Five-star Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava is one of the most high-profile young quarterbacks in college football, especially after his breakout performance in the bowl game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. But it sounds like he’s currently involved in an NCAA investigation.
According to a report from Michael S. Schmidt, David A. Fahrenthold and Billy Witz of the New York Times, Nico Iamaleava is currently involved in an NCAA investigation into potential recruiting violations.
“The investigation is focused on Tennessee’s high-profile donor collective, a group of alumni and wealthy boosters who support the team by channeling payments and other benefits to players. The inquiry is looking at, among other things, the group’s role in flying a high-profile recruit to campus on a private jet while the football team was wooing him, one person familiar with the case said,” the New York Times reported.
“Having the booster group pay for the trip by the recruit, Nico Iamaleava, now Tennessee’s starting quarterback, would be a violation of N.C.A.A. rules. The inquiry comes after the N.C.A.A. penalized Tennessee for earlier recruiting violations and signals the organization’s growing concern about the huge sums being injected into the nominally amateur world of college sports by donor collectives.”
The New York Times also reported that Iamaleava “has a deal with the school’s collective that may be worth $8 million.”
