Arion Carter raves about Nico Iamaleava’s growth as a leader

Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava has proven to be one of the most exciting young players in college football today. For teammates like linebacker Arion Carter, he’s also proving to be a great leader.

While appearing on Andy & Ari On3, Carter explained how good of a leader Iamaleava is and how he’s grown into that role as a young player.

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“I can’t imagine being in his shoes,” Ario Carter said. “Just him handling the criticism and pressure coming in as a freshman, so we know he doesn’t feed into any of that. He’s a great leader. He doesn’t talk much but he leads by action.”

Nico Iamaleava came into college with massive expectations on his shoulders. He was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was also the third-ranked quarterback and the sixth-ranked player overall in that class.

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As a freshman, Iamaleava primarily acted as Tennessee’s backup before making his first start in the bowl game against Iowa. In the three games since then, the Volunteers are unbeaten. For his part, Iamaleava has been very impressive, completing 50 of 70 passes for 676 yards and six touchdowns while rushing for 98 yards and four touchdowns during that span.

“I feel like he’s grown into that leadership role and he’s doing a tremendous job of handling football and commanding the offense and leading us also as a team,” Carter said. “Just seeing his growth now, his progressions and reads, being on defense and seeing him from being a freshman, now he’s on point and everything.”

Amid all of his success, Iamaleava is finding recognition. That includes being named the SEC Freshman of the Week for Week 2 of the season.

Arion Carter isn’t the only Volunteer to praise Nico Iamaleava either. Recently, wide receiver Bru McCoy also shared how special he thinks the young Tennessee quarterback is.

“He’s a great leader. I mean he’s an awesome guy off the field. He’s just really easy to work with and learn from. It’s been just awesome to see him go out and do what all of us here at Tennessee have seen him do,” McCoy said. “Now he’s putting kind of the world on notice. This kid’s special and I think there’s a lot of great things to come from him.”

This week, Tennessee is looking to build on a hot start to the season with a return to Neyland Stadium where the Volunteers will play Kent State.