Nico Iamaleava, Sammy Omosigho named UCLA captains for 2026 season

UCLA football placed its trust in Bob Chesney to turn a proud program around. That also meant winning over quarterback Nico Iamaleava following a rough 2025. Now Iamaleava has done enough in front of Chesney to emerge as captain alongside linebacker Sammy Omosigho.

UCLA announced both talents as the primary leaders for the 2026 season Wednesday. However, there’s a catch that the school also unveiled.

“An additional two game captains will join them for each contest,” the school revealed via the social media website X, formerly Twitter.

So this looks like UCLA will rotate its other captains. All while the defender and quarterback are the permanent ones throughout the season.

Iamaleava continues to trend upward in Westwood following his widely-scrutinized exit from Tennessee. He later endured a rough early start in 2025. Including watching DeShaun Foster get fired before the middle of the season. But Iamaleava flourished under interim head coach Tim Skipper, who also tabbed Jerry Neuheisel as the offensive coordinator following Foster’s departure.

Chesney brings over a vaunted RPO (Run Pass Option) offense over from his last stop of James Madison University. He unleashed Alonza Barnett III on opponents in the Sun Belt Conference, who combined for 38 touchdowns including 23 passing. JMU clinched the SBC title and became the first from the conference to play in the 12-team College Football Playoffs.

But that contest against Oregon eventually became Chesney’s last one with the Dukes, as he accepted the UCLA position. So now he’ll trust the returning UCLA quarterback to lead the way moving forward.

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