By Sam Settar

Nico Iamaleava, currently the UCLA Bruins’ quarterback, was a highly sought-after five-star recruit coming out of Warren High School in Los Angeles in the 2023 class. In his senior season at Warren, he threw for 1,726 yards and 25 touchdowns while also rushing for six touchdowns. He was named the Polynesian Football Player of the Year and MVP of the 2023 Polynesian Bowl. The Polynesian Bowl is an all-star football game played every year in Honolulu, Hawaii for top-ranked seniors with a Polynesian background, and the game highlights and celebrates Polynesian culture. Iamaleava was ranked the number 2 quarterback in the country and had more than 20 offers to play college football at many of the top football programs in the country. That list included Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, and Tennessee, where he ultimately decided to commit. He enrolled at Tennessee early in the spring of his senior year.

Once Iamaleava arrived on campus, he was the backup quarterback behind Joe Milton III, who is now in the NFL with the Cowboys. He appeared in five games while backing up Milton III and threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns. He was projected to win the QB battle in Knoxville the following season in 2024, with Milton III declaring for the NFL draft. Iamaleava won the job and had a successful redshirt freshman season. 

Iamaleava was coming off a promising freshman season at the University of Tennessee in 2024. He threw for 2616 yards, with a 63.8 completion rate and 19 passing touchdowns. Iamaleava rushed for an additional 358 yards and added three more touchdowns with his feet. Many Tennessee fans thought he was due for a massive sophomore season after he showed glimpses of being a star. His NIL deal at the time was a multi-year, 8 million dollar deal. At this year’s spring game, however, Iamaleava did not play, as he was still holding out until he got the NIL deal that he wanted.  

After leading his team to the College Football Playoffs, Iamaleava had pushed for an increase to the NIL deal that Tennessee was giving him at the time. He held out of practice and did not participate in any team activities. He told Josh Heupel, Tennessee’s head coach, that he would not play until he got the money he wanted. Heupel said, “Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him. I said it to the guys today. There’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T. That includes me.” Iamaleava announced on instagram on April 20 that he was officially transferring to UCLA. According to an article by ESPN’s Paulo Uggetti, Iamaleava said that transferring to UCLA was “one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make.” It is estimated his NIL deal at UCLA was around 1.2 million dollars.

Iamaleava posing for media day. Photo credit: Nico Iamaleava via instagram nico_iamaleava8.

The late April transfer left quarterback Joey Aguilar, who had transferred to UCLA from Appalachian State before Iamaleava, in a tough spot. He broke multiple records in his previous two seasons with the Mountaineers. He would have to decide to either battle Iamaleava for the starting job at UCLA or transfer again. Tennessee didn’t have a starting quarterback after Iamaleava had left, so Aguilar saw this as the perfect opportunity to transfer to Tennessee and land Iamaleava’s old job. He ended up winning the starting job at Tennessee, while Iamaleava is starting for UCLA. 

Aguilar is off to a great start at Tennessee this fall, where they have rolled to a 4-1 start, while only losing to number 6 ranked Georgia in a barnburner. Iamaleava, on the other hand, struggled in his first starts as a Bruin. They started 0-3 and got blown out by Utah and UNLV, getting outscored 78-20 in these games. This past Saturday, Oct. 4, however, UCLA beat Penn State 42-37. 

Iameleava’s story might serve as an example of how grass is not always greener on the other side. When he ended up at UCLA, he received significantly less NIL money than Tennessee was going to pay him for this upcoming season. This saga demonstrates just how much NIL deals have begun to impact college football.