A year after Tennessee divorce, Nico Iamaleava has no regrets

LOS ANGELES – Let’s start off with one thing about Nico Iamaleava: He doesn’t regret a thing.

His tumultuous exit from Tennessee after spring football in 2025 was well-documented, turning him into one of the early villains of the NIL era. Even after he transferred to UCLA, the hate from Knoxville and beyond followed, criticizing his every move and joining in jubilation with anything that went wrong — and plenty of it did for the Bruins last season.

Iamalaeva rejects the narrative he left Tennessee for money. He will tell you it was because he was far from home, nearly 2,000 miles away from Long Beach. Even as he led the Vols to the College Football Playoff in his first full season as a starter, he said the distance away left him in a “rough mental state.”

In April 2025, four months after Iamaleava started in Tennessee’s first CFP game, he sought to renegotiate his NIL deal, which reportedly paid him more than $2 million per year. He had been among the highest paid quarterbacks in college football, but the pay scale was increasing quickly.

ESPN, citing sources, reported Iamaleava’s representatives wanted his NIL pay increased to $4 million per…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/