LOS ANGELES — Nico Iamaleava’s first months in Westwood couldn’t have gone less to plan. The expected happened, the talk-of-the-town Tennessee transfer slotting in as UCLA’s starting quarterback.
But the rest has turned his early days as a Bruin into a national storyline for the wrong reasons.
DeShaun Foster, the coach who brought Iamaleava to UCLA, was fired. The former Warren High star felt the sting of defeat after defeat, winless through three games in blue and gold. The last week and a half, with a new coach – interim Tim Skipper – barking orders and shifting the football program ahead of the start of Big Ten action Saturday against Northwestern, has forced Iamaleava into uncharted territory in his college career.
“I’ve never really been in this situation where, you know, I’m 0-3,” Iamaleava said Wednesday, when asked about how he’s dealt with the adversity. “So you know, just me continuing to lean on God. And you know, have him lead me. This is the path he chose for me.”
Is Iamaleava stressed?
“Yes, in some ways, you know, you’ve got to move on, though,” he said. “You can’t dwell on these past three games, man, we really got to just focus on what’s ahead of us.”
Iamaleava’s offense, led by first-year play caller and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, has left much to be desired through the Bruins’ nonconference slate. UCLA ranks 130th in scoring offense with 14.3 points per game, a mark that ranks in the bottom fourth of the Big Ten.
The redshirt sophomore signal caller has found some success throwing the ball (608 passing yards and three touchdowns with a 63.9% completion percentage), leading the Bruins to their best offensive statistic with an 87th-place standing with 202.7 passing yards per game. However, much of the passing-focused approach can be attributed to UCLA’s slow start, which has led to a shift away from a balanced system and toward explosive-play passing attempts.
Spotty pass protection has caused Iamaleava to evade the pocket and make plays with his legs (albeit some runs are designed read-options), leading all ballcarriers – including the three-man running back rotation of Jaivian Thomas, Jalen Berger and Anthony Woods – with 139 rushing yards.
Nine games are left on the schedule and Iamaleava has the pedigree – leading the Volunteers to last year’s College Football Playoff and entering college as the No. 1 high school recruit, according to On3, two years ago – to create change. The results will be up to Iamaleava and his teammates, however.
“Keep the belief,” Iamaleava said. “The season hasn’t gone how we wanted to go. But, you know, I still got faith in every one of the guys. And, you know, we trust coach Skipper, what he has for us.”
And for what it’s worth, Skipper said he sees Iamaleava’s leadership through the hardship since New Mexico throttled UCLA in Week 3 as proof of what the Long Beach native can be.
“Just keeping him to be vocal, just always be vocal,” Skipper said. “You’re the quarterback, obviously there, right? But he is a guy who demands attention and guys getting good leadership and all that stuff. So he gets the most out of them.”
Notes
A UCLA Athletics spokesperson said UCLA is “trending” to return to its practice facility, Spaulding Field, the week of Oct. 6, following its home game against Penn State. …
Skipper said redshirt senior defensive lineman Nico Davillier was still out due to personal reasons. …
The Bruins’ interim coach added that there were still zero outgoing players in the transfer portal as of Wednesday. “I hope everybody stays,” he said. “But look, you have options now. That’s this era of football.”