In social media post, Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek supports enforcement of NIL contracts
VIDEO: How Arkansas football QB Taylen Green is developing chemistry with new receivers
Arkansas football QB Taylen Green will need to develop chemistry with multiple new receivers during spring football, which begins March 10.
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek took to social media Tuesday voicing his desire to enforce agreements with student-athletes in the NIL generation of college sports.
The statement did not single out any players, but it comes just one day after true freshman quarterback Madden Iamaleava announced his intention to enter the transfer portal and eventually committed to UCLA. Iamaleava spent the spring with the Razorbacks, but he now follows his older brother Nico Iamaleava to Los Angeles.
“I have spoken with the leadership team at Arkansas Edge and expressed my support in their pursuit to enforce their rights under any agreement violated by our student-athletes moving forward,” Yurachek wrote. “We appreciate Edge’s investment in our student-athletes and acknowledge the enforcement of these agreements is vital in our new world of college athletics. We look forward to continued dialogue with all parties in resolving these matters.”
The statement comes amid growing momentum within the sport to include hefty buyouts to NIL deals. An Arkansas spokesperson declined to comment on if the Razorbacks would pursue legal action against the freshman quarterback.
Schools across the country are also bracing for another new era of college athletics, with a new revenue-sharing model awaiting approval from the the $2.8 billion settlement in the House of Representatives vs. NCAA case.
As it currently stands, athletes are paid through collectives funded by boosters and fans for their name, image and likeness. Beginning next year, the schools themselves will be able to dish out up to 22% of the average power league school’s annual revenue to athletes, which amounts to roughly $21 million.
While athletes would continue to have the ability to make NIL deals with entities other than their schools, the settlement would allow the NCAA to institute rules designed to give the association greater enforcement oversight of those arrangements.
Arkansas now has four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Taylen Green is the starter, while redshirt sophomore KJ Jackson is the backup. Madden Iamaleava worked with the third-team throughout most of the spring and was getting reps with the second unit across the final weeks.
Iamaleava was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class that went through spring football with the Razorbacks. He decommitted from UCLA and flipped to Arkansas on early National Signing Day in December, but his time in Fayetteville is over after four months.
Nico Iamaleava reportedly wanted to renegotiate his NIL contract with Tennessee, seeking more money than his previous deal and also had concerns about the Volunteers offense. Nico missed the team’s Friday practice before its Saturday spring game and Tennessee decided to cut ties with the quarterback.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
