Sources: UCLA informs QBs of expected transfer of Iamaleava

The UCLA coaching staff informed the team's current quarterbacks of the expected transfer of Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava to UCLA, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

That marked a key step that shows the level of the discussions between UCLA and Iamaleava. A formal decision is expected in the near future, and the conversations with the quarterbacks are a signal that Iamaleava is expected to pick UCLA.

UCLA is the power conference school that has been the most involved in Iamaleava's recruitment. The finances of the deal are not known.

The move would be a significant one for UCLA in its second season under coach DeShaun Foster.

Iamaleava is a highly regarded local recruit who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. UCLA is coming off a 5-7 debut season by Foster. That included consecutive wins at Rutgers, at Nebraska and against Iowa, which accounted for the program's league wins in their 3-6 conference record.

Iamaleava is the top player in ESPN's transfer portal rankings and would immediately give UCLA one of the most known players in the sport upon his arrival.

"We'll see if it gets worked out," a UCLA source told ESPN's Chris Low last week. "He's extremely talented with starting experience against elite competition. That's sort of where we are right now."

Sources told ESPN's Chris Low that Iamaleava wanted at least $4 million from Tennessee and that what UCLA was prepared to offer him wasn't close to that figure.

Iamaleava was earning $2.4 million at Tennessee under the contract he signed with Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, when he was still in high school. It's a deal that would have paid him in the $10 million range had he stayed four years at Tennessee.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced last week after the Volunteers' spring game that the program was moving forward without Iamaleava after he missed practice and meetings Friday. He didn't alert anyone on the team and was unresponsive afterward.

Heupel thanked Iamaleava and called the situation unfortunate, but added, "there's no one bigger than the Power T, and that includes me."

Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, officially entered the transfer portal Wednesday with a do not contact tag.

Iamaleava, a five-star prospect from Long Beach, California, was recruited by UCLA out of high school. His younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, committed to UCLA out of high school but changed his commitment on the morning of signing day and signed with Arkansas.

Those recruitments gave both sides plenty of familiarity and the ability to potentially move quickly. There'd been mutual interest early in this process, per sources.

Iamaleava helped guide Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season in his first year as a starter. He passed for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, but in nine games against SEC opponents and Ohio State in the playoff, he passed for more than 200 yards only twice.

Tennessee's offense finished No. 9 in the league in scoring offense in SEC play with 25.0 points per game. Tennessee had the league's No. 1 rushing offense and No. 11 passing offense in league play.

UCLA is coming off a season that it finished No. 14 in scoring offense in league play and No. 12 in total offense in league play.br/]