Nico Iamaleava spoke publicly Thursday for the first time since his April transfer saga and claimed money was not his primary motivator for leaving Tennessee for UCLA.
Closing out Big Ten media days in Las Vegas, the quarterback also shared some lofty goals for a Bruins football program that has not been nationally relevant in many, many years.
“Family was the biggest thing to me,” Iamaleava said after calling the decision to leave Tennessee one of the hardest of his life.
“A lot of things about finance and stuff, it was never that. It was me getting back home closer to my family and playing at the highest level with my family’s support. In our Samoan culture, we’re always together and that was a very important thing for me.”
As a highly touted high school recruit, Iamaleava had signed a name, image and likeness deal with Tennessee’s collective that reportedly paid him $2.4 million per year. After his first season as the Volunteers’ starter in 2024, it was widely reported that Iamaleava’s representatives went to Tennessee seeking a raise to $4 million — and threatened Iamaleava would hold out otherwise.
When Iamaleava skipped practice and team meetings April 11, the day before the Volunteers’ spring game, it prompted coach Josh Heupel to part ways with the QB.
Iamaleava is from Long Beach, Calif., so transferring to UCLA did indeed bring him closer to home. It also offered the Bruins an upgrade at the position following a 5-7 campaign.
“We’re just excited to have a playoff quarterback, somebody that was able to lead his team to the playoffs,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said. “… (With Iamaleava) being able to come back home and be comfortable and being in a familiar environment, I think the sky is the limit. We’re excited about this.”
Iamaleava called himself “a big-time winner” and had big designs on what he wanted to accomplish at UCLA, whose only national title came in 1954.
“The main thing for me is to bring a championship culture back to Westwood. … I want to win games,” he said. “And that’s our main thing. Our main goals for this year is to bring championships back to Westwood.”
–Lincoln Riley wants Notre Dame rivalry game to continue
When Lincoln Riley got confirmation that he would be hired as the head coach at Oklahoma, his first thought was that he’d get to coach in the Red River Rivalry against Texas.
Now the coach at Southern California, Riley said Thursday that he had a similar moment when he accepted the Trojans’ job offer in late 2021.
“My first thought was, I get to coach in USC-Notre Dame. The first thought,” Riley said.
“So the rivalry — all these rivalries mean a great deal to me. They mean a great deal to anybody who cares about college football. Yes, I mean, do I want to play the game? Hell yeah, I want to play the game. Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons I came here. All right?”
Riley’s defense of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry is only newsworthy because of the game’s uncertain future.
It is only scheduled through 2026, and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Sports Illustrated back in May that the Fighting Irish want the series to continue. A USC associate athletic director shot back that his school had already offered to extend their agreement.
The ever-evolving College Football Playoff format, however, could be a reason USC does not want to face Notre Dame near the end of the season.
“I think depending on what happens here from a playoff perspective and do we expand, what model do we go to, that’s certainly going to have an impact,” Riley said. “Not only in the rivalry, but what time of year potentially that you would play it.”
–Michigan defensive end takes jab at Ohio State’s national title
Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore issued a barb toward Ohio State by claiming the Buckeyes’ national championship can’t be considered “real” since they didn’t win The Game first.
Ohio State appeared on shaky ground at the end of the 2024 regular season when unranked Michigan came into Columbus and won the annual rivalry game 13-10, knocking the Buckeyes out of the running for the Big Ten title game. It was Michigan’s fourth straight win in the series.
“First, I’ll congratulate them on the win, but you know it’s not no real win if y’all ain’t beat us,” Moore said Thursday. “But I’m going to congratulate them on that win, but this year it’s going to be different.”
–Field Level Media
