UCLA coaches have told the team’s quarterbacks that they plan to add former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the team, 247Sports confirms. Iamaleava’s impending transfer ends a significant couple of weeks for 247Sports’ top-ranked player in the portal. Tennessee moved on from the Southern California native ahead of its April 13 spring game and the opening of the spring portal window, ending a high-stakes standoff over NIL contract negotiations.
Iamaleava sought a new deal from Tennessee worth $4 million annually, nearly double his original reported deal, per ESPN’s Chris Low. Iamaleava’s lucrative first deal represented a high-water mark in the early NIL era in college athletics, and his standoff over more money was a somewhat fitting, if not ironic, way for the two sides to part ways.
UCLA’s basketball program added former New Mexico star Donovan Dent last month, and Iamaleava’s addition marks the latest high-profile transfer portal prospect the school has landed in as many weeks. The price tag to land Dent — one of college basketball’s most coveted transfers — was around $3 million, sources told CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter.
Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns during the 2024 campaign. He helped Tennessee reach the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff in his first season as a full-time starter last fall after spending the 2023 season as a backup to Joe Milton lll.
UCLA brought in App State quarterback Joey Aguilar this past offseason and he was projected as the starter heading into the fall before Iamaleava transferred in. The Bruins ranked 15th in yards per game (328.8) and No. 16 in points per game (18.4) among all Big Ten teams.
Iamaleava’s younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, was previously committed to UCLA before flipping his commitment to Arkansas during the Early Signing Period last December.
CBS Sports will update this breaking news story shortly.
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