FRISCO — The introduction of NIL has rocked the landscape of college athletics. More than ever, there has become a clear power imbalance between programs across all sports only amplified by rampant student athlete transferring and conference realignment.

Without much structure in place, schools are still navigating these changes and fighting their footing. However, the challenges are not only generated from the external competition of competing institutions.

Often times, problems with NIL can be amplified within a program, causing a disconnect between coaches, student athletes and administration. All this has led to a landmark situation involving the University of Tennessee football program.

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava has decided to holdout from spring activities with his NIL reps unsatisfied with his current deal, according to Chris Low at ESPN. Iamaleava had signed an NIL deal worth $2 million back in 2022 which his reps now want doubled to $4 million.

A practice commonplace in the NFL now has its first real case in the college ranks. This spurned a strong reaction from Dallas Cowboys defensive star Micah Parsons who sees a lack of accountability at play here.

“College football a joke now! Y’all minds well just make college into a semi pro league! Actually hold players accountable to the contracts they sign!” he posted Friday on X. Parsons played his college ball at Penn State, departing right before the NIL era took off.

Nonetheless, he is quite familiar with the high stakes of a power five program and actually finds himself in a similar situation at this time.

Now there is no indication of a holdout just yet, but Parsons and the Cowboys are discussing his own contract extension. It seemed those talks were progressing until his agent raised a reasonable fuss about his lack of involvement last week.

Cowboys Nation certainly hopes Parsons does not get to that point of a holdout, already dealing with similar circumstances last summer when CeeDee Lamb skipped out on training camp awaiting his own extension.

At this point, it is a waiting game to see who will budge first. If these dealings go like any other in the Cowboys’ recent history, it will take an extended period of time.

Meanwhile, Iamaleava’s decision will set the tone for the coming years of college football and he will certainly not be the only one to leverage this position.