Vols insider expects to see Nico Iamaleava early in the Citrus Bowl
VolQuest's Brent Hubbs, a longtime Tennessee Vols insider, expects to see true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava early in the Citrus Bowl against Iowa on New Year's Day. Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone's "Ramon, Kayla, and Will" on Friday to discuss the latest with Iamaleava and redshirt senior quarterback Joe Milton. "We'll see what Josh Heupel […]
VolQuest's Brent Hubbs, a longtime Tennessee Vols insider, expects to see true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava early in the Citrus Bowl against Iowa on New Year's Day.
Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone's "Ramon, Kayla, and Will" on Friday to discuss the latest with Iamaleava and redshirt senior quarterback Joe Milton.
"We'll see what Josh Heupel elects to do," said Hubbs when asked about Iamaleava and Milton. "The history of Josh Heupel says Joe Milton, who's practiced all week long, is the starter and he'll play until the game's in hand. But I just think this bowl game — I think bowl games are different — I think you're gonna see Nico early in this game in some capacity. Whether that's the third series or second quarter or, who knows what happens, but I do think you're gonna see Nico on the field early. And I think it's important that you do that. I think bowl games — and you got to be careful because you don't want to just bypass your seniors because they've earned the bowl game and bowl games are still a reward in a lot of ways — but when you're not in the playoff, you got all the opt out stuff that's going on out there, these are exhibition games. And you want to see young players, you want to give them a taste. You want to have them engaged. You want to have them understand where they are, because they all think they're in a place that they're probably not."
"I do think you have to have a conscious effort to play your young players to give them an idea of where they are heading into the offseason," added Hubbs.
Milton hasn't officially said that he's playing in the Citrus Bowl, though it appears to be trending in that direction. Tennessee leaves for Orlando the day after Christmas.
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