Coming off losing season, UCLA already feels like a winner for landing Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava

UCLA may have been 5-7 in coach DeShaun Foster’s first season, but he’s smiling now and the Bruins are suddenly feeling like winners.

Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava is coming home to suit up for the Bruins this fall.

“To be able to bring in the number one player in the portal is just something we couldn’t pass up,” Foster said Tuesday. “This is a good buzz for us.”

Iamaleava, who confirmed his departure from Tennessee last weekend, wasn’t at practice Tuesday. He’s expected to join the team this summer after finishing up the semester in Knoxville.

“This is a big guy, a true competitor, fiery, a big arm,” Foster said, ticking off the 6-foot-6 quarterback’s attributes. “Keeping the California and LA kids here, this is a big thing.”

The 20-year-old Iamaleava is from Long Beach and starred at Warren High in Downey. He led Tennessee to its first College Football Playoff berth last season, throwing for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions while rushing for 364 yards and three TDs.

Foster described Iamaleava as “a player that wanted to come home and be closer to his family. The family played a big role and being able to come home to California, I think that played a big role, too.”

Because of his local ties, Iamaleava is well known to several UCLA players, some of whom played with him previously. The Bruins staff had seen him in high school, making their fact-finding easier.

“You just have to go with your gut and with the people that you trust,” Foster said. “You can’t just read everything on social media and come to a conclusion from that. We did a good job in vetting.”

Various reports said Iamaleava was seeking a big raise in his name, image and likeness compensation from the Volunteers.

Foster declined to characterize the NIL package UCLA offered Iamaleava other than calling it a “success.”

“I don’t know what he was looking for,” the coach said. “I know he accepted our contract and he wants to be a Bruin. He wants to be here and we’re excited.”

Foster said the hardest part of putting a deal together was the short time frame involved.

“Once he got in the portal it started,” he said. “In this portal some things are kind of done beforehand but this wasn’t one of those.”

Foster credited Bruins for Life, the school’s collective that is solely focused on football, for raising more money than any other collective in Westwood.

“We’re being able to be in conversations that we probably wouldn’t have been in the past,” he said. “We’ve been able to offer people the same amount or even more than what other people have offered them.”

And there’s another Iamaleava on the team, too. Nico’s younger brother, Madden, transferred to UCLA on Monday. He originally committed to the Bruins and then bailed on signing day to join Arkansas. He spent half the spring with the Razorbacks before coming home.

Foster declined to comment on Madden Iamaleava.

Joey Aguilar was the Bruins’ projected starting quarterback before he entered the portal this week and is headed to Tennessee. Foster said Aguilar could have stayed and competed for the job.

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