On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine now has Tennessee as heavy favorite for Nico Iamaleava

One week ago, Downey (Calif.) Warren five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava was hearing the praises of fans in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The cheering and support appears to have worked.

Tennessee is the new runaway favorite for Iamaleava, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine. The Volunteers have a 83.4% chance of landing the five-star quarterback. That is up from 44.5% during the week.

Oregon, who was the favorite heading into Iamaleava’s visit last week, is second with 6.2%. Alabama and Georgia both slot in at under 5%.

He had a great time on his visit. He said the fan support was incredible, and while it wouldn’t be a major aspect of his decision, it would add an extra element for him. to consider.

“It definitely gives them an edge, you could say,” Iamaleava said.

RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. 

It factors in machine learning, expert predictions, social sentiment, visits, and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.

Nico Iamaleava is an elite quarterback prospect

Nico Iamaleava is the No. 5 overall recruit in the country, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

New Orleans Isidore Newman Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Arch Manning and Los Alamitos (Calif.) Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Malachi Nelson are the only two quarterbacks in the country ranked ahead of him.

Iamaleava currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $55k. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

The California quarterback is also No. 5 in the 2023 On300 ranking, and On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power said he is closing the gap on Manning and Nelson at the top of the class.

“The 6-foot-6, 200-pounder has a strong case as the top pure arm talent in the cycle,” Power said. “Iamaleava has palpable arm strength that particularly jumps out in in-person evaluations. He has a tight throwing motion for a taller prospect with longer arms and the ball jumps out of his hand. Iamaleava also moves well and shows the ability to pick up some yards when the play breaks down. His games at Downey (Calif.) Warren can be a bit hard to parse as his offense relies heavily on short passes, but the natural talent is still quite evident. Iamaleava completed around 60 percent of his passes as a junior for 2,244 yards and 33 touchdowns against just one interception.”