Tennessee Volunteers – No. 8 | |
---|---|
Position | Quarterback |
Class | Freshman |
Personal information | |
Born: | [1] Long Beach, California, U.S. | September 2, 2004
Height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
Weight | 215 lb (98 kg) |
Career history | |
College |
|
Bowl games | |
High school | Warren (Downey, California) |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
|
Nicholaus "Nico" Iamaleava (EE-yama LAY-av-uh; born September 2, 2004) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers. He was one of the top players in the 2023 recruiting class.[3][4]
Iamaleava was born in Long Beach, California and is of Samoan descent.[3][5] Iamaleava attended both Warren High School in Downey, California and Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, CA. As a senior, Iamaleava threw for 1,726 yards and 25 touchdowns, while also rushing for six touchdowns.[6] He was named the Polynesian Football Player of the Year.[7][8] Iamaleava was also named the MVP of the Polynesian Bowl, throwing for 186 yards and a touchdown.[9] Iamaleava was rated as one of the top players in the class of 2023 and committed to play college football at the University of Tennessee.[10][11]
Iamaleava enrolled early at Tennessee in December 2022, participating in workouts for the 2022 Orange Bowl.[12][13]
US college sports recruiting information for 2023 recruits | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
Nico Iamaleava QB |
Long Beach, California | Warren | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Mar 21, 2022 | |
Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ESPN grade: 87 |
Iamaleava served as the backup quarterback to Joe Milton during the 2023 regular season before being named Tennessee's starting quarterback for the Citrus Bowl, played in January.[14][15] In his first career start during the Citrus Bowl, Iamaleava threw for 151 yards and recorded four total touchdowns, one passing and three rushing, leading Tennessee to a 35–0 victory over Iowa.[16][17] For his performance, he was named Citrus Bowl MVP.[18]
Entering the 2024 season, Iamaleava was named Tennessee's starting quarterback.[19] In the season opener against Chattanooga, he threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a 69–3 win.[20]
Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | ||
Tennessee Volunteers | ||||||||||||||||
2023 | 5 | 1 | 1–0 | 28 | 45 | 62.2 | 314 | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 135.5 | 20 | 71 | 3.6 | 3 | |
2024 | 2 | 2 | 2–0 | 38 | 51 | 74.5 | 525 | 10.3 | 5 | 2 | 185.5 | 12 | 71 | 5.9 | 1 | |
Career | 7 | 3 | 3−0 | 66 | 96 | 68.8 | 839 | 8.7 | 7 | 2 | 162.1 | 32 | 142 | 4.4 | 4 |