Nico Iamaleava was nearly flawless in his first start of his redshirt sophomore season. He played only a half as Tennessee built a 45-0 lead at the intermission and Iamaleava started out on fire, completing his first 10 passes and throwing more touchdowns than incompletions in the first quarter.
The performance was nearly perfect. Emphasis on nearly. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and Iamaleava both noted that the redshirt freshman quarterback has areas he needs to improve.
“Your perspective might be a little bit different than mine,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said postgame on whether Iamaleava was perfect. “But he knows those things too. He is a young player. Came out, played really efficiently, effectively, made plays down the field. There’s some things that he can control and be better and he knows that and he wants that too.”
Of course, those miscues were small on an afternoon that Iamaleava performed very well. Tennessee scored touchdowns on six of its first seven drives, kicking a field goal in the other. Iamaleava completed 22-of-28 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns. His 314 passing yards marked a new first half program record.
Iamaleava didn’t do anything insane but he threw the ball accurately to all parts of the field, got multiple receivers and tight end involved, made plays on the run and displayed an impressive interior clock. The former five-star quarterback showed the skillset that makes him one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country.
He won over the respect of Chattanooga head coach Rusty Wright who called Iamaleava “the real deal” after the game. But that doesn’t mean Iamaleava doesn’t have room to improve. The fact that he understands that is a good sign for Tennessee football.
