UCLA and Tennessee have pulled off a rare quarterback trade in college football.
Former UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar now plans to sign with Tennessee, just days after the Bruins landed former Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava amid his NIL holdout in Knoxville, according to ESPN’s Chris Low.
The QB trade is complete. Joey Aguilar plans to sign with Tennessee after transferring to UCLA from App. State in the winter portal, sources tell ESPN. He trades places with Nico Iamaleava, who transferred from Tennessee to UCLA in the current portal. Back to business as usual.
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) April 21, 2025
Iamaleava split with Tennessee ahead of the team’s spring game earlier this month over an alleged compensation dispute with the school’s NIL collective. His dad disputed that an increase in money was the center of the issue, but Iamaleava didn’t show up to team activities the day before the spring game and then the team announced soon after that he was no longer with them.
“There’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T,” Tennessee coach Josh Huepel said after the spring game. “And that includes me.”
Then on Sunday, Iamaleava officially announced that he was transferring to UCLA, where he’ll presumably be the starting quarterback this fall. Iamaleava went 213-of-334 for 2,616 passing yards with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions last season while leading the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff.
With Iamaleava’s arrival in Southern California, that left UCLA’s quarterbacks scrambling. Aguilar, who transferred to UCLA just a few months ago from Appalachian State, told ESPN on Monday morning that he planned to enter the transfer portal again. Then, just a few hours later, he struck a deal with Tennessee.
Aguilar, who has one season of eligibility left, threw for 3,000 yards in each of his last two seasons with the Mountaineers.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
UCLA and Tennessee have pulled off a rare quarterback trade in college football.
Former UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar now plans to sign with Tennessee, just days after the Bruins landed former Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava amid his NIL holdout in Knoxville, according to ESPN’s Chris Low.
