Chattanooga coach: Nico Iamaleava is what Tennessee has been looking for at quarterback
Chattanooga coach Rusty Wright didn’t have much to add after his team’s 69-3 loss at No. 15 Tennessee Saturday afternoon. Everything that happened on the field did all the talking necessary.
“Y’all just watched it,” Wright said. “Props to Josh (Heupel) and them. They got a good football team. They do things like they’re supposed to. Play well on both sides of the ball. Play a high tempo, high rate and do a good job executing.
“They’re going to give themselves an opportunity to have a good football team this year.”
What everyone saw was what everyone came to see: Nico Iamaleava.
Tennessee’s redshirt freshman quarterback made his first home start and racked up 314 yards and three touchdowns while completing 22 of 28 passes. He didn’t play in the second half after leading the Vols to a 45-0 lead at the break.
“He’s the real deal,” Wright said.
Iamaleava started a perfect 10-for-10 and was 15-for-16 before he threw his second incompletion. His 314 passing yards set a new Tennessee program record for a single half.
“(He) came out,” Heupel said, “and played really efficiently, effectively, made plays down the field. There’s some things that he can control and be better and he knows that and he wants that too.”
‘I think (in the) middle of the year, he’ll be rolling pretty good’
Five of Tennessee’s six scoring drives in the first half took two minutes or less. Iamaleava’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Davis in the first half capped a 63-second drive. His 36-yard touchdown to Dont’e Thornton was the end of two-play, 59-yard, 26-second drive.
Dylan Sampson’s 3-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter capped a drive that took 1:59 off the clock and Iamaleava’s second touchdown pass to Thornton, this one from 10 yards out, capped a 1:55 drive.
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Iamaleava was making his first start at Neyland Stadium after making his first career start on New Year’s Day, when he led Tennessee to a 35-0 win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl after combining for 178 total yards and four total touchdowns.
He appeared in five games total last season while backing up Joe Milton III, completing 28 of 45 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns. He ran 20 times for 71 yards and three touchdowns.
Up Next: No. 15 Tennessee vs. No. 24 N.C. State, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Iamaleava was the No. 1 overall player in the On3 Ratings for the 2023 recruiting class, headlining Tennessee’s class as the biggest recruiting win during the Heupel era.
But if you thought Saturday was impressive, Wright just wait until later on in the season.
“I think he fits really well in the scheme of what they want to do,” Wright said. “I think he was what they’d been looking for at that spot. Got all the tools, ball comes out of his hand good.
“I just think the more football he plays, the better he will be. And of course he will because he’s, what, started two games I think now. I think middle of the year, he’ll be rolling pretty good.”
