UNLV's Aamaris Brown downplays challenge of facing Nico Iamaleava: 'It don't scare me'

Nico Iamaleava dominated offseason headlines due to his highly-publicized departure from Tennessee, and his subsequent arrival at UCLA. However, his debut with the Bruins left much to be desired in Week 1.

It was a rough showing for the quarterback in his team’s 43-10 loss to Utah, as Iamaleava completed just 11 of his 22 attempts for 136 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Now, he’ll be hoping to bounce back in a big way against UNLV in Week 2.

While Iamaleava has a ton of fanfare around him, the Rebels defense isn’t scared. UNLV defensive back Aamaris Brown wasn’t impressed with the quarterback, and he made sure to point out as much during a press conference.

“Honestly, nothing really sticks out to me about him [on tape],” Brown told the media on Monday. “You know in the past there’s been talk about ‘five-star this, five-star that.’ I have been around plenty of five-star and four-star [players], it don’t scare me.

“I have played competition higher than them, including Alabama and all that. … Going against a guy like Nico, there’s no surprise, no excitement or nothing like that.”

As you can tell, the talented defender isn’t scared of anyone, especially not Iamaleava. Whether or not the quarterback can make him eat his words remains to be seen, but it’s evident there’s a certain edge to the Rebels at the moment.

Brown may not be super impressed with the transfer quarterback, but his head coach is. Dan Mullen spoke to Iamaleava’s abilities ahead of their showdown with UCLA, recognizing it won’t be a walk in the park for UNLV.

“Watching the film, you see the talent that he has,” Mullen stated, via CBS Sports. “The performance in the end, statistically in the end, probably wasn’t the game he wanted to play, but you can certainly see his talent on film.

“… I think [Nico] is going to come out fired up and ready to put on a show and rebound from his performance. He is an extremely talented player.”

UNLV has never beaten UCLA, and it’s not exactly a storied rivalry. It looks like this game will have some added juice to it though.

If the Bruins lose, it’ll be a nightmare start for Iamaleava in Los Angeles. We’ll see what he can do against UNLV, but it’s obvious the Rebels aren’t backing down from the challenge of facing a Big Ten opponent in Week 2.