Once upon a time in 2023, Nico Iamaleava was the No. 2 overall recruit in the country and was making headlines with his eight-million-dollar NIL deal to go to Tennessee. Since then, there have been plenty of headlines around the former five-star, as he controversially transferred from Tennessee to UCLA in the spring Transfer Portal window, but not quite enough highlights on the field.
Iamaleava did lead Tennessee to the College Football Playoff in 2024, but that was a team built on the strength of its stellar run game and elite defensive line. The 2025 UCLA Bruins, frankly, don’t have many strengths. Yet, in Week 6, with No. 7 Penn State in town and with an interim head coach and a first-time play-caller on his sideline, Iamaleava finally showed why he’s been such a highly coveted quarterback.
In Penn State’s first loss of the season, 30-24 in double overtime to Oregon in Week 5, defense was hardly the issue. With veteran returning talent from last year’s roster and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, whom Franklin plucked off Ohio State’s staff, the Nittany Lions kept one of the country’s most explosive offenses in check. In Week 6, Knowles didn't have any answers for Iamaleava.
The 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore completed 17 of his 24 attempts for 166 yards and two touchdowns, but he did he real damage on the ground, rushing for 128 yards and three more scores on the ground. His mobility, both in the designed run game and as a scrambler, made him a nightmare matchup for the Nittany Lions and helped his Bruins to finish with a 60 percent success rate on late downs.
Jim Knowles had no answers for the UCLA offense
The loss to Oregon in Week 5 wasn’t the only bad news coming out of the week for Penn State. The Nittany Lions also lost two-year starting linebacker Tony Rojas. With Rojas and North Carolina transfer Amare Campbell, Knowles had the speed and athleticism in the middle of the field to run his three-safety structure, which requires linebackers to run sidelines to sideline and cover in space. Without Rojas, the defense looked entirely different.
Former walk-on Dominic DeLuca replaced Rojas in the starting lineup, and when he went out with an injury for one play in the first half, true freshman Cam Smith was next up on the depth chart. So, it was DeLuca’s job, almost no matter what, and he’s just not the athlete Rojas is.
The Rojas injury was so important against a high-level scrambler because Penn State is built to be a man-coverage defense in the secondary. Knowles has introduced more zone than Tom Allen or his predecssor Manny Diaz did, but the Penn State defensive backs still don’t appear comfortable with it. So, to play man coverage against a mobile QB, you need to spy the quarterback with a linebacker, and DeLuca wasn’t up to the task.
Without a capable spy, Iamaleava finished with a 77 percent rushing success rate and a staggering 1.26 EPA/rush while continually finding enough completions against zone to draw Knowles out of it.
It was a tough matchup, but it was also a winless team with a new play-caller and a shaky offensive line. The injuries at linebacker are an explanation, but not an excuse for a loss that, in all likelihood, cost Penn State any chance at the College Football Playoff this season.