Joey Aguilar vs Nico Iamaleava saga. Interesting, fun, and chaotic. It’s almost poetic. One leaves Los Angeles to embrace the Vols. Another exits Rocky Top only to find himself under the bright lights of the Rose Bowl.  College football has always been unpredictable and endlessly entertaining. But throw in the NIL market, and the quarterback carousel becomes less of a steady rotation and more of a wild rollercoaster. But the Iamaleava-Aguilar saga has turned another leaf, which would make you wonder? Wha-? It’s all about their NIL money.

Talking about how much both quarterbacks are cashing in, they tread closely to a $1.2 million range, “Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar and UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava are both in $1.2 million range, per sources,” On3 stated. Is Iamaleava regretful considering Aguilar’s churning out the same 7-figure million-dollar amount as him?

Maybe yes, maybe no. But then here it is, both QBs are racking in a similar bandwidth. Although it must be noted that the former star QB at Tennessee was set to make $2.5 million with the Vols, but then an alleged increased NIL push to $4 million for 2025, by his father, Nic, and his representatives, soured Nico’s relationship with Tennessee. Although his representatives deny it. As per Opendorse, the money churned out by college athletes has hit a whopping $1.6 billion mark, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Zooming in on the NIL factor, another report by On3 outlines the list of their top 20 highest college football NIL valuations for 2025. Nico Iamaleava checks on the No. 19th position at $2,000,000.

Either way, the difference is not gigantic. But then again, the Bruins QB has got the highest income taxes owed, with $237,394 expected to be levied against the state of California based on his $2M NIL Valuation. California boasts the highest statutory tax rate in the US. But here comes another painful truth for Nico. In the state of Tennessee, where he was a former QB for the ‘T’, the income tax aspect could have been far better or even NIL. The state of Tennessee does not levy an income tax. Yeah, well, now ‘THAT’ could be called regretful, don’t you think so?

But aside from the NIL element, the Nico Iamaleava saga also paints an ugly reality of the transfer portal.

Urban Meyer lays out transfer portal truth

Nico Iamaleava’s transfer-portal gamble shows another discerning reality of college football. The transfer portal seems rosy; it lets you leverage your skills and helps you bargain. A discussion ensued among Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Ron Stone, centering around this issue on The Triple Option. There are two sides to the coin, and Urban Meyer has laid out the blunt truth bare.

“So over 3,000 people, Mark, I think it’s over 3,000 players, hit the transfer portal.” Urban Meyer started with Rob Stone supplying the additional information.” Third straight year that over 3,300 players went into the portal.” 

Meyer continued. “And so the residual damage, and I’ve talked to people, I don’t want to sound like that old guy, that man, what about this, because there’s some great stories you know, from Dylan Gabriel to Howard at the Ohio State winning the national title.” Yeah, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel got the benefit, so did OSU’s Will Howard and Julian Sayin. Even Joey Aguilar has donned the QB1 armor at Rocky Top, Carson Beck is another name to the list, and there’s more. But no one talks about the harsh truth.

Meyer went on with, “So there’s so many great stories, but what about the ones, and 40% of those 3,000 don’t end up anywhere because they’ve received really bad advice. You know, we witness a guy leaving Tennessee and going to UCLA for,  you know, we’re going to see how that story plays out.” And right there, he mentioned the Nico Iamaleava saga, one of the hottest storylines that came out of Tennessee during the offseason. Well, the main crux of the saga centered around the cash factor, and we just analyzed the math. But then, again, didn’t Nico say, “I don’t speak on money matters. I am just here for ball and school.”