ESPN goes viral for misunderstood graphic about Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava
A tongue in cheek graphic from ESPN about Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava went semi-viral over the weekend. After Tennessee's win against Chattanooga on Saturday, a video popped up on ESPN's College Football YouTube channel titled 'Nico Iamaleava is the BEST Tennessee QB since Matt Simms?" Some Vols fans were immediately outraged that […]
A tongue in cheek graphic from ESPN about Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava went semi-viral over the weekend.
After Tennessee's win against Chattanooga on Saturday, a video popped up on ESPN's College Football YouTube channel titled 'Nico Iamaleava is the BEST Tennessee QB since Matt Simms?"
Some Vols fans were immediately outraged that Iamaleava would be compared to former Tennessee quarterback Matt Simms. And they were also outraged that ESPN skipped over more prolific former Vols quarterbacks like Hendon Hooker, Josh Dobbs, and Tyler Bray.
While I can understand the outrage, it's important to note that Simms was a co-host in the video that was uploaded. And he spoke glowingly of Iamaleava and Josh Heupel's offense.
The title was clearly a tongue in cheek reference to Simms' time at Tennessee. Which, and no offense to Simms, wasn't that remarkable — Simms played for two seasons at UT and passed for 1,818 yards, eight touchdowns, and nine interceptions. It's impressive he played in the SEC (most adults will never come close to accomplishing that feat), but the title of the clip on ESPN's YouTube channel was obviously nothing more than a joke.
