It’s been a crazy few weeks for this story, but things are finally official: Nico Iamaleava, former Tennessee Vols QB, will be transferring to the UCLA Bruins after his controversial and sudden ending in Knoxville. Here’s why, whatever you may think or have been hearing about Nico, this is something you should be very excited about if you’re a Bruins fan.
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It has not been a kind few weeks for Nico Iamaleava in the realm of public opinion. After missing spring practice and meetings in Tennessee due to a desire to renegotiate his NIL deal, Josh Huepel announced that Tennessee would be moving on from Nico. Nico was due to make 2.4 million dollars per year, and he was looking to increase that number to 4 million. Nico tried to “hold out”, but Tennessee was not interested in negotiating, forcing Nico to enter the transfer portal.
There are a lot of angles to unpack in this story, and I’m not going to get into them all. But the bottom line is that people have not been reacting kindly to how Nico handled the situation. College Football over the past few years has been going through a transitional period.
Many people feel as if the advent of the (relatively unrestricted) transfer portal, in addition to the ability for athletes to get paid for their name, image, and likeness, is quickly changing the sport into something unrecognizable, into more of a minor league and away from aspects that made College Football unique. It certainly doesn’t help when big names like Kirk Herbstreit, Nick Saban, and Paul Finebaum are constantly echoing this opinion on the biggest media player (ESPN) in the CFB landscape.
So, there has been simmering resentment about the state of CFB as it pertains to players getting paid. Combine that with how Nico’s camp went about this—Nico was already one of the higher paid players of the sport, he’s only played a year of football, he had his struggles last year, he held out pretty late in the process, and if he’s not the first to do this, he’s certainly one of the higher profile examples—and it made Nico a perfect bogeyman for the idea that players have too much power in the sport, power that they clearly can’t be trusted with.
To be clear, I don’t agree with that in the slightest. But as I said, there’s already been a lot of frustration surrounding this topic, and when you combine that with all the factors listed above, it’s made Nico public enemy No. 1 in the college football world. No one seems to like this guy right now. You’re already hearing allegations that he’s toxic, that coaches should stay away from him.
So I can understand why, if you’re reading this, you might have similar thoughts. But we need to let the past go and look toward the future. And as of now, the future is that UCLA has been gifted a supremely talented player at the QB position. The type of player who, if all works out, could seriously take this middling program to the next level.
Which Version of Nico Iamaleava Should the UCLA Bruins Expect?
Before all of this drama, Nico was one of the best prospects in the country in 2023. According to 247 Sports, he was a 5-star with a perfect recruiting ranking, the second-best QB in his class, and the second-best player of his class regardless of position, both only behind Arch Manning. He measured 6’5” and 195 pounds. There’s no questioning this kid’s talent. He can both run and throw, and he’s twitchy with a super quick release. When Nico throws, he truly whips the ball, and when he’s decisive and on target, it’s a pretty sight to watch.
Part of why all this is so surprising is that Nico was widely considered to be the next great QB in Knoxville. He impressed in his first start in the early 2024 Bowl Game vs Iowa, and most people thought he’d take the Vols offense to the next level after an up-and-down year from journeyman Joe Milton. Nico was more inconsistent than expected once the 2024 season rolled around, but he still led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff, and most attributed his struggles to inexperience; he was just a redshirt freshman.
I watched my fair share of Tennessee games last year, and while the talent was obvious, the inconsistency from Nico was a bit perplexing. The UT receivers and offensive line weren’t great either, but Nico definitely shared the blame.
The biggest problem was his deep ball inaccuracy. Time and time again, Nico would overthrow wide-open receivers deep. That was an issue for the UT offense, as so many of those plays should have been touchdowns. The other issue I noticed was that Nico was very hesitant at times. The ball wasn’t coming out when it needed to be, and when it was, it was often a misread or inaccurate throw. Overall, Nico did not look comfortable in Josh Huepel’s offense. The hope is that, in a new system, he’ll look better.
Despite all this, I’m still very optimistic about Nico’s odds of succeeding at UCLA. First of all, he’s still a young player, and we’ve seen countless examples of guys struggling in one spot then succeeding after transferring. There’s no reason to think Nico can’t do the same.
While talented prospects and highly rated high school recruits don’t always pan out at the next level, it’s way too soon to give up on a player of Nico’s pedigree and ability. He’s going into just his second year as a starter, and while things may have unraveled in Tennessee, this is a new start, and it’s at a place where Nico essentially handpicked. (It’s also worth mentioning that once Nico entered the transfer portal, he quickly became the No. 1 player in the portal according to 247sports.)
And this is the biggest reason why UCLA fans should be excited about Nico. He represents the type of talent that UCLA needs to compete in the Big Ten, and the type of talent they likely weren’t going to get otherwise.
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It hasn’t been a great few years for UCLA Football.. It was always going to be an uphill climb for them to compete in the Big 10, now having to go up against the likes of Michigan and Ohio State in addition to the former Pac-12 blue bloods like USC and Oregon. Even the second-tier Big Ten programs like Penn State and Iowa are still a class above UCLA. Last year, UCLA finished 14th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten with just a 3-6 conference record.
In addition to the lack of talent and lack of resources to obtain such talent in a larger and more competitive conference, UCLA has also been facing structural challenges due to coaching instability. After doing absolutely nothing to grow this program (at least Jim Mora could recruit and sell tickets), Chip Kelly decided to quit UCLA to go be the offensive coordinator at Ohio State last year. He did this without warning because, ostensibly, he didn’t want to do the “hard” work of recruiting and building up a program in this new CFB landscape—work that he wasn’t even doing when he was here.
Regardless, it was a good career move for him, as Kelly is now back in the NFL as an offensive coordinator, as people seemed to give him some credit for Ohio State’s national championship, as if he wasn’t working with the most talented (and most expensive) roster in the country. You certainly didn’t have to do anything “hard” in that situation, did you, Chip? (Although, credit where credit is due. Kelly’s play-calling against Michigan was terrible in a loss that would have kept Ohio State out of the more narrow CFP brackets of the past, but I digress.)
So UCLA had to scramble last year to find a new coach and had to settle for former UCLA player Deshaun Foster. He’s likable, but it was a scramble move, and he’s best known for his awkward introductory press conference. UCLA also had to replace both its coordinators from last year. Even if they weren’t that good, that’s still a lot of turbulence for a program trying to find its footing. Not to mention the loss of key players to the transfer portal.
The point being, UCLA’s in a tough position in the Big Ten. Given their circumstances, the best hope for them as a program seems to be just to compete. Not to win the Big Ten, but just to be average, and not to bottom out completely.
If I had to pick a word to describe last year’s Bruins team, it would be “gritty”. They were a tough out. They didn’t win a ton of games, and they weren’t particularly talented. But they played teams tough. They were competitive, they played above their talent level, they showed improvements, and a lot of their losses were closer than the final score indicated.
That’s all good! But the flipside is, any fan of a program should want them to be more than gritty. They should want them to actually win and to compete for a conference title. And all the grit in the world isn’t going to get that for you. To do that in college football, you need blue-chip talent. And that’s where Nico comes in.
Nico gives the Bruins an opportunity to be good. Not just good compared to expectations. Legitimately good. He’s the type of blue chip, high ceiling player that can be a difference maker on offense, that can raise the level of play of all the players around them.
Look, there’s a chance it doesn’t work out. But if so, what does UCLA have to lose? Worst case, Nico doesn’t improve, doesn’t live up to his recruiting status, and the Bruins are right back where they started, which, as of now, is 14th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten.
There are some schools where it wouldn’t be worth taking a chance on Nico. UCLA is not one of them. It’s been hard to find a reason to root for this school in recent years, and Nico Iamaleava gives us one.
So, try to forget the past, and try to forget the drama and politics of it all. When the dust clears, UCLA has managed to land one of the top QB prospects we’ve seen in recent years. That’s a great thing for this program, and it should be a reason for excitement if you’re a Bruins fan.