The UCLA staff has informed the team’s current quarterbacks of the expected transfer of Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava to UCLA, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Sunday.
The message is a key step that shows the discussions between UCLA and Iamaleava are significant. A formal decision is expected in the near future.
UCLA is among several schools interested in Iamaleava, but not for nearly the money he was asking for from Tennessee, sources told ESPN. One source said UCLA was content to “sit tight” while Iamaleava considered his options.
Sources told ESPN that Iamaleava wanted at least $4 million from Tennessee and that what UCLA was prepared to offer him wasn’t remotely close to that figure. Iamaleava was earning $2.4 million at Tennessee under the contract he signed with Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, when he was still in high school. It’s a deal that would have paid him in the $10 million range had he stayed four years at Tennessee.
