Vols' freshman QB Nico Iamaleava will not redshirt, Josh Heupel says

The Tennessee coaching staff expected big things from Nico Iamaleava before he arrived on campus last December. Those expectations haven't changed.

The highly touted freshman quarterback signed with the Vols as one of the best prospects in the 2023 class and has looked the part since spring practices. Head coach Josh Heupel confirmed Wednesday that there are no plans to redshirt Iamaleava this season.

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"The plan is whenever the opportunity presents itself to have him in the football game," Heupel said during his weekly radio appearance on "Vol Calls." "There's no plan to redshirt him. We want to get him in as much football as possible."

Iamaleava made his Tennessee debut in the second half of the Vols' 49-13 season-opening win over Virginia last Saturday in Nashville. He finished 2-of-3 passing for 11 yards with another eight yards on the ground.

Iamaleava should have another opportunity for extensive playing time in Tennessee's home opener vs. Austin Peay (0-1) on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

"Any kind of action that a freshman can get is hugely beneficial," offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said this week. "One is just to take the field in front of that many people, calm your nerves down and trust your eyes. Sometimes you call a play and you don't remember what the play is and it's like, 'wait, what is that?' Getting that adrenaline spike and calming yourself back down is huge.

"Going against these guys this week, you're going to get a multitude of pressures and coverages and its' going to be great for everyone to see that. That's a hug eye discipline game...It's a huge game for him to define his eyes."

Iamaleava will continue to play in the No. 2 spot behind starter Joe Milton III, who went 21-of-30 passing for 201 yards and two touchdowns against Virginia. He added two more rushing scores.

"Nico is great with Joe," Halzle said. "He's talking about what he sees. As soon as Joe comes out and Nico comes in, he doesn't zone out, he's watching and talking about what he saw coming off the field and helping each other. The two of them are always together. Joe has been a huge help to him and bringing him along to this point. I think that's why you're also seeing Nico do everything he can to help Joe when he's the one out there on the field because it hard to see everything from that position."

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