Nico Iamaleava has decided not to enter the transfer portal and will return to lead the UCLA Bruins in 2026. The former Tennessee Vols quarterback threw for 1,928 yards and 13 TDs this season. He was also the program’s leading rusher, running 505 yards on 112 carries and four scores. His best performance came in the upset against Penn State, where he contributed a total of five touchdowns.
Before the 2025 season, he entered the transfer portal after failed NIL renegotiations with the Vols. UCLA took him on from the transfer portal at the time.
On Monday, On3’s Hayes Fawcett confirmed that Iamaleava has re-signed with the Bruins.
UCLA QB Nico Iamaleava has re-signed with the Bruins, @On3Sports has learned
He threw for 1,928 yards and 13 TDs this seasonhttps://t.co/DPj4TcblbD pic.twitter.com/mDgVq1iyB8
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 22, 2025
There were intense speculations about whether Iamaleava would enter the transfer portal again, given the coaching changes at UCLA. But it appears the quarterback will stay there.
Under him, UCLA went 3-9. The Bruins fired DeShaun Foster and, in the interim, promoted Tim Skipper as head coach. Former James Madison Dukes coach Bob Chesney was hired after the regular season to become UCLA’s new head coach.
Nico Iamaleava’s UCLA Undergoes Transition From DeShaun Foster to Bob Chesney
After a poor 0-3 start to the season, UCLA fired DeShaun Foster, and the season had already gone to waste. UCLA finds Bob Chesney, who has 25 years of experience coaching in college football, including 16 seasons as head coach, as the right candidate to lead the program following his two great seasons at James Madison.
Chesney won the 2025 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, after leading the Dukes to a 12-1 regular season, conference championship, and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.
In the introductory press conference, he said:
“Success looks like winning. That’s what it looks like on a day-to-day basis. For us, it is what we do in this program. Every single thing we do has winners and losers, every single day. There will not be a day that goes by that we just kind of get by. That is really important. That was the underlying theme in everything we’ve done up to this point in time. We don’t walk on the field on Saturdays, not having been there before, in almost every situational aspect you can imagine.”
With a new head coach at the helm, Nico Iamaleava hopes the team can do better next year as he’s set to return.
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