‘Shouldn’t Have Left’: Colin Cowherd on Nico Iamaleava’s Move to UCLA

Will Nico Iamaleava become the cautionary tale of NIL?

That’s a question on college football fans’ minds ahead of the start of the 2025 season, months after a very messy divorce between Iamaleava and Tennessee in mid-April, which was reportedly sparked by failed attempts to renegotiate the quarterback’s name, image and likeness compensation package.

FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt and Colin Cowherd discussed the topic on a recent episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” with Cowherd making a bold statement about Iamaleava’s decision to depart Knoxville.

“He shouldn’t have left Tennessee,” Cowherd said. “They [the Volunteers] have better players. You’re gonna face more NFL bodies maybe in that schedule compared to UCLA’s this year. … But he is good, and he is kind of what the NFL is looking for. He moves really, really well.”

Why did Iamaleava leave Tennessee in the first place?

Those representing Iamaleava were reportedly seeking a renegotiated package that would pay him approximately $4 million for the upcoming season rather than the $2.4 million he was expected to earn. A back-and-forth disagreement ensued, which led to head coach Josh Heupel moving on from the star quarterback because “no one is bigger than” the program. 

Iamaleava entered the transfer portal and committed to UCLA the following week. He has declined to discuss the specifics of his new NIL agreement, which will reportedly pay him just shy of $2 million this season.

“Here’s why I would defend Nico a little bit,” Klatt said of the Southern California native. “He never really got a chance to tell his side of the story. You know, Tennessee ran out basically a propaganda effort and got to tell the story without Nico being involved at all. It was not all about money. It really wasn’t. If it was, he wouldn’t have gone to UCLA, which is the tell-tale sign.”

Klatt also pointed to the offensive system Heupel runs at Tennessee and how it limited Iamaleava’s skillset.

“He wanted the offense to grow with him. … That offense that Josh Heupel runs is … almost like a glorified high school offense … and the reason that it doesn’t develop a quarterback is because everything is a half-field read. … Nico understood that. … They wanted the offense to expand and to grow and to develop, and when it didn’t do that through spring football, that’s when he was like, ‘I don’t know if this is the right place for me.'”

UCLA is entering Year 2 under new head coach DeShaun Foster after finishing 5-7 overall and 3-6 in conference play last fall. If all goes well for Iamaleava, this could very well be his only season with the Bruins before entering the 2026 NFL Draft.

“I hope he succeeds,” Klatt said about Iamaleava. “We’ll see.”

UCLA opens the 2025 college football season against Utah at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on FOX.

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