{"id":13304,"date":"2023-08-11T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=13304"},"modified":"2023-08-11T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T16:30:00","slug":"hes-a-different-player-josh-heupel-updates-development-of-freshman-qb-nico-iamaleava","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/hes-a-different-player-josh-heupel-updates-development-of-freshman-qb-nico-iamaleava\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s a different player\u2019: Josh Heupel updates development of freshman QB Nico Iamaleava"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Nico Iamaleava<\/a><\/strong> arrived at Tennessee in December, he went from the five-star prospect and No. 1 overall player in the 2023 On3 recruiting ranking to a backup quarterback, waiting his turn behind redshirt senior Joe Milton III<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s no time for Iamaleava to spin his wheels in the early stages of his Tennessee football career.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta grow,\u201d Tennessee coach Josh Heupel<\/a><\/strong> said on Thursday, after the Vols held their first scrimmage of fall camp<\/a> at Neyland Stadium. \u201cYou gotta be pushed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The push for the 6-foot-6, 200-pound freshman in training camp is continuing to learn Tennessee\u2019s complete offensive scheme and continue developing in the uptempo pace. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s running everything, man,\u201d Heupel told reporters<\/a>. \u201cYou know, you\u2019ve heard me say that when they finish spring ball, when they come back beginning training camp, they should be a different player. He\u2019s a different player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Heupel on Nico Iamaleava: \u2018He doesn\u2019t make the same mistake twice. He learns from it.\u2019<\/h2>\n

Iamaleava arrived in Knoxville in December and went through bowl practices with the Vols, traveled with the team to Miami and was on the sideline for the 31-14 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The difference Iamaleava has shown in preseason practices so far is command, Heupel explained. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got great command in understanding what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said, \u201cunderstands protections, understands how he\u2019s gotta get us out of could be run-run checks, pass-run checks, whatever it might be. And he hasn\u2019t been perfect, but he\u2019s grown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The growth is clear from one rep to the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that we talked about is not making the same mistake twice,\u201d Heupel said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t make the same mistake twice. He learns from it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For an example, Heupel pointed to a play in Wednesday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs he\u2019s going through his reading progression, tight window on the inside, throws the ball while he\u2019s standing in the pocket,\u201d Heupel said. \u201cYou can see him visually like, hey man, I should have got out to the next one outside. He\u2019s intentional and has great work habits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018That guy is mature beyond his years\u2019<\/h2>\n

He has great patience, too, willing to take on the role of backup quarterback despite being Tennessee\u2019s headliner in the 2023 recruiting class.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat guy is mature beyond his years,\u201d Tennessee offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Joey Halzle<\/a><\/strong> said last week. \u201cHe didn\u2019t come in like a true freshman. He came in, one, wanting to learn, not thinking like I know I\u2019m a highly graded recruit, I got it figured out. He came in understanding I want learn, I need to know.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the way that guy just has his calmness on the field, just his demeanor. I think the guys believe in him as well, that if he\u2019s called upon to do a job like that, he will step in and compete at a high level, a high level. So we have a ton of confidence in that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post \u2018He\u2019s a different player\u2019: Josh Heupel updates development of freshman QB Nico Iamaleava<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Nico Iamaleava arrived at Tennessee in December, he went from the five-star prospect and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}