Who will sign Nico Iamaleava? Here are 5 realistic candidates
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There’s still plenty to unpack with regards to Nico Iamaleava’s departure from Tennessee.
Let’s start with an initial list of potential landing spots for the former Vol, who is expected to enter the portal on Wednesday when it officially opens for underclassmen.
To begin, let’s eliminate the schools where Iamaleava won’t be transferring to. For starters: anywhere in the SEC. That’s because the league has a rule that prevents intraconference transfers during the spring window. So if Iamaleava did enroll at an SEC school later this spring, he’d have to sit out the 2025 season.
I’m also going to rule out Michigan, Ohio State and Oregon as “realistic” possibilities until we hear otherwise. The Wolverines (Bryce Underwood), Buckeyes (Julian Sayin) and Ducks (Dante Moore) are already invested in former 5-star quarterbacks at this stage. Unless spring ball was a disaster, I have a hard time thinking any of those schools would make a move on Iamaleava.
It’s also been reported that Notre Dame and USC are not interested in bringing Iamaleava in. The Irish have several blue-chip options on campus already who just went through spring camp. Lincoln Riley has been a public advocate for Jayden Maiava all year and has Husan Longstreet waiting in the wings. I’d cross them off, too.
Of course, there’s also high-level incumbent quarterbacks (or first-year transfers) at programs like Clemson, Miami, Penn State, Texas Tech, Colorado, Arizona State, BYU, Washington, SMU, Louisville, Virginia Tech and Florida State, to name a few.
Potential landing spots for Nico Iamaleava
With those teams crossed off the list, here are 5 realistic landing spots for Iamaleava:
North Carolina
Iamaleava could maximize the excitement that’s already present in Chapel Hill with the arrival of Bill Belichick this offseason. Max Johnson is there, but he’s coming off of a lost season due to injury — which has been an unfortunately-common situation for him throughout his college career.
We don’t know exactly what North Carolina has spent in the portal this offseason, but it does look like there’s quite a bit of talent on this roster. UNC’s transfer class ranks No. 12 nationally, per 247Sports Composite rankings. But there’s no high-value quarterback already in-house, so if the Tar Heels can come up with the money to sway Iamaleava, there’s certainly a path to that partnership working out for everyone involved. Belichick has managed big egos before, so he may be less concerned than other coaches about welcoming in Iamaleava to the Carolina family.
UCLA
Iamaleava is from southern California, so maybe a move back closer to home would make sense. If USC isn’t an option, UCLA stands out as a potential fit. The Bruins went 5-7 last season in Year 1 under Deshaun Foster.
Ethan Garbers and Justyn Martin were the only quarterbacks to get game reps last season and they’re both gone. If UCLA wants to make a big splash, bringing Iamaleava home would certainly qualify.
Maryland
Mike Locksley has pursued high-profile transfer QBs before — Jalen Hurts once visited College Park before ultimately committing to Oklahoma. The Terps don’t have a high level of investment at the QB position this year and do have a track record of quarterbacks putting up big numbers under Locksley, most notably with Taulia Tagovailoa.
Billy Edwards got most of the game reps for Maryland last season but he’s at Wisconsin now. The Terps brought in Justyn Martin from UCLA this offseason, but maybe Maryland would be interested in a more-proven option? This is a pivotal year for Locksley after the Terps went 4-8 last season, so he might be willing to take a risk on Iamaleava if he sees the former Vol as a significant upgrade.
Wisconsin
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Luke Fickell may already be on the hot seat in Madison after a disastrous start to his tenure with the Badgers. Wisconsin has missed on multiple transfer quarterbacks already, which contributed to Wisconsin’s 5-7 season last year. Fickell can’t afford to miss a bowl game again — the Badgers haven’t gone under .500 in back-to-back seasons in more than 30 years.
Wisconsin has already brought in 2 transfer quarterbacks this cycle (Billy Edwards and Danny O’Neil), but neither would offer the upside or the floor of Iamaleava. This is a move Wisconsin should consider if it has the funds available to pursue a quarterback of Iamaleava’s caliber.
Syracuse
Fran Brown did it last year with Kyle McCord coming over after an ugly split from Ohio State. McCord had a great season in that offense, which should be attractive for Iamaleava. He threw for 4,779 yards and 34 touchdowns in just 13 games.
With McCord now in the NFL, Syracuse has turned to former LSU transfer Rickie Collins. Brown named Collins the starter last week, which maybe takes Iamaleava off the table here. But Collins isn’t as experienced as some of the other transfers that found new homes this offseason and certainly doesn’t offer the upside that Iamaleava does. The question will be a financial one for both parties.
There’s also this important detail: the Orange are set to face Tennessee in Week 1 in Atlanta, so Iamaleava would have an early chance at revenge against his old program.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
