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Iamaleava stuck to his commitment, and turned UCLA into a trending topic

PASADENA — Nico Iamaleava had plenty of reasons to pack up, leave town and start fresh.

The redshirt sophomore’s decision to transfer to UCLA created national headlines when he arrived in Westwood in the spring and developed even more when the Bruins dropped their first four games of the season in humiliating fashion.

His head coach? Fired. His offensive coordinator? Left the university in the middle of preparation for No. 7 Penn State. The 30-day transfer window that opened when UCLA bid adieu to DeShaun Foster after the Bruins’ week three loss to New Mexico could have been a shining, glimmering life raft for a quarterback career that still holds top-end NFL aspirations.

Iamaleava did not run from the fight. He embraced it.

“It was just a lot of outside noise, coming into it,” Iamaleava said.

The Long Beach native, who said he returned to Southern California from Tennessee to be closer to his family — and reportedly because of a name, image and likeness dispute at Rocky Top — brought his team together after UCLA’s offensive coordinator, Tino Sunseri, mutually parted ways with the university on Tuesday night.

Just hours before UCLA officially announced Sunseri’s departure, the coach, who was also Iamaleava’s quarterbacks coach, was working side by side with the Bruins’ star signal caller at Drake Stadium. Now, Iamaleava heralded the role as a team leader — a unanimous team captain according to interim head coach Tim Skipper — needing to pick up the pieces for his team to believe they could take on the Nittany Lions.

If Iamaleava was all in, not going to ditch the fight, then how about his teammates?

“I just was preaching to the guys that you know, ‘If y’all don’t want to be here, man, leave man,’” Iamaleava said. “I was basically telling the guys that, you know, whoever still believes that, that we’re still in this, and that we still got, you know, games ahead of us, that we can go in, man, let’s roll.”

Roll, UCLA did.

In an improbable upset victory at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, No. 7 Penn State became national pariahs when the Nittany Lions fell 42-37 to the Bruins (1-4, 1-1 Big Ten). UCLA became the first 0-4 team to defeat a top-10-ranked program since 1985, and Iamaleava performed to the best of his ability.

The 6-foot-6 dual-threat quarterback passed for 166 yards, completing 17-of-24 passes for two touchdowns. On the ground, he led all Bruins, extending plays to tally three touchdowns with 128 rushing yards on 16 carries. Iamaleava hit career-highs in both total touchdowns and rushing yards, a moment that, for maybe one afternoon, saw UCLA as the top trending phrase across social media.

“Big time players make big time plays, and that’s what he did out there, you know?” Skipper said. “It doesn’t matter what the play call is; you have to always account for him. And he rises to the occasion. That’s the main thing I love about him. There’s no pressure too big for him, man.”

UCLA placed pressure on Penn State from the start. Iamaleava heaped praise on Skipper for emphasizing the need to start fast all week long. The Bruins’ four-minute, 34-second drive to begin the game saw Iamaleava not only turn a third-and-11 situation into a 22-yard carry, but also connect for an 11-yard passing touchdown with sophomore wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer to close the drive — UCLA’s first lead of the season.

Skipper placed a brick on Penn State moments later. The interim coach, who secured his first win with UCLA on Saturday, caught the Nittany Lions sleeping with a Mateen Bhaghani onside kick. Kanye Clark recovered and Iamaleava marched back down the field for a drive that ended with a Bhaghani 24-yard field goal.

A 10-point lead became a 17-point lead and then a 20-point lead at halftime. These were the moments that Iamaleava had believed in all season.

He now had the game, the opportunity, and the confidence to see himself shine.

Three Tennessee fans, decked out in Volunteers orange, watched the game from the away end zone — as clear as day, like a highlighter on a sheet-white script.

Since Iamaleava’s first start against UCLA a month and a half ago, almost all of Tennessee had maligned the newly 21-year-old quarterback across social media and sports-talk radio programs in the South.

Turn off the phones, mute the microphones. For the first time in blue and gold, Iameleava had the game, the all-eyes-on-me performance to back it up.

“He’s special,” offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel said of Iamaleava. “And he’s got a lot of players who will go to the ends of the earth for him,”

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