‘23 CA QB Nicholaus Iamaleava (Tennessee)

[LittleVol]

Here's what is funny as hell to me.... If not for the rumored (unconfirmed) $8million Nico deal, most would still be talking about how bad Spyre is. If you look at it realistically, Spyre refuses to take part in any bidding wars. Yet, most of the fan base is on the whole "It's all about money, and we can buy who we really want." Presently, it looks like the only players that Spyre has played a major role in getting are PWO's. They may be able to get enough to cover tuition and other expenses. Current players can get the same amount of money, and because they're on scholarship, it's pure profit. But the whole narrative of giving the top rated recruits and transfers top dollar is laughable at the present time. We haven't secured the signature from anybody whose primary reason for picking a school was NIL. Quite honestly, I'm happy about that.

That's a very "benefit of the doubt " opinion right there.

With the amount of attention we are getting from high ranked guys, I would say the money is a big factor.
And I absolutely hope we are bidding.
Because what some of you don't seem to understand is that is a HUGE EQUALIZER, and frankly an unfair advantage for us.

Because our fanbase is so passionate, massive, and NOT cheap.

YES...please buy us the #1 ranked recruiting class for as long we can.

That's nothing to be ashamed at this point in history. Be glad we have that ability now.

 

[chattavol420]

The ncaa stuff means nothing. Absolutely nothing. Danny white is the type guy that’s on top of everything. I’m sure he has an iron clad argument ready to go with the ncaa if ever asked. But I doubt very seriously he will be. The Supreme Court is gotten involved in the situation and suffice to say they have a little more teeth that the ncaa. I do think the fact that Saban and Kirby have expressed their frustration is absolutely incredible for us. It means what we’re doing is working. Anyway, I can’t wait to see what nico can do with an offensive genius like heupel coaching him. It’s going to be epic!!!

 

[bigl3327]

That's a very "benefit of the doubt " opinion right there.

With the amount of attention we are getting from high ranked guys, I would say the money is a big factor.
And I absolutely hope we are bidding.
Because what some of you don't seem to understand is that is a HUGE EQUALIZER, and frankly and unfair advantage for us.

Because our fanbase is so passionate, massive, and NOT cheap.

YES...please buy us the #1 ranked recruiting class for as long we can.

That's nothing to be ashamed at this point in history. Be glad we have that ability now.

Here's the issue with "buying" a class. Everything that Heupel does is based around a particular culture. You buy enough players and you destroy that culture. Part of that culture is the concept that you have to earn it every single rep, every single day. Giving a large number of 18 year olds 6-7 figure annual incomes will create a culture of entitlement. Also, if you come for the bag, you will also leave for the bag. I don't know how you balance this new age of college football, but the safest bet is to still bring in kids that fit your culture and NIL money is lower on their list of motivating factors.

 

[AresTheVol]

Here's the issue with "buying" a class. Everything that Heupel does is based around a particular culture. You buy enough players and you destroy that culture. Part of that culture is the concept that you have to earn it every single rep, every single day. Giving a large number of 18 year olds 6-7 figure annual incomes will create a culture of entitlement. Also, if you come for the bag, you will also leave for the bag. I don't know how you balance this new age of college football, but the safest bet is to still bring in kids that fit your culture and NIL money is lower on their list of motivating factors.

we'll be spending 5 mil on this class, 25 million is as a whole AD, and personally i want abt 80% going to football to sustain the roster

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

we'll be spending 5 mil on this class, 25 million is as a whole AD, and personally i want abt 80% going to football to sustain the roster

Everybody knows football pays the bills. It’s THE major money maker.

 

[AresTheVol]

Everybody knows football pays the bills. It’s THE major money maker.

plus the better football does the more donations they'll get

 

[AresTheVol]

This is just dumb

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

 

[Weezer]

Here's the issue with "buying" a class. Everything that Heupel does is based around a particular culture. You buy enough players and you destroy that culture. Part of that culture is the concept that you have to earn it every single rep, every single day. Giving a large number of 18 year olds 6-7 figure annual incomes will create a culture of entitlement. Also, if you come for the bag, you will also leave for the bag. I don't know how you balance this new age of college football, but the safest bet is to still bring in kids that fit your culture and NIL money is lower on their list of motivating factors.

In case you missed it, paying players is basically legal now. If we don't pay, we won't get any of the top talent. These kids aren't coming to school for "culture" when there's money to be made. Heupel, just like every other coach, is gonna have to learn to work within this system.

 

[LittleVol]

Here's the issue with "buying" a class. Everything that Heupel does is based around a particular culture. You buy enough players and you destroy that culture. Part of that culture is the concept that you have to earn it every single rep, every single day. Giving a large number of 18 year olds 6-7 figure annual incomes will create a culture of entitlement. Also, if you come for the bag, you will also leave for the bag. I don't know how you balance this new age of college football, but the safest bet is to still bring in kids that fit your culture and NIL money is lower on their list of motivating factors.

I hear what you're saying. But we don't have the winning culture in our recent history.
Yes, Heupel has a vision he needs to execute, but it's all about the players.
Take Nico: Does he love Tennessee so much because of the variety of history and influence it has? Or, is it just the 8 mil? It's absolutely BOTH. We (UT community) just put big boy pants on and made it easier for him to do something he wanted to do anyway.

The players know now that they have immediate revenue value that is now able to be capatilized on. They know they have worth. There's no need for us to shy away from that. Because of what I stated before. Right now, we have a beat on the game. That's what Saban did in 08...and then what did he do?
He STAYED ahead of the game going on 16 years now.

Let them leave after 3 years. Great! That means they are balling. If these guys want to transfer then that NIL money comes back depending on the arrangement.

Getting a Nico that produces up to his potential and wins championships yields far more than 8 million in the long run. More than 10 x that. But it starts with getting him here to begin with.

Drop 20 mill if we can,,,which WE CAN, and get that huge boost to kickoff the champioship runs!
West Va cant do that. Syracuse, Oregon St and 96 percent of schools can't do that.
Do you see what im saying? We need to use the inherit advantage that very few can match.

 

[bigl3327]

I hear what you're saying. But we don't have the winning culture in our recent history.
Yes, Heupel has a vision he needs to execute, but it's all about the players.
Take Nico: Does he love Tennessee so much because of the variety of history and influence it has? Or, is it just the 8 mil? It's absolutely BOTH. We (UT community) just put big boy pants on and made it easier for him to do something he wanted to do anyway.

The players know now that they have immediate revenue value that is now able to be capatilized on. They know they have worth. There's no need for us to shy away from that. Because of what I stated before. Right now, we have a beat on the game. That's what Saban did in 08...and then what did he do?
He STAYED ahead of the game going on 16 years now.

Let them leave after 3 years. Great! That means they are balling. If these guys want to transfer then that NIL money comes back depending on the arrangement.

Getting a Nico that produces up to his potential and wins championships yields far more than 8 million in the long run. More than 10 x that. But it starts with getting him here to begin with.

Drop 20 mill if we can,,,which WE CAN, and get that huge boost to kickoff the champioship runs!
West Va cant do that. Syracuse, Oregon St and 96 percent of schools can't do that.
Do you see what im saying? We need to use the inherit advantage that very few can match.

What about the current players? The guys that have already poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the program? Recruiting is just part of the equation. A 5* QB means squat if the guys protecting him have animosity towards him. You can recruit the 5 best OL in the country, but if they all have to start in the SEC as true freshmen, they'll get destroyed every week. What I'm saying is that it's a delicate balancing act. One that bringing in a class full of pay for play guys makes it impossible to achieve, if current players aren't getting nice paydays as well.

 

[bigl3327]

I hear what you're saying. But we don't have the winning culture in our recent history.
Yes, Heupel has a vision he needs to execute, but it's all about the players.
Take Nico: Does he love Tennessee so much because of the variety of history and influence it has? Or, is it just the 8 mil? It's absolutely BOTH. We (UT community) just put big boy pants on and made it easier for him to do something he wanted to do anyway.

The players know now that they have immediate revenue value that is now able to be capatilized on. They know they have worth. There's no need for us to shy away from that. Because of what I stated before. Right now, we have a beat on the game. That's what Saban did in 08...and then what did he do?
He STAYED ahead of the game going on 16 years now.

Let them leave after 3 years. Great! That means they are balling. If these guys want to transfer then that NIL money comes back depending on the arrangement.

Getting a Nico that produces up to his potential and wins championships yields far more than 8 million in the long run. More than 10 x that. But it starts with getting him here to begin with.

Drop 20 mill if we can,,,which WE CAN, and get that huge boost to kickoff the champioship runs!
West Va cant do that. Syracuse, Oregon St and 96 percent of schools can't do that.
Do you see what im saying? We need to use the inherit advantage that very few can match.

Take a look at the '99 Vols. A team full of superstars with a "teaME" attitude. All the talent in the world, but they couldn't get it done because they were more concerned about the big pay day than being accountable to their brothers. I'm all for players getting paid something. I was a broke ass college football player in the 90's. It wasn't fun. But everybody has to get paid. It can be performance based. It can be incentive based tied to classroom achievement. It just has to appear to be fair and equal. Handing kids money that have done nothing, and not really compensating all those that have been here is not fair or equal. It's also not conducive to a healthy culture.

 

[BornAVol1963]

Take a look at the '99 Vols. A team full of superstars with a "teaME" attitude. All the talent in the world, but they couldn't get it done because they were more concerned about the big pay day than being accountable to their brothers. I'm all for players getting paid something. I was a broke ass college football player in the 90's. It wasn't fun. But everybody has to get paid. It can be performance based. It can be incentive based tied to classroom achievement. It just has to appear to be fair and equal. Handing kids money that have done nothing, and not really compensating all those that have been here is not fair or equal. It's also not conducive to a healthy culture.

This use to be a free market society. You should get paid what you are worth. Nico is worth what someone is willing to pay him, just like Im worth what my company pays me. It's a fair wage. I'm good at my job, I just ain't an 18 year old potential superstar football player.

 

[Orange_Crush]

NCAA and Colleges are gonna wind up getting sued by players saying they're more of an employee than a student. . Schools and NCAA can kill that noise that students are amateurs.
Nothing amateur about schools making 100's of millions off these players, at least when it comes to Football and Basketball. They're gonna say screw your scholarship, pay me and I'll pay my own way if I have to.
Best course is to let the market correct itself and work towards fixing the portal and transfers.

Actually, I believe that most colleges give free school to employees and employee family, so... shrug... Give em the $$$ and the schoolin'.

 

[Orange_Crush]

plus the better football does the more donations they'll get

Not so fast, my friend!


--Spyre

 

[UT_Tix79]

Sortof, my wife just finished her Masters here, and has worked for UT for years, and her program most definitely was not free. The covered some, but we paid quite a bit out of pocket for it

 

[mrmax86]

Here's what is funny as hell to me.... If not for the rumored (unconfirmed) $8million Nico deal, most would still be talking about how bad Spyre is. If you look at it realistically, Spyre refuses to take part in any bidding wars. Yet, most of the fan base is on the whole "It's all about money, and we can buy who we really want." Presently, it looks like the only players that Spyre has played a major role in getting are PWO's. They may be able to get enough to cover tuition and other expenses. Current players can get the same amount of money, and because they're on scholarship, it's pure profit. But the whole narrative of giving the top rated recruits and transfers top dollar is laughable at the present time. We haven't secured the signature from anybody whose primary reason for picking a school was NIL. Quite honestly, I'm happy about that.

If NIL for PWO helps us get around the scholarship limit (per year), that helps us rebuild faster, and get more quality talent in here. I fully believe that the quality of our PWOs this off-season has been better than ever. I think that several of these guys could have been on scholarship, if we had that many to give out. Enter NIL.

 

[mrmax86]

Agree with this 1000%. There will be the initial frenzy and free for all we are now experiencing and then things will normalize. Nico's Contract will be the exception not the rule and 5-10 years from now the big contracts will only be going to guys after their freshman years when they have actually played a snap. Big recruits will get some decent deals but not world rockers. Then if they prove themselves they cash in their Soph-Junior years. From a football perspective. Honestly, I think NIL will only really consistently generate big money in football for players. Because of the nature of the sports. In Baseball and Mens Basketball, the top guys can pretty much go pro straight from HS or one and done. All other sports don't generate enough revenue to justify much NIL money though there will be some of course.

I think it will normalize, but there will still be big deals for the biggest recruits. The pockets of college donors are DEEP. If 2+ schools want to go after the same recruit, the behind-the-scenes bidding war could escalate to high numbers like

Spoiler: -redacted-

Nico's

Imagine people bidding on Alvin Kamara in FFB auction drafts a few years ago.

 

[mrmax86]

This is just dumb

Nico Mahomes, right there.

 

[mrmax86]

Take a look at the '99 Vols. A team full of superstars with a "teaME" attitude. All the talent in the world, but they couldn't get it done because they were more concerned about the big pay day than being accountable to their brothers. I'm all for players getting paid something. I was a broke ass college football player in the 90's. It wasn't fun. But everybody has to get paid. It can be performance based. It can be incentive based tied to classroom achievement. It just has to appear to be fair and equal. Handing kids money that have done nothing, and not really compensating all those that have been here is not fair or equal. It's also not conducive to a healthy culture.

The difference is that this will be happening on EVERY team. We aren't the only ones. And a school full of "unpaid" players cannot out-effort a team full of more-talented "paid" players, to a win. JMO.

 

[Frosty]

TIFWISW.

This a coverage piece and Spyre is a question mark for the writer.

He has not done enough research to validate his use of the term "collective"
IOW, using dynamite to fish.

The NCAA may go after the Tennessee Model, but my best guess is that they will not.
Many would like to see them go after the Tennessee Model, but their case would be rejected and it is a No Win Case because Spyre was built solidly and basically is a business with LLC status. Approved by the State.

The NCAA if they have any sense will take the easier route, but it is the NCAA so who knows.
The easier targets would be Texas A&M, Miami, USC, and BYU.

I would exclude Miami for the time here as well, since their deals come from LifeWallet

 

[LouderVol]

I was waiting on this comment!!

Pepperidge farm remembers.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Nico is the best high school QB in this class.

Not Arch Manning or Malachi Nelson.

 

[jvols1999]

As @AresTheVol noted in the Maiugoa thread, according to Blair Angulo on the 247 Recruiting Pod, while Nico was on his Visit to Hawaii, he also talked to people close with Mauigoa on the possibility of joining himself (Nico) at Tennessee.

Can't be overstated how big of a deal landing Nico has been and will be for this class and probably for future classes as well. Dude is a BAMF.

 

[bigl3327]

The difference is that this will be happening on EVERY team. We aren't the only ones. And a school full of "unpaid" players cannot out-effort a team full of more-talented "paid" players, to a win. JMO.

I'm not against players getting paid. NIL can be a great thing for college athletics, but it has to have structure. Currently, it's an unregulated monster. I'm have no complaints If Nico got the rumored deal that he got. He went straight to work trying to earth it, and it hasn't changed his work ethic. But, the idea of buying recruiting classes is not what NIL was intended for.