What Josh Heupel said about Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava on the SEC Teleconference
Josh Heupel didn’t have an update on the status of injured Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava on the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday afternoon. Instead, he referred to the SEC injury reports that will be made available Wednesday night.
“Nico has been good here in the early part of the week,” Heupel said, “and at this point in the week, I’ll refer everybody to the availability report that comes out later tonight, and everybody can wait with anticipation for that.”
The SEC will issue the first injury reports of the week at approximately 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday, with updates again on Thursday and Friday. Final injury reports are issued 90 minutes before kickoff on Saturdays.
Tennessee at Georgia, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Heupel said during his weekly press conference on Monday that Iamaleava was with the team to start the week and “had a really good day.”
“He was with us today,” Heupel said. “Had a really good day. Feel like he’ll be in in great shape for Saturday. But you guys can monitor the whatever the report is that comes out on Wednesday and track it through the week. But certainly feel like he’ll be in a good spot.”
It was reported Tuesday night that Iamaleava was in concussion protocol and his status for Saturday night’s game was still in question.
Tennessee (8-1, 5-1 SEC) goes to Georgia (7-2, 5-2) Saturday night at Sanford Stadium in Athens, a 7:30 Eastern Time start on ABC.
Heupel said Saturday night after the 33-14 win over Mississippi State that he anticipated having Iamaleava “ready for next week” after he was ruled out at halftime as a “precautionary measure.”
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“Feel like we’ll be ready to roll Saturday,” Heupel said during his postgame press conference.
Multiple Vols lost to injury in Tennessee’s win over Mississippi State
Iamaleava was injured late in the first half against Mississippi State. He completed 8 of 13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. He ran four times for 22 yards.
Gaston Moore replaced Iamaleava, finishing the game 5-for-8 for 38 yards while leading Tennessee on three scoring drives in the second half.
Iamaleava entered Saturday night’s game with 1,705 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions through eight games. He had completed 136 of 208 passes on the season.
He had 292 yards and a touchdown in the 28-18 win over Kentucky last week at Neyland Stadium and 194 and a touchdown against Alabama in the 24-17 win on October 19. Iamaleava briefly left the Alabama game with an injury but returned after missing just one play.
The Vols also lost Dont’e Thornton to what the ESPN game broadcast described as an upper-body injury in the second half. Starting right guard Andrej Karic also left the game with an injury.
“Yeah, I feel like Dont’e will be ready to go on this one too,” Heupel said on Monday, “but you can find through the injury report. It starts on Wednesday.”
