UCLA head coach Deshaun Foster doesn't quite understand some of the drama surrounding quarterback Nico Iamaleava's departure from the Tennessee Vols earlier this spring. Specifically, Foster doesn't understand why folks are making noise about the NIL aspect of Iamaleava's departure from Tennessee.

Three months after Nico Iamaleava left Tennessee for UCLA and shook the college football world amidst the most significant contract dispute in the NIL era, the star quarterback finally broke his silence.

The new Bruins quarterback disputed reports about the reasons behind his dramatic departure from Knoxville and discussed his perspective on what happened.

Iamaleava, the returning starter at Tennessee, left the team on the eve of the spring game due a reported NIL dispute, and eventually transferred to UCLA. The former five-star recruit’s departure was one of the stories of the offseason in college football.

Tennessee was the talk of the 2025 college football transfer portal cycle for all the wrong reasons as quarterback Nico Iamaleava departed from the program in arguably the most confounding saga of the spring.

"That's Disgusting to Me": Kirk Herbstreit Slams Nico Iamaleava's Dad Over Alleged Demands to Josh Heupel originally appeared on Athlon Sports. In one of the more bizarre sequences of the transfer portal era, the Tennessee Volunteers football program allowed its starting quarterback to walk after multiple threats from him and his camp.