In a move that has shocked the college football world, quarterback Nico Iamaleava de-committed from the University of Tennessee Volunteers and committed to the UCLA Bruins football team. UCLA announced the signing of Iamaleava on Sunday, April 20.
Iamaleava was the No. 1 ranked player in the state of California in the 2023 class and the No. 2 in the nation in his senior season at Warren high school in Downey. Iamaleava chose to play at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and his representatives negotiated a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal of a reported $8 million, or about $2 million annually.
Iamaleava apparently wanted to renegotiate his NIL deal for more money after his second season at Tennessee. He was also reportedly unhappy with the offensive scheme. Iamaleava missed a spring practice before the spring game and Tennessee decided to “move on” from Iamaleava.
Iamaleava entered the transfer portal on April 16 and four days later he announced that he was a UCLA Bruin. Iamaleava had some good games with the Volunteers, winning the Citrus Bowl MVP award in his first career start in the 2023 season, a 35-0 win over Iowa and leading the Volunteers to the playoffs in the 2024 season, losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round. The Buckeyes ended up winning the national championship.
Iamaleava threw for 2,614 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions in the run-heavy Volunteer offense in 2024. Tennessee ranked No. 121 out of 132 FBS teams in pass-run percentage, throwing the ball on 39.89% of their offensive plays. That should change under new UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who will also be the quarterback coach.
“To the amazing people in Knoxville, thank you for embracing and uplifting me throughout my time there,” Iamaleava said on Instagram last Sunday. “I’ll be forever thankful for the support you showed me every step of the way and I’ll always cherish the relationships I built there and the memories I created with my brothers. I believe with all my heart that I gave my all as a Volunteer. I’m truly grateful for the time I had at UT.
“My journey at UT has come to an end. This decision was incredibly difficult, and truthfully, not something I expected to make this soon. But I trust God’s timing, and I believe He’s leading me where I need to be. Even though, this chapter is ending, a new chapter has begun, and I am committed to UCLA!”
Whatever really happened in Knoxville is in the past. The UCLA football team is the winner in that fiasco. UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster got the kind of player he needs to bring a buzz to the football program and give the fans some hope for the future. No NIL terms were revealed for Iamaleava, other than Foster calling the contract a “success.”
“To be able to bring in the No.1 player in the portal, just something that we could not pass up,” Foster said at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. “A good quarterback, a local kid, a lot of the kids on the team know him and played with him. We are just excited to get him out here once he finishes at Tennessee and gets out here and can be on our team.” Foster indicated that Iamaleava would join the team in the summer.
“You want to be in conversations, you want to play big-time ball,” Foster said. “You want to have haters; you want all of this stuff because that means that you’re trending in the right direction. This is a good buzz for us. Keeping the local kids here, a big-time recruit, letting them know that you don’t have to go to certain conferences to be successful and make it to the NFL. You can do it right here in California.”
Things got even more interesting after the announcement that Iamaleava was coming to UCLA. Quarterback Joey Aguilar, who came in through the transfer portal from Appalachian State, announced that he was transferring to Tennessee in what has turned out to be a de facto trade. Aguilar was expected to start in 2025 for the Bruins. He is now expected to be the starting quarterback at Tennessee.
On Monday night, April 21 or the day after his brother announced his commitment to UCLA, quarterback Madden Iamaleava announced that he was transferring from Arkansas to UCLA. Foster refused to comment on pending transfers and the Arkansas athletic department has threatened to enforce the NIL buyout with his contract.
Madden Iamaleava originally committed to UCLA but flipped in December to Arkansas. The lack on rules involving NIL deals and the ease of entering into the transfer portal have made for interesting times in college athletics.
But as Foster mentioned, the addition of Nico Iamaleava has added a buzz to UCLA football and may be the kind of addition that begins to convince top football recruits in California to stay at home and attend UCLA. The Bruins open up the regular season at the Rose Bowl against the Utah Utes on August 30, a game that should generate additional interest from both television and fan attendance at the game due to the addition of Iamaleava at quarterback.