Longtime draft insider drops strong comments on Nico Iamaleava’s ‘football character’ after digging into the former Vol’s situation
Forme five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava left the Tennessee Vols for the UCLA Bruins following spring practice in 2025.
Nico Iamaleava is one of the most polarizing quarterbacks in Tennessee Vols history.
The former five-star recruit is one of only three Tennessee quarterbacks in the last two decades with wins over Florida and Alabama (along with Erik Ainge and Hendon Hooker).
Iamaleava was also the starting quarterback in 2024 on Tennessee’s only College Football Playoff team.
The California native, however, left Tennessee for UCLA before the 2025 season due to an NIL dispute that quickly devolved to the point of no return, which has made him a fairly unpopular figure on Rocky Top.
Iamaleava’s unceremonious exit from Tennessee, though, doesn’t define him as a football player. And while there are undoubtedly some Vols fans who still have a negative view of him, that’s not necessarily how NFL scouts and draft insiders feel.
One big reason why scouts and insiders are high on Iamaleava ahead of the 2027 NFL Draft — aside from his physical abilities — is because of the “football character” he’s shown.
Todd McShay goes in depth on Nico Iamaleava
Longtime NFL draft insider Todd McShay went in-depth on Iamaleava this week on The Todd McShay Show and explained why he has zero questions about the former Tennessee quarterback’s “football character” after “doing a lot of digging on the whole situation (leaving one place to go the next).”
“One scouting service that a lot of NFL teams subscribe to had [the quarterbacks for the 2027 draft ranked as] (Arch) Manning, (Dante) Moore, (LaNorris) Sellers, (Sam) Leavitt, (Brendan) Sorsby, Iamaleava,” said McShay. “And Iamaleava then is ahead of Demond Williams, (Trinidad) Chambliss, (Jayden) Maiava. And that scouting service did not, as redshirt sophomores, have CJ Carr from Notre Dame and Julian Sayin from Ohio State on that list. So it goes to show you that there are some people who are really high on Nico Iamaleava. And after watching the tape, I get it.
“I was looking for [some “give up” in Nico’s game] because of the way he left Tennessee,” continued McShay. “We’re dialed into all of these guys. And maybe it’s mom, maybe it’s dad, maybe it’s a girlfriend, maybe it’s an agent (that causes problems)… Entitled front runner — I was looking for it. Because to me it’s really important that we separate personal character — and included in that are the situations, the people around them, or the past scenarios that have played out — from football character. And I’m cool with his football character now. I’m more than cool with it.
“Because that Indiana tape (from 2025)… I’m like, ‘This is going to be the tape where I’m like, yeah, the pressure got to him and the moment was too big.’ … He missed a couple of throws early in that game, and then he kept grinding. And there were three long runs, and then there were some nice throws. And there was a throw where he’s hanging in the pocket, and it’s like watching a train come down the tracks, and he’s like, ‘I’m going to stand here and I’m gonna take the blow.’ And he drills a strike into a tight window. … He’s got a big arm and he’s mobile. Yeah, we’re looking for all of those (physical) things. But I’m also looking for the nuance stuff, and I was really pleased with some of that nuance stuff and the mental and physical toughness — hanging in there and delivering [against pressure].”
McShay went on to add that a scout on the west coast told him last season to “put a bookmark in Nico’s tape because what I’m seeing is some special stuff.”
It’s not a surprise to hear any of this from McShay. Iamaleava revealed a lot about his football character when he was still competing his tail off in Tennessee’s loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff in 2024 despite the game already being out of reach for the Vols.
There’s also the comments that Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule made about Iamaleava’s toughness last season.
“I thought number nine was fantastic and just an absolute warrior,” said Rhule after a last season’s win over the Bruins. “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 college career hasn’t gone as anyone envisioned, but that’s been the case for plenty of highly touted quarterbacks in the transfer portal era.
Fans can debate who’s to blame for his departure from Tennessee all they want, but no one can debate his toughness and competitiveness. The tape doesn’t lie.