The former Tennessee Volunteers QB Nico Iamaleava left all of the college football world in shock when he announced that he would be entering the transfer portal after missing a few practice sessions.
A few days later, Iamaleava announced that he would be joining the UCLA Bruins. The majority of fans didn’t take this news well; they even criticized him for jumping ship and pursuing money over team loyalty.
Now that it’s announced that Iamaleava will be representing UCLA at the Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas, a few fans have expressed their opinions.
NEWS: Nico Iamaleava is set to represent UCLA at Big Ten Media Days in Vegas🍿https://t.co/woAW7Cg2B2 pic.twitter.com/3aX2kKQIPA
— On3 (@On3sports) June 30, 2025
“I don’t have a horse in this race but I’m going to laugh my a** off if he says he joined UCLA to win championship(s),” one fan commented.
“Can’t wait to hear him recite Big Nic’s script to spin his transfer like Tennessee is at fault,” another fan added.
“You’ll never hear me defend Tennessee but I’m with them on this one. I bet he plays the victim and blames Tennessee,” another fan took a jab at Iamaleava.
“He will have an earpiece in and Big Nic will be the one actually talking,” another fan made a prediction.
“I wonder if his dad will be fielding questions for him?” another fan added.
“The circus begins,” another fan commented.
CFB Analyst Sets Expectations Straight From Nico Iamaleava
Now that Iamaleava is out of Josh Heupel’s crew, CBS Sports analysts Chris Hassel and Chip Patterson recently discussed with former player Bryant McFadden how there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the UCLA QB to perform, otherwise he would have a ‘what if I stayed at the former school’ thought.
“He better. He better. He better. In terms of pressure on quarterbacks, there’s a lot of pressure on Nico because of the situation he decided to leave in Knoxville. Going back to his first start in a bowl game, [he] didn’t look like a freshman, didn’t look like a player who lacked experience. The offense catered to his skillset,” McFadden said (7:40).
“UCLA wasn’t a good team at all on either side of the football, especially offensively… because if he goes out west, I understand he’s going home. But if it doesn’t work out on the football field, he’s going to have the ‘what if?’ mindset,” he continued.
UCLA will kick off the 2025 college football season against Utah on August 30.
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