Nico Iamaleava must start for Tennessee in the last two games
Nico Iamaleava’s plans changed at some point during the season. At the start of the year, Josh Heupel said his staff had no intention of redshirting the former #1 overall recruit. But after the Austin Peay disaster, it became clear that that was going to be the case. Joe Milton played the rest of Georgia’s blowout of Tennessee with the game in hand. It made sense to give Iamaleava some playing time against one of the best defenses in the country, but Heupel decided to hold off on the redshirt. Heupel said there are a lot of variables out there right now with one regular-season game left, and what kind of situation you want to put him in.
Tennessee now sits at 7-4 overall and is on pace to finish the season with an 8-4 record. Milton is on the way out the door, with Iamaleava set to take over as the starter in the spring. So why not hand the keys to him on Saturday? I mean, he hasn’t gotten the playing time that we all hoped for coming into the season. Even if it’s just two starts, some development at the end of the year could make all the difference in 2024.
It’s senior day, and I think It’s senior day, and I think Milton should be commended for staying with the program and working hard. If you want him to have a few series and go off should be commended for staying with the program and working hard. If you want him to have a few series and go off with a score, that’s fine. But right now, there’s no reason to keep him out.
Now that the redshirt status is official, it’ll be interesting to see how things play out with the quarterback situation.
Tennessee will host Vanderbilt on Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on SEC Network.
