Nico Iamaleava, UCLA Football News: Draft Scout Player News

Draft Scout College Football Player News

10/19/25 - QB Nico Iamaleava, rSo/2028, UCLA, (DS#18 QB)

Mateen Bhaghani kicked a 23-yard field goal with two seconds to play, and UCLA beat Maryland 20-17 Saturday night to extend its improbable season turnaround with a third consecutive victory. Nico Iamaleava passed for 221 yards and led three scoring drives in the final six minutes despite going down with an apparent knee injury during that wild stretch for the Bruins (3-4, 3-1 Big Ten), who managed to stay on the upswing in their roller coaster of a season. "I think it's all about belief, (and) the guys believe," UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper said. "There's nothing that happened throughout the game that's going to take our confidence away, and you don't really know that until you get in a tight game like that. I found out today that these guys believe."

Iamaleava threw a go-ahead, 14-yard touchdown pass to Mikey Matthews with 3:33 to play, and Bhaghani's first field goal put the Bruins up 17-10 with 2:09 to play shortly after Scooter Jackson intercepted Malik Washington's pass deep in Maryland territory. But Washington, who passed for 210 yards, led the Terrapins (4-3, 1-3) on a dramatic drive, hitting Jalil Farooq for an 8-yard TD with 40 seconds left. Iamaleava, who appeared to have a serious injury only moments earlier, returned to the field and drove the Bruins 68 yards in 31 seconds. "I knew with Nico, when I saw him start to walk off and his face started to come back normal, I was like, "Hey, we have a shot here," Skipper said with a grin. Iamaleava completed two passes for 33 yards before Anthony Frias - who made an early 55-yard touchdown run for UCLA - made a 35-yard run to the Maryland 5 to set up Bhaghani's tiebreaking field goal. "It just shows how much of a leader (Iamaleava) is," Matthews said. "He came back and pushed through. He has that dog in him, no matter what." The Bruins rallied to win despite committing three turnovers in these schools' first meeting since 1955, including an interception returned 8 yards for a touchdown by Maryland's Jamare Glasker in the third quarter. UCLA also went nine straight drives without scoring before Matthews' TD catch. - UCLA/AP College Football

(DS#18 QB) rSo/2028