College football analyst makes strong statement about Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava and the Heisman Trophy

Tennessee Vols redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava isn't the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in 2024, but there's one college football analyst who's willing to bet that the former five-star recruit will win the award before his time in Knoxville is over.

But there's a caveat.

On3 college football analyst J.D. Pickell told That SEC Podcast at SEC Media Days in Dallas this past week that if he can get a guarantee that Iamaleava will play three more seasons at Tennessee (including the 2024 season), then he thinks the California native will become the Vols' first ever Heisman Trophy winner.

"It's July, so we haven't seen the guy play just yet," said Pickell. "But the amount of ability he has, and also the system he's in -- if Tennessee is playing good football, he's putting up ridiculous numbers. And we've seen how this thing (UT's offense) is supposed to work with Hendon Hooker. When they had him and Jalin Hyatt, this thing was humming. And I think they have, maybe not a Jalin Hyatt-caliber kind of receiver in that room right now, but they got a lot of good ones that I think can stretch the field more for you this season compared to last season.

"The maturity, too, for Nico that everyone talks about, I think, gets overlooked a little bit -- in regards to all of his physical ability. The way that he's handled being the rumored eight million dollar man and he's the hope of Tennessee, he's taken all of that, it seems, in really great stride. You hear nothing but great things out of the Tennessee camp in how he handles the locker room and won that team over. And so, I'm excited for that. I don't know that we've had a player have as much hype around him coming into his first season as a starting quarterback since maybe [Tim] Tebow? It's been a long time since we've had someone with that much juice in a place like Knoxville that's obviously starving for a big-time winner."

There's no doubt that Nico has the skills to win a Heisman Trophy. And he's in an offense that's perfectly suited to showcase those skills. Now it's all about executing and winning games.

If Nico can perform as expected in Josh Heupel's offense and if the Vols can be a championship contender over the next few years, then Nico has an excellent chance to end Tennessee's Heisman drought.

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