The grass isn't always greener on the other side. This is something Nico Iamaleava and his reps have surely learned since he made the eye-opening decision to leave the Tennessee football program. Previously, it was reported that Iamaleava was looking for around $4 million for the 2025 season.
Tennessee was in the $2 million to $2.5 million range, but Josh Heupel and Co. weren't going to give him that much of a raise. With the breaking news arriving that Iamaleava is UCLA-bound, everyone has been waiting to see if the Bruins were going to come close to the initial amount the Iamaleava team was hoping for.
Not a chance. While the official figure is yet to be revealed, On3's Shannon Terry is reporting that it's 'likely' going to be in the $1.5 million ballpark. This would make sense, as options were running out for Iamaleava and playing for UCLA gets him back to to SoCal. Still, though, he's taking less money to play for a program that went 5-7 last season, while Tennessee won 10 games?
+ UCLA has been the constant here.
— Shannon Terry (@ShannonTerry) April 16, 2025
+ Will be taking a pay cut vs. TN deal.
+ Moved On3 NIL Valuation / Roster Value to $1.5 M on Monday. That is likely the deal.
+ "Claiming it is not about money," can be a fair statement, but doesn't change the fact -- despite reports --… https://t.co/eAQzbEkEjI
Nico Iamaleava is apparently set to take a paycut after leaving Tennessee for UCLA
If this turns out to be the case for the third-year signal-caller, goodness, his reps definitely mishandled things. Work is spreading that Iamaleava left Tennessee because he wanted a better fit on offense, but that's not what's on the way for him with the Bruins.
UCLA has replaced Eric Bienemy with new offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who was previously the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Indiana. Last campaign, UCLA averaged 18.3 points per game, which was near the very bottom of the Big Ten.
The first season with DeShaun Foster didn't go to plan on either offense or defense. The Bruins clearly want to make a splash to bring in some excitement for the program, which has no doubt happened with Iamaleava making the move to Westwood. However, he has gone from a CFP contender, to a squad not expected to make much noise in their conference. And all for less money.