Now that we are just a few days away from the Tennessee vs. Alabama face-off on October 19, do you remember what happened the last time the Tide flew to Neyland Stadium? With just seconds left in the game, Tennessee’s Chase McGrath made a field goal that marked the Vols’ sixth win over Alabama. Is history going to repeat itself this year? Well, the expectations are high. Thanks to Josh Heupel’s QB Nico Iamaleava. On Saturday, Iamaleava is expected to soar higher now that he won’t be facing much resistance because, on the other side, there will be Kalen DeBoer and his shaky defense. While we are yet to figure out how things would fall into place for the Volunteers, DeBoer already has raised a warning for his squad not to take the Vols QB lightly.  

On3 analysts duo Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman explored the possibilities before the Heupel vs. DeBoer face-off. What interests them most at the moment is Iamaleava’s scores. The Vols QB has outperformed himself coming off with 199.5 passing yards. Against the Florida game, he came off with 169 yards and only needed another 30. So as Staples pinpointed, “One or two throws here could be the difference between Tennessee winning this game and losing this game.” However, Wasserman thinks that going below 199.5 would suffice, “Not because I don’t think Nico’s good or that he can become more accurate or get over his freshman you know lumps but given his average output and the opponent it seems like a pretty high number doesn’t it?”

Well, well, well, that’s a subtle way to question Alabama’s capability. And how could Staples just let it pass away like that? He countered his co-host, asking, “Like you said the opponent…are you sure Alabama’s defense is good?” See, the analyst is not the only one who sees Crimson Tide through a different lens. After all, losing to the underdog Vanderbilt Commodores is not something that fans expected from Bama. Plus, DeBoer’s crew barely survived scraping by South Carolina 27-25 in a game that was supposed to be an easy win. “This is not the Alabama standard,” the Alabama HC had no option to deny. Already in a sticky spot, Vols QB Iamaleava is giving Tide a cold sweat.    

Nico Iamaleava, a growing threat for Alabama

Tide is set to face one of its historic rivals, how could they just go without a plan? Now that they are yet to recover from the Vandy game trauma, DeBoer and Co. are already in the backfoot. What’s that is going on in the back of the mind of the Alabama HC? Well, it’s scary how the Vols knocked them off in 2022 for the first time since 2006. What if this time too Tide will have a loss?

And guess what? It only gets scarier with Iamaleava who has a lengthy build, and a cannon for an arm. The Tennessee QB has been so much of a threat that Tide has already chalked out a plan on how to deal with him. “I think he’s got a live arm, extremely talented. They get into their tempo off of positive plays, and that’s the key is try to make sure that they don’t get into that rhythm,” that’s what Alabama’s scheme is going to look like. 

Here comes the important part, “He’s still, I think, growing and developing, and we’ve just gotta make sure we disrupt him enough.” However, a few days back analyst RJ Young exposed Nico Iamaleava’s shortcomings as, “Defenses have figured out Nico Iamaleava.” Also struggling with causing damage from the pocket, can’t wait for Iamaleava to use his weakness to give Alabama a hard time.

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If you are interested in NIL, you can check the latest episode of the Think Tank podcast.