Insider: Bruins Still Need to Improve Beyond Iamaleava

Nico Iamaleava and UCLA shook the college football landscape when the rising redshirt sophomore transferred from Tennessee to Westwood in April.

Since then, Iamaleava and the Bruin have been one of the most compelling stories entering the season, receiving attention on both sides of the spectrum.

Greg McElroy, college football insider for ESPN and host of the Always College Football show, still thinks UCLA needs to improve beyond just adding Iamaleava:

"If you look at last year, first six games? Not good at all. Last six games? There was a lot of growth on, really, kind of, both sides of the ball. You pick off three wins against bowl teams in Rutgers, Nebraska, and Iowa. You narrowly (lose) against USC. There’s a lot of things to kind of like about what could be heading for UCLA.

"New offensive coordinator in Tino Sunseri. I absolutely love this hire. I love that they went out and got Nico Iamaleava. Nico Iamaleava obviously did an amazing job at times last year for Tennessee, but there are also a lot of things that he missed. He’s got to take a big step this year because the supporting cast is one that I’m not super familiar with – a lot of new faces, a lot of new pieces. And then, defensively, lose some of their best players from a year ago.

"The schedule is also a beast – Penn State, at Ohio State, at USC, Utah in the non-conference, Nebraska, Washington, at Indiana. The schedule is really, really difficult,” said McElroy. “And don’t lose sight of the game aton September 6th. That could be a much tougher game than people probably want to point to right now.”

Iamaleava's Journey to Westwood

Iamaleava made his way to the Bruins after a public dispute with the Volunteers over his name, image and likeness resulted in his departure. Iamaleava was at the wrong end of negative public discourse and is now one of the most polarizing college football talents ahead of the next season.