What it means for Miami football named top 5 for 5-star QB Nicholaus Iamaleava
Five-star 2023 quarterback Nicholaus Iamaleava has named the Miami football program as one of his five finalists. Iamaleava made the announcement on Instagram on Wednesday night. Alabama. Georgia, Oregon and Tennessee are the other four programs that Iamaleava named in his top five.
Miami has some catching up to do in the recruitment of Iamaleava according to the major recruiting websites. All three crystal balls from 247 Sports for Iamaleava project him to commit to Tennessee. The major crystal balls come from 247 Director of Football Recruiting Steve Wiltfong and National Recruiting Analyst Greg Biggins.
Iamaleava is listed at 91.5 percent to Tennessee by On3 Sports. Miami is projected with less than a one percent chance to sign Iamaleava by On3. Rivals.Com projects Oregon and Tennessee both with a 50 percent chance to sign Iamaleava. Miami was ranked the sixth-best QB unit in the country by ESPN this week.
Iamaleava spoke to Biggins about what stands out for each program in his recruitment. Miami head coach Mario Cristobal has a relationship with Iamaleava from his tenure at Oregon. Iamaleava met Cristobal in person for the first time recently and is confident in the future of the Miami football program.
"Miami– “I visited Miami when I was in town for a 7v7 tournament and loved it there. I was able to meet up with coach Cristobal and that was great. I had talked to him before when he was at Oregon but never met him in person so it was cool to connect with him and hear his vision for the program.I was with my teammates from Team Toa and it was cool walk the campus and do the photo shoot with everyone. The weather out there is beautiful and I think coach Cristobal is going to do a great job turning the program around.”"
The Hurricanes return ACC Freshman of the Year and Offensive Freshman of Year Tyler Van Dyke at QB. Van Dyke will be backed up by 2021 signee, four-star QB Jake Garcia, 2022 signee Jacurri Brown and fourth-year signal-caller Peyton Matocha. Miami has significantly upgraded its QB depth in the last three classes.
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Iamaleava is the seventh-ranked player overall, fourth-ranked QB and second in California in the Class of 2023. Biggins projects Iamaleava as a future first-round pick who he compares to former Oregon QB and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota. At 6’5, 195 pounds and athletic, Iamaleava can be an elite dual-threat QB.