It’s quite likely that Nico Iamaleava has played his final down as a UCLA Bruin. The quarterback suffered his second head injury this month, which had him miss the fourth quarter of the Bruins loss to Washington.
UCLA has just one game remaining, facing rival USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum but perhaps the Bruins should stick with backup quarterback Luke Duncan. Duncan has been up-and-down in his game and a half of action and if Iamaleava leaves the program this offseason, the Bruins should look for a new starting quarterback.
Perhaps that quarterback already plays in California. The Cal Bears fired their head coach Justin Wilcox on Sunday, which makes everyone interested in what quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is going to do.
During his freshman season Sagapolutele has made it clear he intends to stick with Cal, with the fanbase just being thorned by Fernando Mendoza’s decision to head to the Big Ten. Maybe with an unfamiliar head coach in the mix, Sagapolutele decides to follow the same path and join the Bruins in the Big Ten.
College Sports Wire writer Matt Zemek made the case on Monday.
“Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele can look at Fernando Mendoza and see that leaving Berkeley could carry benefits. Mendoza left Cal, transferring to Indiana. He is 11-0 and will play in both the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. Ron Rivera and Cal might have to work very hard to convince JKS to stay.” Zemek wrote.
It’s true that if Sagapolutele left Cal, he’d have better offers than UCLA but the Bruins give the Hawaii native a chance to stay on the West Coast while playing in an elite conference.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: If Nico Iamaleava leaves UCLA, could Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele fill in?
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
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