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.
«We'll see if it gets worked out. He's extremely talented with starting experience against elite competition. That's sort of where we are right now,» the UCLA source told ESPN last week.
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.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced last week after the Volunteers' spring game that the program was moving forward without Iamaleava after he missed practice and meetings Friday and didn't alert anybody on the team or return any calls or text messages afterward.
Heupel thanked Iamaleava and called the situation unfortunate, but added, «there's no one bigger than the Power T, and that includes me.»
Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, officially entered the transfer portal Wednesday with a do not contact tag.
Sources told ESPN that Iamaleava's representatives asked to redo
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