Nicholaus "Nico" Iamaleava ( ; born September 2, 2004) is an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. He previously played for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

Early life

Iamaleava was born on September 2, 2004, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, and is of Samoan descent. Iamaleava attended both Warren High School in

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program and Taco Bell. It is ...

and

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

. As a senior, Iamaleava threw for 1,726 yards and 25 touchdowns, while also rushing for six touchdowns. He was named the Polynesian Football Player of the Year. Iamaleava was also named the MVP of the Polynesian Bowl, throwing for 186 yards and a touchdown. Iamaleava was rated as one of the top players in the class of 2023 and committed to play

at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. Iamaleava enrolled early at Tennessee in December 2022, participating in workouts for the 2022 Orange Bowl.

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. 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. For his performance, he was named Citrus Bowl MVP. Entering the 2024 season, Iamaleava was named Tennessee's starting quarterback. In the season opener against

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, he threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a 69–3 win. 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 The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

appearance. On April 10, 2025, it was reported that Iamaleava was in active contract negotiations with Tennessee regarding a rework of his NIL deal. The next day, Iamaleava was absent from the team's practice ahead of the Volunteers spring game. On April 12, head football coach Josh Heupel announced that Tennessee would be moving on from Iamaleava at quarterback.

UCLA

On April 20, 2025, Iamaleava announced his decision to transfer to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

to play for the

Statistics

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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, but then flipped to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

in December 2024. On April 21, 2025, a day after Nico transferred to UCLA, Madden decided to follow his brother and also transfer to UCLA.

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iamaleava, Nico Living people 2004 births American football quarterbacks Players of American football from Long Beach, California American sportspeople of Samoan descent Pacific Islander American players of American football Tennessee Volunteers football players UCLA Bruins football players