Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava will play against Georgia on Saturday night, ESPN’s Chris Low first reported on Friday night. The Vols also removed Iamaleava from their Friday night availability report.
Iamaleava’s status has been in question all week since he suffered a concussion late in the first half in Tennessee’s win against Mississippi State. The redshirt freshman quarterback missed the second half as backup Gaston Moore helped push the Vols to a a 33-14 victory.
Fourth-year head coach Josh Heupel expressed optimism about Iamaleava’s status for the marquee matchup against Georgia both after the Mississippi State game and earlier this week but with Iamaleava in concussion protocol his status was not completely clear.
According to Low, Iamaleava practiced this week including doing team portions of practice. The former five-star recruit was spotted getting on Tennessee’s team bus to Georgia on Friday afternoon and Tennessee’s medical team has now officially cleared him to play.
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Iamaleava played well in the first half against Mississippi State, completing eight-of-13 passed for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with Squirrel White for a 34-yard touchdown and Dont’e Thornton for a 73-yard touchdown.
Over the course of the season, Iamaleava has completed 65% of his passes for 1,879 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. It’s been a bit of an up-and-down year for the first time starting quarterback but he’s been at his best over the last four halves dating back to the second half of Tennessee’s win over Alabama.
Tennessee’s meeting with Georgia has major SEC Championship and College Football Playoff ramifications. A win over Georgia would solidify the Vols playoff position and put them a win away from advancing to the SEC Championship for the first time since 2007.
Kickoff between the Vols and Bulldogs is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night in Athens. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe are on the call for ABC.
