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Jemele Hill Proposes Solution To Nico Iamaleava Situation

Originally posted on The Spun | By Daniel Bates | Last updated Apr 12, 2025 10:26 PM ET

Nico Iamaleava's exit from Knoxville has sparked a lot of debate across the college football world.

On the one hand, some fans feel he has every right to go out and get every penny he feels he deserves. While others believe his holdout and subsequent transfer is the death of the sport as we know it.

Former ESPN personality Jemele Hill is of the mind that CFB players are essentially professional athletes at this point and need to be treated as such moving forward.

"Plain and simple, they need collective bargaining in college football and basketball," Hill posted to X. "The NCAA doesn't want college players to be considered employees. Well too bad. They are. The NCAA is creating more chaos by refusing to admit this is now a professional system. If they continue to try to avoid this obvious fact, they're going to kill the sport."

"The courts have sided with the players in multiple lawsuits," Jemele pointed out. "Instead of trying desperately to avoid the consequences of their greed, they need to sit down WITH THE PLAYERS, and create a system."

Plain and simple, they need collective bargaining in college football and basketball.

The NCAA doesn’t want college players to be considered employees. Well too bad. They are. The NCAA is creating more chaos by refusing to admit this is now a professional system. If they… https://t.co/QKmUdggRza
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) April 13, 2025

Hills words sparked some debate in the comments.

"The players shouldn't accept any deal without being backed by a union," a user replied.

"Do you really think the sport would die even if things continued as they currently are?" another asked. "You might be right but I kinda doubt it. College football is as popular as ever. I agree with everything else though."

"Jemele… what's happening is now is an absolute joke," a fan said. "Do you believe in student athletes anymore when it comes to football and basketball? Because all this is now is minor league professional sports disguised as 'academic institutions.' The term 'student athletes' is a joke!"

"Players are transient. Schools will still be there in 4 years. Players don't have the power they think they do," another person posted.

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - NOVEMBER 25: Nico Iamaleava #8 of the Tennessee Volunteers leaves the field after their win over the Vanderbilt Commodores at Neyland Stadium on November 25, 2023 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)Eakin Howard/Getty Images

College athletics are definitely in a period of transition. The lines between college football and the NFL continue to blur with each passing year and it wouldn't be a surprise to see more players follow Iamaleava's lead if they feel they're not being compensated enough.

What do you make of the Nico situation?

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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