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Nico Iamaleava is headed to UCLA after a dramatic exit from Tennessee. Details of his new NIL agreement with the Bruins are beginning to be unveiled.
Iamaleava is expected to take a pay cut in Los Angeles. He’ll make less money than he did with the Vols.
The 5-star passer signed with Tennessee out of high school, agreeing to a deal worth more than $2 million a year. After two seasons, he wanted to renegotiate.
Iamaleava and his camp saw the changing NIL market. They demanded $4 million, a number that SEC counterpart Carson Beck received after bolting for Miami.
The Vols weren’t willing to match that ask. They let him hit the transfer portal. Iamaleava’s dad claimed that his son had numerous offers meeting his asking price. Media reports, however, suggested his new market value was closer to $1 million.
UCLA was not willing to pay $4 million for Nico Iamaleava, either. Social media reports insist his new salary will be below his previous $2 million agreement.
Per source, new UCLA QB Nico Iamaleava’s NIL deal is under $2 million.
— Sheena Quick (@Sheena_Marie3) April 17, 2025
Iamaleava’s camp backtracked on their NIL claims after seeing multiple teams pull out of the sweepstakes. The reasoning for leaving Tennessee then became coaching and offensive scheme as opposed to money. That, too, seems a stretch given his new landing spot.
Nico Iamaleava’s new offensive coordinator has never called a play.
Tino Sunseri was hired as the Bruins‘ OC in December of 2024. Before joining UCLA’s staff, he worked as co-offensive coordinator and QB coach at Indiana. He has no play calling experience.
The LA Times writes that this will be Sunseri’s “first time running an offense,” though he was “involved in every pass play call” last year with the Hoosiers.
Sunseri took the UCLA role as an opportunity to prove himself outside the shadow of Curt Cignetti and Mike Shanahan. Nico Iamaleava is resting his NFL future with that inexperience. He left a proven offense for the unknown in Los Angeles.
His camp still insists they’ve done nothing to hurt the quarterback’s present or future, despite the fact that he’s losing money with his new deal.
“The [NIL] narrative was bulls—. His representation hasn’t steered him wrong… What did we do to steer him and put him in a bad situation?”
-Family friend of Nico Iamaleava via Front Office Sports
Nico Iamaleava’s transfer decision was about money – until it wasn’t. Now, it’s about coaching as they bolt for a school without the same recent history of offensive success as Tennessee.
This saga is all but over. The quarterback is taking a pay cut to play for an inexperienced staff. We’ll see how it works out.