Welcome to college football in 2025.
Roughly four months after his signing-day flip from Arizona to UCLA made national headlines, quarterback Robert McDaniel appears to be on the move once more.
Late Friday, the former Hughson High star announced he was leaving Westwood to enter the transfer portal, as first reported by Matt Zenitz and Chris Hummer of 247 Sports.
A four-star recruit by 247 Sports, McDaniel is the second quarterback to transfer out of UCLA in the last five days. He joins Joey Aguilar, who is reportedly heading to Tennessee.
McDaniel could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The departures of McDaniel and Aguilar appear to be a domino effect from the highly publicized transfer to UCLA by former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, and the subsequent arrival of his younger brother, Madden.
Iamaleava, 20, led the Volunteers to a 10-3 record and an appearance in the expanded College Football Playoff last season. He began sitting out team activities on April 11 amid a reported contract renegotiation between his representative and the NIL collective that supports the Tennessee program.
A native of Long Beach, Iamaleava was a five-star recruit and the third-ranked high school prospect in the country for 2022. He committed to the Vols after signing the most lucrative deal in the NIL era, an $8 million contract with the Spyre Sports Group while still in high school. After redshirting his freshman year, Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns with five interceptions in Tennessee’s recent campaign. As part of the mega-contract, Iamaleava was slated to make roughly $2.2 million for the 2025 season, and it’s believed he was holding out for $4 million. On April 16, he formally entered the portal. Four days later, he announced his move to UCLA.
ESPN reported Monday that the Bruins’ quarterback room would become even more crowded when 19-year-old Madden Iamaleava, a four-star recruit out of Long Beach Poly, landed in Westwood. The 19-year-old was committed to UCLA for seven months before flipping to Arkansas on Dec. 4 during the early signing period. He had been enrolled in Fayetteville since January.
Aguilar, a senior, packed his bags before ever playing a game for the Bruins. He committed to UCLA during the winter transfer window following two seasons at Appalachian State, where he threw for 6,760 yards, 56 touchdowns and 24 interceptions over 24 games. He also ran for 452 yards and five touchdowns. He was granted an extra year of eligibility in the winter thanks to a blanket waiver granted to former junior college players as a result of an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA brought forth by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
In need of an experienced quarterback as they hope to remain contenders in the SEC, Tennessee felt that Aguilar was a fit.
Over the past week, McDaniel was filmed during practices by Bruin Report Online. The outlet reported earlier this week that he was considering entering the portal amid reports of the Iamaleava brothers coming to town.
McDaniel graduated from Hughson High a semester early and has been enrolled at UCLA since January to get a start on his academics, learn new offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri’s playbook, and participate in the team’s strength and conditioning program. He was a full participant in the first 11 practices for the Bruins this spring.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder verbally committed to the University of California in March 2024. Nearly three months later, he flipped to the University of Arizona. After a flurry of staff changes in the Wildcats’ program, McDaniel delayed his signing day ceremony 24 hours before shocking attendees by placing a baby blue UCLA cap on his head. He had 20 standing scholarship offers from Division I programs at the time of Dec. 5 ceremony.
McDaniel is the most decorated player ever to don a Hughson Huskies uniform. He owns every school record for a quarterback, including career passing yards (7,860), passing touchdowns (96), completions (509) and completion percentage (.603). He started under center for the last three years and led the Huskies to a 35-7 record en route to a Trans-Valley League title in 2024, three straight Sac-Joaquin Section blue banners, and the Division 5-AA Northern California and state championships in 2022.
In his senior year, McDaniel completed 180 of 293 attempts for 2,889 yards and 34 touchdowns as the Huskies compiled a 13-1 record.
