By Micheal Germanese
Nico Iamaleava has been the talk of the sports world since news broke that he was sitting out at Tennessee for a more lucrative NIL deal. Since then, the Vols have moved on and Iamaleava was hunting for a new team. On Wednesday, Iamaleava found his new team reports he was heading home to California to play for UCLA. But with the signing of Iamaleava, head coach DeShaun Foster added to the narrative of things that are wrong with college football today.
People have made Iamaleava the face of everything wrong in college football. However, what UCLA did is another example of everything that is wrong with college football.
Lack of Commitment
Players are criticized for showing little to no commitment to their teams today, but teams too have shown little to no commitment to their players the first chance they get. Getting Iamaleava is a great pickup to turn around UCLA this year. The problem, UCLA already went out and got former Appalachian State starting QB Joey Aguilar to transfer in back in December. Let us be honest, Aguilar believed he was the starter when committing to UCLA only to find out that UCLA wasn’t committed to him as the starter.
Former Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava is expected to transfer to UCLA, per @BruceFeldmanCFB
Iamaleava started 14 games and helped lead the Vols to the College Football Playoff last season pic.twitter.com/eUr2r9xjTW
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 16, 2025
UCLA needed to hit the transfer portal after 2024 with starter Ethan Garbers out of eligibility. His backup Justyn Martin transferred to Maryland leaving UCLA with zero starts at the QB position. A year ago Foster’s offense ranked No. 126 in points per game and finished 14th in the Big Ten Conference after going 3-6 (5-7 overall). That all changed after adding Aguilar and then Iamaleava who both started for their respective teams in 2024.
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But it will be Iamaleava, not Aguilar, who will be the starter when his transfer becomes official to UCLA. Last season he led Tennessee to the first College Football Playoff appearance in school history. Iamaleava completed 213 passes for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and only had just five interceptions. In the playoff for the Vols, however, Iamaleava was disappointing, completing 14-of-31 of his passes for 104 yards and zero touchdowns in a 42-17 loss to Ohio State. Now with the transfer to UCLA, Iamaleava will get a chance to make up for that game on Nov. 15 when the Bruins take on Ohio State.
Aguilar on the Move?
Because of Iamaleava’s transfer reports are swirling that Aguilar is already starting to gage interest from other teams. The former Mountaineer playcaller totaled 511 completions in two years for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns along with 24 interceptions. There will be interest for the former Sun Belt Conference quarterback, making his re-entry into the portal almost inevitable. Why stay at a program that has already shown little belief that you could help the Bruins in 2025? If they did, Iamaleava wouldn’t be heading to California.
Getting the fourth-best player and third-best QB in the portal is the right move for UCLA. Iamaleava gives the Bruins a better opportunity to win than Aguilar—a clear upgrade. Coming from the SEC Iamaleava has already proven he can win against the best in college football.
Losing your starting QB is bad. Losing the respect of your locker room is worse. https://t.co/ssw9UkVnP8
— J.D. PicKell (@jdpickell) April 16, 2025
Big Ten Contender
It didn’t take long for Iamaleava to find a new home and shouldn’t have for one of the top QBs in the country. College football has become, now more than ever, a win at all costs proposition. The people who condemn Iamaleava are the people who praised Tennessee for heading to the courts to block the penalties on how they got him. With the move UCLA showed it is ready to make tough decisions—even the unpopular ones. Tennessee might come to regret the decision to be righteous over winning.
Iamaleava doesn’t turn UCLA into a contender for the Big Ten in 2025. What he does is turn them into a team most don’t want to play. For Big Ten teams with UCLA on the schedule, the game is now a lot more daunting than it was a few days ago. No one wants to make the long trip to the Rose Bowl to face a team that could have the best QB in the conference this year.
