways: Two takeaways from the Warriors' overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday, a loss that has relegated them to a play-in game tomorrow.

1) I love Steph Curry. He's the greatest shooter and one of the top 25 NBA players of all time. 

But his rampant turnovers are getting very costly.

At the end of regulation and overtime Saturday, Curry made two turnovers that spelled doom for the Warriors.  He had eight in the game, and that's about six too many for a player of his stature.

By comparison, teammate "Playoff Jimmy" Butler, who had the ball at least as much as Curry, had one turnover.

Curry's fumbles come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's carelessness, sometimes it's trying to dribble through too much traffic, sometimes it's getting caught in the air, sometimes it's a long pass falling incomplete.

But if the Warriors are going to get in and advance in the playoffs, it's gotta stop.

2) Jonathan Kuminga did not play for the Warriors. This is the same guy who erupted in late December and early January--scoring 34 points on successive nighs--to stamp himself as one of the emerging stars of the league, before suffering a serious ankle injury that sidelined him for over 30 games.

In the interim, the Warriors traded for Butler, who's been nothing short of fantastic, and coach Steve Kerr has found a rotation that has limited Kuminga to about 20 minutes per game. Then came the dnp on Saturday.

In my mind, Kerr has never fully appreciated Kuminga's talents, or Moses Moody's for that matter. Moody has been moved into the starting lineup, but is often left out of the lineup in crucial minutes.

On Saturday, Moody sparked the Warriors to a 12-point lead in the first half with several steals and blocks, but he didn't play for the last seven minutes of the game or in overtime.

While Kuminga and Moody sat, Quentin Post and Gary Payton Jr. got key minutes. Which I find baffling.

Don't be surprised if the Warriors trade Kuminga in the off season for a big man. And I believe he'll become a big star somewhere else.

Belichick the Charmer: Grouchy old Bill Belichick, now the head coach at North Carolina, is at it again.

Belichick's team just concluded spring practice, and he continued his longstanding NFL practices of basically providing no access to his players, coaches, or himself.

Mr. Personality did one interview with the media at the start of spring ball. After that, there were no player interviews throughout the spring or after the final practice, no interviews with any assistant coaches, no final interview with Belichick. He didn't even pick up the microphone to thank fans for attending.

That kind of behavior might be okay when you win seven Super Bowls in a pro environment, but it's not going to cut it on a college campus where you need to build interest and community.

Particularly when you're making $10 million to coach the team.