If things were going according to plan with Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava, he would be halfway done with his college career.

I know that sounds odd since Iamaleava is just a redshirt freshman, but didn’t we all think the talented signal-caller from California would leave college after his sophomore season in 2025 and go onto the NFL? At least, I thought he would be that good, even though I’ve reassessed my position on that. Nevertheless, Iamaleava is midway through his first year as a full-time starter. 

That’s a good time to evaluate him for a couple of reasons. First, he’s had an entire offseason to be prepared for the Vols’ starting job. Second, the schedule has evened out somewhat. Iamaleava has dominated lower-level foes, but experienced more than his fair share of struggles against more formidable competition.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has been in this situation before. He has prepared three quarterbacks over an entire offseason to take the reigns of the Vols’ offense. Here’s how Iamaleava stacks up through six games compared to former Vols Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton.

Let’s start with Milton. He was expected to be the starter throughout the 2021 season, but was injured in the second game of the season. That might have been a blessing in disguise as former Vol Hendon Hooker ended up being the starter and a better option at quarterback. So, to be fair to Milton, let’s take a look at his first six games of the 2023 season in which he was healthy and entrenched as the starter as Iamaleava learned the offense as a true freshman.

Milton completed 122 of his first 182 passes for a 67-percent completion rate in the Vols’ first six games last season. He threw for 1,264 yards and nine touchdowns with four interceptions. Milton ran the ball 32 times for 173 yards and four touchdowns. 

That certainly wasn’t a bad first half of the season as the Vols were 5-1. Again, in fairness to Milton, the Vols could have easily been 6-0 had it not been for center Cooper Mays’ injury and absence that undermined the Vols at Florida. 

Now, let’s take a look at Hooker, who was well prepped to be the starter with an offseason worth of work leading into 2022. As you might expect, Hooker’s numbers were pretty good through six games.

Hooker completed 119 of 170 passes for a 70-percent completion rate. The senior threw for 1,817 yards, 15 touchdowns and just one interception. Hooker ran the ball 59 times for 287 yards and three touchdowns as he led the Vols to a 6-0 record with monumental wins against Florida, LSU and Alabama in his first six games as a designated starter. Again, Hooker started some games in 2021 in relief of Milton when he was injured. However, I’m focusing on Tennessee quarterbacks under Heupel that were named the starter and stayed healthy for the first half of the season. That brings us to Iamaleava.

The cool California kid has completed 94 of 143 passes for 1,219 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. He has run the ball 44 times for 196 yards and a touchdown. The Vols are 5-1 and could easily be 6-0 had they not had offensive tackle issues against Arkansas.

Milton’s quarterback rating through six games last season was a 137.3. Iamaleava’s quarterback rating through six games this season is 149.3. Hooker was in another stratosphere during his first six games in 2022 with a quarterback rating of 187.7.

In fairness to Iamaleava, Milton was a sixth-year senior that spent three years in Tennessee’s system after transferring from Michigan. Hooker was also a sixth-year senior that spent two years in Tennessee’s system. 

Iamaleava has had just 22 months to prepare himself for a starting role after arriving on campus in December of 2022. Still, he hasn’t been the focal point until the 2023 season was all but over.

I’m certain most first-team snaps were going to Milton last year as the Vols tried to get more out of a player that struggled at times. Iamaleava surely got some first-team practice snaps last season, but he was never considered the starter until the Citrus Bowl, which I didn’t include in the computation because my goal was to evaluate first-year, full-time starters under Heupel.

I’m not downplaying what Iamaleava did against Iowa, but the Vols certainly surprised the Hawkeyes with a new offensive built around a new quarterback, which gave the Vols a strategic advantage. Plus, it’s much tougher to judge bowl games than regular season games.

Like it or not, Iamaleava is much closer to Milton currently than he is Hooker, who took the world by storm in 2022. Now, there are outside factors that affected all the Vols in their “take charge” seasons. Hooker had to carry a bad defense in 2022. Milton had to overcome significant injuries on the offensive line and at receiver. Iamaleava has had to overcome an offensive tackle issue that has been just woeful.

I’m not completely a numbers guy. However, for those that are, there is no argument. The early returns on Iamaleava are much more like Milton than Hooker – and it’s not even close.