Josh Heupel breaks down play of Nico Iamaleava against UConn

Tennessee football fans simply couldn’t wait to get another glimpse of their talented quarterback, freshman Nico Iamaleava. He was one of the most coveted prospects in all of America coming out of high school and with good reason.

Vols fans got another peek into their future on Saturday against the UConn Huskies, as he threw the first touchdown pass of his college career.

Following the 59-3 beatdown of the Huskies, Vols’ head coach Josh Heupel broke down the play of the five-star trigger man.

“Yeah, just the way the season’s unfolded we haven’t had a lot of opportunities for guys that are a little bit down our depth chart and are not starting to get some of that action. Nico went out, I thought he handled all parts of the game really well for the most part. There was a couple learning opportunities for him. I thought he was timely using his feet. Accurate with the football for the most part. A couple of things he would want back. Really solid performance from him,” Heupel said in his postgame press conference on Saturday night.

In what could be the future of the position for the program, Tennessee had a prime opportunity to get Iamaleava some reps on Saturday.

As a member of the Class of 2023, Iamaleava was a five-star recruit out of Long Beach (Calif.) Warren, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 1 overall prospect in the state, the No. 3 quarterback in the class and the No. 6 overall prospect in the class.

Back in September, offensive coordinator Joey Halzle explained the value of getting Iamaleava on the field early.

“And then going against these guys this week, you’re going to get a multitude of pressures and coverages and it’s going to be great for everyone to see that, because that’s a huge eye discipline game,” Halzle said. “Which, once again, for whether he’s an older backup or a young guy coming in for his first couple snaps, it’s a huge game for him to have to define his eye.”

He though getting in the opener, in front of likely the largest crowd he’s played in front of to date, was a big milestone to hit for Iamaleava.

“One, just to take the field in front of that many people and calm your nerves down and trust your eyes and sometimes you call a play and you don’t even remember what the play is,” Halzle said. “It’s like, ‘Wait, what is that.’ So just getting that adrenaline spike and then calming yourself back down, that’s huge.”

On3’s Nick Kosko also contributed to this article.