“He is being challenged”: CFB analyst weighs in on Josh Heupel’s strategy for Nico Iamaleava

Nico Iamaleava will enter his second season as the starting quarterback for Tennessee in 2025. He showed glimpses of brilliance on the field in 2024, leading the Volunteers to the College Football Playoff. However, there's room for improvement in his game.

JD Pickell gave intel on what's going on in a host of spring practices across the college football landscape on a recent installment of “The Hard Count.” While discussing Tennessee, he noted that quarterback Nico Iamaleava is being challenged to get much better ahead of 2025.

“The headline that I've been told as it pertains to Nico Iamaleava this spring is that he's been challenged by Josh Heupel,” Pickell said (TS-15:02). “That's not a negative thing. That just means that you see greatness in a guy and you want to bring it out of him.

“It's a two-prong challenge from what I've been told. The first is they want him to be a guy that's a tone setter for this team offensively … The second challenge is for him to progress as a decision maker.”

Tennessee will be counting on Nico Iamaleava to record a much better outing than last season in 2025. This is why Josh Heupel and his coaching staff believe they need to get him to that level starting from spring camp.

Josh Heupel disclosed where he needs Nico Iamaleava to improve

Nico Iamaleava made a strong impression last fall, though his performance had its share of highs and lows. In his first press conference session in the spring practice, Josh Heupel named the areas he believes the quarterback needs to refine as he moves forward.

"Command and control of what we're doing offensively," Heupel said on Friday while addressing the media following the Volunteers' spring practice. "(Be) better with his eyes. It's a fundamental position to be accurate with the football.”

“Leadership. It's the checklist of playing the quarterback position - all of those things. He's got a chance to continue to get better. Like a lot of what he did (last season), there's some areas that I was just talking about that he can be better at."

Without a doubt, Iamaleava possesses all the attributes necessary to emerge as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. He threw for 2,930 yards and 19 touchdowns in the 2024 college football season, setting the tone for the Volunteers' offense in many ways.