DeShaun Foster shares conversations with Joey Aguilar amid Nico Iamaleava reports

Joey Aguilar came to UCLA with dreams of being the starting quarterback of the Bruins. A wrench was thrown into those plans with Nico Iamaleava reportedly choosing to take his talents to Los Angeles after a major falling out with Tennessee, although nothing is set in stone at the moment.

While nobody in college football will blame DeShaun Foster and UCLA’s decision-makers for trying to bring in a talented quarterback prospect that nobody expected to be available at this juncture, there’s certainly a huge ripple-effect throughout the Bruins locker room. The Bruins head coach shed some light on the conversations he’s had with Aguilar amid the drama over the past week and change.

“We talked to Joey, you know, just like every other quarterback that’s in that room, and discuss what’s going on or what’s not going on, and how he’s practicing and everything,” Foster told the media. “So I like where Joey’s at right now, and hopefully he can keep progressing at spring goes. … Each day he’s getting better, you know, inserting his leadership on the team.”

Evidently, Foster believes Aguilar is just keeping his head down and performing, even with the rumors of Iamaleava coming to town. The UCLA leader even likened it to playing a road game at Ohio State, believing it’ll be a nice teaching lesson for Aguilar.

“Control what you can control,” Foster said, regarding his message to his current quarterbacked. “As a football player, that’s what you got to do. When you’re playing in big-time stadiums, when we go to Ohio State, you’ve got to control what you can control.

“So, if you can’t perform because there’s a load of noise, that’s probably not a good thing. But from what I’ve seen from Joey these last few practices, he’ll be good.”

All told, Aguilar set single-season school records in passing yards (3,757), passing touchdowns (33) and total offense (4,002) at Appalachian State in 2023. He was named the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and then followed that up with by making honrable mention all-conference in 2024.

Despite playing just two seasons for the Mountaineers, Aguilar ended his career No. 5 on the school’s all-time list for touchdown passes (56) and passing yards (6,760). He committed to the Bruins as the No. 44 quarterback in On3’s Transfer Portal Player Rankings.

All told, with DeShaun Foster and UCLA seemingly adding Nico Iamaleava, who ranks as the No. 2 quarterback, that means Joey Aguilar will likely have to look elsewhere if he hopes to be a starter in 2025. Time will tell what he decides, but the future is certainly murky for the Bruins signal-caller.