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Nico Iamaleava transfer: Big Ten program not budging on price, per report
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Nico Iamaleava is officially in the transfer portal as of Wednesday morning, and that means his recruitment is ramping up.
Already, programs have reportedly been dropping out of the pursuit of the former starter at Tennessee. However, one Big Ten program is reportedly in the mix, but that team is unwilling to budge on the current price for Iamaleava.
According to Pete Nakos with On3 Sports, UCLA is the program involved and has an offer for Iamaleava. Nakos also reports the Bruins are “holding strong” at an offer that is well below the $4 million mark.
DeShaun Foster’s UCLA program makes a good bit of sense as a landing spot for Iamaleava. The Bruins lost 2024 starter Ethan Garbers to the NFL Draft and added former App. State starter Joey Aguilar in the portal. Iamaleava would be an upgrade, and Foster is still looking for a spark to jumpstart his tenure leading the program.
Iamaleava is originally from California, so the West Coast would be a logical home, but the number of power programs in the region interested in Iamaleava appears to be small. USC reportedly indicated that the Trojans are not interested in Iamaleava, and there has been no indication that Dan Lanning and Oregon are considering the QB.
We’ll see if UCLA’s deal is enough to land Iamaleava or if a different program steps up to make a bigger deal.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.