Nico Iamaleava and Bob Chesney Could Quickly Turn Around UCLA Football

Last season was a bit of a disaster for Nico Iamaleava. After making the playoffs as a freshman at Tennessee, his representation tried to squeeze the Vols for more money than he realistically deserved, causing him to hit the transfer portal.

From there, Nico signed with UCLA for less money, where his passing stats took a bit of a step back, and the Bruins struggled to contend in the Big 10, finishing the season 3-9. UCLA went on to fire DeShaun Foster and showed some mild signs of life down the stretch, but still landed just 13th in the Big 10.

UCLA football has been in a bit of a rut for a while now, but a program of their stature shouldn’t be in this situation. Thankfully, they decided to make a riskier hire this offseason, bringing in former James Madison coach Bob Chesney to try to right this ship. Chesney is a winner. Success has followed him to every stop he’s made in his coaching career, garnering a 132-52 record over his career.

More importantly, he’s built great cultures wherever he’s been. The Bruins lost a ton of their roster, but thankfully will essentially be JMU on the West Coast in 2026. Chesney had to rework his entire roster, bringing in 41 transfers, 10 of whom are from JMU. That continuity will be great for a coach who has to fix so much in what has been the best conference in football over the last few years.

I don’t think UCLA will be any sort of contender in the Big 10, but they’re more talented than they have been the last few years. Nico was the but of a lot of jokes last year, and a lot of that was not his fault. He was simply one part of a bad team. This year, he and Chesney have higher expectations and, at the very least, should be in a bowl game.

It’s not even just this season; Chesney has hit the ground running on his 2027 recruiting class, currently boasting the 4th-ranked class in the nation, signing 9 4-star prospects.

However, getting back to 2026, UCLA has a lot of talent with starting experience. They hit the non-JMU portal hard at offensive line and defense, while they’ll be relying on Wayne Knight and Landon Ellis to continue their successes with the Dukes. Knight was quietly one of the best running backs in the country last year, totaling 1,373 yards, good for the 7th-best in the country.

Despite Iamaleava finding some success using his legs last year, UCLA still had the 80th-ranked rush offense in yards per game. Between new additions on the offensive line and Wayne Knight, UCLA could have one of the most underrated rushing attacks in the country.

The most important thing for UCLA is a steady hand running the show. Chesney’s best ability in year one of this rebuilding is raising the Bruins floor. They can’t have the bad early-season losses they did in 2025, and I just don’t see that happening under this new regime. Currently, UCLA’s win total entering 2026 is at 5.5, and I would hammer that over.

I just don’t see this team missing a bowl game.