The No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers came out victorious 33-14 against the Mississippi State Bulldogs this past Saturday. In Tennessee’s win redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava was not present in the second half due to an upper-body injury.
Monday afternoon head coach Josh Heupel gave an update on Iamaleava status for their top 10 matchup in Athens.
“He was with us today,” Heupel said. “Had a really good day. Feel like he’ll be in great shape for Saturday, but you guys can monitor the report that comes out on Wednesday, and track it through the week, but certainly feel like he’ll be in a good spot.”
Iamaleava’s status trending in the right direction, which is huge for the Vols, but never underestimate how little coaches are willing to share in their press conference. He has helped the Vols’ offense to be No. 3 total offense and No. 4 in points in the SEC. Iamaleava has shown he can be steady as he has only turned the ball over four times in the air this season.
Update: Iamaleava is reportedly in concussion protocol, but he has been dressing and practicing.
The SEC releases its weekly availability report on Wednesday night. If Iamaleava is unable to play, then Tennessee is expected to turn to senior Gaston Moore, who completed five of eight passes for 38 yards against Mississippi State.
“That’s a dilemma because we don’t know a lot. I’m talking about his (Nico Iamaleava) injury,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart. “We don’t really know what’s going on there, it’s hard to figure. We do have – because they had those games earlier in the year where they beat teams so bad – Gaston got to play quite a bit.”
