Volunteer Country

What Went Wrong for Nico Iamaleava in Loss to Arkansas?

The Vols’ redshirt freshman quarterback struggled in his second road start. How much of it was his fault?

Tanner Johnson

Oct 5, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava prior to the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
Oct 5, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava prior to the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
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Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava had the worst game of his young college career on Saturday night agaisnt Arkansas.

He completed 17/29 passes for 158 yards and zero touchdowns. He did not have a turnover in the game, but failed to create explosive plays for most of the night. In his second ever road start, Iamaleava looked flustered and timid at times, which was a step back from his performance agaisnt Oklahoma two weeks ago.

So what went wrong for Iamaleava against Arkansas?

For starters, the offensive line did not hold up well at all during the game. John Campbell and Lance Heard in particular did not have great performances. Arkansas has a talented defensive line, and they were living in Tennessee’s backfield.

When the offesnive line did hold up, Iamaleava was sometimes abandoning the pocket too soon or not pulling the trigger on throws that he needed to. It will be a valuable learning experience for him when he sees the film. On the last drive of the game, things got worse for Iamaleava.

He made his best throw of the game when he found Dont’e Thornton Jr. on a 42-yard pass to get Tennessee within striking distance at the end of the game. However, due to some poor clock management and missed uppurtununties, the Vols came up empty and lost. On the second-to-last play fo the game, Iamaleava missed a wide open Dylan Sampson for what could have been a game winning touchdown.

Then on the last play of the game, Iamaleava made a crushing but familiar mistake. Instead of throwing the ball in the end zone, he ran out of bounds as time expired. It was similar to when Joe Milton did the same thing agaisnt Ole Miss in 2021. It gave Tennessee no chance to win the game and was a glaring moment that showed Iamaleava’s age and inexperience.

Iamaleava explained his thought process on the play after the game.

“As I rolled out, man, I saw (Thornton), he was coming open,” Iamaleava said. ”But if I threw that ball, it was going to be batted down right away, so I tried to let Chris Brazzell work a little bit, and he was covered at the time, and as soon as I was trying to let the ball go, I felt it slipping in my hand. I’ve got to do a better job at holding the ball.”

There is a lot of the season left for Iamaleava to learn from his mistakes in this game. If he can, Tennessee still has everything to play for in 2024.

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Tanner Johnson
TANNER JOHNSON

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