When former five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava left the Tennessee Vols for the UCLA Bruins last spring amid reported NIL negotiations with UT, the California native’s character was questioned.

The business side of Iamaleava’s exit from Tennessee — there are NIL negotiations, many of which go unreported, happening constantly across the sport — has nothing to do with who the young quarterback is as a person or a player.

The Athletic drops strong quote about Nico Iamaleava’s character

Earlier this week, The Athletic re-ranked the quarterbacks from the 2023 recruiting class.

They have Iamaleava at No. 7 after he was originally ranked as the No. 2 quarterback.

The Athletic’s Antonio Morales pointed out that Iamaleava played “hard every week for a very bad team” in 2025.

“Given how bad UCLA’s roster was this past season, Iamaleava’s play was actually pretty commendable,” noted Morales. “But the numbers were still underwhelming. He threw for 1,928 yards, 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions and rushed for 505 yards and four scores. And the Bruins went 3-9.

“When he transferred from Tennessee last spring, it was well known that Iamaleava was leaving a good offensive situation for a bad one. He demonstrated strong character this past season because he played hard every week for a very bad team.”

It’s not a surprise to here that from Morales based on what we saw from Iamaelava last season.

For starters, Iamaelava rallied the UCLA locker room after the Bruins head coch and offensive coordiantor were fired early in the season.

At the time, there was speculation that Iamaleava would look for a new home. Instead, he did what he could to bring the team closer together (Iamaleava has already committed to return to UCLA in 2026).

Iamaleava also played through numerous injuries late in the season (including neck spasms) despite UCLA not being in contention for a bowl game.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule called Iamaleava a “warrior” for the way he played against the Cornhuskers.

“I thought number nine was fantastic and just an absolute warrior,” said Rhule of Iamaleava in November. “That first drive, we hit him so many times, I didn’t know how long he could do that. And he just did it all night. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

Iamaleava’s time at Tennessee ended in controversy, but it doesn’t change who he is as a player and as a human.

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