Urban Meyer Gives Unfiltered Take on Nico Iamaleava's Controversial UCLA Switch
Seemingly overnight, Nico Iamaleava went from one of the top quarterbacks with one of the best college football programs in the country to a player who perhaps gave away a great opportunity for no reason.
Iamaleava was the crown jewel of the Tennessee Volunteers' 2023 recruiting class. He was the country's sixth-best prospect, third-best quarterback and top player in California, and he chose the Volunteers over many big-time offers, including Miami, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon and more.
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The Tennessee fan base got a taste of what could have been when, in his freshman year, Iamaleava started the Citrus Bowl. In place of Joe Milton. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound signal-caller went off by passing for 151 yards and accounting for four touchdowns (one passing, three rushing). Iamaleava led Tennessee to a dominant 35-0 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Iamaleava would lead the Volunteers to a 10-3 record in 2024, pushing the program to its first College Football Playoff appearance.
In April, it all unraveled when a contract negotiation to rework his name, image and likeness (NIL) deal fell through, and a team practice absence led the Volunteers to decide to move on from Iamaleava.
Urban Meyer looks on during the second half of the CFP National Championship game.© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Now with the UCLA Bruins, Iamaleava can still be a great college quarterback, and all the drama could be forgotten. However, former college football coach Urban Meyer doesn't see it that way and explained as much during an episode of his "The Triple Option" podcast.
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In a discussion about players transferring and trying to find shortcuts to get on the field, Meyer explained that the case of Iamaleava would become the textbook example of conducting oneself in the wrong way.
"I see Nico's the most famous story out there where ... this is going to be one of those deals a couple of years from now where they say, whether it be father, whether it be third uncle or whether it be an agent, 'Tell me again why I did that?' The 17-, 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds, with all due respect, they're not equipped to make that decision. They can't.
"That's why they call parents, 'parents.' That's why they call coaches 'coaches.' Someone's got to advise and help them, someone that's been through the ringer a little bit. All of a sudden, you wake up one day and find yourself in a really bad situation and you're asking, 'What in the (expletive) did I do that for?'"
Iamaleava will be under center for the Bruins this season; however, UCLA is far from the same caliber of team as Tennessee. In Athlon Sports' college football rankings for all 136 teams in the country, the Bruins were slotted at No. 68, although that list came before Iamaleava's transfer.
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