Can you pronounce Iamaleava?

Prep, college QB brothers making name — that name — for themselves

Quarterback Madden Iamaleava, the No. 10 QB in NFL Draft Scout’s 2025 prep recruiting class (No. 81 overall), committed to UCLA Saturday night.

If the last name sounds familiar, the Warren High (Long Beach, CA) star is the younger brother of Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, the No. 2 quarterback from 2023 (behind Arch Manning), who is projected to be a starter for the Vols this year. More on Nico later.

First, let's make one thing clear. Their last name is pronounced phonetically as "ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va." Got that? Hint: the first letter is a capital i, not an L. If you messed it up, you are are not alone. Watch and listen here.

To simplify, let’s just call him Madden, a damned good football name in its own right. Madden has been on the ascent for a few months. He was rated No. 205 overall by NDS in February but will be No. 81 when our next ratings are published. (We peeked.)

Madden becomes the first major recruit for new UCLA coach DeShaun Foster. The 4-star prospect posted on social media Friday that Oregon offered a scholarship, and he received interest from Nebraska and other major programs.

The 6-3, 185-pound quarterback passed for 3,626 yards and 43 touchdowns, and threw just four interceptions in his first season as a starter for Warren High School in Downey, California. He backed up his bro, Nico, in 2022.

The Bruins have a need because quarterback Dante Moore, the NDS No. 3 QB in 2023 (No. 4 overall), transferred to Oregon in December after starting five games last fall. Although Ethan Garbers returns for this coming season, the Bruins will need a new QB for 2025.

Meanwhile, in Knoxville, in his 2023 freshman season, big bro Nico passed for 314 yards and two touchdown, and rushed for three touchdowns as a backup.

After Tennessee’s breakout 2022 season, expectations were high for the Vols last year, even after losing QB Hendon Hooker to the NFL. In 2022, Hooker looked like a first-round prospect until a late-season ACL injury. He sat out last year after the Detroit Lions took him in the third round. He is now No. 2 behind Jared Goff after Teddy Bridgewater retired this spring.

Joe Milton stepped in as Tennessee’s starting quarterback, with Nico waiting in the wings, as the Vols rode a roller coaster to a 9-4 record. Milton was drafted in the sixth round by the New England Patriots, who took North Carolina’s Drake Maye No. 3 overall.

Now, Nico will be at the wheel of coach Josh Heupel’s high-horsepower offense. He showed flashes in the bowl game last year against Iowa, and some think he could help make Tennessee a contender in the SEC.

Tennessee's offense went from 525.5 yards per game in 2022 to 448.1 last season. The Vols averaged only 243.2 yards passing in 2023, down from 326.1 in 2022.

But Nico is now expected to start and star for Tennessee in the revamped SEC, which puts him ahead of the one 2023 recruit ranked higher than him — Arch Manning. There’s a name we all have had practice pronouncing.

Arch is scheduled to be No. 2 at Texas again, behind Quinn Ewers, who was, after all, the No. 1 QB from the 2021 prep class.

Yep, it gets crowded at the top.

But Nico has the ability to make a name for himself. Yeah, that name. He has an athletic 6-5 frame and is an elite volleyball player. He always had a big arm but can now change speeds and go through progressions. In the April spring game, he made accurate touch throws down the field look easy.

Let’s see how often, and how well, everybody is pronouncing Nico’s last name at the end of the 2024 season.