How Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava showed important leadership after win against Kentucky Wildcats
Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava may only be 20 years old, and he’s still learning the nuances of playing the toughest position in football at the SEC level, but he has already shown that he’s absolutely elite in one important area. Leadership. When it comes to playing quarterback, there might not be a […]
Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava may only be 20 years old, and he’s still learning the nuances of playing the toughest position in football at the SEC level, but he has already shown that he’s absolutely elite in one important area.
Leadership.
When it comes to playing quarterback, there might not be a more important attribute than elite leadership. And Iamaleava showed some important leadership after Tennessee's win against Kentucky this past weekend.
Iamaleava had probably the best game of his career against Kentucky, yet his stat line didn't look as great as it could've because of some tough drops from Tennessee's wide receivers. Iamaleava finished with 292 passing yards and one passing touchdown. He threw three touchdown passes that were dropped. If all three of those passes are caught (two were long touchdowns), Iamaleava probably finishes with close to 400 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.
After the game, Iamaleava was asked how he handles receivers not making plays and the young quarterback provided a veteran response.
"I’m still instilling confidence to my guys on the sideline," said Iamaleava. "Everybody messes up, everybody has their play. You got to be able to pick your teammates up. And, yeah, man, I just tell them boys, I’m going to keep coming to y’all on any of them routes, I’m a keep coming to them.”
While Iamaleava was quick to point out that he's going to instill confidence in his receivers no matter what, he also made it clear that Tennessee's offense needs to cut down on the missed opportunities.
“Man, still too many missed opportunities out there," said Iamaleava when asked to evaluate Tennessee's offense. "We got to put it all together in one of these games. And I believe it’ll be the next game. So we got to clean up a lot of stuff. A lot of penalties in the first half. And just missed opportunities down the field that we got to connect on. It’s coming, man. I keep telling my guys we got to keep going and it’ll pop eventually.”
"The sky is the limit for this whole offense," added Iamaleava. "And for me, too. [I] got to keep playing better.”
Iamaleava keeps his teammates accountable, while not dwelling on past mistakes (because dwelling on past mistakes, which can't be changed, isn't going to help you make plays in the future). That's a mature approach that we see some players in the NFL struggle to have at times.
Whether it's been after a win or a loss, Iamaleava's been great when it comes to handling the media. You would think he's a 10-year NFL veteran the way he maturely answers questions, deflects praise, and compliments teammates. The former five-star recruit deserves a lot of credit for the big-time plays we've seen him make on the field. And he deserves a lot of credit for how he's handled his media obligations, too.
One play from Nico Iamaleava against Kentucky tells Tennessee Vols fans all they need to know about the young QB
Says a lot about the former 5-star QB
