Tennessee Vols redshirt senior makes most encouraging comment yet about Nico Iamaleava
Tennessee Vols true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava has received a significant amount of praise since arriving in Knoxville. The praise for Nico — much of which has come from Vols head coach Josh Heupel — suggests that the former No. 1 overall recruit will be living up to the hype. On Monday, Iamaleava received perhaps […]
Tennessee Vols true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava has received a significant amount of praise since arriving in Knoxville.
The praise for Nico — much of which has come from Vols head coach Josh Heupel — suggests that the former No. 1 overall recruit will be living up to the hype.
On Monday, Iamaleava received perhaps his biggest compliment yet since officially joining the Vols. And it came from a veteran teammate.
Redshirt senior offensive lineman Ollie Lane, a Tennessee native, spoke to reporters on Monday after practice. And he made some glowing remarks about Iamaleava and the progress he's quickly made.
“Nico’s really surprised me," said Lane on Monday. "Obviously a big, highly-rated recruit, and he’s come in and he’s kind of fit exactly what everybody was saying about him. I’m excited to see what the future at Tennessee has for Nico.”
“I know sometimes, especially for me when I was a freshman, there’s some adjustment period — especially coming early, to getting into the college feeling,” added Lane. “It feels like he’s just kind of like jumped right in like he’s been here for a couple of years. There’s still some tempo mechanics that I’m sure Coach Halzle will want to fix with him. But all in all, he’s stepped in, whenever I’ve played offensive line for him, he’s vocal."
"He’s a very good leader and he’s able to push us and push our tempo when he wants to. So that’s kind of what I mean by ‘I’m surprised,’ because sometimes it takes a while for freshmen to get acclimated into the system, but he’s taken this opportunity and jumped right into it.”
The early returns on Iamaleava are that he's as advertised. There will obviously be some growing pains, but so far, it sounds like he's on the path to superstardom.
In other words, he's right where Tennessee expected him to be. And he's poised to be a dynamic player in the SEC when he gets his chance to start — which the Vols are hoping isn't until 2024.
