UCLA Bruins land massive commitment from elite four-star QB recruit Madden Iamaleava

UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster had a lot of work ahead of him to improve a 2025 recruiting class that his predecessor Chip Kelly basically ignored. On Saturday night, Foster secured the commitment of quarterback Madden Iamaleava in what could be a program-changing moment for the Bruins.

According to Hayes Fawcett of On3.com, Warren High School’s (Long Beach, CA) star quarterback has officially committed to Foster’s program, giving UCLA its biggest recruit of the 2025 cycle.

• Madden Iamaleava stats (MaxPreps): 3,526 passing yards, 63% completion rate, 278.9 passing yards per game, 43-4 TD-INT, 137.4 B rating, 305 rushing yards, 3 rushing touchdowns

Iamaleava is widely regarded as one of the top signal-callers in the 2025 class. Iamaleava is ranked as the 11th-best quarterback prospect by 247 Sports, sharing the same score (91) as Georgia commit Ryan Montgomery. Meanwhile, Rivals.com rates him as the third-best dual-threat quarterback in the 2025 class.

ESPN is the highest on the Long Beach quarterback, rating him as the 83rd overall player in the 2025 recruiting class and the seventh-best player at his position. Notably, ESPN’s recruiting services profiles Iamaleava as a pocket passer.

Madden Iamaleava is the younger brother of Tennessee Volunteers starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who is widely projected to be one of the breakout players of the 2024 season. While Madden had previously served as his brother’s backup at Warren High School, he is now poised to pave his own path at a different program.

Background on UCLA Bruins commit Madden Iamaleava

Iamaleava saw playing time early for the varsity team from 2021-’22. He threw his first 2 touchdown passes as a varsity quarterback in his freshman season, then saw more playing time as a sophomore. In 58 pass attempts during the 2022-’23 season, Iamaleava posted 10 passing touchdowns with 675 passing yards.

He broke out as a starter this past season as a junior. Leading Warren’s football program, the 6-foot-3 quarterback completed 196-of-311 attempts, averaging 11.66 yards per attempt with a 43-4 TD-INT ratio. The numbers are even better than what his brother did as a senior for Warren – 25-5 TD-INT and 122.6 QB rating – when his younger brother served as his backup.

UCLA faced plenty of competition for Iamaleava, with Tennessee, the Auburn Tigers, Washington Huskies, Miami Hurricanes, TCU Horned Frogs and SMU Mustangs among the teams that were in on him. However, the Bruins were long favored to land his commitment.

Assuming Bruins offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy hangs around for more than one season at UCLA, Iamaleava will have an excellent opportunity to learn from an experienced NFL coach who spent several years mentoring Patrick Mahomes.