Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially announced his transfer to UCLA via a social media post on Sunday.
“My journey at UT has come to an end,” he wrote on Instagram. “This decision was incredibly difficult, and truthfully, not something I expected to make this soon. But I trust God’s timing, and I believe He’s leading me where I need to be.
“Even though, this chapter is ending, a new chapter has begun and I am committed to UCLA!”
Iamaleava was a highly regarded local recruit who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. He was the top player in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings and immediately gives UCLA one of the most known players in the sport upon his arrival. The Bruins are coming off a 5-7 debut season by coach DeShaun Foster.
Iamaleava, a five-star prospect from Long Beach, California, was recruited by UCLA out of high school. His younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, committed to UCLA out of high school but changed his commitment on the morning of signing day and signed with Arkansas.
Those recruitments gave both sides plenty of familiarity and the ability to potentially move quickly.
Iamaleava passed for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in his first season as a starter, but in nine games against SEC opponents and Ohio State in the playoff, he passed for more than 200 yards only twice.
Tennessee’s offense finished No. 9 in the league in scoring offense in SEC play with 25.0 points per game. Tennessee had the league’s No. 1 rushing offense and No. 11 passing offense in league play.
UCLA is coming off a season that it finished No. 14 in scoring offense in league play and No. 12 in total offense in league play.
Iamaleava was earning $2.4 million at Tennessee under the contract he signed with Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, when he was still in high school. It’s a deal that would have paid him in the $10 million range had he stayed four years at Tennessee.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced last week after the Volunteers’ spring game that the program was moving forward without Iamaleava after he missed practice and meetings Friday. He didn’t alert anyone on the team and was unresponsive afterward.
Heupel thanked Iamaleava and called the situation unfortunate, but added, “there’s no one bigger than the Power T, and that includes me.”
Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, officially entered the transfer portal Wednesday with a do not contact tag.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this story.
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