UCLA names Cole Martin, Nico Iamaleava and Sammy Omosigho to represent Bruins at Big Ten Media Day with Bob Chesney

UCLA will be represented at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago on July 29 by head coach Bob Chesney along with three players, the conference and the school announced. The Bruins’ group includes Cole Martin, Nico Iamaleava and Sammy Omosigho, giving UCLA a mix of recognizable names for the league’s annual media spotlight.

Media Day is one of the first major public forums of the college football offseason, where coaches and selected players meet with broadcasters, reporters and analysts covering the conference. For Big Ten programs, it is also a platform to set expectations for the year, address development and leadership themes, and establish early narratives that often follow teams through fall camp and the schedule’s opening stretch.

The Bruins’ selection of Martin, Iamaleava and Omosigho indicates UCLA’s intent to feature multiple parts of its roster in front of the conference-wide audience. While Big Ten Media Day primarily serves as a communications event rather than an on-field competition, the makeup of each school’s representative group typically reflects what a program views as key contributors and leadership pillars heading into the season.

For Chesney, joining the league’s media circuit in Chicago with three players is also a way to present a unified coaching message. UCLA can use the day to reinforce how it wants to operate in the Big Ten, how it plans to handle the adjustment of opponents’ game preparation, and what the staff expects from its core players once practice resumes in earnest.

This year’s UCLA group will be part of a larger Big Ten Media Day lineup that includes representatives from every member school. That matters for UCLA because it begins shaping how the Bruins are talked about within the conference, from the roles of returning players to the expectations placed on top performers. Those early storylines often influence fan conversation and national coverage long before the first meaningful snaps of the season.

UCLA’s participation next month also provides a near-term checkpoint for what fans should watch as the offseason continues. With Chesney and three players scheduled to headline the Bruins’ availability, attention will likely turn to what the coaching staff emphasizes about the team’s identity and what the players highlight about their individual preparation. The next step after Media Day will be how those messages translate into training-camp priorities and preseason readiness.