It’s the spring, and Tennessee is putting the finishing touches on fall camp. The Volunteers are looking to build off of a College Football Playoff appearance last season, hoping their five-star, former
No. 1 overall prospect of a quarterback can make a big jump in development and become the player everyone thought he could be.
And then the Friday before the Orange and White Game comes and poof — he’s gone. Nico Iamaleava no-showed his team for practice that morning, coming off of rumors that his camp was negotiating with Tennessee for more money. This all follows another public spat back in December, where team Iamaleava reportedly demanded that Tennessee surround Nico with more talent (and I’m sure more cash).
Looking back, the Iamaleava contingent should have hit the exits right here. They know it, everyone knows it. Those power five offers would have undoubtedly come.
Back to the spring, Tennessee scoffed at whatever the new demands were. Josh Heupel had finally had enough and chose to move on without the guy that the program had put so much into. Every visual of Iamaleava was gone by the time the spring game kicked off the following afternoon. Tennessee rolled with Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre on that day and quickly began taking the temperature of the potential portal option for the remainder of the weekend.
The Iamaleava camp overplayed its hand
Nico, managed by his father Nic and a family friend, was spotted in Nashville heading back west to figure out his next move. He officially entered the portal shortly after, but the option started quickly peeling off the board. Oregon, USC, Notre Dame, Ohio State? Turns out those were pipe dreams.
The options quickly narrowed down to names like UCLA, North Carolina or even Tulane. It quickly became clear that UCLA would end up being the destination. That became official after a week of speculation. That also opened the door for Tennessee to execute an unofficial trade.
Joey Aguilar had transferred to UCLA from Appalachian State during the tradition window and just finished up spring practices with the Bruins. The writing was on the wall though. Aguilar wasn’t trying to spend his last season of eligibility beating out a former five-star prospect that was set to come in with plenty of hype. The other part of that equation was that he suddenly saw a new and potentially much more fruitful opportunity open up in Knoxville.
Josh Heupel and company made that happen, perhaps out of pure necessity. Tennessee had poked around at names like Josh Hoover and Luke Altmyer, but were quickly turned down. Heupel needed a veteran and his options were limited.
The media absolutely ate up Nico to UCLA
It’s only natural. A five-star kid coming home to play for UCLA, could the Bruins finally be relevant again? The hype machine was off the charts. Here are a few favorites.
It’s all coming together for UCLA Coach Foster:
“I’ll just say he’s been terrific. He’s been beyond terrific, not only from a talent standpoint and what he showed on the field, but just the work he’s put in behind the scenes. They have continued to beyond beyond rave about him and just feel like the outlook is so much different for this season there at UCLA compared to what it would’ve been if they had not gotten Nico. They legitimately feel at this point like they’re going to be able to compete in any game that they play.” (Matt Zenitz)
Darlington said there was so much interest in playing with Iamaleava, “the discounts started happening. Like if their price-point was at 6, and we were at $400,000, they were willing to do it. We lost out on probably three wide receivers because the school we were competing with came back and doubled the money.”
The Athletic also reported that Coach Foster wasn’t sold on Aguilar’s study habits or his ability to connect with his receivers.
ESPN gushes about Nico’s fresh start:
Although Iamaleava’s talent is obvious and Foster, Sunseri and UCLA players can’t help but acknowledge it, he has had to strike the balance between stepping into a role that inherently requires leadership and not getting too ahead of himself as a newcomer trying to earn his teammates’ trust. So far, Iamaleava appears to be taking the challenge in stride.
The in-practice updates on X, the various podcast comments, it was clear — and even understandable to a point. College Football is better with a presence in Los Angeles, but anyone that had actually watched Iamaleava play in 2024 knew there were some shortcomings to his game that had to improve in large ways.
So the official narrative had been set. The Tennessee offense was the problem and he didn’t have enough talent around him. The offensive line wasn’t good enough, he didn’t have enough talent at receiver. But Tennessee hit the portal hard for offensive line help, landing two top targets. They were also able to sign five-star tackle David Sanders.
So he chose to come home to be closer to family — and the Iamaleava side still begs you to believe that was the end of the story.
The problem was that UCLA was 5-7 last year and showed virtually no signs of improvement in a tough Big Ten. Nico opted to play for a coach that was clearly in over his head from the start who had hired a largely unproven offensive coordinator that had never called plays before in his life. Beyond that, one look at the UCLA roster against Tennessee’s and things really don’t even begin to add up.
Iamaleava was also making north of $2 million per season at Tennessee. He signed with UCLA to make $1.2 this season, which is before California’s state income taxes hit.
Beyond that, there’s a legitimate NFL argument to be made here. Nobody was saying Nico could have been the top overall pick, but he was on the NFL’s radar and could have certainly been drafted with a little improvement from 2024. Remember, Iamaleava is a redshirt sophomore and draft eligible this season. The family could have stuck it out and moved on to the pros next season, where he likely would have been drafted on physical tools alone.
Mel Kiper Jr. even had him as a potential first round pick back in April coming off of a very pedestrian 2024.
The most lopsided ‘trade’ ever
Tennessee fans knew what was coming. Iamaleava failed to elevate a roster featuring blue-chippers everywhere. How on earth was he going to elevate a struggling UCLA program?
He didn’t.
UCLA was smacked by Utah to open the season and the nation was quickly woken up to just how badly this was about to go. The Bruins followed that up with a loss to UNLV and then were blown out by the mighty New Mexico Lobos. Ouch.
Head coach DeShaun Foster was fired just three games into the season. Offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri was let go following a loss to Northwestern in week four.
That offensive line that the Iamaleava side said they had to have? They didn’t find it at UCLA. Iamaleava has been sacked nine times so far this season. He’s running more than ever too, handling 44 carries in just four games to this point.
You won’t find a single game left on the schedule that UCLA will win — 0-12 is overwhelming likely with a tougher Big Ten schedule remaining on the table.
Joey Aguilar, the guy that Foster said didn’t study enough, is in the Heisman Trophy race. He just took Tennessee to a 4-1 mark, notching a huge road win complete with a heroic late drive to tie the game. The offense looks the best its looked since the Hendon Hooker days. Aguilar is set to put up numbers all season long and has a decent shot at leading Tennessee back to the College Football Playoff.
At a certain point, you have to feel for Nico just a bit. If you’ve paid attention at all here it’s pretty clear that he’s not calling his shots. Whatever the reason actually was, there certainly was a better way to do this, but that’s the nature of the current landscape. Nico’s best move from here? Hire legitimate representation. That’s how he got to this point, staring a winless season directly in the face and a potentially ruined pro career.
Tennessee will ride with Aguilar for the rest of the season and compete among the elite in the SEC and perhaps beyond.
I think Josh Heupel is more than fine with how things played out.
