Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava has been great on the road and great at home. However, this will be the first time he plays a true road game against a stadium full of fans that would rather see him in the dirt than in the Heisman Trophy race.
Iamaleava has played away from Neyland Stadium twice, once in the Duke’s Mayo Classic against North Carolina State in Charlotte this month and again in the Citrus Bowl in a win against Iowa in January. He did pretty well in both. However, this is the first time that he’ll play in a true road game against an SEC crowd. I know, it still seems strange, but Oklahoma is in the SEC. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel isn’t concerned.
“I think his personality will translate extremely well,” Heupel said during his Monday afternoon press conference. “It wasn’t a true road game, but being over in Charlotte and the crowd being divided in half is a part of preparing him and our entire football team for this too.”
Sounds like Heupel had a plan to get his young superstar ready for greater challenges ahead.
“The way we have prepared in spring ball and training camp, our guys will be ready for this,” Heupel said without a shred of doubt. “It doesn’t make the challenge any less difficult because of those things, but you have to do the ordinary things at a very high level. You have got to do them consistently. That’s communication. That’s where it starts, in particular on the offensive side of the ball, with crowd noise. But it’s everybody, all three phases of the game, the alignment, assignment and technique after that.”
Heupel said in-helmet communications have gone well to this point. That should help the Vols in Norman, Okla. The change was instituted in the offseason and Tennessee has had three games to perfect the radioed communication. Then, there’s Iamaleava’s attitude. The redshirt freshman has said he actually prefers playing on the road. Heupel sees advantages of both.
“There’s nothing better than being in front of your home crowd, but there is something special about knowing that you are going on the road and the focus, the effort that it takes to go out there and be successful in those types of environments,” Heupel said. “That is something special that competitors relish.”
Did someone say competitor? That’s right up Iamaleava’s alley – and Heupel knows it. His players are also aware.
“I’m not worried about Nico at all, talking about loud distractions and all that kind of stuff,” senior tight end Miles Kitselman said. “The way Nico prepares himself and how confident he is in his play will take care of all that.”
Based on Iamaleava’s play this season, there’s good reason to believe that will be the case.
