Nico Iamaleava's departure from Tennessee this past spring did not go smoothly, as reports surfaced suggesting that Iamaleava was potentially seeking $4 million from the Volunteers next season as part of his name, image, and likeness deal with the school.
Per The Athletic, Iamaleava originally committed to Tennessee on an NIL deal worth over $8 million for four years, but a day after Iamaleava was not present for practice in the lead up to the team's spring game, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced the team was moving on from the quarterback. Iamaleava entered the portal, and ended up transferring to UCLA.
Though NIL and money were largely seen as the driving forces behind Iamaleava's transfer, both Iamaleava and UCLA coach DeShaun Foster disputed that notion.
"My decision to leave was extremely hard, one of the hardest decisions that I've ever had to make. Family was the biggest thing to me," Iamaleava told reporters Thursday at Big Ten Media Day. "A lot of things about finance and stuff, it was never that. It was me getting back home closer to my family and playing at the highest level with my family's support. In our Samoan culture, we're always together and that was a very important thing for me."
“Family was the biggest thing to me.”
— BruinBlitz (On3 | Rivals) (@UCLAOn3) July 24, 2025
UCLA QB Nico Iamaleava answers a question from our @Tracy_McDannald about the misconception involving his departure from Tennessee this spring. pic.twitter.com/89SCIeA55W
“He’s a West Coast guy,” Foster said of Iamaleava, via Bruce Feldman ofThe Athletic. “I just feel like he catches a bad rap just because there was a dollar figure attached to him, and there really wasn’t. If there was, I don’t think we would’ve been the school that they were looking at. Other schools could’ve given him more, for sure.”
In coming to UCLA, Iamaleava will be close to his family and home of Long Beach. He joins the Bruins as the biggest transfer the team has acquired under Coach Foster, at a program that notably does not have one of the top NIL collectives in college football.
Iamaleava will instead get to help shape how UCLA takes their next steps heading into Year 2 in the Big Ten. The Bruins went 5-7 during their first season of Big Ten play, but now have a quarterback in Iamaleava that they are optimistic will lead them to better results this season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nico Iamaleava Dispels Biggest Misconception About Transfer From Tennessee to UCLA.
