The Josh Innes Show - Nico Overplayed His Hand

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

It appears that the former Tennessee QB made a major mistake trying to get more cash. Reportedly, he's only getting offers that are well below what he was making at Tennessee. I'm going to assume he got some really, really bad advice. That said, I'm glad he's not getting more cash. This situation may actually be really good for college sports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I find myself annoyed with the former Tennessee quarterback story, not because, I mean, look, there's a lot of details about the story that are annoying and it's an NIL thing and there's a lot of, you know, things that annoy me about NIL and the reactions to NIL and the kind of like polls, if you will, that you get, the opposites you get from people and the way you discuss NIL and a lot of it's racially motivated and it's all fucking stupid. But my biggest problem I have with this story is I struggle to pronounce the guy's last name.

It's like I almost don't want to talk about the story just because I hate saying the guy's name. The good news is that his name, first name, is so distinctive and unique and rare that you can get, uh, get away with just saying his first name, right? Like if I were the play by play guy at Tennessee, I would never say this dude's last name. He would just always be Nico. He's lucky. This dude's name. Isn't just like Bob. Like that's's that's old Robert Amaliava you know like no no and I said that wrong I'm sure but like he's lucky that way because he's got a unique kind of cool kind of

marketable name like Nico you know or like Shaq or like Cher you know like one name that you can look at and go thank Christ I can say that and not have to say this person's last name. So for the sake of that, I will say Nico in the story. Although I did pull up the pronunciation guide on this guy's name again, and it's E-A-M-A-L-A-V-A. That is not correct. E-A-M-A-L-A-V-A. I really hate this so much. Your name annoys me, sir. And so does your quest to make more money than you're worth because you're not very good. But anyway, so Nico is who we will talk about today because it looks like old buddy's having a hard time finding a suitor that wants to pay him money. It's going to be fucking spectacular. It's going gonna be beautiful when this dude leaves the 2.4 million dollars he was making at Tennessee on a quest to find four million and he's gonna overplay his hand and end up playing

you know like central like central Mississippi or some shit he's gonna end up at East Carolina making a mill if something like that Tulane it's gonna be Tulane making a million bucks and it's good it's gonna tickle me but here's what we're gonna do uh we're gonna play a couple commercials and we will uh deep dive into this here a little bit all right if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs you got to check out pick six from draft kings when it comes to basketball payouts draft kings pick six posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on Pick 6, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition. Pick 6 is available in most states, including Missouri,

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Void where prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus awarded is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at picksix.draftkings.com slash promos. All right. So, first of all, thank you guys for listening. I appreciate you. I appreciate for telling people about it. I'm telling you at some point I'm going to get this thing rolling in a better form.

Maybe a lot of you like this form. A lot of you might like me just kind of sitting here riffing in the bedroom. But my hope is to make this thing sound like an actual program at some point, not just me being a doofus in my bedroom. So that is the hope. That's what we're looking for. That's what we're aiming for. But I appreciate you guys for listening. I know there's a lot of commercials. I know that it sucks.

I'm sorry about that, but that's the only way I can make a couple of bucks doing this. So thank you. I appreciate you. Now, you know, the story about Nico, you know, the story about how his quest was to get 4 million this year in NIL Tennessee basically told him to screw off, particularly after he didn't even show up for practice. They were like, screw you. We don't need you. I admire that about Josh Hypel. It's easy to admire that. Now, of course, if they go into the season without a quarterback and go seven and five or whatever, then of course, a lot of people aren't going to admire that in Tennessee. But I do, because I think if you would have found some way to pay this guy $4 million, you're setting the bar and setting a precedent that is really

bad for college football. It's not bad that some guy would make $4 million. Like that's fine. Make $4 million, make $10 million. I don't care. The cat that was going to sign at LSU that's never played a snap of football is getting like a 12, 13, $14 million NIL deal at Michigan. So like I get it and I'm not trying to keep people from getting their money. But if I'm Tennessee and I've got a deal and I see that you aren't really as good as the money you're asking for, if I give you that money just because I can and just because you think you're worth it, you're going to set a really bad precedent. And I think it's going to be bad for your locker room. And I think it's going to be bad for college athletics overall. Now, story I'm reading here from, let's say, Yahoo. Nico, I'm just going to say Nico, Nico's 4 million NIL hopes take a hit. The saga will

forever be used as a cautionary tale for athletes to always ensure those around them have their best interest in mind. Following a request from Nico's camp for Tennessee to up his NIL pay to $4 million, the program decided it'd be best if they moved on. While initial reports indicate that Nico could command interest for major programs like USC, Notre Dame, Texas Tech, and North Carolina, all four programs have decided to pass reportedly. So again, you think you're big shit, you go out there and you swing again, you think you're big shit, you go out there and you swing, and you think you're going to find another big program

that's going to put you in the spotlight, which is a big part of getting drafted, is playing against good teams in college in the spotlight. And you think one of those big schools, I mean, hell, North Carolina, that's Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick was like, no, we'll pass. And that guy's got something to prove. Belichick was like no we'll pass and that guy's got something to prove Belichick who was just cast aside by the NFL nobody wanted to hire him he's the greatest coach

maybe in the history of the sport certainly of the NFL and he's like I gotta prove something and he ain't spending money on on Nico Notre Dame, USC, they've all said no. He has since been linked to UCLA, but as revealed in a report by On3's Pete Nacos, he may have to compromise on his asking price for more schools to be interested. Quote, if Niko does not secure a deal in the three to four million range and is open to a deal closer to one million, multiple schools are expected to show interest. In addition to the fact that schools may want to pay him less than what he's asking for, NACOS also revealed that Tulane has pulled out of the NACOS sweepstakes despite earlier interest.

So that's where we stand right now with this cat. To me, this is important for college football and the future of college football and the future of college football and the health of college football that Tennessee has essentially said all right kick rocks you signed a deal you've got a NIL deal we don't feel like your play warranted getting some kind of raise I'm not against the guy asking for a raise if the guy would have gone out there and balled out now the argument is he took the team to the the college football playoff cool watch the dude play he ain't very good he's fine he ain't very good I was just tweeting back and forth a little bit with Lance Zerline who handles

you know a lot of scouting stuff and NFL draft stuff for the NFL network and a lot of you who are in Houston you know who Lance is so I'm going back and forth and I'm like I just don't think Nico's very good. And his point was he misses on a lot of easy deep throws that that offense gives you. And that's the difference between Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton and what they were doing with Tennessee, both of whom at multiple times had balled the fuck out at Tennessee

versus what you get out of Nico. I never watched. And by the way, I'm not a draft Nick. I'm not a scout. So I can't tell you, you know, what makes a guy great or doesn't make a guy great, whatever. But just watching the guy play, I don't, I feel like he was a hindrance to the Tennessee offense. So if a guy that's your quarterback, who's fine and can put up some numbers and, oh, wow, you can throw it for five touchdowns against a shitty team whatever and pad some stats but are you making the gigantic big throws in the moments that you need to make

those gigantic big throws Hendon Hooker did and Joe Milton even did I didn't see that out of Nico so anytime I watch Tennessee play I never felt like I was watching a team that was a juggernaut on offense and the reason why is because of the quarterback like every week I'd be like I was watching a team that was a juggernaut on offense. And the reason why is because of the quarterback. Like every week I'd be like, wow, I think we could take Tennessee's points in this game. We'd do something. And then every game you'd watch Nico and he would just be mediocre. I don't find him to be a super talent. I don't find him to be a superstar.

I'm thinking that what happened is, is he gets advice from a parent or whatever. Someone that says you can get more money. Whoever's in his camp says, go out and get the bag, son. And they think because Tennessee doesn't have anything behind him, which I guess to a degree is a decent leverage point is it's not like Tennessee has the heir apparent behind him. This isn't a situation where you've got Arch Manning waiting behind you. And Tennessee would just go, okay, screw it, walk. And you know, we got Arch Manning. behind you and Tennessee would just go, okay, screw it, walk, and we got Arch Manning. They don't have that.

They planned on having Nico on the roster this year, and he's not there, and that kind of puts them in a bad spot. However, I think they feel like their offense makes dude stars, and they got it out of Hendon Hooker. Joe Milton was pretty good too I think they look at it as the offense if we can find a guy that can make these throws look to me if I'm Tennessee today and yes Nico's probably more talented than the guys that were behind him that's why he was playing but if I'm Tennessee I have to believe that I've got the

offense that look the I have to tell myself that the reason why we were in the college football playoff last year is because the offense we were running made it happen and everything around made it happen and it wasn't just the quarterback. Yes, you want to have a rock star quarterback. Yes, it's helpful to have a Joe Burrow on your team versus a slap dick. But your offense is kind of the key in all of this. Your offense, no matter who's running it, if you get the right guy doing it, can be explosive and you can still win games. I don't think Tennessee's in danger

of losing eight games next year because Nico is gone. So in the negotiation that they found themselves in, if Tennessee truly felt that they were in an impossible situation to win or do anything without him, they probably would have paid him. Nico overplayed his hand his people overplayed his hand. Let's continue this story suppose Nico does end up in a program that is only able to be willing or able or willing to pay him 1 million it will be quite a slap in the face considering he was

reportedly making over 2 million in Knoxville there's also a chance that he may not end up on a program that is of the same caliber as Tennessee, which means he could be taking less money to play at a program that is perceived as not as good. Well, that's obvious. It'd be a scenario that is quite a fall from grace considering that he led the Volunteers to the college football playoff last season and was expected to be a contender for the SEC this season. Well, they overplayed their hand. Like, look, I think this is good for college football because I think the way things are going in college athletics in general, the way things are going as NIL is going to get out of fucking control. And they can believe that like people aren't going to get turned off by it,

but I do believe people are. I think after a while, when you start seeing people continually come in and out of programs after one year, holding programs hostage, I think people are going to get burned out on that. There needs to be some form of governing body, something that keeps this shit under control. Look, you signed a contract. We could rip that contract up and renegotiate it. We do not want to do that. And we do not think you are worth it. But what happens in this NIL world, which is the same thing that happens in a lot of shit, which makes things sticky to discuss on the internet, is we run into a world where everything becomes racial. So what it becomes is the college football coaches in the universities are rich white people

who can do whatever they want. And every college player is somehow represented by black college football player who is being robbed and is being exploited and is being treated like an indentured servant. That's essentially what the argument is. And again, nuance is important, but we don't have nuance. Nuance doesn't exist in this era. It's either black or it's white. It's a race thing and it always is. So what happens is you're going to get one crew of people that just constantly cheers and yells that players shouldn't get paid or they're always on the side of the university and the coach. And then you're going to get another side of people who are always on the side of the player. And it's always, well, the coaches can leave whenever they want and get rich and move up and have better opportunities.

Why can't the players? Again, that's the argument you always get. And the response is, well, every time those coaches leave, someone's paying a penalty usually. Very rarely is it a situation where the coach's contract just ran out and they decided to move from Arkansas to Missouri because the contract ran out. So usually someone is paying a pretty hefty buyout for that coach. So like it happens. These players aren't having to deal with that. Nico did not leave Tennessee and have to pay anything back to Tennessee. Now, he stands to lose money by leaving Tennessee, but it's not like Nico. Let's just say Nico got a deal at Notre Dame, and Notre Dame said, here's $3 million for you to come play at Notre Dame, right?

Notre Dame doesn't have to look at Tennessee and say, well, we're going to have to pay you a million-dollar buyout. That's the problem I have with people is people are ignorant and people do not read and people do not study things. They just spout off on the fucking internet and yell and scream and bitch and moan about what's racist and what's homophobic and what's bigoted and what's terrible. And this white guy got this and this guy didn't get this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But no one actually reads and no one actually like uses critical thinking and goes wait a minute you mean to tell me I'm I get it I'm bitching that like rich white

coach that exploits all the black players can leave whenever he wants and and there's no consequence there is a consequence there is a consequence for somebody now it's not necessarily the coach in that scenario, but the consequence could be from the school that signs said coach. Generally speaking, you're not going to be able to get a high-end coach from a program without paying that program something. But with college players, there's no consequence. And what we're doing is we are teaching people that there are no consequences to your action and that your word means dick. That's what we're teaching people. That's one of the biggest issues I have with college athletics overall is there is no commitment to anything. It's comical when people sign a letter of intent or say, hey, I'm committed to play at Tennessee.

Yeah. For what? A year. And then you're onto the next one. Or what I love is like early signing periods. The kid that was the quarterback that was going to play at LSU and then went to Michigan was committed to LSU for like a year. And up until weeks before was like, I'm still committed. I'm committed. Don't use the word committed because you're not committed. You're interested in playing there. As of right now, you think that's where you're going to go, but you're not committed. Committed means you're there and you're on the dotted line and you are there for that university.

And this dude was not. But then you get these guys like Nico and I get it you want to see what you're worth everyone wants to know what they're worth if you think you're worth more try to get it but what you're going to learn is you're not worth that and so like you know as I've told you before I wish I listened to my dad on a few more things in life because my dad has given me some good advice. Although yesterday in one phone call, he says, Josh, I just don't think that these radio stations are all that interested. And then five minutes later, he's like, just hold out, man. I think something good's going to happen this week. I'm like, dad, you just literally told me two different things in five minutes. So take this for what it's worth. But when dad told me like, don't just jump for more money in St.

Louis when you got a good situation here, but I didn't listen to him. I left, I went to St. Louis 15 months later, I'm out of a job. You need some, there are so much good advice I've been given that I've ignored and I regret it. You know, when I was in Houston first time, I was always looking for my opportunity to get out of Houston. And guys like Barry Warner were telling me, like, he'd always say, you don't know what you don't know. And he's like, listen, there'll be opportunities to go to LA, New York, wherever, but just enjoy what you're doing here and do this. And then something's going to happen. Don't sit there and try to force things to happen like that. And I wish I would have listened. Sometimes you need people that have your best interest at heart looking out for you. And I think in a lot of cases, what you're going to find is you're going to get these

young kids who a lot of people are suckling off the teat. And honestly, I don't understand that the agent situation with all these guys, but like what you're going to get here. And I'm sure agents are part of it and they're making their cut. But what you've got with a lot of these young dudes is you have got people who are not looking out for your best interests. They're seeing dollar signs and they're giving you bad advice that benefits them in theory, but not necessarily you. Someone who told Nico, Nico isn't Joe Burrow. Nico isn't a guy that goes to a program and instantly makes that program exponentially better. Like maybe he goes to Tulane and makes it better. Maybe he goes to a smaller school and makes it better

because their quarterback isn't as good. Although Tulane had a pretty good offense last year anyway, but they had a pretty good quarterback, but I just use Tulane as an example because they were mentioned in the story. But someone gave this guy bad advice and now they're going to cost him a good chunk of cash. And now what you are in the situation you're in, if you're Tennessee, and obviously you're in a spot now where if the coach doesn't bring him back, like I love the idea of this. I love the idea of Josh Heupel being like, no, you can't come back. You know what it's like? It's like boogie nights. You want an example? This might might be a weird example but it kind of plays here right so Dirk Diggler he uh teams up with Jack Horner and Amber Waves and the Colonel and all these

people and he's like the king of porn he's doing these Brock Landers movies and he's winning all these awards and he's banging all the chicks he's got a giant hog is good, right? And then he starts getting bad advice from his buddies. They're all doing drugs together, and they start giving him bad advice and start telling him that he's bigger shit than he actually is, right? That's kind of the way that movie goes. Starts doing a lot of drugs, and the people around him who are his yes men are like, you're really fucking good, and you're the star, and fuck Jack, and fuck all these people.

And eventually, Jack was like, these people. And eventually Jack was like, screw off. I don't need you here. And they brought in some other guy, uh, you know, to start banging chicks on videotape, you know, like, I don't believe we're in a position with a guy like Nico who was in a franchise or program altering player. So if you're Josh Hypel, like it, I am just fascinated by how the fans will react. Because I think right now there's a lot of people in Tennessee that are like, good, fuck him. But what happens when they go into the season and they lose two games and they're out of the college football playoff? Heupel has to balance that. Heupel is going to be the one that takes on all the negativity, right? So it is a fine line. It is an interesting dynamic that you

have there if you're Josh Heupel. Now, he's not going to get fired. We talked about that. He ain't going to get fired. But people like fans are bipolar and they're lunatics and they will change their opinion in five seconds. So right now, I would imagine that Heupel's probably got a lot of support within Tennessee because people view Nico as a guy who just kind of screwed over the program and thought he was worth more than he was and Hyples got a little bit of cachet there now so they're like all right screw you but if they go out and lose the opener you go from being the smartest guy in the room and everybody's on your side to should have kept Nico should have paid him whatever he wanted so So it's a fine dynamic. It's an interesting dynamic that you're dealing with there.

It's truly fascinating. But stand your ground on that shit. You have to because we're at a point now where in college athletics, you have to stand your ground. If not, you're going to have a bunch of mediocre shitbags who've never done anything that are holding these programs hostage, and it is not good overall. Like if you're

some guy that's at a school right now and you see that Tennessee who just went to the college football playoff said no we're not going to double the salary of our store starting quarterback you probably look at that now and go maybe I'll think twice about trying to you know beat on the door and try to get more money at this point now if, if you're worth it, go for it. If you're a superstar that they can't live without, go get the bag. But Tennessee is like our offense is the star here, not the quarterback of this offense. And by the way, you haven't been that great anyway. So it's, it's interesting. Uh, and I, it does make you wonder what other people will do. Will other people look at that and say, all right, good. I'm just going to pump the brakes. Will that make their representation smarter? Will it make their parents smarter?

You need to have people around you who will tell you the truth about shit. You can't just have yes men all the time or people who are looking out for their best interest and not yours. I wish I would have listened to the people that were giving me better advice. I told you a second ago, I've had multiple times when I should have taken better advice. Michael Berry gave me really good advice once that I didn't listen to. And now here I sit, can't get a fucking call back from anybody. You know, sometimes you think that you're invincible and nothing's going to impact you and life is going to always be fine. And then it's not. I wish I would have listened to some of the advice that I was given by people.

I mean, Michael Berry used to tell me I was primed to have that job at 790 forever. Just stop dealing with the losers. Stop dealing with the nobodies. Stop dealing with the Adam Clantons and the people who are never going to be anyone. The people who aren't going to have the $300,000 contracts. They're not going to have all that shit. Just stop dealing with the minutia and stop fighting with the fucking basketball team and just go do good shit and

you'll have this job forever but i couldn't do it because i don't listen so that's the way these things go man so and nico i the problem is i don't know that anybody was giving this guy good advice because if anybody would have given him the good advice like the advice would have been go to fucking practice dude like you holding out of a practice isn't going to make the coach happy it's going to piss the coach off anyway all right more to come