Barring injury, Nico Iamaleava will be the UCLA Bruins’ starting quarterback in 2025. UCLA didn’t take on the lofty NIL tab and dump Joey Aguilar just for Iamaleava to ride the bench. What does the rest of the Bruins’ quarterback room look like in 2025?
There’s a second Iamaleava, with Nico’s younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, joining UCLA after his brother’s arrival and while he’s talented, it’d be a surprise if the true-freshman earned second-string duties right away.
In addition to the Iamaleava’s, there’s five other signal callers on the Bruins’ roster, all of which are underclassmen. There’s freshman Colton Gumino, redshirt freshmen Henry Hasselbeck (son of longtime Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck) and Karson Gordon along with redshirt sophomores Pierce Clarkson and Luke Duncan.
You can scratch Gordon off the list after he tore his ACL while competing for UCLA’s track and field team. Clarkson appeared in three games for Louisville over the past two seasons but never recorded a start. Clarkson and Nico Iamaleava with any game experience at the collegiate level, making them the easy early choices to sit atop the depth chart but UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster opted to remain coy about the backup spot at the beginning of Bruins’ training camp.
“It’s a lot of young guys who haven’t had real game experience,” Foster said of the backup quarterback position. “We’re going to put them through the ringer and see who comes out.”
UCLA will hope to not have to worry about the backup spot behind Iamaleava but they an interesting blend of talent and inexperience at the position.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Who will back up Nico Iamaleava at quarterback for UCLA this season?
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
