Nick Saban lists keys to Nico Iamaleava having success at a young age

Tennessee might’ve been a big rival for Nick Saban when he was still the coach at Alabama just a few months ago, and even if the former head coach still harbors some rivalry ill-will, he didn’t show it discussing quarterback Nico Iamaleava on College Football Live from SEC Media Days in Dallas.

In discussing Iamaleava and his chances to make an impact for Tennessee in his first year starting, Saban seemed to think the quarterback has a high ceiling. It might just take a little bit for him to get to it.

“Well, you know, if you look at the history of our programs, we’ve had some great quarterbacks and all those great quarterbacks had to have an entry-level year,” Saban said. “In other words, they started from someplace. And I think Nico is a very talented guy, he obviously showed what he could do in the bowl game last year. They have a system that I think is very quarterback dependent but it’s also quarterback friendly and I think Josh Heupel does a really good job of developing his quarterback.”

The starting point for Iamaleava, as evidenced by his strong bowl game showing, might be a bit further along than many other quarterbacks starting out.

And if he can parlay that leg up into some real advances by keeping his head on straight, Saban thinks Iamaleava has all the goods to be a top-notch SEC starting quarterback.

“So if this guy can maintain his poise, take care of the football, not get effected by all the external hype and expectation that people will sort of put on him as a new player and sort of be able to stay focused on what it takes to be successful, play in and play out, I think he’ll do a really good job for them,” Saban said.

Heupel explained why Iamaleava didn’t come to SEC Media Days

Iamaleava might be stepping into a key role as the Tennessee starting quarterback during his second season in 2024, but that doesn’t mean he’s a de facto face of the team. At least as far as Heupel is concerned, that is.

When it came time to pick three of his players to take to SEC Media Days this week in Dallas, Heupel opted not to bring along the heralded quarterback, despite obvious interest from fans and media to hear from him. Instead, Heupel picked a trio of long-tenured Volunteers: Cooper Mays, Keenan Pili and Omari Thomas.

As Heupel explained it, it has less to do with leaving Iamaleava in Knoxville than it has to do with giving the players he did bring a chance to be representatives of the Volunteers.

“It’s not about why I didn’t bring Nico,” Heupel said. “It’s about why the three guys that I talked about earlier are here. These are guys that are in six-year-plus that have unique stories and are great ambassadors, but great leaders inside of our program; and felt like, you know, in our track record, my track record of who we brought here, we’ve brought veteran guys, and so it’s not about Nico. It’s about these three guys, why we made that choice.”