The new Bruins quarterback disputed reports about the reasons behind his dramatic departure from Knoxville and discussed his perspective on what happened.

UCLA bringing in Iamaleava, and the situation with transfer wideout Kaedin Robinson — who made public record his $500,000 NIL deal in an effort to successfully sue the NCAA for eligibility this season — signals that the Bruins, who went 3-6 in league play in their first year in the Big Ten, are now in the game.

Three months after Nico Iamaleava left Tennessee for UCLA and shook the college football world amidst the most significant contract dispute in the NIL era, the star quarterback finally broke his silence.

What exactly went down between Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee is unknown, but the new UCLA quarterback is adamant that the alleged NIL standoff did not result lead to his transfer portal decision. The former five-star signed what was believed to be the first multi-million NIL deal for a high-school prospect when coming out of Downey,