Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava had the college football world buzzing this past Monday after leading the Vols to a 35-0 win over No. 17 Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, racking up four total touchdowns in the process.
Iamaleava first arrived in Knoxville as a five-star recruit ahead of the 2022 Capital One Orange Bowl. While Iamaleava couldn’t play in that game, the practice schedule and tutelage from both Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton III gave him an early jumpstart for what would be his eventual first career start just about a year later.
Iamaleava found appearances in four games during Tennessee’s regular season run, playing clean-up duty in the Virginia, UTSA, UConn, and Vanderbilt contests. But it was the Citrus Bowl where his coming out party was held.
With a 12-of-19, 151 yards, 1 TD, 27 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs performance against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, Iamaleava’s season totals end at 28-of-45 passing (62.2 percent), 314 yards, two touchdown passes, zero interceptions, 71 rushing yards on 20 carries, and three rushing touchdowns.
The future is bright in Knoxville with No. 8 behind center.
Here’s a collection of some of the things that were said after Iamaleava’s debut start for the Volunteers in the Citrus Bowl. The collection includes Josh Heupel, former and current Vol players, and some voices around the media world. Check it out below:
More from RTI: Tennessee Citrus Bowl, Nico Iamaleava Highlights
Head Coach Josh Heupel
From the Citrus Bowl Postgame Press Conference:
“I believe he’s going to be a great dynamic player. And I know that. I thought he handled himself really composed all day long. Subtle things, little things, breaking the huddle, communication inside of the hall, controlling the run game. His eyes went in the right place. Great to see a young guy go out and perform in that way in his first career start. There’s a lot of things that Nico can continue to grow and grow in. The challenge early in the football game was guys playing at a really high level around him, too. I didn’t think we played as well as we were capable at times around him, but we got great confidence in him and that quarterback toom. We got great confidence in those young players. A lot of guys got an opportunity to play a lot more football today than they had. And a lot of them played extremely well. But it also showed some things where they’ve got an opportunity to grow and how those things impact our game unfolds. And I’m really excited about who’s in that locker room, who’s coming back, and where we have an opportunity to go in ’24.”
VFL Hendon Hooker
From Twitter/X:
“8 is the chosen one”
VFL Trey Smith
From Twitter/X:
“NICO!”
VFL Cordarelle Patterson
From Twitter/X:
“Ok @Nico_Iamaleava8”
Tennessee DL Tyre West
From Citrus Bowl Postgame Media Availability:
“[I’ve known] For a long time. I knew getting Nico that we got a money maker, for real. Nico’s that guy.”
Tennessee RB Dylan Sampson
From Citrus Bowl Postgame Media Availability:
“He had a great game today. People are going to see, you’re going to see this team has a lot to play for. He’s going to keep growing.”
“I noticed at first, when he first got his couple snaps against Virginia, he got better week by week, game by game, but I also think him learning under Joe [Milton] and Hendon [Hooker] while he was here for the last bowl, that just does a lot for a young quarterback. … The confident that he plays with, the poise that he plays with, him in the huddle as we’re on the field telling our guys let’s go, from a young quarterback, he’s just going to grow as a leader, as a quarterback, and as a young man. I’m here for it. Sky’s the limit for him, too.”
On3 Sports’ J.D. PicKell
From PicKell/On3 Sports on YouTube:
“In this game, man, it’s hard to not get a little bit fired up about what the future could look like in the Nico era for Tennessee because all I saw from him was confirmation that he’s got the juice. Was it perfect? No. Is he going to learn from this? Absolutely. Were the numbers gaudy? I mean, 12-for-19, 151 yards and a touchdown, no picks, that’s the important part. Wasn’t like he threw for 400 yards but you you saw the tools and you saw the poise. You saw the intangibles for what could make him phenomenal in the future here for Tennessee as the guy now going forward. You saw enough to get you excited.”
Blue Chip Breakdown’s Bull
From Blue Chip Breakdown on YouTube:
“Nico is just going to use his instincts and you see that he is able to make stuff happen with his legs. Really fast, I mean, explosive explosive athlete, a guy that’s super long but he’s very, very twitchy as well and he’s strong. And he’s a dawg.”
“Look at how effortlessly Nico throws this football. You can tell that his mechanics are really good. Fundamentals have stepped up a lot since he’s been on campus. [Head coach] Josh Heupel and coach [OC Joey] Halzle have done a beautiful job of getting Nico ready for this moment. That’s a really good pass. Again, it was 2nd and 20, now it’s going to be about 3rd and 10. That’s still third-and-long but it’s a lot more manageable just with the flick of a wrist. Very, very special arm talent.”
