Florida head coach Billy Napier spoke to the media for nearly 30 minutes on Monday as he prepares his team to take on No. 8 Tennessee in Neyland Stadium this weekend.
While Napier spoke a lot about his program after the Gators’ win over UCF on Saturday, the Florida coach also praised several aspects of Tennessee’s team despite the loss to Arkansas on Saturday. As one might expect, Napier pointed towards the difficulty of the league and the challenge of playing on the road when discussing the Vols’ loss.
Napier was directly asked about Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava about halfway into the press conference, to which he used a mythological animal as his comparison for the Vols’ redshirt freshman.
“He’s a unicorn,” Napier said. “This guy is 6’6, I don’t know how much he weighs but he’s a big, athletic – I mean he’s ripping balls in the outside third, 15-20 yards deep. He’s throwing it, all the vertical shots. He’s got a big-time arm, he’s accurate. He can escape, extend. He’s just a young player who’s getting experience and he’ll continue to get better. But lot of hype around him and I think on the tape you can see why.”
Check out Billy Napier’s quote about Nico Iamaleava below:
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Napier spoke about the challenges of playing Tennessee’s offense to begin his presser on Monday:
“I have a ton of respect for how they play,” Napier said. “The tempo on offense but the physicality of the run game paired with the explosive plays, the vertical shots, and the perimeter concepts, can be very challenging.”
Napier, a native of Cookeville, TN, first played Tennessee as Florida’s head coach during the 2022 season. The Vols defeated the Gators in 2022, 38-33, but Florida came back and beat Tennessee last season to even the series record between Napier and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has been solid for the Vols in his first starting season but has shouldered criticism following the Vols’ passing struggles against Arkansas on Saturday. Iamaleava struggled on the road Saturday but there were other components of the passing game that have impacted the lack of success, too. Along with Iamaleava, Tennessee had four pass catchers and its two starting tackles round out the bottom half of Pro Football Focus grades for the Vols’ offense against Arkansas.
Through five games this season, Iamaleava has 1,050 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions on 66.7 percent passing (78-of-117).
Tennessee averaged 38 points per game against No. 24 NC State and No. 14 Oklahoma but only mustered 14 against the Razorbacks on Saturday night in Fayetteville. The Vols will look to bounce back this weekend when they return to Neyland Stadium to take on the Florida Gators at 7:00 p.m. ET.
