ESPN's Greg McElroy has the best take yet on Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava's performance in the first half of the season

There's been plenty of discussion over the last few weeks about Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava's performance through the first half of the season.

Iamaleava hasn't exactly lit up the stat sheet in recent weeks -- he's passed for 524 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his last three games -- but he's 5-1 on the season as a starter.

Wins are the only stat that really matter in sports. And considering Iamaleava is now 6-1 as a starter at Tennessee (dating back to last season's Citrus Bowl win against Iowa), I'd say he's doing just fine as a redshirt freshman.

But the internet has found a way to be negative about the young quarterback -- which isn't all that surprising these days -- even though Tennessee is very much alive in the College Football Playoff conversation at the midpoint of the season.

There's no doubt that Iamaleava can be better -- the same goes for everyone on the offensive side of the ball for the Vols (from coaches to players). But the criticism has been a bit over the top.

Former Alabama quarterback turned ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, however, had a reasonable take this week on what he's seen from Iamaleava and the Vols so far this season.

"I understand right now that while people are watching Tennessee's offense and they're saying, okay, hang on a second, you know, where are the big plays," said McElroy . "Why is it that you can't manufacture the big plays? Why is it right now that the offense has had more three-and-outs, it feels like, in the last couple weeks than they've had in a really long time? Well, all of those things are perfectly fair. And if I'm Tennessee, I'm not thrilled with the performance....I look at it, and I look at a Tennessee team that has a lot of youth at quarterback, a very young quarterback. While we look at certain five-star players, and we expect them to just step right in and they don't skip a beat. We expect everybody in college football to be Trevor Lawrence, who was one of the top 15 players in the country as a true freshman, but that's just not reality.

"There are growing pains for guys. And your first season as a starting quarterback, you're going to see a lot of things you've never seen before. And you're going to feel a lot of things you've probably never felt before. Nico Iamaleava has probably never experienced adversity like he's experiencing right now. Yeah, he's missed some throws. Yeah, he'd loved to have probably a couple of throws back. But this offense is always one play away from breaking the game open. Always. That's what's fun about this offense. People are saying this offense is broken. I don't see it that way. I see a team that got into a 10-0 hole with all the pressure in the world on them, at home, which, to be honest, might be more difficult in that circumstance, when you're playing against a rival and you're a heavy favorite and you're in a 10-0 deficit. And next thing you know, you take the lead."

"You just got to find a little bit more for the passing game," added McElroy. Like I said, all it takes is one drive, one play to get Nico feeling good about things again. And that's the beauty of this style of offense. So I'm not panicking, I just want to find that play. How do I do it? That's by meeting with my quarterback to make sure he's super comfortable going into the plan this week."

McElroy is a former college quarterback so he has a unique viewpoint on the development of young quarterbacks. And it's no surprise that he nailed it with Iamaleava.

Everyone is forgetting that Iamaleava is still developing as a player. He's gaining valuable knowledge each week. And he's going to continue to improve. His teammates are going to continue to improve, too. It takes all 11 on the offensive side of the ball to make things work in the SEC. There are plays where Iamaleava needs to be better. There are plays where the offensive line needs to be better. And there are plays where receivers, tight ends, and running backs need to be better. The offensive struggles over the last few weeks for the Vols have been a group effort.

Iamaleava is writing his own story, he's living his own journey. It doesn't matter how Trevor Lawrence did it at Clemson or how Bryce Young did it at Alabama or how CJ Stroud did it at Ohio State. That's irrelevant to Iamaleava's journey as a quarterback at Tennessee.

The negativity toward young athletes from adults that are, in some cases, 20 to 50 years older is beyond unnecessary, it's just flat out embarrassing -- especially toward a quarterback that led Tennessee this past weekend to just its third win against Florida since 2004.

Related: Former Tennessee Vols defender leaves SEC program midseasonB