5-star QB Nico Iamaleava locks in two visits, talks commitment timeline

Downey (Calif.) Warren five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava is a somewhat forgotten name when it comes to the Class of 2023 quarterbacks. At least as much as you can be when you’re the No. 4 overall prospect in the country. Much of the hype around this crop of signal-callers has centered on Arch Manning and USC pledge Malachi Nelson.

But Iamaleava has ascended into one of the country’s top prospects, regardless of position. UCLA, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Penn State, Miami and Oregon are just of a few of the schools heavily pursuing him.

On Christmas Day, Iamaleava released a top 12 of Alabama, Auburn, BYU, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Tennessee and UCLA. Both LSU and Penn State have since entered the mix, and Iamaleava told 247Sports that a number of teams are vying to get him on campus for visits this spring.

“I have visits to Tennessee and Georgia locked in,” Iamaleava said. “I’ll be at Tennessee March 5 and Georgia will be March 12. I went to a game at Tennessee last year and loved it there. I love the coaching staff and had a great time in that atmosphere, and they’re recruiting me really hard.”

Alabama is likely to get a visit as well, he said, and LSU, Auburn, Penn State, Ole Miss and UCLA all want to get him on their campuses as well. But time isn’t exactly on their side.

Iamaleava said he plans to cut his list down to eight schools this month, and he is likely looking to commit in April once he’s taken more campus visits.

Oregon made a major impression on Iamaleava

Oregon has been part of the conversation for quite some time. And Iamaleava was able to visit the Ducks at the end of January. He already had previous relationships with head coach Dan Lanning (who was part of the staff at Georgia recruiting him) and offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham (who offered him at Florida State.)

“They definitely moved up in my eyes, the visit exceeded my expectations,” Iamaleava said. “I’m not ready to call them a leader because I don’t have a leader or a top anything yet but they moved up for sure and I’m giving them a very hard look.”

Both Alabama and Georgia have made major in-roads as well. Iamaleava previously told On3 that while he doesn’t have leaders, those two have been on his mind a lot.

The Ducks currently stand as the slight favorites, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM). It gives Oregon a 36.8 percent chance to land Nico Iamaleava, with Alabama (21.8%), Georgia (16.9%) and Tennessee (12.1%) rounding out the top four.