The Elite 11 must have not meant that much.
Tennessee quarterback commitment Nico Iamaleava improved his recruiting ranking this week even though he decided against attending the prestigious Elite 11 Finals passing camp earlier this month. According to On3’s rating system, Iamaleava improved from the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class to No. 2.
That’s not bad considering Iamaleava hasn’t played a snap of real football since the last rankings came out.
Congratulations to Iamaleava, who is Tennessee’s highest-rated commitment. However, it’s odd that a player can jump in the rankings without playing a snap of tackle football since last fall and skipping the Elite 11.
Iamaleava caught some criticism (unfairly) for not taking part in the event after being invited. Apparently, skipping the camp didn’t have much of an effect on what recruiting analysts thought of him.
The five-star prospect from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School has been committed to Tennessee since March and has been the ringleader for a class that ranks second in the SEC and seventh in the nation.
The 6-foot-5, 195-pound prospect said he was focusing on volleyball and family shortly after his official visit in late June. Therefore, it wasn’t much of a surprise that he didn’t attend the Elite 11.
Iamaleava is No. 3 in the nation according to 247Sports’ composite ranking, which takes into account all of the scouting services. He is one of only 33 prospects with five stars on the list.
Iamaleava trails two other quarterbacks on the composite list: Arch Manning from Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans, La., and Malachi Nelson in Los Alamitos, Calif. Manning is the highest-rated prospect in the country. Nelson is No. 2.
Could Iamaleava eventually overtake the two prospects above him? Perhaps he just needs to skip another summer camp.
