Tennessee's 'great trust' in backup QB Gaston Moore gives Vols stability behind Nico Iamaleava
When Gaston Moore entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in 2021, Joey Halzle knew he had to have him. Tennessee didn’t need a quarterback — the Vols had four others on roster, including Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton III — but they needed Moore.
“Why we knew we wanted to bring him here,” Halzle said on Tuesday, “(is) because he just gives that stability, that understanding.”
Three and a half years later, that stability and that understanding provided by Moore is still there, serving as a constant in Tennessee’s quarterback room.
“He’s a guy that’s been within the system for five years,” Halzle said of Moore, the Central Florida transfer who played for Josh Heupel and his staff at UCF in 2020. “He’s a guy that knows it inside and out, from the run game to the RPO game, to the shot game, to anything that we’re doing. He can operate efficiently with the tempo.”
“Got great trust and belief in Gaston,” Heupel added. “He has great command and understanding of what we’re doing and the ability to operate within it.”
Moore has appeared in eight games over the last three seasons, completing 10 of 17 passes for 72 yards. He hasn’t thrown a touchdown. He’s been intercepted once.
But his minimal on-field resume is dwarfed by the role he plays off the field — in the meeting room, watching film, on the sideline.
For redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava, the former five-star prospect and No. 1 overall recruit in the country, Moore has been a crutch to lean on since he arrived at Tennessee in December 2022.
“Gaston helped me get a great grasp of the offense when I first got here,” Iamaleava said, “and he has continuously pushed me since I’ve been here.”
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Moore has sat through so many meetings and through so many film sessions that he has little choice but to pour into his younger teammates as an extension of Tennessee’s coaching staff.
“Stuff you go through every year kind of becomes repetitive,” Moore said. “And once you get out on the field, you kind of can see what the coaches have been saying. It really helps coaching the younger guys up.”
Moore admitted the obvious. There were moments over the last three years that he thought about going elsewhere, looking for a program where could see more playing time.
That better alternative doesn’t always exist, though.
“I just love the way they operate around here,” Moore said. “It’s like a huge family around here. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
So he has stuck it out, returning the trust that Tennessee’s coaches have shown him while becoming the seasoned veteran at the most important position on the field, doing everything he can whenever he can.
“I don’t know,” Moore said, “every little opportunity I get, I just try to make the most of it.”
If one of those opportunities is on a Saturday this fall, the redshirt senior will be ready.
“If anything were to happen,” Moore said, “I could help the team the best way I could.”
Halzle not only believes that, but took it a step further. Don’t sleep on Gaston Moore.
“He’s a better athlete than people give him credit for,” Halzle said. “And he’s a guy that, arm strength wise, he can make every throw on the field. The guy can drive a football. You guys saw it in the spring game, he’s driving 40, 50 yard posts down the field right there, so athletically he can handle it.
“Mentally, man, the guy is extremely sharp and understands everything we’re trying to accomplish.”
