Nico

It was a brotherly battle at UCLA’s spring football game on a clear Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl.

At the helm of the opposing white and blue teams, respectively, quarterbacks Nico and Madden Iamaleava led the split halves of the Bruins squad during a well-attended end to the first spring camp under the direction of new coach Bob Chesney.

Fittingly, Madden tossed the go-ahead touchdown pass from near the logo to a wide-open Kenneth Moore III, putting his blue team up 24-17, the eventual final score.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen him just play football,” Nico said of his brother. “So it was fun seeing him out there operate.”

UCLA defensive back Osiris Gilbert knocks the ball out of the hand of UCLA receiver Shane Rosenthal during the spring game at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Nico’s team, with play-calling help from Bruins women’s basketball coach Cori Close throughout the second half, got to fourth-and-goal situations twice as the game wound down. One ended in a missed field goal by Mateo Orosco, who had made a 57-yarder, and the other concluded with the blue team storming the field after a pass from quarterback Ty Dieffenbach was incomplete with 10 seconds left.

The addition of the guest play-callers, Close and women’s water polo coach Adam Wright, led to a variety of trick plays throughout the game. Multiple flea-flickers went for big yards, and offensive lineman Mike McDonald took a rushing attempt as a part of the fun atmosphere that Chesney said he wanted to foster at the game.

To come up with one of the plays, Chesney said, Close messaged Rams coach Sean McVay for advice.

“We put some of those plays in so that she would be able to execute what she wanted to. She just came up a little short and I think she did a really good job of motivating her team,” Chesney said of Close’s second-half calls. “Coach Wright just really dialed it in and was able to strike when he had to and put that game away.”

Just before Moore caught his first touchdown in a Bruins uniform, he was running another deep route when he ran into a referee, breaking up what may have been an explosive play.

“Why’d you let the referee cover you?” Chesney asked, posing as a reporter during Moore’s interview.

“That was great defense,” Moore said in response, sporting a smile. “He was so stealthy.”

It had been a few years since the Bruins held a traditional spring game at the Rose Bowl, with previous coaches favoring lower-profile practices that were dubbed spring showcases. This year’s game also comes after the Bruins in February announced that the iconic Pasadena stadium would remain their home, at least this year, amid ongoing litigation over the university’s right to potentially break its lease and play home games at SoFi Stadium.

UCLA receiver Landon Ellis catches a touchdown pass in front of Jhase McMillan (23) and Curtis Gerrand (35) during the spring game at the Rose Bowl Saturday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Chesney said holding a traditional spring game was like a “practice run” for the upcoming season. Ahead of Saturday’s game, the Bruins stayed in a hotel together and had walk-throughs on the field as well as meetings and pretty much anything else they could do to simulate a game. Chesney and many players got their first look at the Rose Bowl lit up at night during a visit Friday.

“To get a chance to walk in here and just feel this and see all of these surroundings and the things that took place in this venue is pretty special,” Chesney said. “We addressed that a little bit last night as a team, and made sure we understand the respect that this place deserves and understand the attitude of gratitude that we should have for the ability to play here.”

Defensive back Cole Martin, a Pasadena native who was on the blue team, called this spring game “magnificent” when asked to compare it to last year’s spring football practice finale. He specifically noted playing at the Rose Bowl as a reason for the strong atmosphere and an important experience for new UCLA players.

“First time in the Rose Bowl, first touchdown as a college player, I mean, it’s awesome,” Martin said, looking at the freshman Moore. “It doesn’t get better than that.”

Walking by reporters during the game, Bob Stiles, who made a famous goal-line stop on a two-point conversion to seal UCLA’s upset win over Michigan State in the 1966 Rose Bowl, concurred. “This is fun,” Stiles said.

Running back Anthony Woods was a standout on the white team, scoring the first touchdown of the game on a six-yard run and going for multiple big gains early.

Receivers Mikey Matthews for white and Landon Ellis for blue scored the other two touchdowns on red zone crossing routes.

The other 10 points, besides the four touchdowns and field goal, were given out equally for victories in side competitions in between the first and second quarters and third and fourth quarters. Both were won by blue, aiding its seven-point win.

On defense, cornerback Osiris Gilbert broke up multiple passes and had a few hard hits, linebacker Samuel Omosigho earned a sack, and linebacker Malaki Soliai-Tui forced a fumble.

Chesney said he was happy with his team’s performance, noting penalties, like the various defensive pass interference calls, as a key area for improvement.

UCLA coach Bob Chesney pats running back Anthony Woods on the helmet during the team’s spring game at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“It went well,” Chesney said. “I wouldn’t say unbelievable. I wouldn’t say terrible. Most of the time, it was somewhere in between.”

Both Nico Iamaleava, for the offense, and Martin, for the defense, said the units had things to work on, but they were proud of how much they improved during spring camp. With a bit of a break before preparation for the fall ramps up, Iamaleava’s message to the team was simple: “Stay together.”

Chesney echoed the sentiment, saying building on the intensity and development from the spring, rather than starting again during the summer, will be key to the Bruins succeeding during the season.

“We’re back, baby,” Chesney said to fans right before the fourth quarter began. “We’re back.”

Tennessee told Nico Iamaleava to go fly a kite, so UCLA said come fly it here.

That alleviated some homesickness, but it didn’t get Iamaleava’s career up off the ground. Of course, the conditions in Westwood last season weren’t ideal for takeoff.

But now they are.

Here comes Bob Chesney’s rebuild. And Iamaleava’s redemption. An exceptional head coach and an exciting quarterback, with the wind at their backs, racing toward a relatively breezy schedule?

USC defensive tackle Carlon Jones grabs UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava during a game on Nov. 29.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Sky’s the limit, man.

Watch them dip and dance and make defenders miss all the way to New York. Watch the cautionary tale about the perils of the transfer portal turn into a fairy-tale comeback.

No, that’s not me building castles in the sky.

Consider the unprecedented heights to which Chesney took tiny James Madison, and think of the places he can go with a junior QB whose trajectory had him headed toward Heisman Trophy hopefuldom before turbulence hit.

Iamaleava arrived in Knoxville, Tenn., with more hype than any quarterback since Peyton Manning. The 6-foot-6 Long Beach native, with an outside hitter’s rocket arm and the gazelle-like gait, was considered the nation’s No. 2 overall recruit out of Warren High in Downey. As a redshirt freshman in 2024, he won 10 games and led the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff.

Heisman buzz was building. Until it wasn’t, deadened last spring by the contract dispute that was debated ‘round the college football world. There was disagreement between Iamaleava’s camp and Tennessee — which was reportedly paying him more than $2 million per season, less than the going rate for some comparable quarterbacks and more than the Bruins reportedly offered.

UCLA — 3-9 last season and with only two bowl appearances in eight years — isn’t anyone’s idea of a shortcut back to glory. But there is this: The Bruins seem really to have Ted Lasso’d a certain energy these days. A can-do frequency. Joy and positivity are in.

The women’s basketball team danced its way through the Big Dance and emerged as national champs.

UCLA coach Bob Chesney leads the Bruins through their first spring football practice at Spaulding Field on April 2.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Alysa Liu, the figure-skating psychology-student Olympic champion? She said there’s a new golden rule: Am I having a good time?

And mercy, the No. 6-ranked softball team — whose silly postgame interviews have gone viral — is having a record-smashing season.

Now we also have Chesney extra-cheesing out here, showing up with free pizzas at fraternities, outreach to get the bros out to the Bruins’ spring game Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

But how does Iamaleava fit into this bright motif?

Perfectly, actually. When I asked him last year what he was telling his teammates after head coach DeShaun Foster was fired three weeks into the season, sky falling, wheels falling off, Iamaleava smiled his easy smile: “Man, just keep the belief.”

If that reads like a cliché, imagine the coolest guy in school saying it, and meaning it.

Iamaleava has a Long Beach lean, laid back and comfortable in his skin. He’s super-tight with his seven siblings, and super-proud of their Samoan heritage. And even though he and his younger brother Madden, a backup UCLA quarterback, were always “the toughest dudes on the field,” former Warren coach Kevin Pearson said, “they are the nicest, sweetest off of it.”

But wasn’t Nico the villain? The bad guy? That disloyal, greedy kid at the center of college football’s first apparent holdout?

The criticism was so loud — and so wrong, Pearson said — it had the man stressing. “It made my stomach hurt,” he said, “what people were saying about Nico.”

Pan out and Nico is a face in a crowd. For example, of the top 600 football prospects in the class of 2021, more than 60% of them transferred at least once, and 42 of the top 50 quarterbacks changed schools, according to the Athletic.

And he was about the only thing that was good about last season’s Bruins.

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava passes the ball during an upset of Penn State at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

He was their leading passer and rusher. Of UCLA’s 24 touchdowns, he accounted for 17, including five in the Bruins’ 42-37 victory over No. 7 Penn State, which earned him a slew of national weekly honors, including Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

But the Bruins won only three games. The whole season was a hot mess, though you wouldn’t have known it, talking to Nico.

He seemed to get it. Not like he understood the assignment of rehabilitating his image, but with the sincerity of someone who appreciates what’s actually hard.

You might remember, his mom, Leinna, was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 14.

“She definitely opened my eyes, just as a young kid growing up,” said Iamaleava, noting that she is OK now, busy traveling all over the country with his younger volleyball-playing sisters.

“She got diagnosed my freshman year and it was just kind of time to grow up and take care of the little ones. That changed my mindset and my perspective on life. Life’s short, you know? And we’re very blessed to be here and wake up every day.”

Nico could have been defensive in the face of criticism and failure, but he never was. Could have disappeared after defeats as some quarterbacks have, but he didn’t.

His mantra: “That’s on me, man.” Even when it wasn’t.

Despite everything, he was overly accountable, gracious under pressure, upbeat.

“Think about what he had to go through last year,” Chesney said. “He got the preseason, had a couple weeks with the guys, then he got into season, had a couple weeks with the guys, and then all hell broke loose, right?

UCLA offensive linemen Garrett Digiorgio, left, and Sam Yoon, right, help quarterback Nico Iamaleava up after he ran for extra yards against Penn State at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“To be able to stick with it and stay through that, you’re just probably trying to keep your head above water. And a lot of our conversations are about that, ‘Hey, this is different this time around.’”

Way different. Chesney has revamped UCLA’s roster with 40-plus transfers, including several key contributors from the JMU team that made the College Football Playoff.

And then there’s Nico, looking like everybody’s big brother at spring practices, smack-talking and celebrating the guys, as engaged as Chesney but easier to spot because his golden helmet glistens above everyone else’s.

“We did a leadership vote,” Chesney said, “and it was undeniable, [Nico] was the No. 1 vote on this entire team to be the leader. And I wanted to just share that with him and make sure he didn’t have to wonder, ‘Do these guys respect me?’ They do. And not only by the position you play, but by the way you play it. By the way you handle it off the field.”

By smiling through it all, even in the immediate aftermath of the Bruins’ loss to New Mexico, their third loss in as many weeks, when it looked like UCLA might not win all season.

“This is a game that as a little kid you loved to play,” Nico said that night. “A lot of [us] are treating this like a job. We gotta get back to having fun.”

And now that Nico and the new-look Bruins have that kite in the air, watch them run with it.