Winners and losers from Nico Iamaleava saga: QB overplays his hand, UCLA makes a splash, Tennessee will be OK

The Nico Iamaleava saga officially ended last weekend after the former Tennessee star announced he is transferring to UCLA. Less than 24 hours after news broke of his commitment, UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar entered the transfer portal and committed to Tennessee, creating an “unofficial trade” and quarterback swap for the 2025 season.

He won’t be the only member of his family playing for the Bruins this fall. His younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, is transferring from Arkansas to UCLA. The younger Iamaleava committed to UCLA out of high school before flipping his commitment during the Early Signing Period in December to Arkansas.

The Iamaleava brothers are from Southern California and will return home to help turn around a program that went just 5-7 in Year 1 as a member of the Big Ten.

Joey Aguilar to enter transfer portal: Why ‘QB trade’ with Nico Iamaleava may work out perfectly for Tennessee

Will Backus

So, how did we get here? Tennessee moved on from Iamaleava ahead of its April 13 spring game and the opening of the spring portal window, which ended a high-stakes standoff over NIL contract negotiations. UCLA was viewed as the favorite to land Iamaleava, and the transfer came together just over a week after his exit from Knoxville.

Now that the dust has settled on one of the wildest storylines of the college football offseason, here are the biggest winners and losers from a dramatic series of events.

Winner: UCLA makes a splash

The biggest winner of this situation is UCLA. The Bruins landed a high-profile quarterback who…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/winners-and-losers-from-nico-iamaleava-saga-qb-overplays-his-hand-ucla-makes-a-splash-tennessee-will-be-ok/

Author : Cameron Salerno

Publish date : 2025-04-22 13:23:00

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