High school football: Five-star Long Beach Poly quarterback Nico Iamaleava commits to Tennessee

Recent Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.) transfer Nico Iamaleava announced Monday via Instagram that he has committed to the University of Tennessee. According to Greg Biggins of 247Sports, the Southern California signal caller is the first five-star quarterback to commit to the Volunteers since 2002 when they landed James Banks of Ben Davis (Indianapolis). 

Iamaleava is the No. 3 overall prospect in the Class of 2023 according to 247Sports. Only Arch Manning of Newman (New Orleans) and Malachi Nelson of Los Alamitos (Calif.) are rated higher.

As a junior, Iamaleava threw for 2,244 yards and had 33 touchdowns with just one interception in nine games. He added 158 yards rushing and three scores. He led the Bears to an 8-1 record with the only loss coming against Corona del Mar (Newport Beach) in the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs. In that game, Iamaleava suffered an injury early in the second quarter and was never cleared to return from concussion protocols. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Future Vol spent his sophomore and junior season at Warren (Downey, Calif.) and announced he was going to return to Long Beach Poly to finish his high school career. He attended Poly during his freshman year.

The Jackrabbits are coming of an 11-4 season and won the CIF Southern Section Division 4 title. Poly lost to Serra (Gardena) 21-17 in the CIF Division 1-A SoCal regional championship.

Four-star cornerback Daylen Austin, three-star offensive lineman Tyson Ruffins, three-star running back Devin Samples and 2024 USC commit Jason Robinson Jr. are among Poly's top returners. The Jackrabbits expect to be one of the best teams in Southern California.

Long Beach Poly has a rich history of producing some of the best talent in the country. The Jackrabbits have had the third-most players selected in the NFL Draft since 2002 with 14, including the likes of Desean Jackson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marcedes Lewis and Winston Justice. Matt Corral will make it 15 in this year's draft.