Nico Iamaleava shares excitement for future at Tennessee

In Tennessee‘s Citrus Bowl win over Iowa, the Volunteers were without starting quarterback Joe Milton. In his place, freshman Nico Iamaleava got his first career start, flashing a bit of the future at the position for Tennessee.

After the game, Iamaleava shared that it’s not just fans who are excited for the future, he is too.

“I’m really excited, man,” Nico Iamaleava said. “We built a great team around us, a great coaching staff, and I really think the sky’s the limit for this team. It’s on us to go out there and get it done.”

Tennessee dominated Iowa, winning the game 35-0. Iamaleava was a huge part of that, showing off his potential throughout the game. He threw for 151 yards and a touchdown while running for 27 yards and another three touchdowns.

A five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, Iamaleava was the sixth-ranked player nationally in that class. So, plenty is expected of the young quarterback who was only just making his first start in the bowl. Of course, as Iamaleava explained, his first start for Tennessee felt great.

“It felt great, man,” Iamaleava said. “Finally to play a whole game. I haven’t done that in a while, so it felt good to get back out there and get my feet wet.”

Josh Heupel shares how Nico Iamaleava’s bowl performance sparks future for Tennessee

It was a phenomenal performance for Nico Iamaleava in the Citrus Bowl. As head coach Josh Heupel explained, it was the kind of performance that can spark the future for Tennessee.

“I believe he’s gonna be a great, dynamic playmaker and know that. I thought he handled himself really composed all day long. Subtle things of breaking the huddle, communication inside of the huddle, controlling the run game, his eyes were in the right place. Great to see a young guy go out and and perform in that way in his first career start. There’s a lot of things Nico can continue to grow and will continue to grow in. The challenge early in the football game was the 10 other guys playing at a really high level too, I didn’t think we played as well as we were capable at times around him,” Heupel said.

“But we got a great confidence in him and in that quarterback room. We’ve got great confidence in our young players, a lot of guys got an opportunity to play a lot more football today than they had and a lot of them played extremely well. But it also showed some things where they got an opportunity to grow and how those things impact how the game unfolds and I’m really excited about who’s in that locker room, who’s coming back, and where we have an opportunity to go in ’24.”