Nico Iamaleava appears to have a new home.
After a messy end to his Tennessee tenure that came to a head last week, Iamaleava is expected to transfer to UCLA, according to multiple reports.
FS1 host Colin Cowherd was the first to break the news of the expected transfer.
Iamaleava skipped Volunteers practice Friday — one day before the team’s spring game — after he reportedly sought to get a better name, image and likeness (NIL) deal.
ESPN reported that Iamaleava and his team looked to get him an increase from $2.4 million per year to $4 million annually. He reportedly first sought to get a reworked deal before the winter transfer portal but did not do so nor did he enter the portal then.
The Athletic reported that Iamaleava also wanted the Volunteers to improve their receivers group and offensive line.
However, Tennessee did not seem willing to give in, and Iamaleava entered the spring transfer portal, which opened Wednesday.
UCLA was offering something less than the $4 million Iamaleava was looking for, ESPN reported.
“Friday morning when he’s a no-show,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Saturday, the day of the program’s spring game. “You come off the practice field and there’s no communication.
“I want to thank him for everything he’s done since he’s gotten here, as a recruit and who he was as a player and how he competed inside the building,” Heupel added. “Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him. I said it to the guys today: There’s no one that’s bigger than the [program]. That includes me.”
Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns as Tennessee made the expanded College Football Playoff as the No. 9 seed, only to get trounced by Ohio State in the first round.
Now the Long Beach, Calif., native appears in line to go back to his home state. If the transfer goes through, he’d join a Bruins team that went 5-7 under first-year coach DeShaun Foster, and has a new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Tino Sunseri.
Sunseri held the same roles at Indiana last year.
UCLA previously added Appalachian State quarterback Joey Aguilar as a transfer.
