Joey Aguilar vs. Nico Iamaleava stats: Who is winning the Tennessee-UCLA transfer QB 'trade'?

The college football transfer portal market is crucial to recruiting nowadays. Oftentimes, landing a talented player from the portal can help you win more games from one season to the next. 

That's even more true for transfer portal quarterbacks. Two guys who entered the portal this offseason and essentially traded teams are Joey Aguilar and Nico Iamaleava. Aguilar transferred from UCLA to Tennessee, and Iamaleava went from the Vols to the Bruins. 

It's almost as if the two teams just traded quarterbacks. So who won the transfer "trade?" Let's take a look at both guys' stats through the first two weeks.

More: Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar's path from Diablo Valley to Rocky Top

Joey Aguilar stats 2025

Season	Team	G	Cmp	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Y/A	Rush Yds
2025	Tennessee	2	39	66.1	535	5	0	9.1	34

So far, Aguilar has been playing lights out through two games. In Tennessee's Week 1 game against Syracuse, he finished with 247 yards passing with three touchdowns. One of his best throws was a 73-yard touchdown to Braylon Staley: 

— Garrett Armbrust (@4thandsaturday) September 1, 2025

He added another 34 yards on the ground, as well. 

“I thought he was good in his decision-making, communication,” Heupel said of Aguilar after the game. “I said that after the football game. Super calm. I thought he used his feet at the right moments. Great demeanor throughout the course of the game. A lot to really like from it.”

During Tennessee's 72-17 rout of East Tennessee State in Week 2, Aguilar finished with 288 yards passing with two touchdowns. One of his touchdowns went 54 yards, and he showed a nice ability to stay alive in the pocket on the throw:

Joey “Aaron Rodgers” Aguilar pic.twitter.com/8ycrCHEoXa

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) September 6, 2025

After Tennessee was up 48-7 in the third quarter, Aguilar was taken out of the game for backup Jake Merklinger.  Aguilar will face his biggest test this week, going up against the Georgia Bulldogs at home on Saturday. 

More: College Football Playoff bracket for Week 3: Projecting top four seeds, first-round matchups, bubble teams

Nico Iamaleava stats 2025

Season	Team	G	Cmp	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rush Yds	Rush TD
2025	UCLA	2	40	63.5	391	2	2	106	2

Unlike Aguilar, Iamaleava's stats haven't been as strong through two weeks. UCLA is 0-2 through two games, losing 43-10 to Utah at home and losing 30-23 on the road to UNLV.

In Iamaleava's Week 1 start against the Utes, he finished with 136 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception. He did have 47 yards rushing, but was sacked four times by Utah's defense. 

The week after against UNLV, his numbers were a bit better. He finished with 255 yards passing with a touchdown and interception, while completing 70.7 percent of his passes. He had 59 yards rushing with a touchdown on the ground, too. But his one interception of the night came as UCLA had a chance for a game-tying drive. The ball was tipped, and the interception sealed the victory for the Rebels:

PICKED OFF AND UNLV TAKES DOWN NICO IAMALEAVA AND UCLA! pic.twitter.com/NaivB2Fo0F

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) September 7, 2025

UCLA faces New Mexico in Week 3. 

Why did Nico Iamaleava leave Tennessee?

Iamaleava's transfer from Tennessee was reportedly over a dispute concerning his NIL deal with the Vols. As Tennessee was in the middle of spring practices, the quarterback was reportedly trying to re-negotiate his NIL deal with the school. He was also reaching out to other schools like Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon to gauge their interest. 

Although Vols head coach Josh Heupel had smoothed things over with Iamaleava to return for 2025, things came to a head when the quarterback missed Tennessee's final spring practice on April 11. The practice was just one day before the Vols' annual spring game. As coaches and teammates attempted to reach Iamaleava, they were met with silence. 

"As the day went on, it started to become obvious. He was gone and wasn't coming back," a Tennessee source told ESPN.

The Athletic first reported in 2022 that Iamaleava's initial NIL deal with Tennessee was believed to be a multi-year contract worth $8 million. Iamaleava was a former 5-star quarterback recruit from the class of 2023, and was the No. 2 overall signal-caller in his class per 247Sports. 

"I want to thank him for everything he's done since he's gotten here, as a recruit and who he was as a player and how he competed inside the building," Heupel said after the spring game. "Obviously, we're moving forward as a program without him. I said it to the guys today. There's no one that's bigger than the Power T. That includes me."

On April 20, Iamaleava transferred to UCLA, and reportedly was making less in NIL than his initial deal with Tennessee.

Why did Joey Aguilar leave UCLA?

One day after Iamaleava announced he was joining the Bruins, Aguilar hit the portal. Although he had just transferred to UCLA in late December, he decided to move on from the Bruins after UCLA had seemingly committed to Iamaleava as their quarterback.

Who is winning the UCLA-Tennessee QB trade?

Obviously it's early in the season, so it may be a bit too early to assess which team is the outright winner just yet. But early on, Tennessee is winning so far—the Vols offense is humming with Aguilar under center. Tennessee is also 2-0, and looks to have a real shot at defeating Georgia for the first time since 2016 on Saturday. 

UCLA is 0-2, the Bruins offense ranks 91st nationally in passing yards per game, and head coach Deshaun Foster's days in Los Angeles look to be potentially numbered. Early on, the Vols appear to be winning. 

"In hindsight, we're good," a Tennessee source said via CBS Sports of the Iamaleava-Aguilar swap. "(If someone said), 'Would you do this all over?' I think everybody would be like, 'We got Joey? He is who he is here? We're fine.'