The deepest transfer of university football is coming home.
After a fall with Tennessee, Nico Iamaleava agreed to play for the UCLA next season in a movement that will generate an important buzz for the Bruins after adding a quarter-tree that took his previous team to the university football qualifiers.
But the nature of the departure of Iamaleava, which would have involved a desire for more name, image and resemblance of volunteers at a time when most of the teams had aligned a quarter-back leaving for next season, could make iiamaleava a polarizing silhouette before setting foot on its new campus.
Iamaleava announced its commitment to Bruins on its Instagram account on Sunday, ending more than a week of speculation about its future.
“My trip to UT ended,” said the post of Iamaleava. “This decision was incredibly difficult, and honestly, not something I expected to do soon. But I trust the timing of God, and I think he leads me where I must be.
“Even if, this chapter ends, a new chapter has started and I am attached to the UCLA!”
He was not immediately clear how much Iamaleava, from Long Beach, whose initial university agreement would have been about to pay him more than $ 2 million to pay Tennessee next season, agreed to accept Bruins as part of his move to South California. An anonymous friend of the family of Imaleava declared at Front Office Sports that dissatisfaction with regard to volunteers was focused on the need to strengthen the offensive line and receive bodies, not an additional compensation request.
The UCLA seemed to have a substantial lever effect in the negotiations since most of the teams were engaged in a quarter-back leaving for next season, considerably reducing demand for high prices transfer. Limiting the options of Imaleava more, he could not have gone to another school of the Southeast Conference without opposing a season as part of the conference rules associated with the seizure of the transfer portal in the spring.
The second year student of Redshirt will have three remaining seasons of eligibility, although he can declare the draft of the NFL next year. Going from a participant to the CFP to a team that has not won a conference championship for more than a quarter of a century presents a risk of Iamaleava in his attempt to win at the highest level of university football before going to the NFL. He will have to learn a new offense relatively quickly after probably missed the rest of the spring training and join the team during his registrations this summer.
The quarter of Tennessee Nico Iamaleava, on the left, is approached by the Rusher Florida Edge George Gumbs Jr., below, and the second Jaden Robinson in a university football match of the NCAA in October.
(Wade Payne / Associated Press)
Iamaleava, which wore n ° 8 in Tennessee, will also have to change the number unless it receives permission to use the same number which has been removed to honor the old quarter of the Bruins Troy Aikman.
The addition of Iamaleava lets in doubt the future of Joey Aguilar, who spent the first three weeks of spring training as an alleged departure quarter of the UCLA next season after having set up prolific numbers in the state of the Appalachians. The arrival of Iamaleava could repel Aguilar in the transfer portal since it has only one eligibility season.
Aguilar did not leave speculation on Iamaleava immediately modify his plans; He participated in the “Friday Night Lights” event of Bruins as if nothing had changed in his preparation for next season.
The Bruins almost added Nico’s younger brother, Madden, to their list on the day of the signing in December before the quarter of Long Beach Poly High and his teammate Jace Brown did not return to their verbal commitments and signed with Arkansas. Nico’s decision to join Bruins points out that all grooves are emerged from the situation of his brother were smoothed between the team and the Iamaleava family.
The UCLA had a strong ally in its prosecution of Nico Iamaleava because Stacey Ford, the director of the team’s players, was one of the Warren High coaches staff when the quarterrier became a star during the 2021 season. Iamaleava would later have signed a name, image and resemblance of $ 8 million Group, collective of the name, image and resemblance of Tennessee, with a six -digit payment when he was still in high school.
After playing sparingly during his first college season, the 6 feet 6 inch and 215 pounds played during a 2024 season during which he led the volunteers to the playoffs before losing against the possible National Ohio State champion in the first round. Iamaleava completed 63.8% of its passes for 2,616 yards with 19 touched and five interceptions, although the criticisms stressed that eight of these touchdown clashed at Texas El Paso and Vanderbilt.
As part of a disorderly split with Tennessee which has angry fans of volunteers, Iamaleava left before the team’s spring match. Recognizing that he continued, the coach of Tennessee, Josh Heupel, told journalists that there is no longer greater than the “Power T.”
Iamaleava’s luck winning a new fans base begins in several months. The UCLA will open the season against UTAH on August 30 at Rose Bowl, its quarter-arre in the running to become the local hero that Bruins have long needed to recover the glory lost for a long time.
The UCLA quickly capitalized on the arrival of its new star, sending an email to fans featuring a graphic from the quarter-arre in a Bruins jersey and a link to seasonal ticket deposits for next season.
“Now it’s your chance,” said the email, “to be part of this new electricity era of UCLA football.”
