UCLA football made headlines when it added Nico Iamaleava, the quarterback who was the talk of the college football world last month after he held out of spring practice and ultimately transferred out of Tennessee.
Now, fresh off a College Football Playoff appearance, Iamaleava will be tasked with leading the Bruins back to prominence in what will be a very tough Big Ten with plenty of quality quarterbacks.
Despite Iamaleava having been the top player in the transfer portal, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford had Iamaleava ranked No. 7 in his recent rankings of Big Ten quarterbacks.
“The Big Ten’s biggest post-spring splash from the transfer portal, Nico Iamaleava signing with UCLA means he’ll be the focal point of an offense for the first time in his career,” Crawford wrote.
“Last fall at Tennessee, the Vols engineered their scheme around Dylan Sampson, one of the SEC’s top running backs. Despite the ground-game focus, Iamaleava helped guide the Vols to a playoff berth after finishing with 2,616 yards passing, 19 touchdowns and another 358 yards with three touchdowns on the ground.
“With more reliance on his arm and play-making ability, those numbers should be even better with the Bruins, but team success remains an unknown.”
Here was Crawford’s ranking:
1. Drew Allar, Penn State
2. Luke Altmyer, Illinois
3. Julian Sayin, Ohio State
4. Dante Moore, Oregon
5. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana
6. Dylan Raiola, Nebraska
7. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA
8. Bryce Underwood, Michigan
9. Jayden Maiava, USC
10. Demond Williams, Jr., Washington
11. Mark Gronowski, Iowa
12. Aidan Chiles, Michigan State
13. Billy Edwards Jr., Wisconsin
14. Preston Stone, Northwestern
15. Athan Kaliakmanis, Rutgers
16. Malachi Singleton, Purdue
17. Drake Lindsey, Minnesota
18. Justyn Martin, Maryland
The knock against UCLA has been its lack of receiving weapons. The Bruins lost four of their top five receiving leaders from last season and didn’t make much of a dent in the transfer portal, bringining in just two wideouts, neither of which are really anything to write home about.
Nonetheless, a great quarterback can make any receiver look good. When you have a playmaker like Iamaleava under center, it doesn’t matter too much who you’re throwing the ball to, as long as he puts it in their hands.
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