Joey Halzle explains how close Joe Milton, Nico Iamaleava are

As Tennessee prepares to build on an 11-win season, it’ll need a strong showing from new starting quarterback Joe Milton. Milton takes over for Hendon Hooker, who was incredibly productive the last two seasons.

But if Milton can’t hack it for some reason, freshman phenom Nico Iamaleava will be waiting in the wings to step in. Both have developed a healthy relationship with each other this offseason, despite the potential for some competition down the road.

“They’re already extremely close,” Tennessee offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle said. “I think Nico getting here in December and having those 15 bowl practices and then coming to the bowl site where he just got to be around the guys (helped). He was new, so they didn’t really know him, but he just got to be around. Everyone got to, ‘Oh, I like this guy, he’s a good dude, he’s just a normal kid.'”

By all accounts, Iamaleava is the real deal. And yet there’s zero question about who the starter at Tennessee is.

Joe Milton has waited his turn patiently over the years, and he’s ready to take the mantle as the team’s leader in 2023. He’s earned that after some strong performances.

Milton helped lead Tennessee to a 56-0 win over Vanderbilt after Hooker was lost to injury in a loss to South Carolina the week prior. Then Milton was superb in a 31-14 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

The veteran quarterback finished the Orange Bowl 19-of-28 passing for 251 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, though he did take four sacks.

Going into 2022, Milton is using his experiences waiting it out at two different programs to help ease Iamaleava into things. Even if Iamaleava is expecting to play quickly, sometimes reality can take a different path.

Joe Milton being there to guide him along should only help.

“And now it’s almost like big brother, little relationship with the two of them,” Halzle said. “You rarely see Joe without Nico. So it’s been great for him to kind of see the way a quarterback should operate on a day-to-day level. Joe’s been a great mentor to him and he’s really helping bring along his development on and off the field.”

Iamaleava was a five-star prospect, ranked as the No. 6 overall player in the country in the 2026 recruiting class. He was tabbed as the No. 3 quarterback in his class and the top overall player from the state of California, hailing from Long Beach (Calif.) Warren.