A sigh of relief.
Nico Iamaleava seemingly had found his groove. Whatever spark he found in the second half against Alabama carried over to the Kentucky game, and then again to the Mississippi State matchup.
Iamaleava was 8-13 for 174 yards and two touchdowns at halftime against the Bulldogs, powering Tennessee to a 20-7 lead. However, that’s all we would see of the former five-star prospect. Iamaleava didn’t return to the game out of the break, giving way to veteran backup Gaston Moore. He was ruled out with what was called an upper body injury.
“We anticipate having him ready for next week,” Josh Heupel said of Nico Iamaleava after the win against Mississippi State. “Precautionary deal. We expect him to be ready to roll.”
Moore finished the night 5-8, throwing for 38 yards. Tennessee leaned on Dylan Sampson and Peyton Lewis for the rest of the night, draining the clock and cruising to a 33-14 win.
Sampson also dealt with an injury scare tonight, leaving the game briefly with a lower leg injury. Tennessee would later lose top deep threat Dont’e Thornton to an injury.
Tennessee heads to Athens next Saturday night, looking to potentially eliminate the Georgia Bulldogs following their loss to Ole Miss today. The Volunteers will obviously need Nico to make that happen, who does seem to be coming into his own pretty quickly.
Kickoff is set for Saturday, Nov. 16th at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.