David Pollack Takes Swipe at NCAA Amid Nico Iamaleava News

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Apr 12, 2025 1:08 PM ET

Former Georgia star and SEC Network analyst David Pollack is pretty well in tune with the state of college football here in 2025. And while the sport's popularity continues to burgeon, the problems within the structure of the game have become increasingly clear.

While Nico Iamaleava is taking on plenty of backlash on Saturday after Tennessee Volunteers coach Josh Heupel reportedly decided to move on from him rather than negotiate a new NIL deal for his starting quarterback, Iamaleava is more of a symptom of what's ailing college football in this no-holds-barred NIL era rather than the ailment itself.

College football is paying players, but doing so without any semblance of structure or consistency of approach. The NCAA has shown no appetite to wade into these waters and make tough decisions, either.

For Pollack, that's the big takeaway of the bombshell news around Iamaleava.

College football is the best sport on the planet.

We need guardrails in place so we can protect everyone involved.

We need a CBA and binding contracts on both sides.

We need a governing body that actually wants to protect the game and make it better!
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) April 12, 2025

As he wrote on Twitter/X on Saturday: "College football is the best sport on the planet. We need guardrails in place so we can protect everyone involved. We need a CBA and binding contracts on both sides. We need a governing body that actually wants to protect the game and make it better!"

Pollack, like many, does not appear very happy with the ineffectiveness of the NCAA as a governing body.

Even for the staunchest of college football supporters, it's hard to make a case that the Iamaleava situation is good for the sport. Not only is he bolting the Volunteers and seeking more money after two seasons, but they were not especially exceptional seasons to begin with.

Iamaleava played just five games as a freshman and was a middle-of-the=pack SEC quarterback as a sophomore.

He led the team to a 10-3 record, and there's no shame in that, of course. But he ranked just eighth in passing yards (2,616), and seventh in efficiency (145.3), and totaled only 104 yards on 14-for-31 passing in the Volunteers' playoff drubbing against Ohio State.

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

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