New Tennessee Quarterback's NIL Deal Grabs Attention Amid Nico Iamaleava's Demands

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Dave Holcomb | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 2:39 PM ET

There are no trades in college football, but the Tennessee Volunteers essentially executed the closer thing to a college trade at quarterback this offseason.

Through the move, Tennessee will be saving quite a bit of money too.

ESPN's Chris Low reported Monday that new Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar is joining the Volunteers on a NIL deal worth roughly $1.2 million. That's half of what Tennessee was set to pay former signal-caller Nico Iamaleava.

"The deal that Aguilar is finalizing to go to Tennessee is similar financially to the deal that he previously had at UCLA, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel. He had $1.2 million left at UCLA on his deal, and his new deal at Tennessee is close to that," Low wrote. "Factoring in taxes, it will be similar pay for Aguilar. He'd also already made more than $200,000 in his first few months at UCLA."

Iamaleava was going to earn $2.4 million during his third season at Tennessee this year. The quarterback, though, unexpectedly missed practice the day before the team's spring game. On3 then reported Iamaleava and the Volunteers were in negotiations for a new NIL contract.

ESPN reported Iamaleava was seeking a new deal around $4 million to stay at Tennessee.

Aguilar and Iamaleava swapping places. Aguilar’s deal with ⁦@Vol_Football⁩ in the $1.2 million range, colleague ⁦@PeteThamel⁩ reports. https://t.co/vsnHXs0mV7
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) April 22, 2025

Aguilar played his first two seasons of college for the Appalachian State Mountaineers. He transferred to the UCLA Bruins this offseason.

After UCLA landed Iamaleava in the transfer portal, though, Aguilar elected to transfer again. Ironically, he landed with Iamaleava's former team.

Last season with Appalachian State, Aguilar completed 55.9% of his passes while averaging 7.7 yards per attempt. The quarterback also had 3,003 passing yards with 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 11 games.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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