Nico Iamaleava
Nico Iamaleava was the face of the NIL era's ugliest divorce -- a contract fight that ended with him leaving Tennessee for UCLA. Then the Bruins went 3-9. He could have left again. Instead he's running it back to prove the talent was always real.
Buzz vs Tape
Attention percentile: 74th · Production percentile: 24th
He's mentioned more than 74% of qualified QBs this season, but his production sits in just the 24th percentile — a gap of 50 points between volume and tape.
Also worth knowing:
The story
The saga is the part everyone knows: a spring-2025 standoff over his deal at Tennessee, a skipped practice, a coach "moving on," the portal, and a landing at UCLA inside of a week. The football got buried under it. In 2025 he threw for 1,928 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions, completed 64 percent, and led the Bruins in rushing with 505 yards -- including a five-touchdown night in a 42-37 upset of seventh-ranked Penn State -- on a team that still finished 3-9. He forwent the 2026 draft to come back under a new staff, betting on himself a second time. The forward stakes are whether the most-scrutinized quarterback in college football can finally turn five-star traits into steady, in-structure production. Get there, and the redemption arc lands and the draft stock follows. Don't, and the saga stays the story.
Career Arc
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Big Ten
Coaching Lineage · 2023–2025
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Chip Kelly → Deshaun Foster. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Bob Chesney
Awards
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 3 · RecognizedR09 · All-Conference HM / 2nd team
All-Conference HM / 2nd team. Conference recognition has started.
Recognition
Production
Trophy Case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-CONFERENCE
All-Conf mention (2025)
All-Big Ten
Career stats
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 6 · 2025
W 42–37
vs Penn State
166 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 96.7 · 128 rush yds (16 car) · 3 TD
Edged out Penn State at home in a shootout.
How he plays
Play style
Iamaleava is a dynamic athlete with a big arm and a production gap, and the data tells the same story the scouts do. As a runner he's elite -- our play-by-play puts his EPA per carry in the 98th percentile and his explosive-run rate in the 97th, top-end quarterback speed on designed runs and scrambles. As a passer he's been ordinary: an 18th-percentile EPA per dropback and an 11th-percentile average depth of target -- a lot of short, safe throws. Draft evaluators (The Draft Network) credit "prototypical" arm talent and high-velocity throws into tight windows, but flag that he "missed too many shots downfield" and can "lock onto his primary read" rather than progress -- best improvising, a work in progress within structure. The frame is the whole career: the tools are real, the in-rhythm passing is the unfinished part.
Our classifier reads him the same way: extends plays with his feet until something opens up.
2026 Outlook
UCLA
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Quarterback · UCLA · editorial
Returning around him
- 22% of 2024 offensive production back (Heavy turnover)
- Transfer portal: +13 net (42 in / 29 out)
2026 Award watch
- Davey O'Brien
- Heisman Watch
UCLA · Last season: 3-9 · Talent rank #26 · 2026 recruiting class #62
Perception vs tape
The saga is the part everyone knows: a spring-2025 standoff over his deal at Tennessee, a skipped practice, a coach "moving on," the portal, and a landing at UCLA inside of a week. The football got buried under it.
Read the story →DNA match
Player DNA
Scrambler
Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Kurtis Rourke’s 2021 season.
Matches Kurtis on
Differs from Kurtis on
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Davis Mills’s path through Stanford.
Davis Mills
Eli Peters
Zac Thomas
Matches Davis on
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Doug Brumfield's junior season at UNLV (2022).
Differs from Doug on
Player DNA
Players who play like Nico Iamaleava
Heisman trajectory
Heisman Trajectory · 2025
Peak #94
Peaked at #94 this season.
Development
Development Trajectory · passing yards
2023–2025+514%
Up 514% from first season to most-recent.
Background
Career Highlights • 2024 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Finalist • 2024 Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Semifinalist • 2024 Citrus Bowl MVP • Associated Press National Player of the Week (Oct. 6, 2025) • Maxwell Award Player of the Week (Oct. 7, 2025) • Walter Camp National F...