The Arkansas football program entered the national conversation this week after four-star true freshman quarterback Madden Iamaleava left the program to head to UCLA.

Iamaleava, a California native, was a Signing Day flip in December for the Hogs, as he committed to Arkansas sight unseen after a coaching change at UCLA. He entered the transfer portal on Monday and is joining his brother, Nico, in Los Angeles.

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman met with the media Thursday to wrap up spring practice, and was asked about the departure of his true freshman quarterback.

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“A lot of times where there's smoke, there's fire, and we had heard some rumors (of Iamaleava's transfer)," Pittman said. "There's always rumors going around, so I don't know that I was totally surprised."

Pittman then steered the conversation away from Iamaleava specifically and spoke about the issues the spring transfer window causes, and mentioned Iamaleava's brother, Nico, who was embroiled in controversy over his departure from Tennessee.

"The portal, and I know Nico was high-profile, but I don't want to blame the players for leaving," Pittman said. "I mean, you can say, 'Well, he was here three months and blah blah blah,' but the opportunity to leave is there twice a year. The money to leave for more money is there twice a year. And I'm not positive what we all would do in that situation. He handled it well, came in and visited with me about it, handled it well and talked to me about it and then decided to go in the portal. So, obviously, as soon as that happened, then we go find somebody to replace him."

Iamaleava had garnered praise from the Arkansas coaching staff throughout spring practices, with offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino mentioning him in the same air as former Heisman winner and NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, who he coached at Louisville.

"You know, Madden’s a special talent now," Petrino said April 8. "He can really get the ball out of his hands. He sees stuff and has a great, quick release. I know there’s times he drops back and he doesn’t know what the play is. But somebody pops open and he can stick it and put it right on their hands. The last guy that I coached that did that a lot as a true freshman was Lamar Jackson."

A day after Iamaleava’s transfer announcement, Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek released a statement, wherein he talked about the enforcement of NIL buyout language, but he did not mention Iamaleava specifically.

"I have spoken with the leadership team at Arkansas Edge and expressed my support in their pursuit to enforce their rights under any agreement violated by our student-athletes moving forward," Yurachek said in the statement. "We appreciate Edge's investment in our student-athletes and acknowledge the enforcement of these agreements is vital in our new world of college athletics. We look forward to continued dialogue with all parties in resolving these matters."

With Iamaleava’s departure, Arkansas dipped into the transfer portal again and grabbed former three-star prospect and Florida State transfer Trever Jackson, who signed Thursday.

"Well, I can’t remember the date right now when we lost our other quarterback, but (Jackson's recruitment) started as soon as (Madden Iamaleava) hit the portal," Pittman said. "The ironic thing is that Bobby had recruited him when he was at (Texas) A&M. He was already in the portal, so it went really fast after that and he’s the only one that we spoke with and talked to about it."

Arkansas wrapped up its spring practices April 17, but did so without a Red-White scrimmage, which was canceled due to weather. The Razorbacks will kick off the season on Aug. 30 at home against Alabama A&M.

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