Concerns about Nico Iamaleava did not change one bit after the Tennessee football injury report came out Wednesday night for the Vols’ matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. Iamaleava was listed as questionable for that trip.
In UT’s 33-14 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Iamaleava missed the second half due to an injury. He was reported to have a concussion, and although Josh Heupel said Saturday and Monday that he was expected to play Saturday and that he had been at practice, there were still concerns.
Those worries came largely from Pete Thamel of ESPN, who reported he was in concussion protocol, and Chris “The Bear” Fallica of Fox Sports, who said on an ON3 podcast that his sources suggested to him Iamaleava would not be ready to go Saturday. Well, Heupel’s list only furthers the confusion.
So what’s the intention behind the questionable label?
There’s a legitimate chance this is gamesmanship from Tennessee football. Dave Hooker reported on our Wednesday, Nov. 13 Off the Hook Sports podcast that a source said Iamaleava, while in concussion protocol, had passed and was cleared to go.
Meanwhile, Austin Price of ON3 said on Josh and Swain that Iamaleava did more work on the practice field Wednesday and was “trending in the right direction.” Combining that with what Heupel said, all the signs should lean back toward him playing.
As a result, this “questionable” label could be a way simply to throw Kirby Smart and UGA off their preparation game. Of course, even if he weren’t playing, Heupel would want to put “questionable” on there because Tennessee football would want the Dawgs to at least waste time preparing for him.
Either situation would probably lead to this outcome. What’s clear is that Heupel will make sure none of us know anything about this until Saturday. At least for now, we can only point to the signs, and the signs for UT were a lot better Wednesday night rather than Wednesday morning.
In addition to Iamaleava, Tennessee football offensive lineman Vysen Lange and wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. were questionable. Running back DeSean Bishop, defensive back Jourdan Thomas and linebackers Keenan Pili and Edwin Spillman are also out. Thomas and Pili are done for the year.
