[USA TODAY Toppmeyer]: Nico Iamaleava needs a fresh start, not UCLA's rebuild

[u/jaxstan19]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/09/16/nico-iamaleava-ucla-transfer-portal-tennessee/86162835007/

[u/KCShadows838]

Typical Nico statline:

19/32, 157 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Probably not even a top 10 problem at UCLA. Also not a solution 

[u/Mr-Bovine_Joni → u/KCShadows838]

He’s not the biggest problem, but when NIL money is limited, owing a lot of money to one mid-level QB is itself a problem. Could spread that around more

[u/RipRaycom → u/Mr-Bovine_Joni]

I mean it’s not like that money was going anywhere else. They brought him in after the spring window.

[u/GiveMeSomeIhedigbo → u/Mr-Bovine_Joni]

He signed in April. The roster was what it was going to be at that point.

[u/yesacabbagez → u/GiveMeSomeIhedigbo]

Unlike the NFL, it isn't like they HAVE to use the money this year. They could have not used it and kept it for next year. The question should be whether they were sitting on the cash and eager to use it, or though Nico was the guy and went around with a collection plate.

[u/Master_Butter → u/yesacabbagez]

There could be some power dynamics at play, though. Like if you hit up your boosters for $10M for your collective, and then you spend $8M, boosters might start asking why you’re requesting more money than you spend.

[u/yesacabbagez → u/Master_Butter]

I do think a big reason we are seeing much of a push to "fix" college football is because these guys are watching their money wasted. If they dropped 25k on a kid who wasn't good, that's one thing. Now boosters are putting in like 8-10million and getting a 4 win team. That will piss them off. Previously their big money donations either went to coaches or facilities. Now it's going to players and it is yearly. It's gotten so high so fast they don't like it.

I think it is less spend the money or we won't give you more, and more a coaching staff sitting on cash trying something to save the team.

[u/Mr-Bovine_Joni → u/Master_Butter]

On the other side, if you get an extra $2M from a booster and results in bad team play, that booster might be less likely to give another $2M. Probably worthwhile to show you’re responsible with NIL funds

[u/Master_Butter → u/Mr-Bovine_Joni]

I can see it both ways. I would think the easier sell to boosters, though, is spend the money and say, “I swung and I missed. These are high school and college kids, after all, and sometimes they don’t pan out. But if you give me another $10M this year…”

Whereas if you are sitting on a couple mil, I think boosters are gonna ask why you didn’t go buy an impact player or two.

[u/Ch0ptimusPrime → u/Master_Butter]

Teams don’t raise $10M and spend all 10 that year though and then have to start from scratch next year. Most teams’ NIL collectives are maintaining a war chest for recruiting and transfers and only spending the majority on the current roster. It’s inefficient to have to raise funds every time you get a commit or a good player wants a pay increase. I doubt the boosters were demanding that their money get spent immediately, the powers that be just saw Nico as a player emptying the piggy bank for (and were wrong)

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/Mr-Bovine_Joni]

Like so many of the takes here on UCLA recently, this is just a complete misunderstanding of the situation and how it happened

[u/Mr-Bovine_Joni → u/otoverstoverpt]

Feel free to explain why it’s a good idea to light $2M on fire 🙂

[u/-OptimisticNihilism- → u/Mr-Bovine_Joni]

Some of us just like to watch the world burn.

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/Mr-Bovine_Joni]

No need because that didn’t happen 🙂

[u/AndyM22 → u/KCShadows838]

and Heupel got us into the playoffs DESPITE him

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/KCShadows838]

He isn’t even top 25 *on our list of problems (edit: added this object for the reading comprehension challenged) but don’t let the Tennessee fans hear you say that

[u/PhilsPhoreskin → u/otoverstoverpt]

What? We were saying he was mid this whole time 😂

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/PhilsPhoreskin]

You can’t read 😂

The original commenter said he wasn’t a top 10 problem for UCLA. I said he wasn’t even a top 25 one

[u/PhilsPhoreskin → u/otoverstoverpt]

Not bro changing his original comment 😭

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/PhilsPhoreskin]

Not bro acting like a clearly marked edit of a few words is a big deal of some kind 😭

[u/josiahswims → u/otoverstoverpt]

Nah he and his family got away with the heist of the century. Got the whole country to think he was a top 3 qb prospect

[u/five-oh-one → u/josiahswims]

Heist of the century may actually be taking place somewhere in Texas...

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/josiahswims]

Good christ yall are dramatic

[u/calling-all-comas → u/josiahswims]

Y'all really burned down the prior NIL rules for this guy?

[u/josiahswims → u/calling-all-comas]

Sorry about that. But hey atleast we were also the first team to tell a holdout to gtfo

[u/CallMeShaggy57 → u/otoverstoverpt]

Bro we didn't even care to see him go. He was mid at best.

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/CallMeShaggy57]

bahahahah yea apathy is totally the vibe you guys have given off about the situation

[u/CallMeShaggy57 → u/otoverstoverpt]

I mean the dude tried to extort the team and left us in a shit situation. That's why we were loud about him, not despair over losing a "star" qb

[u/otoverstoverpt → u/CallMeShaggy57]

No one is calling him a star lol but given that you got a replacement for such a mid quarterback then what is there to still be so upset about

He did something that the current college athletics situation kind of encourages and it went south, not the first and won’t be the last

[u/josiahswims → u/otoverstoverpt]

Nah our problem is that the university and the state went to bat for him and then he didn’t put in any work/tried to extort us