College football insider details the main thing the Tennessee Vols are asking QB Nico Iamaleava to do differently in 2025
Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava had a pretty impressive first season as a starter in the SEC. Iamaleava, who redshirted as a true freshman in 2023, took over as the Volunteers' starting quarterback in 2024 and led Tennessee to its first ever College Football Playoff appearance. The California native also led Tennessee to wins against […]
Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava had a pretty impressive first season as a starter in the SEC.
Iamaleava, who redshirted as a true freshman in 2023, took over as the Volunteers' starting quarterback in 2024 and led Tennessee to its first ever College Football Playoff appearance.
The California native also led Tennessee to wins against Florida and Alabama — something that's only been done one other time (in the same season) since 2004 (Hendon Hooker led the Vols to wins against Florida and Alabama in 2022).
Iamaleava, however, still has plenty of room for development. The former five-star recruit will look to take his game to another level in 2025 as Tennessee competes for a spot in the College Football Playoff for a second straight season.
According to On3's JD PicKell, one way the Vols are challenging Iamaleava to up his game in 2025 is by being more of a vocal leader.
"The headline that I have been told as it pertains to Nico Iamaleava this spring is that he is being challenged by Josh Heupel," explained PicKell. "Now, that is not a negative thing. That just means that you see greatness in a guy, and you want to bring it out of him."
"They want him to be a guy that's a tone setter for this team, offensively," continued PicKell. "Not that he has to be Brian Cushing throwing his head into helmets and running around with a bloody forehead every spring practice. We don't need that…but they feel like with what they lost from a vocal point, leadership-wise a season ago, with guys like Dylan Sampson no longer there. Cooper Mays, an offensive lineman that set the tone. They would love to see Nico kind of get out of his comfort zone, in some sense, and be that vocal leader to a degree. Not that he has to be the only one, not that he has to be the vocal leader, but be more of a vocal leader in some sense. Not a knock on the guy. I think it's just a matter of being a second year starting quarterback in major college football. For the record, I think he can do that."
"Seeing him against Ohio State (in the playoff), the edge that he had, that showed me a lot. It showed me a lot. Because while Tennessee lost the game to the eventual national champion Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Nico showed me just the way he's wired competitively. I've spoken to this a few times, but to carry the football 20 times in a College Football Playoff game against one of the best defenses in the sport, in a got to have it situation and to not have bad body language, to not do the palms up, the woe is me, that just told me a lot about just the dude that Nico is….I'm very excited to see how he progresses in that vocal leadership role and in a tone setter role for the Tennessee offense."
Growing into a vocal leadership role is something that happens organically for elite leaders. It's not forced. And I think we're seeing that with Iamaleava. In fact, the process of Iamaleava becoming a different kind of leader as he ages is something that former Vols offensive lineman Cooper Mays discussed last fall — specifically in regards to comparisons between Nico and former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker.
"I will say it's not comparable, personally," said Mays when asked about the comparison between Hooker and Iamaleava. "That would be like saying to me four years ago to compare me to — I was a whole different person four years ago, you know what I'm saying. When I was 19 years old — you're not comparable to a 25 year old.
"Nico's great in his own right and a different kind of leader. I'm sure he'll end up being different (as he ages). It's hard to be compered to somebody that's — I think Hendon was six years in? That's a real grown man. Most people are married with kids by the age of 25."
Iamaleava evolved as a leader throughout the 2024 season. And I think we'll see him respond to the challenge from Heupel and the UT coaching staff this spring and take his vocal leadership to the next level in 2025.
