One of the athletes who has received the most attention is Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
One of the athletes that has generated the most talk this summer is Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Under head coach Josh Heupel, quarterback Hendon Hooker of the University of Tennessee established the standard for what a signal caller can do. Many appear to think that Iamaleava can surpass that standard. ESPN conducted an exercise to determine which players have the greatest room for improvement in the upcoming college football season. Among the notables on the list was Iamaleava, who has grown accustomed to it throughout the offseason. Everyone is interested in learning how the redshirt freshman plans to manage the attention and accountability that come with being a starting quarterback for the whole of the season. He played against the Iowa Hawkeyes and had a promising debut, but we only
The good news for Iamaleava is that he certainly appears to have all the tools to be a difference-maker at quarterback and accounted for four touchdowns in his first start last season in Tennessee’s 35-0 victory over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. But from the time Iamaleava signed with the Vols, he’s been under a bright spotlight — from the reported $8 million NIL deal he signed, to being hailed as the quarterback that would vault the Vols back into championship contention, to being at the center of the recent NCAA investigation into Tennessee’s program. No player since Peyton Manning has walked onto Tennessee’s campus with this much pressure to perform at an elite level.” – ESPN on Nico Iamaleava