Nico Iamaleava opens up on how much he learned while sitting behind Joe Milton

Nico Iamaleava got a redshirt season last year on Rocky Top to learn about the college game. Now, after serving as Tennessee’s backup, he’ll step into the role of starting quarterback.

Iamaleava spoke about his past season as a reserve during a media availability to open fall camp for the Volunteers on Tuesday. He said it was the first time in his life that he was in that role on the sidelines more than the field. However, it was always their plan as it provided him the chance to pick things up from Joe Milton mostly but also Hendon Hooker for a short time before that.

“I’ve never done that. Last year was my first doing it,” said Iamaleava. “I enjoyed learning from Joe and this whole team – just how to be leader. It was good for me to see. When you’ve got a guy like Joe in front of you, I feel like that’s a great guy to learn from. You know, soak up as much as you can soak up. I feel like I did that last year.

“I think that was always my vision. You know, come in early, learn from a guy like Joe, learn from Hendon when he was still here during that bowl prep. I think it was good for me too,” Iamaleava continued. “It was really, you know, what I envisioned – sit the first year, soak up as much as I can soak up, and then year two was go-time for me.”

Hooker and Milton were two solid to successful quarterbacks the past three years in Knoxville. That made them great mentors for the highly-touted freshman, especially as he tries to assert himself on their team and in their locker room.

“I’ve taken so many things from Joe and Hendon,” Iamaleava said. “You know, just how to be a pro, how to show up. The way you show up in the building. I think I took a couple gems from those two.

“Yeah, man, just being a leader. Leading these guys ain’t easy so, you know, learning how to lead. I think that’s definitely somewhere where I learned that.”

Iamaleava arrived at Tennessee as a five-star prospect from the 2023 cycle per On3’s Industry Ranking. He rated as the No. 6 recruit, No. 3 QB, and top player out of the state of California. That made him by far the top signee in that class for the Volunteers as the lone five-star.

While well-regarded in the recruiting world, though, Iamaleava still had much to grasp about the collegiate level. That’s why last season was an important one as an understudy to Milton as the starter. Still, he did appear in five games where he went 28-45 (62.2%) for 314 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Most of that came in his lone start in the Citrus Bowl in place of an opted-out Milton. In that 35-0 shutout of Iowa on New Year’s Day, he threw for 151 yards and one of his scores. He did so while going 12-19 for a 63.2% completion. He also ran for all three of his rushing scores on the year to give him four total against a Hawkeye defense that was again among the best nationally.

There’s much promise surrounding Iamaleava with the pedigree that he brought with him to Tennessee. There’s now even more after what all he has taken in and how he has developed from being in the program for just over a year and a half now.