Josh Heupel addresses one big concern about Nico Iamaleava in his first career start
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was asked on Wednesday about a particular concern that some folks have about true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava in his first career start — which will come against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day. Heupel was asked about the concern over Nico's chemistry with […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel was asked on Wednesday about a particular concern that some folks have about true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava in his first career start — which will come against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day.
Heupel was asked about the concern over Nico's chemistry with Tennessee's wide receivers.
UT's offense under Heupel requires excellent chemistry between the quarterback and the wide receivers — due to the choice routes that the Vols often utilize — which can take quite a bit of time to develop.
“During the course of the season, we get a lot of reps with our guys that would be considered twos," said Heupel when asked if Nico's chemistry with wide receivers is a concern. "So he’s had a lot of growth throughout the course of the season during game preparation, but out on the practice field as well. During the bowl prep, we emphasize the young guys a lot early. We have some young wide receivers that have played a lot of football. Those guys were considered young."
"He’s gotten a lot of reps with those guys even before we got into the actual game prep," added Heupel. "So he’s gotten a lot of work with those guys. It’s not an entire season of volume with them, but I anticipate those guys being on the same page.”
Ramel Keyton, Squirrel White, Chas Nimrod, and Kaleb Webb are expected to serve as the Vols' top four wide receivers in the Citrus Bowl (wide receiver Dont'e Thornton, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the Vols' loss to Missouri, is expected to miss the Citrus Bowl due to injury).
Nimrod and Webb started the season with the twos, so they have a decent amount of experience working with Nico.
It sounds like Heupel is fairly confident in Nico's chemistry with Tennessee's wide receivers. But the matchup against Iowa will reveal exactly where that chemistry is — it can be a little different for a quarterback when the outcome of the game hasn't already been decided.
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