Nico Iamaleava has seemingly broken his silence after reports of him negotiating his NIL deal, skipping a Tennessee football practice and the Vols announcing they're moving on from him.
After posts on his Instagram story reposting former teammates Daevin Hobbs, Holden Staes and Kyle Miller, Iamaleava's story then turned to comments on the rumors of him looking to sit out of Tennessee's playoff game vs. Ohio State.
Here's what was posted.
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What Iamaleava's story said
Iamaleava's story featured an image of him running the ball against Ohio State. In the post, he captioned it 'damn i tried to sit out and throw the playoff game too?' with a pair of laughing emojis.
Below the image was written 'these boys just make me laugh man ain't no way' with another laughing emoji.
The song Essence by YN Jay was also featured.
The following post was an image of him talking with former Tennessee quarterback Navy Shuler, son of Vols legendary quarterback Heath Shuler.
The post wrote 'me and @navyshuler talm bout how ima throw this game rq' with two laughing emojis.
This post featured the song Paper Planes by M.I.A.
The origins of the rumor
The rumor is believed to have originated on Josh Pate's 'Josh Pate's College Football Show' during one of his episodes.
"A lot of the stuff they told you that wouldn't happen, it's funny how it keeps happening," Pate said on the show. "These are the same people who would tell you players would never opt out of playoff games. If we had more playoff games and less meaningless bowl games, then players wouldn't opt out of playoff games. You know, that same crowd fails to mention that this past December, cats like Nico Iamaleava almost held out of playoff games because they were trying to renegotiate contracts in the middle of the playoff run. He wasn't the only one."
It is currently unclear where Pate got this information. There have been no ulterior reports of Iamaleava or any other players attempting to hold out of playoff games due to NIL negotiations.
Iamaleava's playoff performance
Tennessee lost its first-round playoff game to Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, 42-17.
Iamaleava completed 14-of-31 passes for 104 yards. He did not throw a touchdown or an interception in the game.
On the ground, Iamaleava posted 47 yards on 20 carries. He found the end zone twice with his legs. He was sacked four times in the game.
This was Iamaleava's 13th start of the season. He finished his first full year as the starter by completing 63.8% of passes for 2,616 yards. He threw 19 touchdowns and five interceptions.
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