Nico Iamaleava responds to rumors he was going to sit out Ohio State game

Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has had to deal with a lot of rumors surrounding him in the last few days. After Tennessee decided they weren't going to deal with him trying to extort them for more money after a poor game against Ohio State, he transferred to UCLA.

There have been some crazy rumors flying around him while this saga has been unfolding. One of the rumors was that he was threatening to sit out the CFP game against the Ohio State football team last season unless he got paid more money. He was seeking a higher NIL amount than he was getting paid.

Iamaleava finished just 14-31 for only 104 yards against the Buckeyes in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Yet, there was a rumor that he wanted to sit out that game for a bigger payday. Iamaleava responded to those rumors on social media.

Nico Iamaleava responds to rumors he was going to sit out game vs. Ohio State football team

Iamaleava put a pretty strong statement on social media. It seemed like he was mocking the rumors that were following him at that point.

It seems pretty crazy that Iamaleava would throw a CFP game. He likely still wanted to win a national championship, and the only way to do that was to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes. Obviously, he wasn't good enough to do that. Ohio State destroyed Tennessee 42-17.

There's a reason that the Buckeyes didn't come close to trying to go after Iamaleava in the transfer portal. They wanted nothing to do with this saga. It was the right move, especially with the quarterbacks that they have on their roster fighting for the staring job.

Even from an Ohio State football perspective, this rumor seems a little far-fetched. Iamaleava was the only reason why that game wasn't an even bigger blowout than it was. If he was searching for a bigger payday at that point, he didn't let that affect his own game.