Tennessee is gearing up for spring camp this month with a new quarterback leading the charge.
After sitting on the bench during his freshman season under quarterback Joe Milton III, former five-star prospect Nico Iamaleava found his first start in the Citrus Bowl in a shutout 35-0 win over Iowa. With perfection off the table from an expectation standpoint, Iamaleava was terrific in giving Tennessee fans a tease of what the offense might look like with him in charge in 2024, especially considering he was behind a late-season patched-up offensive line.
Iamaleava racked up four touchdowns on the day, three on the ground and one through the air, showing his dynamic ability to run the ball with shades of Hendon Hooker in the Tennessee offense. Speaking of Hooker, Iamaleava resembled Hooker’s ability to run the up-tempo offense with quicker pacing than the offense ran during the majority of the 2023 season.
With a full offseason for Iamaleava to work with Josh Heupel, offense coordinator Joey Halzle, and his offense during the offseason, there’s a thought that Tennessee’s unit will be back to the lighting-quick tempo of the 2022 season.
The excitement around Iamaleava’s uprising with Tennessee has the Volunteers’ sophomore quarterback listed as one of the most intriguing signal callers in the nation.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly listed Iamaleava as the fifth-most interesting quarterback from the college football landscape heading into the 2024 season.
Connelly starts by talking about the Tennessee quarterback situation as a whole to set the stage for Iamaleava’s emergence.
“Considering the offense he led (and the strength of his hand cannon), Milton was strangely lacking in explosiveness,” Connelly wrote. “He finished sixth in the SEC in Total QBR (34th overall). After winning 11 games in 2022, the Volunteers slipped to 9-4. They had plenty of bright moments, but they also lost to Georgia, Alabama and Missouri — the three best teams in the league, per SP+ — by a combined 108-37.”
More from RTI: Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava Given Top 10 Odds For Heisman Trophy in 2024
Milton handed off the keys to the car to Iamaleava before the Citrus Bowl and now with only a freshman quarterback behind him, it’s Iamaleava’s time to unquestionably take over.
“The lanky Iamaleava (6-foot-6, 206 pounds), a top-25 recruit in 2023 — and one that Tennessee was willing to risk it all to land — threw 45 passes last season, including 31 in the last two games against Vanderbilt and Iowa,” Connelly wrote. “He was safe with the ball, and his legs were both great and terrible in the Citrus Bowl blowout of Iowa (three rushing touchdowns, six sacks). In other words, he was a work in progress, but if he’s nothing more than a more-mobile version of Milton in 2024, Tennessee’s ceiling gets a little higher. If he’s even more than that, then it’s ‘hello, College Football Playoff.'”
Nico Iamaleava will have several key weapons around him this year despite some very productive talents that left the program such as Jaylen Wright, Jabari Small, McCallan Castles, and Jacob Warren.
On one hand, familiar faces such as WR Bru McCoy, WR Squirrel White, RB Dylan Sampson, WR Dont’e Thornton, and WR Chas Nimrod all return to Rocky Top, along with offense line staples such as Cooper Mays, Javontez Spraggins, and John Campbell Jr. The Vols also have some intriguing incoming players, too.
Tennessee brought in Tulane WR Chris Brazzell and Notre Dame tight end Holden Staes from the transfer portal as a pair of sharp pass-catchers for Iamaleava in his first full season. People inside the building are also excited about what five-star freshman wide receiver Mike Matthews can do with his 6-foot-1 frame. Tennessee also brought in former LSU offensive tackle Lance Heard to ensure strength on the outside of the line opposite Campbell Jr.
All in all, there are a lot of reasons to be excited and optimistic about Iamaleava’s first full season as Tennessee’s starting quarterback.
To view Connelly’s full list of the Top 10 most interesting quarterbacks heading into the 2024 season, click here.
