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Josh Heupel on Nico Iamaleava exiting Tennessee
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel shares feelings on Nico Iamaleava’s exit from the Vols and ‘do not contact’ tag.
Sports Pulse
The saga surrounding Nico Iamaleava has reached an apparent end, with the much-discussed Tennessee football transfer committing Sunday to UCLA.
It’s not the first time in the past four months that the Bruins believed they had found their quarterback for the 2025 season.
Last December, one week after Iamaleava and Tennessee lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff, UCLA received a commitment from Appalachian State transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar.
At the time, it looked like a mutually beneficial marriage. Aguilar, an Antioch, California native, got the opportunity to return to his home state and suit up for a Power Four program while the Bruins, who were losing starter Ethan Garbers, got a proven and productive signal-caller who had thrown for more than 3,000 yards in each of the past two seasons.
Now, due to previously unforeseeable circumstances, that potential pairing may end before it ever got to begin.
After missing a practice ahead of his team’s spring game while engaged in active negotiations over his NIL deal with the school, Iamaleava and Tennessee went their separate ways on April 12, putting a former five-star recruit and playoff starter on the market.
Before his commitment Sunday, Iamaleava had been publicly linked to UCLA for days. The murmurs were loud enough that Aguilar’s representatives had started reaching out to other schools to gauge their interest in the former Appalachian State standout, according to a report from ESPN’s Chris Low.
A Bruins quarterback room that was once empty following the graduation of Garbers and the…
Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/04/20/nico-iamaleava-joey-aguilar-stats-247-ucla-quarterback-depth-chart/83187398007/
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Publish date : 2025-04-20 22:34:00
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