Tennessee football quarterback Nico Iamaleava has passed each test the coaching staff has thrown at him with flying colors.
Entering the offseason as the backup quarterback, it was a balancing act for the Vols’ staff to give Iamaleava enough knowledge to play well while also not burdening the freshman quarterback. He found success at everything thrown at him.
“He got that version of the offense last year and excelled at it in a high way,” offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said at Tennessee’s media day. “Just watching that kid in the spring scrimmages after he’d been here for two months and it’s like man this guy just gets it on the football side of the ball.”
The next step for the young quarterback was to translate what he had learned into the Citrus Bowl — where Iamaleava was the starter after Joe Milton III opted out. He excelled in that, too.
Against a stout Iowa defense, Iamaleava threw for 151 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for three more touchdowns. More importantly to Tennessee’s staff, Iamaleava showcased great command for the offense.
“I think that speaks volumes about him as a player and understanding what we’re doing,” Head coach Josh Heupel said. “He’s been very urgent and worked hard to understand what we’re doing offensively, defensive schemes, the ability to control everything from the run game to protections to checks that we have inside of our offense. He’s got a great understanding of that.”
The greatest task still lies ahead of Iamaleava.
He entered his first fall camp as the starting quarterback for the Vols on Wednesday. The development into that starter role began long before Tennessee’s first practice of fall camp.
Iamaleava has been focused on learning the “why” of what Tennessee’s offense is doing. He had worked with assistant coaches on learning why the center calls certain protections in certain situations, or why an audible may be called against different coverages.
Even after earning Citrus Bowl MVP and being one of the most highly touted quarterbacks in the country, Iamaleava is hungrier than ever to imrpove.
“He has absolutely attacked the knowledge side of this, which is not something that we force him to do,” Halzle said. “That is why it is really exciting moving forward, that he has that kind of appetite for wanting to learn what this game is.”
“I think that is definitely somewhere where I progressed,” Iamaleava said. “Why we do certain things, why we motion and why tempo is important. Just things like that. I think that’s definitely somewhere where I grew this past offseason.”
Learning the offense is something the 6-foot-6 quarterback must master before the Vols’ season opener. Tennessee’s staff has made it clear there will be no lowered expectations for the new signal caller.
In fact, coming off a season where the offensive efficiency declined, the expectations for the offense to return to form are higher.
“We expect him to play at a really high level right from the jump,” Heupel said. “But there’s going to be growth and maturation for him as a player inside of what we are doing as well.”
