Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel continued to laud Nico Iamaleava following the redshirt freshman quarterback’s performance against Kentucky on Saturday.
“I thought it was really good,” Heupel said during his press conference on Monday. “Decision making, eyes, did some good things controlling the run game a lot of people don’t see and made plays as well.
“There’s some really special plays by him during the course of the game and continued to compete extremely hard, played it independent and continuing to grow as a player. A really good performance.”
Iamaleava completed 28 of 38 passes for 292 yards against the Cats as the Vols beat Kentucky 28-18.
When specifically asked about Iamaleava’s calm demeanor in key situations, Heupel said, “In those critical moments, him being him, it’s needed, but it’s also special from a young guy to be able to handle everything that’s going on within the scope of the game.
“That’s one of the things that he’s done pretty well throughout the course of the season. There’s some things that I want back, he wants back, but his ability as a young player to go play and being willing to play on the edge, which you have to at that position, it’s rare to have a young guy that’s able to do that.
It seems hard to remember that Iamaleava has only started nine games as a Vol. Tennessee’s offense has struggled early in games this season, which is odd for a Heupel coached offense that is predicated on getting off to a fast start and putting pressure on opposing defenses.
“No,” Heupel said when asked if he’s ever been around an offense like this before in his career. “This is like it’s been a unique run here in the first half for sure.”
The uniqueness has also been evident in the red zone, in which the Vols have struggled to convert far too often for Heupel’s liking.
“Everything gets tighter down there, so self-inflicted wounds always hurt you,” Heupel said. “But they hurt you even more down there because the windows are tighter if you’re throwing the football, the bodies are tighter. The run game, we’ve got to execute at a higher level. That’s not third down, but it’s first and second down too.”
Heupel said there are no major overhauls needed for the Vols to have more success in the red zone. Heupel said Tennessee’s offense can control what ails them in that regard.
The Vols don’t want to have to settle for field goals when they get deep into opposing territory, especially considering Max Gilbert missed all three of his field goal attempts. Heupel, however, didn’t seem concerned about Gilbert moving forward.
“If you’ve seen me kick, you’d know I’m probably not the guy to help him with the swing,” Heupel said. “Max hit the ball really well the majority of the year, and he hits it that way in practice too. So for him resetting from kick to kick, but from week to week two, it’s important for him, just like any other player, to have a great week of preparation.
“I just think from the first kick to the second kick, he kind of over overcorrected and kind of did the same thing on the third one too. So go find your groove, hit your sweet spot and go play ball.”
