Ad Disclosure
Tennessee has hit the ground running in 2024, and people are noticing.
People like ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, who praised the 2-0 Volunteers on his podcast following their 51-10 pounding of then-ranked NC State on Saturday night in Charlotte.
“They just opened up an absolute can in Charlotte,” Van Pelt said on SVPod. “Boy did (Tennessee) look the part. The wave was tidal, and it buried State.”
Van Pelt was wowed by the Vols offense, but he was particularly impressed by freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who didn’t let 2 interceptions faze him on Saturday night. Iamaleava tossed 2 touchdown passes, threw for 211 yards and also ran for 65 yards with 1 TD on the ground.
“That quarterback that everybody raves about, he’s got the eye-popping like size, bounce, arm talent, speed,” said Van Pelt. “No one’s catching that cat.”
Iamaleava followed up his sterling performance from Week 1, when he piled up 314 yards and 3 touchdowns without an interception in a 69-3 victory over Chattanooga. The Iamaleava-led offense put up 460 total yards against the Wolfpack, including 22 1st downs. The Volunteers were also good on 3rd down, converting 7 of 14 in that category.
The Vols moved up 7 spots in Sunday’s new AP rankings, climbing from No. 14 to No. 7.
That’s 120 points in 2 weeks for the Volunteers, who will try to improve to 3-0 against Kent State this Saturday night in Knoxville. A huge test then awaits Iamaleava and the Vols at Oklahoma in Week 4.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
