Nico Iamaleava to UCLA: Big Ten QB outlook in 2025 season as Bruins join short list of teams with stability

Everything about the way Nico Iamaleava’s time at Tennessee ended and how he wound up at UCLA was a mess. Honestly, mess probably isn’t the best way to describe it, but all the words that would better describe the situation are typically frowned upon in polite company — so, we’ll stick with mess.

It was a situation that exposed everything wrong with the current landscape of college football, where demands and dollars are rampant but regulations and common sense remain in short supply.

I have no idea when that will no longer be the case. As a fan of the sport, I hope that if anything positive comes out of the entire situation, it’s that it serves as an impetus to get things figured the freak (polite company!) out.

But, also, as a fan of the sport who sometimes just wants to concentrate on football, can we talk about what Iamaleava leaving Tennessee for UCLA means for the Bruins? UCLA read that last paragraph and thought, “I can think of something else positive that’s come out of this: We’ve gone from a giant shrug emoji at QB to being in one of the better spots in the Big Ten.”

It’s true. There’s no denying the Big Ten has had a strong few years; it’s won two national titles and last year got four teams into the first 12-team College Football Playoff. What hasn’t been discussed much yet, though, is that while 2024 was a year of transition for the league as it added four new schools from the late Pac-12, the 2025 season is one of transition at the quarterback position in the league. As things currently sit, only six of the 18 schools in the league have a returning starter in the league, and one of them — USC’s Jordan Maiava — only started the latter portion of the 2024 season.

Three of the four Big Ten teams to make the CFP — Ohio…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/nico-iamaleava-to-ucla-big-ten-qb-outlook-in-2025-season-as-bruins-join-short-list-of-teams-with-stability/

Author : Tom Fornelli

Publish date : 2025-04-21 18:15:00

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