Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee think they're right, but it all feels wrong

It's not that he's leaving. It's how he's leaving. That's the bottom line. In playing by the rules of a broken system that has no rules, Nico Iamaleava just became a Gordon Gekko for the 21st century, the college football poster child for "greed is good."

Screw the team.

Secure the bag.

Apparently no one on Team Nico, not him, his family or his representation, stopped to ponder the difference between whether he could and whether he should.

Unless his pay-for-play deal masquerading as NIL said otherwise, the quarterback had every right to do what he did. To ask Tennessee for more than the $2.4 million he was reportedly set to be paid this year. To reach out to at least one other school since last season ended, allegedly, to gauge its interest in meeting his demands. To skip practice the day before the spring game after news broke about his attempt to renegotiate with the UT collective.

On the other side of the bargaining table, where so much of the business of college football is now conducted without guardrails or common sense, Tennessee had every right to do what it did. To refuse to renegotiate. To take a calculated risk that the quarterback of its 2024 playoff team wouldn't walk after one year as the starter. To thank him for his service and wish him well on his future endeavors.

So if the player had every right to do what he did and the school had every right to do what it did, why does it all feel so wrong?

Because college football as an enterprise that continues to print money may be very much alive, but college football as we knew it is dead. ...

Read Kevin's entire column in The Birmingham News.