Rocky Top Roundtable: Chattanooga

The season opener is just days away and the crew from Volquest is ready to preview the matchup with Chattanooga. It’s been a long offseason but this team seems poised to build off what they did this fall camp.

“I do think this team has come to work and have a good core group of veterans,” Brent Hubbs said. “Who know what it takes and what to do and I think helps some of these young guys come along. What Cooper Mays means to Nico is very important on offense. Then on defense, those veteran defensive lineman mean a lot to the defense.”

It will be the first home start for Nico Iamaleava after he started the bowl game in Orlando last season.

“You have to remember he has only played four quarters of real football,” Hubbs said. “Yes he played some mop up stuff but only four quarters so he is a young football player. All the hype suggests he is a veteran with a ton of experience which gets back to the question of how long are you going to let him play. He can’t get too many reps because he needs to every rep he can get. You aren’t going to play him recklessly either. He has to take care of the ball, manage the game and continue to grow.”

Some of his best friends will be a veteran offensive line that still haven’t played a ton of football as a collective unit.

“I think it’s huge,” Eric Cain said. “Especially the week before you play a top 25 team in NC State. Lance Heard missed the first scrimmage and John Campbell has been out a little bit. Andrej Karic has been limited some. I think it’s huge to get those working together in shape because that Virginia game a year ago a lot of them were sucking wind.”

Tennessee will kickoff against Chattanooga at 12:45 on Saturday afternoon.

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