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Before the end of the 2022 Oklahoma State football season, it was said that then-Cowboy quarterback Spencer Sanders had agreed to the terms of a lucrative 2023 NIL deal.
As it turned out, there would be no lucrative situation in Stillwater.
At the end of the 2022 regular season, Sanders entered the transfer portal. Being in the portal doesn’t necessarily signal the end of a player’s time at a school. Some players do reconsider and decide to stay.
Sanders’ portal move did end his relationship with Oklahoma State. Mike Gundy immediately scrubbed his name from the Cowboy roster.
In the Monday Tulsa World, University of Tulsa coach Tre Lamb was quoted as saying, “The biggest (miscalculation) is that if you go into the portal, you’re going to get all of these offers and that the grass is going to be greener.”
Sanders wound up at Ole Miss. His NIL Valuation at that time was calculated by On3, and it was said to have been $240,000. What he might have received from Ole Miss, I have no idea.
But after having made 41 starts with nearly 10,000 passing yards at Oklahoma State, Sanders at Ole Miss was a backup who appeared in nine games and attempted 29 passes.
Reportedly, he was academically ineligible for the 2023 Rebels’ Peach Bowl victory over Penn State.
Last week’s Tennessee debacle was reminiscent of the OSU-Sanders divorce.
NIL has become a jarring and polarizing dynamic in college athletics, but it’s never been as jarring as it was when an SEC starting quarterback – Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava – failed to report for an important spring-practice session last week.
Sanders announced his portal decision just as the 2022 Cowboys started preparation for a Guaranteed Rate Bowl meeting with Wisconsin.
One day before the Volunteers’ spring game, Iamaleava did at the college level what disgruntled professionals do in the NFL: he didn’t show up for work.
The reason, reportedly: Iamaleava considered his 2025 NIL deal of $2.4 million to be inadequate, and he wanted to negotiate for a heavier compensation package.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel reacted by announcing that the Volunteers had severed ties with Iamaleava.
“Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him,” Heupel told reporters. “I said it to the guys today: there’s no one that’s bigger than the (Tennessee logo). That includes me.”
There has been a dramatic reset in the market for college football quarterbacks. There was speculation over the weekend that Iamaleava wants to be on the same compensation level as QBs like Carson Beck and Darian Mensah – each of whom reportedly is at the $4 million level for the 2025 season.
Beck moved to the University of Miami from Georgia, while Mensah transferred from Tulane to Duke.
A CBS Sports reporter referred to Iamaleava as a “star quarterback,” but is he really a star? During the 2024 season, nine of his 19 touchdown passes were launched against Chattanooga, a seven-loss NC State team and the nine-loss UTEP Miners.
Against the defenses of Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio State, Iamaleava completed only 55% of his attempts and there were only two touchdown passes.
And now, according to reports, he wants $4 million.
University of Tennessee graduate Paul Finebaum reacted to the Iamaleava story during an ESPN podcast: “I think the sport is at a very dangerous point.”
Actually, college football is broken.
The NIL era began with no real plan on the management of athlete compensation, and now you have $2 million “student-athletes” who skip practice while striving to become $4 million “student-athletes.”
Most wealthy people didn’t become wealthy by making stupid investments, and big-time football schools can’t play at a big-time level without the generosity of wealthy donors.
Donors are being asked to pour funds into a ridiculous, anything-goes system that isn’t sustainable.
If a well-paid player performs really well, he’ll probably ask for more money.
If a well-paid player underachieves, he’ll be remembered for having been a costly disappointment.
Bill Haisten: Vols’ debacle reminiscent of the OSU-Spencer Sanders divorce
- Apr 14, 2025 Updated Apr 14, 2025
Bill Haisten
Tulsa World Sports Columnist & WriterBefore the end of the 2022 Oklahoma State football season, it was said that then-Cowboy quarterback Spencer Sanders had agreed to the terms of a lucrative 2023 NIL deal.
As it turned out, there would be no lucrative situation in Stillwater.
At the end of the 2022 regular season, Sanders entered the transfer portal. Being in the portal doesn’t necessarily signal the end of a player’s time at a school. Some players do reconsider and decide to stay.
Sanders’ portal move did end his relationship with Oklahoma State. Mike Gundy immediately scrubbed his name from the Cowboy roster.
In the Monday Tulsa World, University of Tulsa coach Tre Lamb was quoted as saying, “The biggest (miscalculation) is that if you go into the portal, you’re going to get all of these offers and that the grass is going to be greener.”
Sanders wound up at Ole Miss. His NIL Valuation at that time was calculated by On3, and it was said to have been $240,000. What he might have received from Ole Miss, I have no idea.
But after having made 41 starts with nearly 10,000 passing yards at Oklahoma State, Sanders at Ole Miss was a backup who appeared in nine games and attempted 29 passes.
Reportedly, he was academically ineligible for the 2023 Rebels’ Peach Bowl victory over Penn State.
Last week’s Tennessee debacle was reminiscent of the OSU-Sanders divorce.
NIL has become a jarring and polarizing dynamic in college athletics, but it’s never been as jarring as it was when an SEC starting quarterback – Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava – failed to report for an important spring-practice session last week.
Sanders announced his portal decision just as the 2022 Cowboys started preparation for a Guaranteed Rate Bowl meeting with Wisconsin.
One day before the Volunteers’ spring game, Iamaleava did at the college level what disgruntled professionals do in the NFL: he didn’t show up for work.
The reason, reportedly: Iamaleava considered his 2025 NIL deal of $2.4 million to be inadequate, and he wanted to negotiate for a heavier compensation package.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel reacted by announcing that the Volunteers had severed ties with Iamaleava.
“Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him,” Heupel told reporters. “I said it to the guys today: there’s no one that’s bigger than the (Tennessee logo). That includes me.”
There has been a dramatic reset in the market for college football quarterbacks. There was speculation over the weekend that Iamaleava wants to be on the same compensation level as QBs like Carson Beck and Darian Mensah – each of whom reportedly is at the $4 million level for the 2025 season.
Beck moved to the University of Miami from Georgia, while Mensah transferred from Tulane to Duke.
A CBS Sports reporter referred to Iamaleava as a “star quarterback,” but is he really a star? During the 2024 season, nine of his 19 touchdown passes were launched against Chattanooga, a seven-loss NC State team and the nine-loss UTEP Miners.
Against the defenses of Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio State, Iamaleava completed only 55% of his attempts and there were only two touchdown passes.
And now, according to reports, he wants $4 million.
University of Tennessee graduate Paul Finebaum reacted to the Iamaleava story during an ESPN podcast: “I think the sport is at a very dangerous point.”
Actually, college football is broken.
The NIL era began with no real plan on the management of athlete compensation, and now you have $2 million “student-athletes” who skip practice while striving to become $4 million “student-athletes.”
Most wealthy people didn’t become wealthy by making stupid investments, and big-time football schools can’t play at a big-time level without the generosity of wealthy donors.
Donors are being asked to pour funds into a ridiculous, anything-goes system that isn’t sustainable.
If a well-paid player performs really well, he’ll probably ask for more money.
If a well-paid player underachieves, he’ll be remembered for having been a costly disappointment.
