UCLA starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava is expected to miss the remainder of the season due to injury, according to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Iamaleava injured his leg late in the first half against Oregon. His knee appeared to buckle as he was tackled. Iamaleava returned for one play after the injury, but did not play again in the second half. UCLA backup Ty Dieffenbach replaced Iamaleava in the second half and led the Bruins to a historic 17-15 victory.
Iamaleava finished his season with 982 passing yards on a 62.1 percent completion percentage. He threw four touchdown passes with four interceptions in addition to scoring one score. Iamaleava was at his best in UCLA’s 52-38 Week 3 win Purdue when he completed 19 of 31 passes for 276 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. But overall this season, he’s struggled and hasn’t made the jump fans were hoping for as a former five-star recruit. Iamaleava has one year of collegiate eligibility remaining, so it’s possible he returns to UCLA next season.
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It’s not yet clear who will replace Iamaleava, but Ty Dieffenbach is the most likely candidate after his arrival following Iamaleava’s fall. Oregon game. UCLA head coach Bob Chesney revealed after the win over the Ducks that his team was working week to week with its backup quarterback. Madden IamaleavaNico’s younger brother, is the other quarterback of the group.
“We really work on a weekly basis here,” Chesney said. “This week we felt like maybe we needed to run the quarterback a little bit more. And that’s where I thought Ty had a really good week. And that put us in this situation. It’s just one of those things. I’m sure if Madden had gone out there, he would have done a phenomenal job, too. But Ty was the guy we picked based on the previous week of practice, and I thought he did a really good job. But Madden will be there throughout, competing and fighting for this position with or without Nico.
When we’ll get an update on who UCLA plans to start against this week Wisconsinwe will share.
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