It was a great season for Tennessee Volunteers starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who completed 213-of-334 passes for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 145.3 passing efficiency rating. Not only did he put up those impressive numbers, but he also led the team to a 10-3 overall record, 6-3 in SEC games, and a College Football Playoff appearance as the No. 9 seed. Now, the Volunteers are focused on 2025 and while talking to the media on Wednesday, quarterback coach Joey Halzle revealed a moment in which Iamaleava confronted his teammates during a recent spring practice.
“If he tried to start going rah rah right now it wouldn’t hit,” he said. “Because that’s just not him and he doesn’t do that. But what he did, like he did it today, he didn’t like something he saw, he called the guys up and said, ‘Hey,’ he addressed it right now and we moved on… It was assertive but it wasn’t anything that wasn’t him.”
Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava walks off the field. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images Steve Roberts-Imagn Images To see this kind of focus from Iamaleava isn’t surprising, though, as Tennessee’s expectations are high, having the third-best odds (+600) to win the SEC and eighth-best (+1600) at winning the national championship, per ESPN BET. Along with that, Iamaleava is also looked at by many as someone who should have much personal success in 2025, being named a Heisman Trophy contender by Will Backus of CBS Sports and holding the fifth-best odds (+1300) to win it.
