Nico Iamaleava officially committed to play football at UCLA last week, returning to his home state after spending his first two seasons of college football at Tennessee. Iamaleava entered the transfer portal after skipping Tennessee's practice the day before the team’s spring game, and coach Josh Heupel announced the following day they planned to move on.
Reports indicated that Iamaleava was looking for a greater NIL deal at Tennessee, but Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster told reporters that returning to California and being closer to family led to Iamaleava choosing to join UCLA. Foster did characterize Iamaleava's NIL deal as a "success," but did not provide any further specifics on the terms.
As for UCLA adding Iamaleava, Foster called the opportunity one the team could not turn down. "Being able to bring in the No. 1 player in the portal, just something we couldn't pass up," Foster said.
“6'6", this is a big guy,” Foster said. “A true competitor. Fiery. Big arm. And then, it’s gonna—keeping the California kids and L.A. kids here, you know? This is a big thing.”
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Foster emphasized that Iamaleava is an important addition for the team. For one, he wants to land local talent and recruits, a goal he's emphasized since UCLA hired him as head coach. Bringing in Iamaleava also put a greater spotlight on the Bruins, who are still looking to make their mark in the Big Ten.
“You want to be in conversations, you want to play big-time ball, you want to have haters, you want all of this stuff,” Foster said, “because that means that you’re trending in the right direction. So, if you want to play big-time ball, you can do that here at UCLA. I got a quarterback situation that’s gonna pan out for us.”
Though there's been talk about Iamaleava's character in the wake of reports stating that he entered the transfer portal after seeking more NIL money at Tennessee, Foster ensured that the team did their due diligence in vetting Iamaleava as person as well as a player. Foster noted that since Iamaleava was a local product, it was easier for the team to get a gauge on him.
"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. You have to do a little bit more homework. So I think we did a good job in vetting and figuring out what we wanted to do, and we were able to execute and now we're here."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as UCLA Coach Explains Decision to Sign Nico Iamaleava After Departure From Tennessee.
