Tennessee is making the playoff; Nico is going to New York

Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

By Jon Reed

We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. 

Some since the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Some since March, 5th, 2022 when Nico Iamaleava was a high schooler visiting Tennessee during a basketball game against Arkansas. Others have been waiting for this since Peyton Manning played his last game in orange. 

Tennessee football will be led by one of the three best quarterbacks in the entire country. He won’t be third.

He may not be second.

On the surface Saturday’s season opener against Chattanooga is just one of your typical low-stakes glorified scrimmage games where an in-state opponent comes into Neyland Stadium to collect a check. In Knoxville, however, the energy around the program does not reflect that. 

It’s not just a normal season opener. Anticipation isn’t at a fever pitch just because it’s football time in Tennessee. 

It’s because of hope.

Hope that last year was an anomaly. Hope that Josh Heupel hasn’t forgotten how to coach offense, and that he is the offensive genius that everyone believed he was after 2022 before that thought-train got derailed. Hope that the defensive line will be so dominant that even having a white safety will not matter.  

Sidenote: I know this is about Nico, but shoutout to James Pearce Jr. And shoutout to Rodney Garner. And put me on record for not being concerned about the secondary. 

Nico Iamaleava is the most talented quarterback that Josh Heupel has ever coached. He’s the most talented quarterback Tennessee has had since Peyton Manning. He will lead Tennessee into the college football playoff.

I believe both of these things to be facts before watching the first game of the season. That’s not just a hope I have. I feel it in my bones.

That’s not a shot at Hendon Hooker. He is a legend and should always be celebrated. What he did at Tennessee helped set the stage for what is coming. 

He showed the world what a Josh Heupel Tennessee offense looks like with a talented, capable quarterback. Too many people have forgotten what that looks like. 

It has been tough watching so many national and regional voices do all of their different variations of ranking teams, coaches and quarterbacks this year. When they talked about Tennessee, too often did they let 2023 cloud their minds. 

The 2024 Vols are not the 2023 Vols, and they are not the 2022 Vols. They will be better. 

Tennessee will make the college football playoff. Nico Iamaleava will avenge Hendon Hooker’s Heisman snub and be invited to New York City.