How Nico Iamaleava’s big performance in UCLA’s win over Penn State confirms suspicion about why he didn’t reach his potential at Tennessee

Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava had the best game of his college career this past weekend in the UCLA Bruins’ 42-37 upset win over the Penn State Nittany Lions. Iamaleava, who left Tennessee for UCLA in April, accounted for five total touchdowns (two passing and three rushing) in the win while putting up 294 […]

Zach Ragan — Tennessee Volunteers News Writer
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Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava had the best game of his college career this past weekend in the UCLA Bruins’ 42-37 upset win over the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Iamaleava, who left Tennessee for UCLA in April, accounted for five total touchdowns (two passing and three rushing) in the win while putting up 294 total yards of offense (166 passing yards and 128 rushing yards).

It was the type of performance against a top 10 opponent that folks have been expecting from Iamaleava since he was a highly-rated five-star recruit in the 2023 class.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly, in fact, listed Iamaleava as his Heisman winner for this past weekend (Connelly picks a winner for each weekend of the season — essentially the college player that had the best game that weekend).

The circumstances around Nico Iamaleava’s big game against Penn State confirms suspicion about why he didn’t reach his potential at Tennessee

Iamaleava only spent one season as the starter at Tennessee (he redshirted during his true freshman season in 2023 with his only start coming against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl), but he never reached his full potential during that one season.

Despite leading the Vols to the College Football Playoff last season, it felt like Iamaleava left a lot of plays on the field. Whether it was a missed throw or holding the ball too long in the pocket — which sometimes led to negative plays — he often seemed to play “tight” at times.

Iamaleava is obviously an elite talent. His ability to make big plays that other players can’t make has never been questioned.

So why did he seem to struggle at times at Tennessee?

My theory has been that the pressure of living up to his recruiting ranking and the big NIL deal he signed with the Vols was just overwhelming. To me, it felt like Iamaleava was trying to play perfect — like he was trying to prove he was worthy of the hype and the big NIL check. Iamaleava was trying to live up to the expectations instead of just playing free and letting it rip.

And I think the circumstances surrounding Iamaleava’s big game against UCLA confirms my theory.

The Bruins got off to a disastrous start this season. UCLA lost its first four games of the season, which led to head coach DeShaun Foster and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri getting fired.

At that point, everyone in the sport had essentially written off Iamaleava and the Bruins. The hype was gone, media attention was fading, and fans seemed to move on from caring about how the former Tennessee quarterback was performing in Los Angeles.

The pressure to perform was gone.

Iamaleava went into the Penn State game in a situation where he didn’t have to think, he could simply compete.

UCLA interim offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel, who was promoted to that role last week, didn’t even know how to call plays before Saturday’s game against the Nittany Lions. Several times during the game, Neuheisel didn’t press the headset communication button to deliver the play to Iamaleava. As a result, Iamaleava had to make up plays on the field a couple of times.

Iamaleava was at his best when all of the outside noise disappeared. He just went out and played ball.

The former five-star recruit still has an extremely high ceiling as a quarterback — Iamaleava just needs to harness the energy he had against Penn State and continue to perform without the weight of expectations holding him back.

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