Nico Iamaleava is perhaps the most cautionary tale in college football history and Big Ten coaches do not expect UCLA to be any better in 2025 than it was in 2024. In fact, they worry that the program in Westwood will very soon become a “circus.”
The amount of question marks for the Bruins far outnumber the amount of certainties which their league counterparts do not expect to bode well for them.
Iamaleava was the second-ranked quarterback in the college football recruiting Class of 2023 behind only Arch Manning. He signed the biggest NIL deal in history at the time to play at Tennessee. The Volunteers reached the College Football Playoff during his sophomore season, which was his first full year as a starter. However, greed got the best of him (and his father).
Nico Iamaleava’s dad shopped his son in the transfer portal while actively seeking an increased financial deal at Tennessee. Head coach Josh Heupel found out about the behind-the-scenes shenanigans (probably because of Dan Lanning) and ultimately decided to kick his starting quarterback out of the door after he failed to show up to spring practice on the day prior to the spring game.
The five-star prospect landed back closer to home at UCLA on an NIL deal that will pay him a lot less than what he was going to make in Knoxville. It was a disastrous sequence of events. Iamaleava and his father look like the biggest doofuses in college football history.
Even though the Bruins landed the program’s highest-rated quarterback of all-time, other Big Ten coaches do not think he will be the difference between wins and losses. A group of coaches, who could be head coaches, assistants and/or analysts spoke to Athlon Sports on the condition of anonymity.
One coach sees the talent at UCLA as less than the talent at Tennessee. That obviously does not bode well for the success of Nico Iamaleava.
If Nico [Iamaleava] wasn’t a local kid, I don’t think these two end up together. It’s going be fascinating to watch, and it’s hard to understand if you’re in Nico’s camp. This is a less talented roster than Knoxville, and they’re rebuilding the offensive line with portal guys and a new OL coach and coordinator.
— Anonymous college football coach
Another coach expects it to be a disaster. The initial sparkle will dull as soon as they get on the field.
This is a team with a ton of questions, an almost all-new staff and a superstar transfer at QB. They’re going to steal a lot of attention from USC for a bit, but it’s going to be a huge challenge for a young, unproven head coach to keep this from becoming a circus that falls apart.
— Anonymous football coach
There are less than 100 days until the first game of the 2025 college football season. UCLA has high expectations with Nico Iamaleava at quarterback. The other coaches in the Big Ten don’t see it the same way. Their outlook for the Bruins is far more grim.