
Tennessee football has been waiting all week for news on the availability of its starting quarterback.
On Friday night, ESPN’s Chris Low reported that redshirt freshman signal-caller Nico Iamaleava has cleared concussion protocol and will be available to play for the conference-leading Vols (8-1, 5-1 SEC) as they face off against Georgia (7-2, 5-2) on Saturday.
“Iamaleava passed all protocols and was cleared by the medical team to play against the Bulldogs,” Low shared in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
After a full week of practice and working through medical procedures to ensure it is safe to play, Iamaleava is officially a go — barring any setbacks.
Iamaleava went down in the second quarter of the Nov. 9 contest against Mississippi State and did not return for the second half.
Initially, there were two plays where Iamaleava came up hobbling, but he finished out the first half. When Tennessee returned to the field and out of the locker rooms, Gaston Moore led the offensive huddle.
Moore guided the Vols to 161 second-half yards en route to a 33-14 win over Mississippi State, but all eyes shifted to the severity of Iamaleava’s injury.
In the postgame press conference, head coach Josh Heupel updated the media to say that Iamaleava’s removal was precautionary. When the new week started, Heupel followed up on Monday that he practiced with the team, and the official designation would be released on the SEC student-athlete availability report.
Come Wednesday, the quarterback’s status was listed as questionable — where it remained on Thursday. The availability report reflected Iamaleava’s availability when it came out on Friday. The Vols will be without Jourdan Thomas, Keenan Pili, Edwin Spillman, DeSean Bishop and Vysen Lang but will have their quarterback back.
Now with the game kicking off in less than 24 hours, all signs point to Iamaleava guiding Tennessee’s offense to the field as it takes on a feisty Kirby Smart-led Georgia Bulldogs squad with College Football Playoff contention on the line.
Tennessee’s redshirt freshman signal-caller had been coming into his own in SEC play prior to the injury. Iamaleava passed for 174 yards and two touchdowns in the first half against Mississippi State. He has accounted for 1,879 yards and 11 touchdowns with four interceptions this season.
Tennessee and Georgia kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET in Sanford Stadium. The Vols and Bulldogs will be featured on ESPN’s “College GameDay.”
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