Tuesday night’s College Football Reveal show wasn’t the story for most people in the Tennessee fanbase on Tuesday.
Don’t get it twisted, though. The Vols’ ranking and the fact that BYU and Indiana both jumped Tennessee is certainly being talked about in Knoxville on Wednesday morning but it didn’t feel like the main event, if you will, on Tuesday night.
The Nico Iamaleava injury reports took the cake in that regard.
Tuesday night almost felt like college football’s version of the Wild West with three prominent media names all dishing out reports or opinions on Nico Iamaleava’s status for this weekend’s game on Saturday against Georgia.
More from RTI: BTS Video Shows Josh Heupel Telling Team About Nico Iamaleava’s Status During Halftime Against Mississippi State
Let’s take a look at the quick timeline from Tuesday.
Leadup to Tuesday Night’s Reports
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was dialed in against Mississippi State last Saturday, carving the Bulldogs’ defense for 174 yards on 8-of-13 passing in the first half. Iamaleava did suffer a big hit late in the half, though, which had him out for the second half of the game.
“He was with us today,” Josh Heupel said of Iamaleava on Monday. “Had a really good day. Feel like he’ll be in in great shape for Saturday. But you guys can monitor the whatever the report is that comes out on Wednesday and and track it through the week. But certainly feel like he’ll be in a good spot.”
Social Media Goes Off On Tuesday Night
During an appearance on the UGASports (Rivals) podcast that was released on Tuesday, FOX Sports College Football talent Chris “The Bear” Fallica told the podcast hosts that people he had spoken to did not believe that Nico Iamaleava would be a participant against the ‘Dawgs on Saturday.
“I don’t know what you have heard about Nico Iamaleava playing this week. I have heard that it was a bad concussion and people that I have spoken to do not believe that he is going to play,” Fallica said on the show. “We’ll see what happens. Josh Heupel certainly offered a different tune, as you would expect him to do early in the week to probably just have Georgia prepare as if Nico were going to play, have the college football playoff selection committee prepare to rank them as they were going to have their starting quarterback for this game. Look. Maybe my intel is wrong. Maybe he is fine. Hopefully for his sake and the health of him in the long term future, I hope that it wasn’t a bad concussion and I hope he is okay. And I hope college football fans get to see him out there on Saturday.”
BREAKING: Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica of FOX Sports says Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava will NOT play against Georgia according to his intel.
“BAD CONCUSSION”
Full Podcast link in comments:
Credit (https://t.co/fR7QmcV0nB) pic.twitter.com/WNGFsct72T— 🚫 LEE Ring (@HBTFD1) November 12, 2024
This, as you can imagine, sent Tennessee fans wild on social media. Rumors and speculation were rampant after the podcast clip hit X as some started preparing for Iamaleava to be out while others were hesitant to fully buy into Fallica’s comments.
That was released at 6:13 p.m. ET. on social media.
Then, just 81 minutes after that video hit social media, another report came in.
This one was from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
“Sources: Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava is in concussion protocol after leaving the Mississippi State game last week with an injury and not returning to the sideline for the second half. He did dress and practice on Tuesday, and his status for the Georgia [game] is undetermined.”
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has been optimistic about Iamaleava’s availability for the Georgia game, pointing out that he was at practice Monday. Heupel said he’s in “great shape” to play in the game.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 13, 2024
More from RTI: CFP Committee Chair’s Illogical Explanation For Why Two Teams Jumped Tennessee
While both Fallica and Thamel have Iamaleava in concussion protocol in their reports, Fallica’s pointed more towards Iamaleava being out while Thamel’s sounded more optimistic, though with the immediate caveat that his status was “undetermined.”
Once these two reports settled down for a little bit, another prominent name added his thoughts.
At 10:04 p.m. ET, On3Sports founder and CEO Shannon Terry quote tweeted the video of Fallica’s thoughts, simply stating, “He is playing.”
He is playing https://t.co/hdc7K6m8PW
— Shannon Terry (@ShannonTerry) November 13, 2024
Three prominent statements all within just about four hours, all a little bit (or a lot of bit) different from the other.
It felt a bit like college football’s Wild West for a moment there.
What’s Next?
Easy answer. Wait for the availability report on Wednesday night.
It’s not a sexy answer for those who are dying to know the status of the Tennessee quarterback, but that’s also an aspect that Tennessee appears to be trying to lock down on. It’s also not out of the question that Tennessee potentially doesn’t know Iamaleava’s status yet, as Thamel reported, and is waiting until the end of the week to see how things go.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
“Nico’s been good here in the early part of the week, and at this point in the week, I’ll refer everybody to the availability report that comes out later tonight, and everybody can wait with anticipation for that,” Heupel said on the SEC Teleconference Call on Wednesday morning.
No. 12 Georgia will host No. 7 Tennessee at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Athens, GA. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game on Saturday.
