Coming into the 2023 season, Tennessee freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava was expected to backup Joe Milton and prepare to be the starter in the future. That’s exactly what happened, too, except many people also expected him to take a redshirt.
The Citrus Bowl was Iamaleava’s fifth game of the season and first start. After the game, he addressed the situation, explaining he never was thinking about his redshirt.
“I never really had a redshirt in my mind,” Nico Iamaleava said. “I really just wanted to learn this whole year behind Joe. Getting a year of experience just learning under my belt. But, yeah, redshirting never really crossed my mind.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel chimed in at that point to explain that the team tries not to go into a season thinking about a redshirt, especially given Iamaleava’s status as the backup.
“End of the day, for the quarterbacks and the guys at every position, you don’t have a like listen you are strictly gonna redshirt and won’t play in anything other than the four games until you’re on the very end of the season because of the way the game unfolds and injuries that take place,” Heupel said. “And Nico’s been one play away the entire season from having to carry the load the rest of the way home. You just continue to fight and grow as a competitor.
