- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 438,661
- Reaction score
- 44
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football freshman quarterback Madden Iamaleava intends to enter the transfer portal, according to a report from CBS Sports on Monday evening.
Iamaleava was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class that went through spring football with the Razorbacks. He decommitted from UCLA and flipped to Arkansas on early National Signing Day in December, but his time in Fayetteville is over after four months.
His older brother, Nico Iamaleava, recently left Tennessee and signed with UCLA after a transfer portal saga that made national headlines. Nico reportedly wanted to renegotiate his NIL contract with the Volunteers, seeking more money than his previous deal and also had concerns about the Volunteers offense. Nico missed the team's Friday practice before its Saturday spring game, and Tennessee decided to cut ties with the quarterback.
More: Arkansas NFL draft prospects top landing spots: Projections for Landon Jackson, others
More: Five observations from Arkansas football's first spring scrimmage
Madden impressed coaches and teammates during his short time with the Razorbacks. He didn't play during his senior year of high school, but he quickly picked up the Arkansas offense and ran with the third-team for most of the spring. He split reps with KJ Jackson as the backup quarterback during a scrimmage earlier this month.
"I would say he’s ahead of a lot of young guys that I have coached," Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino said of Madden during spring practices.
"He works extremely hard at understanding the offense. He works hard at calling the play in the huddle. He takes a lot of pride in it. He gets mad at himself if he makes an error calling the play, or calling the motion or setting things in."
Petrino would later go on to compare Madden to the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson as players who can make big throws even when they didn't know the play call during their first practices as freshmen.
Arkansas still has good depth at the quarterback position with returning starter Taylen Green, redshirt freshman KJ Jackson and true freshman Grayson Wilson.
Madden is the second true freshman from Arkansas with intentions of entering the transfer portal, joining wide receiver Quentin Murphy.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas football QB Madden Iamaleava to enter transfer portal | Report
Continue reading...
Iamaleava was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class that went through spring football with the Razorbacks. He decommitted from UCLA and flipped to Arkansas on early National Signing Day in December, but his time in Fayetteville is over after four months.
His older brother, Nico Iamaleava, recently left Tennessee and signed with UCLA after a transfer portal saga that made national headlines. Nico reportedly wanted to renegotiate his NIL contract with the Volunteers, seeking more money than his previous deal and also had concerns about the Volunteers offense. Nico missed the team's Friday practice before its Saturday spring game, and Tennessee decided to cut ties with the quarterback.
More: Arkansas NFL draft prospects top landing spots: Projections for Landon Jackson, others
More: Five observations from Arkansas football's first spring scrimmage
Madden impressed coaches and teammates during his short time with the Razorbacks. He didn't play during his senior year of high school, but he quickly picked up the Arkansas offense and ran with the third-team for most of the spring. He split reps with KJ Jackson as the backup quarterback during a scrimmage earlier this month.
"I would say he’s ahead of a lot of young guys that I have coached," Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino said of Madden during spring practices.
"He works extremely hard at understanding the offense. He works hard at calling the play in the huddle. He takes a lot of pride in it. He gets mad at himself if he makes an error calling the play, or calling the motion or setting things in."
Petrino would later go on to compare Madden to the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson as players who can make big throws even when they didn't know the play call during their first practices as freshmen.
Arkansas still has good depth at the quarterback position with returning starter Taylen Green, redshirt freshman KJ Jackson and true freshman Grayson Wilson.
Madden is the second true freshman from Arkansas with intentions of entering the transfer portal, joining wide receiver Quentin Murphy.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas football QB Madden Iamaleava to enter transfer portal | Report
Continue reading...
