Tennessee Volunteer Legend Says Nico Iamaleava is 'For Real'

Former Tennessee Volunteers football head coach Phillip Fulmer says quarterback Nico Iamaleava is 'for real'.

Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava (8) during Tennessee football’s first fall practice, in Knoxville, Tenn., Wednesday, July 31, 2024. / Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former Tennessee Volunteers football head coach Phillip Fulmer says quarterback Nico Iamaleava is 'for real'.

It's been quite a while since the Tennessee Volunteers last took home a national championship in college football, but if anyone knows how to do it, it's former head coach Phillip Fulmer. And based on what he said about quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the Volunteers might have a shot at ending the national title drought in Knoxville.

Fulmer joined 99.1 WNML-FM in Knoxville and was asked about Iamaleava and he thinks the former five-star will make the Volunteers a very exciting football team.

“This young guy now, Nico is for real, he is,” Fulmer said. “He’s for real. I’ve been around a lot of good ones. But this guy is really, really special. We’ve just got to keep him healthy. And keep the younger ones coming too. But if he stays healthy, it could be very exciting offensive football team, which leads to a really exciting football team.”

Head coach Josh Heuepel is aware of what explosive and consistently efficient offenses look like, especially at the quarterback position. After the second scrimmage, he was asked what he thought of Nico's performance.

“For all of your quarterbacks, the green dot communication is different. Situational football, being able to reset and play the play, we try to simulate a lot of those situations during the course of practice, but there’s nothing like scrimmage to get you as close as you can be to what game day is going to be like. In general I thought the quarterbacks handled themselves really well here, and just again – situational football being backed up, coming off the goal line – your thought processes, all those things."

With Iamaleava entering just his second year, it is guaranteed that the Volunteers will get at least two years out of Iamaleava. So if year one of him being the full-time starter is a home run, things will really be looking up for the program heading into 2025.

Other Tennessee News:

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• Tennessee Vols Football Could Make Playoff According to CFB Data Model

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