Dan Mullen Forced Into Damage Control After UNLV DB Throws Nico Iamaleava Under the Bus

Man, does it get worse for Nico Iamaleava this year? After dominating post-spring ball talks with his dramatic exit from Tennessee, the hype for his UCLA debut was immense. In fact, his arrival alone changed the odds of the Bruins’ 2025 season. But a strong Utah ended up upsetting the grand start of Iamaleava’s UCLA career in Week 1, that too on a humiliating note. UNLV is adding its hot take on the QB, but Dan Mullen is soothing that blow.

“[Watching] the Bruins get their heads beat in late Saturday night was a tough watch,” On3’s Ari Wasserman said. Iamaleava got sacked 4 times, threw one interception in a disappointing 43-10 loss to Utah. It’s a massive fall from grace for the former-Tennessee star, who was looking to silence haters with his UCLA debut. The drop in his reputation and skill is even causing the underdog UNLV squad to take note. DB Aamaris Brown, however, had a scathing comment for the star (?) QB. “Honestly, nothing really sticks out to me about him [on tape],” he said at a presser recently.

That’s a bold comment about the formerly 5-star QB, who showed a lot of his potential during his Vols stint. Dan Mullen, however, tried to help control the fire left in the wake of the comment with some due praise for Iamaleava. “The performance in the end, statistically in the end, probably wasn’t the game he wanted to play, but you can certainly see his talent on film,” he told CBS Sports. “… I think [Nico] is going to come out fired up and ready to put on a show and rebound from his performance. He is an extremely talented player,” Mullen added.

UNLV will face the Bruins next, and this huge loss now tends to affect the odds of this Week 2 game. ESPN’s SP+ rankings pushed UCLA down to an embarrassing No. 76 after the Utah loss, and the Rebels sit right above them at No. 75. The game that was likely going to be a win for Iamaleava has now become a 50-50 one. “He’s not going to quit,” HC DeShaun Foster said after the loss, about his elite QB1. While UCLA comes to this game with a loss, Mullen and the Rebels already have 2 wins in the bag.

They looked a lot better in the game against Sam Houston after a close win over Idaho State. Iamaleava should have reason to be on the lookout for Aamaris Brown, because the DB stood out in the Bearkats.

Aamaris Brown’s scathing remarks about Nico Iamaleava set the stage for their faceoff

Brown was named Mountain West’s Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Sam Houston game. The DB has emerged as one of the best in the conference now, hauling in 70 tackles from his 3-year-long career at USF. Now with the Rebels, he’s already off to a great start. Brown recorded one interception, 8 total tackles, and 2 pass breakups. He’s going to set a target on Iamaleava when UNLV faces off against the Bruins in Week 2. He had even more takes on the QB.

“Going against a guy like Nico, there’s no surprise, no excitement or nothing like that,” Brown told On3. He also said that he has faced five-star talents before, and that label doesn’t “scare” him. The DB is a seasoned player, having played college football since 2020. Iamaleava, however, is only playing his 2. While he did impress in college football last year, problem areas in his game showed up. Tennessee hoped to do better with an improved version of the QB, but he went to UCLA. That improvement is yet to be seen in Iamaleava, who could only complete 11 of his 22 passes in the Utah game.

The hype around the UCLA QB has quieted a little after that blowout loss. UNLV will hope to take advantage of this opportunity and now have even bigger chances of upsetting the Bruins for the second time in the season.