Shortly after former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava announced his commitment to the UCLA Bruins, Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Madden Iamaleava (Nico’s younger brother) entered the NCAA transfer portal.
Madden, a former four-star recruit, is expected to join Nico at UCLA, though nothing is official yet.
UCLA was actually poised to sign Madden last December, but the California native flipped to Arkansas on the first day of the early signing period due to understandable concerns about the Bruins’ unsettled offensive coordinator situation.
On Thursday, Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman was asked about Madden’s departure from the program.
“A lot of times where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” said Pittman. “We had heard some rumors to that. But there’s always rumors going around. So I don’t know that I was totally surprised. You know, the portal, and I know Nico was high profile, I don’t want to blame the players, I don’t, for leaving. And you can say, ‘well he was here for three months and blah, blah, blah’. But the opportunity to leave is there twice a year. The money to leave for more money is there twice a year. And I’m not positive what we all would do in that situation.
“He handled it well, he came in and visited with me about it. Handled it well. And talked to me about it and just decided to go in the portal. So obviously as soon as that happened, we notified somebody (another quarterback) to replace him.”
This is the new world of college football, and it’s the system that’s in place. As Pittman said, you certainly can’t blame players for taking advantage of the rules in place (coaches, after all, have been able to come and go as they please for decades).
Ultimately, Madden, if he lands at UCLA as expected, will be able to have the unique experience of being on the same college football roster as his older brother. Regardless of what you think about the current state of college football, that’s a pretty cool experience for him, his brother, and his family. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’s something worth celebrating.
And kudos to Pittman for publicly handling the situation well and not dousing gasoline on the situation. The high road is always the best road to take.
