Tennessee football OC Joey Halzle gives thoughts on Nico Iamaleava, QB room

Tennessee football's quarterback room is young but boasts impressive talent.

Leading the unit is fourth-year quarterback coach and second-year offensive coordinator Joey Halzle.

He fielded questions on the state of the position and where they are at this point in the off-season.

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While Nico Iamaleava has shown his abilities in a game setting in the dominating win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, there is still room for him to grow. Halzle sees this and has already identified some things he wants to work on.

This starts with his body and the way he positions it on some throws.

"Physically, we've been working a bunch on just refining his body," said Halzle. "Getting himself in great body positions. He's so athletic, that sometimes he's able to get away with being in bad body positions so we've been really critiquing and hard on ourselves as far as, 'Yeah you can make that throw, but are you in the best possible position you can get in in this moment?' And then adding weight and strength onto him has been great for it. He's been committed to that, he's doing a great job there."

There is also a mental aspect that needs to be improved. For Halzle, he is looking for Iamaleava to gain a better understanding of why the offense operates as it does.

"And then on the mental side of it is making the shift from knowing the plays, knowing your protections, to understanding why are we calling these plays in certain situations," said Halzle. "What are we trying to accomplish when we use this motion or this formation. It's fun to watch him dig into that and really become a quarterback as opposed to just a talented young player."

Behind Iamaleava is both the experienced Gaston Moore and true freshman Jake Merklinger.

Merklinger comes in as a four-star out of Georgia. Despite Iamaleava having the job locked down for the next two years, this didn't scare off the freshman.

Halzle is happy with what he's seen out of Merklinger at this point. He's fitting in well with the room and grasping concepts quickly.

"Really athletic guy, high, high intelligence,” said Halzle. “Guys love him already. He's one of the guys that kind of just fits right in and gets into the mold. Picked it up really, really quickly which was great to see from us. A lot of times with young guys, you think you know going through the recruiting process, but until you get them in there, you get them in the room and start working on them and see them take it to the field. He's going out there and calling his protections correctly, calling plays, getting us in the right play and right check. It's been good to watch him do that. It's impressive for a young guy."

The quarterback room has had two visitors recently.

First, Peyton Manning made the trip to Knoxville for his class and stopped by to talk to the team and quarterback room.

"You get a guy like Peyton Manning to come in and talk to the guys last night and then met with the quarterback separately on his own," said Halzle. "I mean it’s Peyton Manning, like, well there’s not much more to say on that one, right? He talks, everybody really listens and he was just giving guys a bunch of great nuggets as far as the way he prepared, the way he went about his business, what his daily routine was, his weekly routine was, and our guys were taking pages and notes on it. So, I think it’s gonna be something that’s crazy beneficial for those guys."

Also on campus while he prepares for Pro Day is Joe Milton III. He stopped by practice Thursday and helped coach up the quarterbacks.

"For Joe, he’s everybody’s friend so everyone’s just happy to see him again," said Halzle. "And then the stuff that he’s bringing, like he’s just falls right back into his old self. Like he’s helping coach up the young guys during individual about what he’s saying in the footwork.

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