Josh Heupel shares how practicing with Tennessee prepares QB Nico Iamaleava

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava and a handful of other incoming freshmen have had the opportunity to join the Vols on campus and in practice as they prepare for their Orange Bowl matchup against Clemson. The 2023 high school graduates that have already joined the team have been presented with a rare opportunity that’s rarely seen, and head coach Josh Heupel spoke on the benefits.

“For the guys that are here right now currently, Nico included, you’re not going to walk in to the back end of the season, learn an entire playbook, and know what to do,” Heupel said. “You get a chance to sit in meetings, you get a chance to go out here and do a lot of individual work, get a chance to compete in some one-on-one situations. As much as anything, I think they learn the tempo of the game, they learn what it feels like to be a college athlete, I think it creates urgency in the way that they prepare when they get back to campus.”

The freshmen’s opportunity to get some early experience and reps against college competition will surely give them an advantage over freshmen that join the team next year, which Heupel believes will only help the sense of urgency as a whole for his entire freshman class.

“And even during the down time, for us our guys don’t arrive until later in January, there’s a lot of time between now and then, and so I think it speaks to the urgency that they feel they have to have. And so it changes the way that they approach the weight room, it changes the way they prepare understanding out playbook, some of the fundamentals and technique that they’re gonna need to go compete at a very high level during spring ball,” Heupel said.

It also gives Heupel and his coaching staff the ability to get a sneak peek at their newly acquired talent earlier than many other coaches in the country, allowing the Vols to give an early evaluation and assessment of how their players of the future will fit within their scheme.

“I just got done talking to those guys after practice and really proud for the guys that have been here already and gotten a couple of bowl practices underneath their belt. First of all you notice their athleticism, and their speed, their length, their size in particular for the guys up front,” Heupel explained. “In this class we were able to go get guys we that we think can help compete and grow to have an opportunity to play, you gotta learn it, earn it, and take it, but help us take a step and in particular defensively.”

An underrated benefit that the early enrolled freshmen also get to experience is the ability to be able to build camaraderie and relationships with teammates sooner, which could prove to be pivotal in building team culture and chemistry going forward for the program as a whole.

“For everybody that’s here I think it just helps create urgency in preparing for spring ball and those guys have had an opportunity to spend time with our players. Our players that are inside of our building have been awesome with them, showing them what it means to be a Tennessee football player, what the culture is inside the building,” Heupel said. “They’ve had an opportunity to hang out with them outside of this building, we’ve done some team building stuff and I think it’s been a great experience for all of them.”