A year after Tennessee divorce, Nico Iamaleava has no regrets
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LOS ANGELES – Let’s start off with one thing about Nico Iamaleava: He doesn’t regret a thing.
His tumultuous exit from Tennessee after spring football in 2025 was well-documented, turning him into one of the early villains of the NIL era. Even after he transferred to UCLA, the hate from Knoxville and beyond followed, criticizing his every move and joining in jubilation with anything that went wrong — and plenty of it did for the Bruins last season.
Iamalaeva rejects the narrative he left Tennessee for money. He will tell you it was because he was far from home, nearly 2,000 miles away from Long Beach. Even as he led the Vols to the College Football Playoff in his first full season as a starter, he said the distance away left him in a “rough mental state.”
In April 2025, four months after Iamaleava started in Tennessee’s first CFP game, he sought to renegotiate his NIL deal, which reportedly paid him more than $2 million per year. He had been among the highest paid quarterbacks in college football, but the pay scale was increasing quickly.
ESPN, citing sources, reported Iamaleava’s representatives wanted his NIL pay increased to $4 million per year, using the possibility of him entering the transfer portal as leverage. That would’ve put his compensation on par with college football’s highest-paid quarterbacks at the time.
Negotiations came to a stalemate. NIL representatives for UT believed Iamaleava was already paid fairly for his level of play. He showed promise and had a solid season as a redshirt freshman, passing for 2,616 yards, 19 TDs and five interceptions. But it fell short of production by coach Josh Heupel’s quarterbacks in recent seasons.
Iamaleava skipped Tennessee’s final practice of spring and the spring game. Heupel announced Tennessee was moving on from Iamaleava, referencing the Vols’ logo: “There's no one that’s bigger than the Power T.”
Iamaleava entered the portal and transferred to UCLA.
More than a year after the departure, would Iamaleava have handled it differently?
“At that point, the narrative was out there, whatever narratives they made, so I didn’t really feel the need to talk, let them run with their stories, and the truth will come out eventually,” Iamaleava told USA TODAY Sports. “I think no, I wouldn't have anything different.”
Nico Iamaleava, UCLA chasing success together
One thing he does want to do differently is what happens on the field.
Iamaleava is back with the Bruins and playing under a new staff seeking to revive the dormant program — and put everything from the past away.
“I want to win games, and everything else will come with that,” he said.
You wouldn’t think Iamaleava is someone so despised when you see him. He is soft-spoken, smiles a lot and loves to joke around. That could be in part to being in a much more comfortable setting.
“What's not to like about being at UCLA?” he says, acknowledging plenty to do in Westwood and even hard academics. Having family around helps, too, especially when things get tough like they did in 2025.
The hype from Iamaleava’s arrival at UCLA quickly died down when the Bruins began the season 0-4 and second-year coach Deshaun Foster was fired after the third loss. Iamaleava did show flashes leading an upset win over Penn State to spark a three-game win streak, but the Bruins lost their final five games and finished 3-9.
It was a challenging time to go from national title contender to cellar dweller, and Iamaleava relied heavily on the “safety blanket” of his parents and siblings, including brother and fellow Bruin quarterback, Madden. But they couldn’t completely block out all the criticism that continued, as he pointed out his family “was dealing with it too.”
"He was getting most of the hate and it sucks for him because Nico really held it down,” said running back Jaivian Thomas. “For him to bring guys along, man, that's something you need in your quarterback.”
Why Nico Iamaleava decided to stay at UCLA
Given how 2025 played out, it was easy to assume Iamaleava would transfer again and look to salvage his college career with an easier path to winning. But he wanted to stay, as long as the incoming coach met what he sought.
It didn’t take much time to re-commit.
“After I met them, it was a no-brainer,” Iamaleava said.
Bob Chesney wasn’t oblivious to the situation while he was at James Madison last season, and he didn’t know if Iamaleava would want to play for him. But just as quickly as Iamaleava decided to stay, Chesney felt like he understood who his quarterback really was.
“I realized just first of all how much he loves his family, and how much he wanted to stay here. I realized all those things to be true,” Chesney said. “I realized that he was a guy that is competitive and wants to know that there's a program going to be built with people that share his competitive spirit.
"I just thought he was a humble, great young man, and that's hard to tell from the outside. But I think when you have a chance to sit down with him, you have a really good understanding of it may not be what exactly he might have been made out to be.”
It’s not only learning who Iamaleava is as a person, but understanding his competitiveness as well, and how much he wants to change the perception of UCLA.
Kennedy mentioned from the start of fall camp, the staff meets 30 minutes before doing so with the team. But 45 minutes before those staff meetings begin, there is Iamaleava in the facility, ready to go through the script.
In addition to spending more time on the game, he’s also taking care of his guys too. He has been frequently taking his offensive linemen out to dinner, and not just any run-of-the-mill restaurant, but the upscale Mexican restaurant Javier’s.
"Nico has done a great job of building all of the guys up to make sure that we're all collectively coming together as a unit," said offensive lineman Julian Armella.
The perception of Nico Iamaleava different than reality
Doesn't sound like a money-hungry, self-centered diva, does it?
If you ask Iamaleava if he's misunderstood, he says he doesn’t care. “I like to let people assume,” he said, adding those who critique him don’t know him on a personal level, and he only cares about the opinion of those close to him.
OK, so what do they think?
“He gets all the narrative about whatever happened back in the day or whatever,” Thomas said. “He's not the guy people try to portray him as. He's really a good guy.”
“It's easy nowadays in social media for people to hide behind a screen or send horrible messages, death threats, etc. At the end of the day, Nico is a very humble, very soft, quiet, only leadership-spoken person,” Armella said.
“He's the greatest person. He is a heart of gold. He's an unbelievable human being. He works his freaking tail off,” Kennedy adds. “Honest to God, I mean this, I couldn't think of a bad thing to say about him as a person.”
All of that, and more, is why the Bruins believe they can turn it around.
Chesney commended his quarterback for sticking around and trying to turn a program around, rather than join an already title-ready roster. Because of that, a lot of the responsibility falls on Iamaleava to make it happen. He has accepted it, with his coach noting his work ethic in taking on the challenge is much better than anticipated.
There’s also plenty of things Iamaleava needs to improve on as well. He had a team-high 505 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in 2025. Not something you want your quarterback to be leading.
A major issue for UCLA last season was Iamaleava having to use his legs just so it can move the ball, and by the end of the season, defenses caught on to the designated keepers. He doesn’t want to be running the ball as much. He wants to stay in the pocket and throw the ball, and only use his legs as a last-ditch effort.
But when plays break down, UCLA sees Iamaleava’s ability to create off-script gives them a tremendous advantage.
Iamaleava also wants to get the Rose Bowl rocking. Now known for its sparse crowds where the only noise is coming from visiting crowds, and where the Bruins haven’t had a winning record since 2023.
“We get to go clean up all the stuff that we did last year, change the narrative on the Rose Bowl,” he said. “It's gonna be a fun year.”
If that’s the case, then maybe the narrative on Iamaleava can change too. For the past two years, he’s been ridiculed and made an example of what can go wrong for someone in college football.
In 2026, it can be right again for the California kid. He can go out and prove all the hype that started in high school is worth it, showing the potential of an NFL quarterback while leading the Bruins back to glory it hasn’t tasted in years.
Whether that happens or not, there will still be critics, people rooting for him to fail and continue their laughing toward him.
Remember how he said he doesn’t pay attention to it? Well, maybe he does a little, and he doesn’t mind if it continues. In fact, go ahead and make it as loud as you can.
It’s just more fuel for him to go out and complete the redemption arc of Iamaleava.
“Definitely a motivation for me,” he said. “I think there's a lot of guys that were talking crazy out there, so it definitely flips a switch in my head when I get on the field.”
Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Adam Sparks contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A year after Tennessee divorce, Nico Iamaleava has no regrets
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