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Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons blasted the state of college football amid scrutiny over Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava on Friday.
Iamaleava was reportedly a holdout at practice this week as he sought to renegotiate his name, image and likeness deal from $2.4 million to $4 million per year. He had 2,616 passing yards and 19 touchdown passes as the Vols finished 10-3 during the 2024 season.
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Dec. 29, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons (11) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. (Eric Hartline-Imagn Images)
As the discourse entered social media, the former Penn State star was unhappy with what college football has become.
"College football a joke now! Yall minds well just make college into a semi pro league! Actually hold players accountable to the contracts they sign!" he wrote on X.
He then responded to another person on X who claimed that college football had always been a semi-pro league and that players were getting paid just illegally.
"Nah college was never about money! College is bout building character!" Parsons wrote back. "I am the man I am today because of the brotherhood and the amazing coaches I’ve had during my time at Penn State!
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) walks off the field after the win over Kentucky after an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Knoxville, Tenn. (Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
"We are failing kids now because life isn’t easy and we are allowing them to quit!"
Iamaleava is just the tip of the iceberg of what could happen in college athletics sooner than later.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti were on Capitol Hill last week to lobby Congress on getting help legislating NIL in college athletics.
NCAA POWER FOUR COMMISSIONERS SAY THEY 'NEED HELP FROM CONGRESS' TO REGULATE NIL, TRANSFER PORTAL
Yormark told Bret Baier on "Special Report" on Thursday that "we need help from Congress."
"From where I sit today, federal pre-emption, having a standardized platform that oversees and governs NIL is critically important," Yormark said. "Today, 34 states see it very differently, and it’s relatively unruly."
Dec 15, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons (11) walks onto the field during the first quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)
"The volume of laws that are being passed on a state level are making it really difficult for us to regulate and compete nationally," added Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti. Every single time someone doesn’t like a ruling, or something comes from the NCAA, we end up in litigation. Those rules then get aggregated, and we’re back to the start.
"We’re hopeful that the combination of what we’ve done in the settlement will give us an opportunity, with some help from Congress, to really put a system in a place that has some stability.
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"We’ve crossed the bridge of being willing to provide revenue … but we need to have some structure. We can’t have a system that has complete unregulated movement."
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
