It’s only one game against an opponent that plays in the Southern Conference and not the Southeastern Conference. But redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava did nothing to slow down the hype train in the second start of his career.
Iamaleava played just one half, completing 22-of-28 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns while adding six yards on four rushes. It was the most passing yards a Tennessee quarterback has ever thrown for in one half.
Yes, the performance was against Chattanooga. And no, none of the throws he made were in incredibly tight windows. But his performance was enough to win over Mocs’ head coach Rusty Wright.
“He is the real deal. I think the more football that young man plays, I think he fits really well in the scheme of what they want to do,” Wright said postgame. “I think he is what they’ve been looking for in that spot. He has all the tools. The ball comes out of his hand good. I think the more football he plays, the better he’ll be, and of course he will because he’s started two games. I think in the middle of the year he’ll be rolling really good.”
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Tennessee scored on its first seven possessions including touchdowns on six of those drives. Iamaleava threw for three of those touchdowns, connecting with Dont’e Thornton twice and Ethan Davis once. His 37-yard pass to Bru McCoy in the second quarter set up one of Dylan Sampson’s three rushing touchdown on the night.
Iamaleava’s last two drives were his worst with the Vols going three-and-out and then a chop block penalty and a sack derailing a two-minute drill to end the first half.
But Josh Heupel and Iamaleava discussed the end of the first half as an area where both the young quarterback and Tennessee’s offense as a whole need to be better. But the Vols’ head coach had still seen enough to be satisfied and go to Gaston Moore to start the second half.
Tennessee and Iamaleava will both learn more about themselves next week when the Vols face North Carolina State in Charlotte. But Iamaleava’s season debut was about as good as he could have hoped for.
