Nico Iamaleava
American football player (born 2004)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicholaus "Nico" Iamaleava (/iˌjɑːməleɪˈjɑːvə/ ee-YAH-mə-lay-YAH-və;[1] born September 2, 2004) is an American college football quarterback for the UCLA Bruins. He previously played for the Tennessee Volunteers.
Iamaleava at 2026 Big Ten Media Day | |
| No. 9 – UCLA Bruins | |
|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback |
| Class |  Junior |
| Personal information | |
| Born | September 2, 2004 |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Listed weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Warren (Downey, California) |
| College | |
| Stats at ESPN | |
Early life
Iamaleava was born on September 2, 2004, and is of Samoan descent.[2][3] Iamaleava attended both Warren High School in Downey, California and Long Beach Polytechnic High School. As a senior, Iamaleava threw for 1,726 yards and 25 touchdowns, while also rushing for six touchdowns.[4] He was named the Polynesian High School Football Player of the Year.[5][6] Iamaleava was also named the MVP of the Polynesian Bowl, throwing for 186 yards and a touchdown.[7] Iamaleava was rated as one of the top players in the class of 2023 and committed to play college football at the University of Tennessee.[8][9]
Iamaleava enrolled early at Tennessee in December 2022, participating in workouts for the 2022 Orange Bowl.[10][11]
| College recruiting (2023) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Hometown | School | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
| Nico Iamaleava QB |
Long Beach, California | Warren | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Mar 21, 2022 | |
Recruit ratings: Rivals:  247Sports: ESPN:  (87) | ||||||
College career
Tennessee
Iamaleava served as the backup quarterback to Joe Milton during the 2023 regular season before being named Tennessee's starting quarterback for the Citrus Bowl, played in January.[12][13] In his first career start during the Citrus Bowl, Iamaleava threw for 151 yards and recorded four total touchdowns, one passing and three rushing, leading Tennessee to a 35–0 victory over Iowa.[14][15] For his performance, he was named Citrus Bowl MVP.[16]
Entering the 2024 season, Iamaleava was named Tennessee's starting quarterback.[17] In the season opener against Chattanooga, he threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a 69–3 win.[18] Iamaleava finished the season throwing for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions, leading Tennessee to a 10–3 record and the program's first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.[19]
On April 10, 2025, it was reported that Iamaleava was in active contract negotiations with Tennessee regarding a rework of his NIL deal.[20][21] The next day, Iamaleava was absent from the team's practice prior to the Volunteers’ spring game.[22][23] On April 12, head football coach Josh Heupel announced that Tennessee would be moving on from Iamaleava at quarterback.[24]
UCLA
On April 20, 2025, Iamaleava announced his decision to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles to play for the UCLA Bruins.[25] In his UCLA debut against Utah, Iamaleava struggled, completing 11 passes for 136 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in a 43–10 loss.[26] Against No. 7 Penn State, Iamaleava led the previously winless Bruins to an upset victory, throwing for 166 yards and accounting for five total touchdowns in the 42–37 win.[27] He continued his success the following week against Michigan State, throwing for 180 yards and three touchdowns in a 38–13 victory.[28] Iamaleava finished the 2025 season with 1,928 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns, and seven interceptions, while rushing for 505 yards and four touchdowns.[29]
Statistics
| Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2023 | Tennessee | 4 | 1 | 1–0 | 28 | 45 | 62.2 | 314 | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 135.5 | 20 | 71 | 3.6 | 3 |
| 2024 | Tennessee | 13 | 13 | 10–3 | 213 | 334 | 63.8 | 2,616 | 7.8 | 19 | 5 | 145.3 | 109 | 358 | 3.3 | 3 |
| 2025 | UCLA | 11 | 11 | 3–9 | 208 | 323 | 64.4 | 1,928 | 6.0 | 13 | 7 | 123.5 | 112 | 505 | 4.5 | 4 |
| 2026 | UCLA | 0 | 0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| Career | 29 | 25 | 14−11 | 449 | 702 | 64.0 | 4,858 | 6.9 | 34 | 12 | 134.7 | 241 | 934 | 3.9 | 10 | |
Personal life
His brother, Madden Iamaleava, was a four-star QB recruit in the 2025 college football recruiting class who first committed to play for UCLA, but then flipped to Arkansas in December 2024.[30] On April 21, 2025, a day after Nico transferred to UCLA, Madden decided to follow his brother and also transfer to UCLA.[31]