Josh Heupel outlines what he has learned about Nico Iamaleava in camp

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel has turned the keys to his offense over to Nico Iamaleava. Now, in his first Fall Camp as the starter, Iamaleava is showing what he’s made of.

Heupel explained that things are different thanks to the use of in-helmet communications. Still, it’s important to figure out how a quarterback is going to be able to handle in-game situations.

“For all of your quarterbacks, the green dot communication is different,” Josh Heupel said. “Situational football being able to reset play-to-play. We try to simulate a lot of those situations during the course of practice but there’s nothing like a scrimmage to get you as close as you can be to what gameday is gonna be like.”

Nico Iamaleava came to Tennessee as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. There were massive expectations for him in college but he primarily played the role of backup quarterback in 2023. However, he did end up getting to start the bowl game against Iowa, which the Volunteers won 35-0, and saw Iamaleava throw for 151 yards and a touchdown while rushing for three touchdowns.

“So, in general, I thought the quarterbacks handled themselves really well here,” Heupel said. “And, again, just situational football, being backed up, coming off the goalline, your thought processes, all those things.”

The regular season starts on August 31st with a home game against Chattanooga. From there, Tennessee will go on to play nine different power conference teams, including the eight-game conference schedule. With hopes of making it to the College Football Playoff, Tennessee will need Nico Iamaleava and Josh Heupel to be consistently on the same page.

Cooper Mays evaluates his personal adjustment to Nico Iamaleava at quarterback

Cooper Mays is the experienced center anchoring Tennessee’s offensive line going into the 2024 season. His relationship with Nico Iamaleava is going to be a crucial one for the Volunteers but it’s also one that is forcing Mays to make some adjustments.

“Nico is so mature for his age, you know, he’s a younger guy, but he doesn’t act like that. But like you said, I’ve had guys that weren’t just mature, they were like 24-25 years old, like older guys. So it’s been a little bit of an adjustment. Just got to be really committed to kind of the whole offense in general. But especially with being the quarterback, you’ve got to talk a lot and kind of pick each other’s brains,” Mays said.

“He tries to see how I’m seeing things and I’m trying to see how he sees things. So just trying to get on the same page here, it’s been really cool.”