Week 1 of the 2025 college football season is chock-full of intriguing matchup. Games like LSU at Clemson, Texas at Ohio State, and Florida State at Alabama naturally garner most of the attention, but the Big 12 has several big-time games set to open the year.
Auburn at Baylor will demand the majority of the attention on Friday, August 29, and a Monday night matchup between TCU and North Carolina will have the attention of the football world with Bill Belichick on the sidelines.
However, there’s another Big 12 season opener that just got a lot more interesting, thanks to a high-profile transfer quarterback.
On Saturday, August 30, the Utah Utes will travel to Pasadena, California, to take on the UCLA Bruins.
If there wasn’t already enough intrigue with the former Pac-12 showdown, there certainly is now with the Bruins adding Tennessee transfer quarterback Nico Iamaleava on Wednesday.
Iamaleava has been the biggest storyline in college football this week after he skipped practice amid NIL contract negotiations with Tennessee, but was then told to walk after demanding a reported $4 million from the Vols.
Iamaleava is a redshirt sophomore and spent last year as the starter in Knoxville in 2024. Over 13 games, Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns with five interceptions, adding 358 yards and three scores on the ground.
Additionally, Iamaleava was the No. 2 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, raling only behind Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
Meanwhile, Utah is coming off a 5-7 season in 2024 and has a new quarterback of its own with New Mexico star Devon Dampier taking over in 2025.
