Josh Heupel grades how Nico Iamaleava has performed within Tennessee offense
Through three starts in his career and two this season, things have looked pretty good in Nico Iamaleava’s early time as the starting quarterback for Tennessee. And while head coach Josh Heupel is certainly always going to demand more of his quarterback, he’s been pleased with his young signal caller.
Sitting at 2-0 and coming off an impressive neutral site win over the weekend, Iamaleava has already flashed plenty of talent that made him such a coveted prospect. But he’s also shown some of the growing pains one would expect, like tossing two interceptions on Saturday.
“Well at this level you’re going to have to throw into some tight windows throughout the course of the season,” Heupel said. “We played good opponents, got good scheme and got good players. So being open at this level of play, you’ve gotta be able to place a ball accurately. That comes from your fundamentals and your eyes and the decision-making on where you’re going. And you’ve gotta be on the same page with the wide receivers. At the end of the day, he’d like to have a couple of those back, but it wasn’t just him, either. At the end of the day, the quarterback’s always got to make it right, but wide receiver and quarterback can be on page, one of them — protection’s gotta be a little bit better but he can also find the soft spot in it and like I said, at the end of the day, he’s got to make it right.”
And as much as he hopes to see the mistakes get cut out of Iamaleava’s game, Heupel is cautious to pull back too hard on the talented quarterback.
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So far in 2024, Iamaleava has completed 74.5% of his passes for 525 yards and five passing touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s also rushed for 71 yards and a score on 12 attempts, as Tennessee has racked up 120 points across the first two games.
“But I’d be really careful pulling the reins on a quarterback, because those guys are going to have to play in tight spaces, in tight windows,” Heupel said. “They’re going to have to make plays. As a competitor you’ve gotta be on the right side of that edge. And Nico, two games into this season, one start in the bowl game, he’s had great command and control and presence in how we’re functioning, offensively. Decision making’s been really solid and he controls so much of what we do. I’ve been really excited about his command of what we’re doing offensively versus the different structures that he inevitably sees during the course of game day.”