Iamaleava didn\u2019t attend practice the next day, and the day after that, Vols head coach Josh Heupel announced, on the morning of the spring game, that Tennessee was \u201cmoving on\u201d from Iamaleava<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMy time (decision) to leave Tennessee was around the time when reports came outs, false reports that made me not feel comfortable in the position I was in,\u201d Iamaleava said at Big Ten media days Thursday. \u201cFalse stuff about whether it was a financial thing or not. My driving factor was to come back home was my family, and I hope every Tennessee fan understands that. It was really one of the hardest decisions I\u2019ve ever had to make.\u201d<\/p>\n The college personnel field has grown exponentially over the past five years, and with that, so has the rumor mill. Most know when a player is available before he is formally in the transfer portal \u2014 because if they don\u2019t, staffs know they\u2019ll probably miss out.<\/p>\n The Bruins staff already knew the Iamaleava family well. Nico\u2019s younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, a four-star quarterback in the 2025 recruiting class, had been committed to UCLA for eight months as a high schooler before signing with Arkansas. Foster, a Southern California native and former UCLA star, also knew people close to the family. Getting good intel on the situation wasn\u2019t hard.<\/p>\n \u201cThe football community is small,\u201d Darlington said. \u201cYou just start to ask questions, is this thing real or not real? But then, word just starts to get around. It\u2019s nailbiting until you know you\u2019re allowed to officially talk.\u201d<\/p>\n And the Bruins wanted to talk. They desperately needed a quarterback coming out of 2024, a year when they ranked No. 126 in scoring and No. 95 in yards per play. UCLA scored more than 20 points in only two games. UCLA had brought in Appalachian State transfer QB Joey Aguilar last winter in hopes he could spark the offense, but halfway through spring, Foster wasn\u2019t sold on his quarterback\u2019s connection to the receivers and his film study habits. (He would transfer to Tennessee<\/a> after Iamaleava joined the Bruins.)<\/p>\n So Darlington took a phone call from a close friend of the Iamaleava family, who said if UCLA was interested in having a conversation, he could help facilitate it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what kinda gave us the green light to move forward,\u201d Darlington said. \u201cIt was right around that time when Nico didn\u2019t attend practice. Everything ramped up there. He said, once this thing pops off, then I can probably introduce you to the people that you need to talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI already know a lot of guys on the (Bruins) team, guys I\u2019ve played with and against back in high school and youth days,\u201d said Iamaleava. \u201cRe-connecting with them has been a fun thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Darlington and UCLA\u2019s assistant GM, Steven Price, another longtime former NFL personnel man, came up with 11 different scenarios of how they could make things work to get Iamaleava.<\/p>\n \u201cSome were a little more uncomfortable than others,\u201d Darlington said. \u201cIt was, how do we absorb this without compromising the rest of our roster and our team?\u201d<\/p>\n The other tricky part with portal recruits is knowing who else is involved and how aggressive they are going to be. UCLA had heard that Oregon, for example, was out on the chase for Iamaleava. Same with Ohio State and USC, although the Bruins weren\u2019t convinced of that. They weren\u2019t sure about Notre Dame, either.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no league office (like in the NFL),\u201d Price said. \u201cThere\u2019s no one to ask, how legitimate is this? I think having it both ways is the reason behind the 11 scenarios. You\u2019re playing against the (financially ambitious) Texas Tech mentality<\/a>, and you\u2019re playing against the wanna-be conservative in how you compensate the players mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n Iamaleava and Tennessee\u2019s split was a major moment in college football\u2019s new era. (Steve Roberts \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n In the meantime, reports out of Knoxville were that Iamaleava\u2019s representatives, including his father, Nic (The Athletic had been told in April that Nico does not have an agent), had reached out to Tennessee\u2019s NIL collective in late December to up the quarterback\u2019s pay for 2025 around $4 million, which would be more than the $2.2 million that he was expected to receive. The Athletic reported then that the quarterback was not looking for $4 million.<\/p>\n The fact that UCLA was in the middle of the story seemed like a head-scratcher. It was no secret the Bruins had been slow in the NIL space. Sources familiar with the Bruins\u2019 NIL situation told The Athletic that UCLA\u2019s NIL budget last year was $8 million-$10 million, likely putting the Bruins in the bottom half of Power 4 programs. Foster, though, has been able to generate money, pointing to last season\u2019s three-game winning streak as a turning point.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_24895528-e1744564815925.jpg\")
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