Putting controversial Tennessee exit to rest, Nico Iamaleava turns focus to championship aspirations at UCLA

LAS VEGAS — Three months after Nico Iamaleava left Tennessee for UCLA and shook the college football world amidst the most significant contract dispute in the NIL era, the star quarterback finally broke his silence.

You just might not have been able to hear the soft-spoken quarterback Thursday when he stepped on stage near the end of Big Ten Media Days. The main attraction during the final hours of the three-day media event spoke barely above a whisper as he faced a barrage of questions concerning his departure from the Vols, whom he led to the College Football Playoff in December, to return to his home state and play for UCLA this fall.

The big question was asked in several different forms: Did he leave Tennessee because he wanted more than the $2.2 million he was set to receive next season? 

“Not at all,” he told CBS Sports earlier Thursday, before facing a throng of reporters. “My family was strictly the main importance for me. I let my business team, my parents, handle that side of NIL. Just me being closer to family was the most important thing.”

Iamaleava said he came to Big Ten Media Days to clear the air about his sudden departure from Tennessee, where he sat out a pair of spring practices in April as reports surfaced about an apparent contract dispute in Knoxville. Several outlets reported he asked for a new $4 million contract. One week before Iamaleava’s absence in Knoxville, sources told CBS Sports Iamaleava may be interested in testing the portal waters with the West Coast as a possible destination. Whatever happened during those two days in April, the result was all that mattered: UCLA landed Iamaleava out of the transfer portal. Earlier this summer, coach DeShaun Foster asked the quarterback to join him at media days to face the noise that had enveloped the sport.

“It’s time to let you tell your story,” Foster said. “A lot of people wrote a book for you and didn’t talk to him about it. I wanted him to come out here, and not for me (to tell his story), because you guys are gonna ask me these questions, and now I’m speaking for him. I wanted him to be able to go out there and really tell his truth.”

Iamaleava’s decision irked Tennessee fans and riled up Internet sleuths, who labeled his decision as one driven solely by money. Again and again on Thursday, Iamaleava denied cash as the motivation behind his decision. Reports that he was unhappy with the Vols’ roster, specifically the offensive line that was built to protect him, were also not true, he said. “I love my O-line,” Iamaleava said. “I had a great O-line.” He told CBS Sports his mother, Marleinna, has a difficult time traveling across the country, and returning closer to home to finish his college career was a consideration. “I’ve always felt that way during this stage of my career,” he said.

If there are regrets, Iamaleava said it was how he handled his exit from Knoxville.

“I could have given a better explanation to Tennessee fans, but I thought at the time as it was all happening we were going through some personal stuff and you want to handle personal stuff privately,” Iamaleava told CBS Sports. “At this time, I felt it was the right time to speak out. I wish all the Tennessee fans nothing but the best and I really appreciated my time there.”

For Iamleava, the return to Los Angeles is a reunion with a dozen-plus players he once called teammates or competitors as a blue-chip preps player at Warren High in Downey, California. Senior linebacker JonJon Vaughns first met Iamaleava as an underclassman in high school. “He could sling it, and I saw how big his dad was,” Vaughns smiled. “Oh, he’s about to be, like, 6-6.”

Iamaleava, now indeed 6-6 and 215 pounds, passed for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns in his first full season as Tennessee’s starter in 2024. He padded his stats against inferior competition and threw for over 200 yards only twice against SEC teams.

He’s expected to elevate a new-look UCLA offense, which ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten last season, piling up only 328.8 yards and 18.4 points per game. Foster replaced offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy with Indiana co-offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who helped develop quarterback Kurtis Rourke and the Big Ten’s No. 1 scoring offense (41.3 points per game).

Foster loves Iamaleava’s arm strength, something he noted when he initially recruited him out of high school. 

“The sky is the limit,” Foster said. “We’re excited about this.”

He repeated Thursday that the quarterback never seems rattled. “Look, turn around, look at him,” Foster told reporters. “He’s on stage, people want to talk to him, but he’s composed and I just hope he brings it to the hill and continues to grow.”

“I’ve never been pushed like this by a staff before,” Iamaleava said. “I’m excited to go to work for these guys.”

Foster has long had connections to the Iamaleava family. He recruited Nico’s younger brother, Madden, who committed to UCLA but flipped to Arkansas on signing day in December after the Bruins made a change at offensive coordinator. Nico and his father, Nicholaus, traveled to Fayetteville the day after Nico departed from Tennessee to watch his brother’s spring game in Arkansas on April 19, but the game was canceled due to heavy rain. Hours later, Madden informed Arkansas he was entering the transfer portal and joined his brother at UCLA. Arkansas is pursuing buyout money totaling as much as $500,000, which is outlined in an NIL contract Madden signed with the Hogs in January, sources told CBS Sports.

Madden is expected to be Nico’s backup this fall. 

“I want to bring championships back to Westwood,” Nico said. “That’s our main goal. Coach Fos and our whole staff has set expectations for us that we’re going to meet. Everybody in the locker room truly believes in one another. I love the bond we got going.”

Iamaleava switches from his preferred jersey No. 8 at Tennessee to No. 9 at UCLA. Troy Aikman’s jersey is retired at UCLA, but that didn’t stop Nico from trying to persuade the Hall of Famer to allow him to wear the coveted No. 8 during a phone conversation, he told CBS Sports. “We had a good conversation,” he chuckled. He said the new significance of No. 9 is to represent his nine immediate family members: seven siblings and his parents.

UCLA returns six starters on offense but will primarily feature a new receiver corps led by returning starter Kwazi Gilmer, Cal transfer Mikey Matthews and Arkansas’ Jaedon Wilson. The Bruins rank 14th in FanDuel.com’s odds to win the Big Ten championship this fall.

“Man, I can’t wait for the season,” Iamaleava said.

Whether the noise around Iamleava subsides after his long-awaited appearance at Big Ten media days is up for debate, but Foster said he doesn’t mind the spotlight on UCLA.

“We’re probably gonna have to continue with that type of treatment, but we want noise,” the second-year UCLA coach said. “You want people talking about us, and in a couple months, you guys are going to be talking about us winning games and not the quarterback.”