University of Tennessee Athletics
2024 Football Roster
Roster
Nico Iamaleava
- Position:
- QB
- Ht./Wt.:
- 6-6 / 215
- Class:
- Redshirt Freshman
- Hometown:
- Long Beach, Calif.
- High School:
- Warren
CAREER HONORS
2024 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Finalist
2024 Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Semifinalist
SEC Freshman of the Week (at Vanderbilt, 12/2/24; at Oklahoma, 9/23/24; vs. NC State, 9/9/24; vs. Chattanooga, 9/2/24)
Davey O'Brien Award Week 14 Great 8 List (vs. Vanderbilt, 12/2/24)
Manning Award QB of the Week (vs. NC State, 9/11/24)
2024 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll
2024 Citrus Bowl MVP
2023 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll
CAREER
Dynamic, dual-threat quarterback who spent two seasons with the Vols and one as the starting quarterback … Arrived at Tennessee as the No. 1 prep player in the country according to On3 for the Class of 2023 … Came to Knoxville in December 2022, participated in 2022 Orange Bowl practices and then traveled to the bowl … Followed that up a year later with his first career start in leading the Vols to a 2024 Citrus Bowl victory in which he was named the MVP … Became the first UT true freshman QB to win a bowl game since Peyton Manning beat Virginia Tech in the 1994 Gator Bowl … Became the first Tennessee true or redshirt freshman quarterback in program history to lead the Vols to 10 regular season wins, doing so in his first year as a starter in 2024 ... Played in 18 career games with 14 starts … Accounted for 3,365 yards of total offense … Completed 241-of-379 passes for 2,930 yards and 21 touchdowns with five interceptions … Rushed for 435 yards and six scores on 129 carries … Owns a career 144.17 passer rating and an 11-3 record as a starter entering the 2025 season … Fired six pass completions of 50 or more yards … A two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and Dean’s List recipient.
2024 - RS-FRESHMAN
Became the first Tennessee true or redshirt freshman quarterback in program history to lead the Vols to 10 regular season wins, doing so in his first year as a starter … Became the first UT quarterback overall to win 10 games as a starter since senior Casey Clausen in 2003 … Played and started in all 13 contests … A finalist for the Polynesian Player of the Year who was one of only two freshman quarterbacks to lead their teams to the College Football Playoff, joining Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt … Set a Tennessee record by being named SEC Freshman of the Week four times, breaking Tyler Bray’s old mark of three … Completed 213-of-334 passes for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns with five picks … Rushed for 364 yards and three scores on 109 attempts … Ranked second in the SEC in 50+ yard completions with six, which also tied for 10th nationally and was the second-most by a freshman in the FBS … Owned an 11:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio during the month of November … Accounted for 151 yards of total offense and two rushing touchdowns in CFP First Round (1/21) game at eventual national champion Ohio State … Shined in regular-season finale at Vanderbilt (11/30), completing 18-of-26 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns, including a season-long 86-yard completion to Dont’e Thornton Jr., which was the longest pass play by UT since a 90-yard completion against Georgia in 2003 ... Became the first UT signal caller to post consecutive games with four or more TD passes since Tyler Bray did so in three straight games in 2012 ... Also had 42 rushing yards on six carries in win over the Commodores ... Had a career-high four touchdown passes in win over UTEP (11/23) and completed 17-of-23 pass attempts (73.9 percent) for 209 yards while also rushing for 36 yards against the Miners ... Completed 20-of-33 passes for 167 yards at No. 12 Georgia (11/16) … Was 8-of-13 passing for 174 yards and two TDs in the first half of win over Mississippi State (11/9) before missing the second half with an injury ... Posted his highest SEC completion percentage (73.7) vs. Kentucky (11/2), while setting career highs in completions (28) and pass attempts (38) with 292 yards and one touchdown ... Finished with 194 passing yards after completing 14-of-27 pass attempts, including the game-winning 16-yard TD connection with Chris Brazzell II with 5:52 left in the fourth quarter to defeat No. 7 Alabama (10/19) ... Went 16-of-26 passing for 169 yards in win vs. Florida (10/12) ... Became the first UT freshman QB to defeat Alabama and Florida since Erik Ainge in 2004 … Delivered another solid performance in his first-career SEC start, completing 13-of-21 passes for 194 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown pass to Thornton at the end of the first quarter, in road win at No. 15 Oklahoma (9/21) ... Was 10-of-16 passing for 173 yards and a touchdown in just a quarter and a half of action in blowout victory vs. Kent State (9/14), including a 53-yard TD pass to Brazzell in UT's record-setting 37-point first quarter ... Earned back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week awards to begin the season ... Played a solid all-around game in blowout win vs. No. 24 NC State (9/7), passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns while adding a career-high 65 rushing yards and a score on the ground ... Wowed in his first-ever start at Neyland Stadium, completing 22-of-28 pass attempts for a career-high 314 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of UT’s season-opening win vs. Chattanooga (8/31) … His 314 yards vs. the Mocs broke the school record for passing yards in a half, previously held by Tyler Bray who logged 313 in the first half against Troy on Nov. 3, 2012 ... His performance vs. Chattanooga marked the fourth 300-yard passing total in a half in Tennessee history … Opened the game vs. UTC 10-of-10 for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
2023 - FRESHMAN
Served as the Vols’ backup quarterback for the regular season and earned a redshirt … Played in five games with one start … Finished the year completing 28-of-45 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions … Added 71 rushing yards on 20 carries with three scores … Thrust into his first start for Citrus Bowl vs. Iowa (1/1) and shined, leading the Vols to a 35-0 shutout victory in which he was named MVP … Accounted for 178 yards of total offense and four touchdowns against a stout Hawkeye defense … Completed 12-of-19 passes for 151 yards and one touchdown (18 yards), while rushing 15 times for 27 yards and three scores on the ground … Tied a Tennessee bowl record with three rushing scores, matching Joshua Dobbs in the 2016 Music City Bowl and James Stewart in the 1994 Gator Bowl … Saw his most extensive action of the regular season vs. Vanderbilt (11/25), completing 9 of his 12 pass attempts for 66 yards while also accounting for 15 rushing yards in the victory over the Commodores ... Orchestrated two productive drives in win vs. UConn (11/4), including an 8-play, 78-yard TD drive in the third quarter that was punctuated with a 19-yard TD pass to McCallan Castles, the first TD pass of his career ... Finished 5-of-9 passing for 86 yards and a TD and also had a 25-yard scamper to convert a third down in win over the Huskies ... Saw action on the final two drives of UT’s win over UTSA (9/23), but did not complete a pass ... Completed 2-of-3 pass attempts for 11 yards and added one rush for eight yards while leading one scoring drive in his collegiate debut during season-opening win vs. Virginia (9/2) … Did not play vs. Austin Peay, Florida, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Georgia.
HIGH SCHOOL
An elite quarterback ranked the No. 1 overall player in the Class of 2023 by On3 ... A consensus five-star prospect and early enrollee who participated in Orange Bowl practice with the Vols, attended the game and then shined in spring practice ... Tabbed the No. 2 overall prospect in the country and No. 2 quarterback by Rivals.com and 247Sports.com ... Named the 2022 Polynesian High School Player of the Year and was selected as the Offensive MVP of the Polynesian Bowl ... Helped lead Warren High School to a 9-2 record while throwing for 1,726 yards and 25 touchdowns as a senior … Added 399 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground in 2022 … As a junior, tossed for 2,244 yards and 33 touchdowns on 162-of-272 passing, while adding 158 yards and three touchdowns on the ground … Guided Warren to an 8-1 record and a CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoff appearance in 2021 … Committed to Tennessee in March 2022 … Was widely considered one of the top volleyball players in the country … Played volleyball at Long Beach Poly as a freshman before transferring to Warren … Coached by Kevin Pearson.PERSONAL
Full name is Nicholaus Iamaleava Jr. … Born on Sept. 2, 2004, in Long Beach, California … Is of Samoan descent … Son of Nicholaus and Marleinna Iamaleava … Comes from an athletic family and has seven siblings, Nicaylah, Matt, Madden, McKennah, Ninalei, Mallory and Nori … His older brother, Matt, was one of the top high school volleyball players in the country before playing at Long Beach State … His sister, Nicaylah, played volleyball at Cypress College … His brother, Madden, is one of the top prep quarterbacks in the country for the Class of 2025 … Majoring in information sciences … X handle is @nico_iamaleava8 … Instagram handle is @nico_iamaleava8Setting the record straight:
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) December 21, 2022
ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va @nico_iamaleava8 pic.twitter.com/UbmaY14TiL
