Robert Hanashiro - Imagn Images
The Nico Iamaleava transfer saga, as at least as far as where the former Tennessee Volunteer quarterback is off to UCLA after quite the saga over the past two weeks. UCLA, in fact, is the school his brother Madden, one of the top quarterback recruits in the class of 2025, was committed to before a signing day flip to Arkansas, a campus he had never been on.
Madden Iamaleava’s stunning flip to Arkansas without even visiting campus back in December of 2024 shocked the recruiting world. But, he’s on his way out of Fayetteville after just a few months, and is joining brother Nico at UCLA.
Nico, a rising junior, parted ways with Tennessee on the day of their spring game, April 12, after skipping practice the day before while alleged NIL negotiations were going on between his team and Tennessee’s NIL collective. Head coach Josh Heupel thought that it was time to part ways with a player who, despite being a superstar recruit in the Class of 2023, wasn’t very good in SEC play last year in his first year as a starter, was missing events he needed to attend, and whose team was frequently calling problems.
The Iamaleavas are from Southern California, and UCLA was a natural landing spot as a program looking for a lot of buzz close to home with money to spend.
Madden announced he was leaving Arkansas on Monday, and I can’t say it came as a surprise to anyone where he was going.
BREAKING: Arkansas transfer QB Madden Iamaleava is following his brother Nico to UCLA, @on3sports has learnedhttps://t.co/fe30fuPB4p pic.twitter.com/ehj75byg1N
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 22, 2025
It’s just funny that he burned UCLA five months ago and now they will welcome him back with open arms. But, that’s college football these days.