Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava is officially heading to UCLA where he's expected to serve as the Bruins' starter in 2025.
(In a twist of irony, UCLA's expected starting quarterback in 2025, Joey Aguilar, is transferring to Tennessee.)
There are a lot of opinions and rumors flying around about why Iamaleava left Tennessee. Some folks think it was purely a money situation. Others have suggested that Iamaleava's camp had concerns about the offensive talent surrounding the young quarterback, along with concerns about how Josh Heupel's offense prepares players for the NFL (I tend to think the truth is somewhere in the middle and the situation quickly deteriorated to a point where the relationship between Iamaleava and Tennessee couldn't be saved...based on some conversations, I don't think it's fair to say that UT is blameless, either).
ESPN's Rece Davis offers his take on Nico Iamaleava's decision to transfer from Tennessee to UCLA
ESPN's Rece Davis isn't buying that Tennessee's offensive style is the reason why Iamaleava is leaving Knoxville to take over as the starting quarterback at UCLA.
"They've (Iamaleava's camp) now thrown scheme fit and NFL preparedness out there (as reasons for leaving Tennessee)," said ESPN's Pete Thamel to Davis during the College GameDay Podcast on Monday.
"That's hot garbage, by the way," responded Davis. "The one thing that they have said is that, well, the pieces around him weren’t sufficient, weren’t what he needed. And UCLA is? Look, I’m really bullish on (UCLA head coach) DeShaun Foster. I like him very much. You know my friendship with and belief in, as a rising star in the coaching industry, in their new offensive coordinator, Tino Sunseri, and whether I’m right about that, we’ll find out. We don't know. But I believe in Tino. I believe in DeShaun. I think he’s a good coach and a good fit there. But you can’t go in and start saying that Tennessee is not as prepared as UCLA in terms of pieces around him. That’s preposterous on its face.”
Again, I don't think Iamaleava entered the final week of spring practice in Knoxville believing that he would be leaving Tennessee (Nico's message announcing his commitment to UCLA seems to confirm that thought).
I think all of this transpired very quickly due to the way things played out following the oddly time report that Iamaleava was in NIL negotiations with Tennessee. If that report never surfaces, maybe none of this happens. But once it all happened -- specifically, once Iamaleava was a no-show at UT's final spring practice -- there was no putting the genie back in the bottle. At that point, Iamaleava had to find a new home, which isn't easy this time of year.
So I don't think Iamaleava's decision to transfer to UCLA has anything to do with the Bruins offering a better offensive situation than Tennessee. It was simply the best option for the former five-star recruit due to the timing of this entire saga.
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