Josh Heupel details how Nico Iamaleava has been able to earn the trust of his teammates

As Tennessee heads into the 2024 season it will do so with a new quarterback, as Nico Iamaleava takes over the reins fully after getting a brief shot at the starting role in the team’s bowl game to end the 2023 campaign.

Confidence is sky high in Knoxville.

Coach Josh Heupel explained why, and it isn’t necessarily due to Nico Iamaleava’s big arm or even anything he can do on the field with his innate athletic ability. Instead, it’s his demeanor.

Heupel met with the media to kick off fall camp, and he was asked by a reporter why he’s not all that concerned about Iamaleava, who doesn’t seem to possess any sort of diva quality.

“Yeah, if you were a five-star quarterback we’d be more concerned about that diva mentality than we were with Nico,” Heupel shot back at the reporter with a hint of a smile. “I think it’s been really a big part of how the players have responded to him. The guy that came in here wanted to earn it, went to work every single day, has developed great relationships with the guys on his side of the ball, but on the other side of the ball as well.”

In that bowl game appearance against Iowa, Nico Iamaleava went 12-of-19 passing for 151 yards and a touchdown. He also added 15 carries for 27 yards and three scores.

The outing was what many had come to expect from Iamaleava, who was a former five-star prospect.

For his part, Heupel expects the young quarterback to keep getting better and better. And that’s a scary prospect for Tennessee’s opponents in 2024 and beyond.

“Will continue to grow as a leader, but how he works, how he competes, coming out and earning it, his consistency in who he is every day inside the building has been a huge part of the trust, love and belief that our players have in him,” Heupel said.

As a recruit, Nico Iamaleava was ranked as a five-star prospect and the No. 6 overall player in the country in the 2023 recruiting class. He was also rated as the No. 3 quarterback in the class and the top overall player from the state of California, hailing from Long Beach (CA) Warren.