Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel didn’t give a lot of information to the media last week regarding Nico Iamaleava’s injury status leading into the Georgia game in Athens on Saturday.
Heupel did show some optimism early in the week but really didn’t say too much on Monday or Wednesday as he pointed to the ensuing injury reports that were set to come out on Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night.
Some wondered if Iamaleava’s status as questionable on the Wednesday and Thursday injury reports was just Tennessee being coy, trying not to tip their hand before the high-stakes SEC matchup against the Bulldogs. But after Heupel’s postgame comments on Saturday, it doesn’t appear as though Heupel or Tennessee were playing coy as they instead were waiting for the Vols’ medical team to make a decision on Iamaleava’s status.
“Yeah, our medical staff handled it throughout the week and ultimately (he) got cleared when we announced it from the player report or injury report, whatever they call it,” Heupel said on Saturday.
Iamaleava was listed as questionable on Wednesday night and Thursday night’s report but turned the corner to active on the Friday night report. If what Heupel said on Saturday is true, it looks as though Iamaleava didn’t get cleared until Friday sometime before the report was released at 8:15 p.m. ET.
“But Nico, I don’t know what his numbers were, he played well tonight, man,” Heupel continued on to say about Iamaleava. “He really did – There’s some things that we’re close on. There’s some things we gotta be better in protection, keeping him a little cleaner, but I thought he played really well tonight.”
Iamaleava finished the game with 167 yards on 20-of-33 through the air. Tennessee’s two touchdowns on the night both came on the ground as running back Dylan Sampson and tight end Miles Kitselman put in scores from the backfield.
Timeline – What Heupel Said on Monday Before Georgia
“He was with us today. Had a really good day. Feel like he’ll be in in great shape for Saturday. But you guys can monitor the [injury] report that comes out on Wednesday and track it through the week. But certainly feel like he’ll be in a good spot.”
Timeline – What Heupel Said on Wednesday Before Georgia
“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.”
