This helps explain why his children are so polite. He towers over even his 6-foot-6 son, and unlike Nico and 6-3 younger brother Madden (a class of 2025 QB), there is nothing lanky about Big Nick. But before he could do that, Iamaleava and his Team Toa seven-on-seven teammates had to get warm - which proved more difficult than back home.Įveryone calls Nico’s dad “Big Nick.” With the Smoky Mountains in the background, the father of eight and former JUCO lineman fits right into the landscape. The morning after, several dozen Tennessee fans paid to park at and to be admitted to Farragut High’s football stadium in 35-degree weather to watch a guy in Tennessee pajama pants throw footballs. So not only did Iamaleava help spread the word to potentially make a Tennessee athlete some more dough, he further endeared himself to a fanbase that could only accurately be called rabid if rabies somehow found a way to get even more intense. Mike Honcho T-shirts have been flying off the shelves, and the profit from those shirts goes to Beck. Suddenly, Mike Honcho was the most popular character in East Tennessee. He just shows up to practice every day and he is a good kid, so we put him in the lineup.” He is actually a 35-year-old man named Mike Honcho. “I don’t even know that Jordan Beck should be at the University of Tennessee,” Vitello deadpanned. During an in-game interview with ESPN’s Dave Neal and Chris Burke, Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello cracked wise about the incident. Earlier this month, Tennessee outfielder Jordan Beck had a home run disallowed against Vanderbilt because his bat didn’t have a required sticker that indicated it had been inspected. Nico is wearing a Mike Honcho shirt /wtEuyALNQNĮven those who recognize the deep pull reference from Talladega Nights probably don’t know why it’s so meaningful unless they’re Tennessee fans. Vols Twitter was abuzz when Iamaleava appeared on Instagram Live wearing a Mike Honcho T-shirt. ![]() “It’s been great being a recruiter and letting them know what it’s like in Knoxville,” Iamaleava said.Īs Friday night wore on, the Iamaleava content machine kept cranking. Tate has offers from dozens of schools, including Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. ![]() He spent the weekend working on Gilbert, Ariz., receiver Kyler Kasper, who also has interest from Ohio State and Notre Dame, and receiver Carnell Tate, who grew up in Chicago but plays for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. ![]() The hope at Tennessee is that his early commitment allows him to have a Pied Piper effect on other highly-touted prospects. Iamaleava was recruiting to more than an ice cream shop, though. “The ice cream was great,” Iamaleava said Saturday morning. □□Nicholaus Iamaleava Jr.□□ April 8, ok!!!!!!! They came out /Q72M7uwfxx So when Iamaleava got to Knoxville last week for a visit and almost immediately announced that he and fellow Tennessee class of 2023 commit Jack “White Lightning” Luttrell from Moultrie, Ga., would be meeting and greeting fans for 30 minutes at a downtown ice cream shop the day before Tennessee football’s most star-studded visit day of the recruiting cycle, it certainly looked as if the star of the Volunteers’ class was clocking in for work.Ĭome join and I at 4pm, taking pictures Vol Fans and having ice cream at Cruze Farm Ice Cream! See y’all today /KpHGSn207M Knoxville-based marketing agency Spyre Sports is the group dealing with the most current Tennessee players, and appears to be on the cutting edge of NIL deals compared to most of its competitors. But within 10 days of the deal being signed, Iamaleava committed to Tennessee. Iamaleava’s father Nick offered a quick “no comment” when asked about the deal Saturday. ![]() That deal will pay its subject as much as $8 million in exchange for the collective marketing revenue made off the player’s NIL rights for the next four years. No one will acknowledge whether Iamaleava is the player who is the subject of the marketing deal that The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel detailed last month.
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