Unrivaled Gives Top College Stars NIL Deals on WNBA's Big Weekend
Lauren Betts (UCLA), Azzi Fudd (UConn) and Olivia Miles (TCU)—potentially the top three WNBA draft selections in 2026—are among the 14 college athletes who have signed marketing deals with Unrivaled ahead of its second season. The list also includes USC star JuJu Watkins and Flau'jae Johnson (LSU), both of whom already had equity in the league.
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Unrivaled announced the NIL deals during the WNBA's 2025 All-Star weekend. The agreements come with no commitments for the signees to play in the startup venture founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
Unrivaled's monetary value for players is an ongoing point of discussion in the WNBA, because it has become a model for better pay. The 3-on-3 league's average salary of $220,000 is near the WNBA's max base salary. Many of the WNBA's top players participated in Unrivaled's first season, and it has now tied its name to many of the nation's best college athletes.
Unrivaled-linked players set to join the WNBA in the coming years could enjoy the fruits of the Women's National Basketball Players Association's ongoing labor fight, which includes pushes for higher salaries and a greater share of leaguewide revenues. That is if the union achieves the 'transformational' deal it seeks.
A WNBA work stoppage would be detrimental for the momentum of the league and its players—especially as fan engagement remains near an all-time high. Those involved in Unrivaled at least have some level of personal protection in the event of continued labor unrest, as many of them received equity as part of their deals to join the Miami-based venture.
Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers, who participated in a well-attended CBA meeting in Indianapolis on Thursday, is among the WNBA players with equity in Unrivaled. The former UConn star will receive a check next year regardless of if the WNBA has a new CBA.
News of Bueckers' lucrative three-year deal with Unrivaled leaked a day prior to the WNBA Draft in April, and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was forced to address it during her annual draft press conference. The Wings guard's first-year Unrivaled salary reportedly exceeds what she'll make in her first four years in the WNBA combined.
The six-team winter league, played across 10 weeks between January and March, has long stated that it was designed to be additive to the WNBA. It strives to be a domestic option for players who want to avoid competing overseas to supplement their income.
But as WNBA owners invest more into their teams and training facilities, some are asking for prioritization of the W over alt leagues such as Unrivaled and Athletes Unlimited. Seattle Storm star Gabby Williams vocalized her frustration on the matter to reporters on Friday afternoon.
'It's very clear that the league wants to push away all other leagues,' Williams said. 'It would make sense if they were paying us more here but it's not the case even with the new proposals.'
Collier, a vice president on the WNBPA executive committee, recently pushed back on critics who view her role leading CBA negotiations and being a co-founder of Unrivaled as a conflict of interest. The Minnesota Lynx star said Unrivaled only benefits the WNBA as it grows the profile and fandom surrounding its biggest stars.
Unrivaled has infiltrated WNBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis by setting up its own pop-up activation featuring game day fan experiences, player appearances and merch drops. It's the latest move for the league to grow its presence beyond its Miami homebase.
The new crop of college players, including Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) and Madison Booker (Texas), backing the league will only help build that name recognition as the labor fight in the WNBA continues.
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I started asking NBA WAGs questions. Now, millions are watching.
Maddy Sells on "WAG Talk" — and getting the scoop on Paige Bueckers's girlfriend. 'How well do you know your NBA husband?' It's a question you may have heard as you scroll through social media, and it's one Maddy Sells is directing at the wives (and girlfriends, aka WAGs) of NBA players as they hang out courtside or loiter near the locker room. Sells — the woman behind the video series WAG Talk — will quiz each WAG about their partner's playing history before revealing who they're coupled up with. In the case of WNBA No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers, who got the WAG Talk treatment during WNBA All-Star Weekend last week, the answer is her former UConn teammate Azzi Fudd. Bueckers's interview with Sells hard launched the two players' relationship for the first time, nearly breaking the internet in the process. For Sells, who grew up playing basketball and idolizing teams like the Miami Heat, putting WAGs — a group of women so often subjected to stereotypes — in the spotlight is a response to something she noticed early on through her own fandom: It was men who dominated the conversation, while their partners sat on the sidelines. With WAG Talk, the sports marketing major is handing WAGs the mic and racking up millions of clicks in the process. And with her recent expansion to include not just the NBA but the WNBA and their other halves (like Bueckers and Fudd) too, she's also giving queer relationships their due. In this interview with Yahoo's Kerry Justich, Sells shares in her own words how she's created a brand out of platforming wives and girlfriends — and what it means for the future of sports coverage. I started WAG Talk in February at the Miami Heat Gala. I would see these couples walking the red carpet, and the media would interview all the players while the wives and girlfriends would stand to the side and listen. There were a lot of really cool women who were not getting interviewed at all, which I felt was such a missed opportunity. Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s girlfriend is Dominique Ruotolo, a Division I track runner, and Kevin Love's wife [Kate Love] is a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model. There are just so many cool stories to be told about these women, and they didn't really have the platform. So I thought that would be the perfect place to launch the start of WAG Talk. I got about five interviews there, the biggest one being Tyler Herro's girlfriend [Katya Elise Henry]. That video got 31 million views on TikTok. So I was like, OK, people really do have an appetite for this content. A different point of entry for sports fans When I started working with [the media company] Enjoy Basketball, I came in knowing that it was a super, super positive brand. Everything that they do is just to uplift athletes and to be very positive about growing the game. So I wanted to make this series really, really positive and something that I know the women will have fun playing along with. I feel like my audience has been changing with every single video that I post. It's finally become a 50-50 split of men and women following WAG Talk, which is really nice. I think people watch it for different reasons. There's an audience of women who are really interested in fashion and just everything with the WAG-related lifestyle. There are also plenty of women who love sports and want to follow along to see if they can get the questions right about the athlete. The same goes for the male audience. A lot of guys tell me that WAG Talk is their guilty pleasure because they like to see if they can figure out who the player is before the reveal. That's how I wanted to get viewers engaged in this series. There's been a ton of negativity on the content in the past from people who think really negatively about wives and girlfriends of players. But there was kind of a big switch [during WNBA All-Star Weekend], with so much positivity from WNBA fans. I gained a whole new audience. Paige Bueckers's hard launch She was definitely at the very top of my list. I went into the weekend preparing a bunch of different WAG Talk questions for tons of different people, and I was able to get Paige and Natasha [Cloud, of the New York Liberty] on the orange carpet. I honestly wasn't expecting them to say yes to the interview. I never want to make anyone uncomfortable talking about a relationship that they're not ready to talk about. But when I noticed that Paige was really comfortable with it, I was like, 'OK, let's do this.' She was so happy when I said, 'How well do you know your D1 girlfriend?' Her smile just made my day. Other content creators in sports, like Aliyah Funschelle, were around me too. She had interviewed Paige right before I did, so after my interview happened, she looked at me and said, 'Maddy, I think that was the hard launch. You need to go.' I was like, 'Oh, I gotta sprint to my hotel to edit this because this is going to go absolutely crazy.' The response to it has been amazing. The Paige video has 11 million views, and the one with Natasha Cloud [speaking about her girlfriend and Liberty teammate Isabelle Harrison] has 7 million. So there clearly is a big appetite for knowing about these relationships and women's sports in general. These videos have a lot more views than a lot of NBA videos. The importance of WNBA coverage Pride Month is when I first did a WNBA WAG Talk, and it was with [New York Liberty star] Breanna Stewart's wife. And that was very intentional. The WNBA content has really hit the queer community, which is super cool. They just like seeing the LGBTQ community being promoted in sports, finally. I still do want to include the HABs [husbands and boyfriends of women athletes]. As such a big Heat fan, [Miami player] Bam Adebayo and [Las Vegas Aces center] A'ja Wilson are my favorite couple ever, and I've been wanting to do a video with them. But seeing how excited and happy the women are while talking about their [female] partners has shown the world so much positivity when it comes to the queer community. Over the weekend, we went from 48,000 [followers] on TikTok to 73,000. Seeing how powerful the female audience is and just how much they love this switch of WAG Talk going into the WNBA has been really, really cool to see. It just proved how big an appetite there is for women's sports. When you make the content, the audience will come. There are plenty of WNBA fans out there. There needs to be more content being created around it, because these women deserve huge platforms. They deserve to be able to tell their stories. This has been edited for length and clarity. Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
18 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
The Sports Report: Lincoln Riley says he does want USC to play Notre Dame every year
From Ryan Kartje: After shots were fired all summer over USC's hand in the future of its rivalry with Notre Dame, coach Lincoln Riley reiterated during Big Ten media day on Thursday that he 'absolutely' wants to maintain the historic matchup. 'Do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game,' Riley said. 'It's one of the reasons I came here. But also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame and not to anyone else. I'm the head coach of USC. I'm going to back USC. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make USC as good as it can be. I'm not going to let anything stand in between that.' Riley has taken heat about the rivalry's future since last year's Big Ten media day, when he first shared concerns about how scheduling a marquee nonconference team could impact the Trojans' playoff hopes. Notre Dame has since used Riley's comments as public leverage, putting the responsibility for the rivalry's future on USC. 'It's pretty black and white for me. You want my opinion? I want to play them every single year,' Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. 'When? I don't care. I don't care when we play them. Start of the season, middle of the season, end of the season — I don't care. I want to play USC every year because it's great for college football.' Continue reading here USC's Lincoln Riley feeling 'refreshed' as pressure mounts to win in Year 4 From Ben Bolch: It's easier for everything to go according to script when you have one. As DeShaun Foster strode across the stage inside a convention center here Thursday afternoon, the UCLA football coach clutched several pages of prepared remarks that helped him navigate a lengthy opening monologue with poise and confidence. Poking fun at his widely mocked and memed performance from a year ago, when he delivered a short, unrehearsed address filled with awkward pauses and an uneasy smile, Foster indulged reporters in a short recap of the lowlights. 'Last year I stood up here and reminded everyone that UCLA is in L.A., which looking back might have been the most obvious geography lesson in Big Ten history,' Foster said. 'But you know what? Important things are worth stating clearly. We are in L.A., and we're proud to be in L.A. This year we're ready to show the Big Ten what L.A. football looks like when it's firing on all cylinders.' Continue reading here From Jack Harris: Four months ago, the Dodgers were cast as baseball's new evil empire, lapping rival contenders with lavish free-agent spending during an offseason that raised alarms about competitive balance within MLB. 'Coming into the season,' general manager Brandon Gomes recalled this week, 'we were talking about how we've ruined baseball with all the talent we've got.' Now, however, the narrative has shifted. The Dodgers are a contender, yes, but riddled with the kind of flaws other front offices across the sport are trying to address in the run-up to next Thursday's trade deadline. As a result, the behemoth talk has subsided. The worries about Dodger domination have ceased. 'I haven't heard anything about that lately,' Gomes quipped. And it's against this backdrop that the Dodgers will approach the deadline — trying to square their lofty preseason expectations with what has proved to be an imperfect start to the year, and needing to decide exactly how drastic of changes they'll make for the rest of the way. Continue reading here Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena and Jorge Polanco homered, Logan Evans gave up one run in five innings, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Angels 4-2 on Thursday night. Rodríguez, who stole third base in the first inning, has 15 home runs and 20 stolen bases this season. The 24-year-old is the first player in MLB history with at least 15 homers and 20-plus stolen bases in each of their first four seasons. Evans (4-3), a 24-year-old rookie, allowed three hits and walked three with three strikeouts. Andrés Muñoz pitched a scoreless ninth for his 23rd save. Continue reading here Angels box score MLB scores MLB standings From Gary Klein: Puka Nacua saw the numbers. So, no doubt, did Rams general manager Les Snead and other team executives who handle contract negotiations. When Garrett Wilson of the New York Jets this month signed a four-year extension that includes $90 million in guarantees, he became the latest young NFL receiver star to cash in before playing out his rookie contract. Nacua is in the third year of his rookie deal with the Rams. He will be eligible for an extension in the offseason. Continue reading here From Broderick Turner: A call came from Luka Doncic a couple of times, at first making Marcus Smart think it wasn't true and then eventually making him believe that Doncic was a Lakers salesman and that he wanted Smart to be a part of what they were building here in Los Angeles. It wasn't like they had a strong 'relationship,' but Smart said he and Doncic have 'a mutual understanding and respect for each other' from meeting on the court in past seasons. So, when the calls came while Smart was training while trying to figure out his next move after he had agreed to a contract buyout from the Washington Wizards, he was swayed by Doncic to join the Lakers after clearing waivers. Smart, who signed a two-year deal for $11 million with the Lakers, with a player option for the second season, smiled as he told the stories during his introductory news conference Tuesday about talking to Doncic and being persuaded to join him and LeBron James. 'It first came, my agent, I'm working out, and I get a call from my agent saying, you know, 'Hey Luka reached out.' And I'm like 'yeah whatever' you know?' Like all right,' Smart said at the Lakers' practice facility. 'And then another day, same thing — Luka reached out again and now it's real. It's no longer what-ifs. It's real and it's something we need to talk about. And that was a great feeling, like I said, and that's kind of what kind of got things going for me to be here and I'm excited to be here.' Continue reading here Kelsey Plum had 30 points and six assists, Dearica Hamby added 20 points and 11 rebounds and the Sparks beat the Connecticut Sun 101-86 on Thursday night. The Sparks (10-14) have won four in a row, beginning with a 92-88 victory over the Sun at home July 13 that snapped a 13-game losing streak against Connecticut. The Sparks set a season high for points and have scored 90 points or more in four consecutive games, tying the franchise record set in 2013. Continue reading here Sparks box score WNBA standings Ben O'Connor won Thursday's monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar responded to attacks from archrival Jonas Vingegaard to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogačar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than four minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4-kilometer (16.5-mile) daunting climb of the Col de La Loze up to the finish. At 2,304 meters of altitude, La Loze is the highest summit in this year's Tour. Two years ago, Vingegaard dropped Pogačar on that mountain on his way to his second Tour title but could not deal a decisive blow this time. Riding behind O'Connor, Vingegaard and Pogačar closely watched each other in the final climb, surrounded by buoyant fans braving the cold temperature and the fog. Vingegaard attacked his Slovenian rival but Pogačar responded with ease. Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates had also tried to hurt the defending champion earlier in the day in the Col de La Madeleine, but their efforts left Pogačar unfazed. The reigning world champion, who rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, never panicked and accelerated near the end to drop Vingegaard in the last 500 meters and increase his overall lead. 1902 — Jim Jeffries knocks out Bob Fitzsimmons in the eighth round to retain the world heavyweight title. 1956 — Swaps sets an American record in a 1 5/8-mile race at Hollywood Park. Swaps runs the course in 2:38 1-5. 1956 — Jack Burke Jr. defeats Ted Kroll 3 and 2 in the final round to win the PGA championship. 1976 — In Montreal, Edwin Moses of the United States sets an Olympic record in the 400 hurdles with a time of 47.63. 1982 — Janet Anderson wins the U.S. Women's Open golf title, her first tournament victory. 1999 — 86th Tour de France: Lance Armstrong wins 1st of 7 consecutive Tour de France titles but is later disqualified for drug cheating. 2004 — Copa América Final, Estadio Nacional, Lima: Brazil beats Argentina, 4-2 on penalties; 2-2 after extra time. 2007 — Michael Rasmussen, the leader of the Tour de France, is removed from the race by his Rabobank team after winning the 16th stage. Rasmussen is sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules. The Danish cyclist missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28, saying he was in Mexico. 2010 — Alberto Contador wins the Tour de France for the third time in four years. Contador holds off a next-to-last day challenge from Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, his runner-up for a second consecutive year. 2010 — Jamie McMurray's victory in the Brickyard 400 gives owner Chip Ganassi the first team triple crown in American auto racing: winning the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year. McMurray won the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, and Ganassi IndyCar series driver Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500 in May. 2011 — The NFL Players Assn. executive board and 32 team reps vote unanimously to approve the terms of a deal to the end the 4½-month lockout. The final pact is for 10 years, without an opt-out clause. 2011 — Taylor Hoagland hits a two-run home run, Valerie Arioto and Megan Langenfeld have RBI singles and the United States beats rival Japan 6-4 to win its fifth straight World Cup of Softball championship. 2012 — Triple jumper Voula Papachristou is kicked off Greece's Olympic team by the Hellenic Olympic Committee for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right political party. 2015 — Maya Moore scores a record 30 points to lead the West to a 117-112 victory over the East in the WNBA All-Star Game. The league's reigning MVP scores eight straight points in the final 2 minutes to turn a one-point deficit into a 113-106 advantage. 2021 — USA's men's basketball lose to France 83-76 ending their 25-game Olympic winning streak. 1918 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators pitched a four-hitter in 15 innings to beat the St. Louis Browns 1-0. The only hit off him in the first 11 innings was a triple by George Sisler. 1930 — The Philadelphia Athletics came up with a triple steal in the first inning and again in the fourth in a 14-1 win over the Cleveland Indians. 1939 — Atley Donald of the New York Yankees set a rookie pitching record in the AL when he registered his 12th consecutive victory since May 9, with a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Browns. 1941 — Lefty Grove of the Boston Red Sox won his 300th and last game, beating the Cleveland Indians 10-6. 1949 — Stan Musial of St. Louis hit for the cycle, going 4-5 and driving in four runs to lead the Cardinals to a 14-1 rout of the Broolyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. 1956 — Roberto Clemente hit a game-winning inside-the-park grand slam to give Pittsburgh a 9-8 win over the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field. 1961 — En route to his 61-homer season, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit four homers against the Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader to give him 40 for the year. The Yankees took both games, 5-1 and 12-0, and Maris moved 25 games ahead of Babe Ruth's 1927 pace. 1962 — Stan Musial of St. Louis became the all-time RBI leader in the NL. His two-run home run in a 5-2 loss to the Dodgers gave him 1,862 RBIs, passing Mel Ott. 1978 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds singled to left off New York's Craig Swan in the third inning to set a NL record of hitting safely in 38 consecutive games. The Mets won the game 9-2. 1990 — Kansas City's George Brett hit for the cycle in the Royals 6-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. 2000 — Mike Lansing of Colorado hit for the cycle. The Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 19-2. 2011 — Ian Kinsler homered and drove in four runs as the Texas Rangers pounded out the most runs and hits in the majors this season with a 20-6 rout of the Minnesota Twins. 2014 — Yasiel Puig tied a franchise record with three triples and added a double and two RBIs as the Dodgers moved within a half-game of NL West-leading San Francisco with an 8-1 win over the Giants. 2015 — Cole Hamels became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs in 50 years while leading Philadelphia to a 5-0 win. There was drama down to the final out, when rookie center fielder Odubel Herrera stumbled on the warning track, but managed to lean forward and catch Kris Bryant's flyball to end the game. Hamels struck out 13 in the first no-hitter versus the Cubs since Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game in 1965. 2023 — The Braves turn the first triple play of the MLB season and it comes in highly unusual fashion. The play goes 8-3-5, a combination of outs not seen since 1884, as with runners on first and second in the 3rd, CF Michael Harris II catches a fly ball hit by Triston Casas of the Red Sox and fires to 1B Matt Olson to retire Adam Duvall, who had misjudged the force with which the ball was hit. Olson then fires to 3B Austin Riley to nab Masataka Yoshida, who had tagged up and was trying to advance while the Braves were busy attending to the other runner. In spite of the triple killing, Boston wins the game handily, 7-1. Compiled by the Associated Press That concludes today's newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you'd like to see, email me at To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'It came down to me wanting to be back home': Nico Iamaleava details move to UCLA
Wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a light blue suit with a UCLA lapel pin and tan wingtips, Nico Iamaleava settled into his seat on an elevated platform in front of about 30 reporters. 'How's everybody doing?' the new Bruins quarterback asked casually inside the convention center hall late Thursday afternoon, giving no hint that this was the most pressure he had faced since an attacking Ohio State defense sacked him four times in the opening round of the College Football Playoff. These reporters were almost as relentless. For more than 25 minutes during the final Big Ten media day, they peppered Iamaleava with questions about his decision to leave Tennessee on the eve of its spring game for a program with a lesser pedigree, prompting UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar to take Iamaleava's spot in what essentially amounted to a college football trade. Read more: A year after stumbling at Big Ten media days, UCLA's DeShaun Foster is poised and confident What was Iamaleava's motivation in making his move? Was his dissatisfaction with Tennessee's name, image and likeness package a factor? Did he have to take a pay cut to come to UCLA? What was it like dealing with the fallout from jilted Tennessee fans? While failing to offer many specifics, Iamaleava patiently engaged every question, the Southern California native saying he was driven by a desire to play for a top program closer to his family in Long Beach. 'Ultimately,' the 6-foot-6 quarterback had told a small group of Los Angeles-based reporters earlier in the afternoon, 'it came down to me wanting to be back home, you know, be back home next to my family while still competing at the highest level.' Iamaleava pinned the timing of his departure from Tennessee on 'false reports' about financial demands that 'made me not feel comfortable in the position I was in. But, you know, in the back of my head, I always wanted to come back home and be closer to my mom, be closer to my dad.' Tennessee was reportedly set to pay Iamaleava more than $2 million to play for the Volunteers this season. Declining to discuss his new NIL deal at UCLA, Iamaleava said he was focused on football and academics while trying to revive a program that has not won a conference championship since 1998. 'The realistic expectation for us,' Iamaleava said, 'is to bring championships back to Westwood, and, you know, the first day I stepped into the locker room, I felt that from every guy in there, that they've got a chip on their shoulder and that they want to go out there and prove people wrong.' Iamaleava will have to do it wearing a new number after attempts to get his preferred No. 8 — retired in honor of Troy Aikman — failed, leaving him with No. 9. He said he'll proudly wear the number to represent his seven siblings and two parents whom he credited for his humble nature. One of those siblings is now a teammate. Freshman quarterback Madden Iamaleava, who verbally committed to UCLA before signing with Arkansas, flipped his allegiance back to the Bruins in the spring after his older brother decided to come home. Depending on how he fares in training camp, Madden could become Nico's top backup. 'I think he's ready, man,' Nico said of his sibling. 'My little brother was a bonus from me, you know, for him to come home with me. And just being a helping hand to him in anything he needs, I think, was the biggest thing for me.' If everything goes as planned, Nico acknowledged, his stay at UCLA will be a short one. Should the Bruins win a lot of games and Iamaleava further establish himself as a top NFL prospect, the redshirt sophomore will move on after this final college season. 'This is a year where, you know, I'm really trying to get out after,' Iamaleava said. 'So, you know, I'm going to give my all to UCLA, and, you know, if I have the year I want, you know, I want to get out.' Everything about Iamaleava's stay might have an accelerated feel. He said he received the offensive playbook after signing in April and has participated in player-run practices since arriving on campus in June, quickly impressing his new teammates with not just his talent but also his savvy. 'He's good at looking off people,' linebacker JonJon Vaughns said of Iamaleava's ability to deceive a defense, 'and his arm is big, it's powerful.' Read more: Three years after USC and UCLA led mass defections, Pac-12 adds Texas State as 8th member There will be no easing into a training camp that starts next Wednesday in Costa Mesa given that UCLA opens the season exactly one month later against Utah on Aug. 30 at the Rose Bowl. The strength staff has already provided Iamaleava an indication of the high expectations he'll face on the field. 'I've never been pushed like this by a staff before,' Iamaleava said, 'so I'm excited to go to work for these guys.' Calling it 'a fun challenge,' Iamaleava said he was trying to quickly absorb a pro-style offense that he described as 'a little more condensed formations' than what he ran at Tennessee. The chance to play for offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who has a history of immediate success with new quarterbacks, has invigorated Iamaleava. 'He's a high-energy guy,' Iamaleava said of Sunseri, 'and I wanted to go play for him the first day I met him.' Praising his entire wide receiving corps, Iamaleava said he had already developed good chemistry with Kwazi Gilmer, Mikey Matthews, Ezavier Staples and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala. He's gotten to know the offensive linemen through a bowling outing that also included the quarterbacks. Read more: Wide receiver Kaedin Robinson suing NCAA in bid to play for UCLA this season 'He's a great person,' right tackle Garrett DiGiorgio said. 'He's got a good heart, and he really cares.' Not always. Iamaleava said he tuned out social media during his departure from Tennessee, shielding himself from the vitriol. He found solace in video games such as NBA 2K25 and UFC. 'I was playing a lot of video games with my friends and my cousins, man, and, you know, really paid no mind to it,' he said. 'Sometimes I had no idea [what was happening]; my cousins would come and tell me about stuff they would see and I was like, 'I don't care.' So, you know, I think a lot of that just comes with, you know, protecting your peace.' Later, as he rose from the platform and thanked reporters, Iamaleava appeared fully zen. After all the speculation about his future, he'll have the final say on the field. Sign up for UCLA sports for big game takeaways, recruiting buzz and more UCLA sports insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
