The Nico Iamaleava saga is nearly over.
The former Tennessee star quarterback and top ranked player in the transfer rankings is reportedly transferring to UCLA. The Southern California native has three years of eligibility remaining.
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Iamaleava and Tennessee parted ways on Saturday right before their spring game. As for the reason why the Heisman hopeful decided to leave the team, various reports cited Iamaleava's demands for a renegotiated NIL deal while others pointed to Tennessee failing to add quality offensive linemen and receivers via the transfer portal. Iamaleava's NIL deal with Tennessee was reportedly worth just over $2 million.
Once Iamaleava's intentions to transfer became know, multiple potential suitors surfaced, with UCLA being the most likely destination. That relationship was complicated by the fact that Iamaleava's younger brother Madden was committed to the Bruins for more than six months before flipping to Arkansas on National Signing Day. This bump in the road was seemingly not high enough to keep UCLA from signing the elder Iamaleava.
UCLA's new quarterback was the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2023 Rivals250, behind only Arch Manning. Iamaleava saw limited playing time in five games during the 2023 season as a true freshman. He started the Tennessee bowl game against Iowa that season, throwing for 151 yards and completing 63.2-percent of his passes.
In his first full season as Tennessee’s starter, Iamaleava led the Vols to the 2024 College Football Playoffs and threw for 2,617 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions with a completion percentage of 63.6. Iamaleava added 475 rushing yards and three more touchdowns.
Tennessee’s 10-3 record last season included wins over Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama.
Stay locked in on the Rivals Transfer Tracker to keep up with the latest transfer news, portal entries, commitments, and rankings. For a deep-dive into the transfer portal, make sure you visit the Rivals Transfer Search page.
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The spring college football transfer portal window is scheduled to open on April 16th, 2025 for 10 days. It is the second transfer window of the 2025 recruiting cycle. The winter college football transfer portal window opened on December 9th, 2024 for 20 days. There was also a five-day window for players to transfer after their team finished postseason play. Additionally, players get a 30-day window to transfer when their head coach leaves.
