Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava may only be 20 years old, and he’s still learning the nuances of playing the toughest position in football at the SEC level, but he has already shown that he’s absolutely elite in one important area.
Leadership.
When it comes to playing quarterback, there might not be a more important attribute than elite leadership. And Iamaleava showed some important leadership after Tennessee’s win against Kentucky this past weekend.
Iamaleava had probably the best game of his career against Kentucky, yet his stat line didn’t look as great as it could’ve because of some tough drops from Tennessee’s wide receivers. Iamaleava finished with 292 passing yards and one passing touchdown. He threw three touchdown passes that were dropped. If all three of those passes are caught (two were long touchdowns), Iamaleava probably finishes with close to 400 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.
After the game, Iamaleava was asked how he handles receivers not making plays and the young quarterback provided a veteran response.