Billy Napier on Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava: ‘He’s a unicorn’

The numbers certainly haven’t jumped off the page the last two times out for Nico Iamaleava . Tennessee redshirt freshman quarterback passed fro 156 yards in the loss at Arkansas on Saturday, after throwing for 194 yards two weeks earlier in the win at Oklahoma.

Still, Florida coach Billy Napier knows exactly what his Gators are facing when they line up opposite of Iamaleava Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.

“He is a unicorn,” Napier said this week . “This guy is 6-6. I don’t know how much he weighs but he is a big, athletic — he is ripping balls in the outside third, 15, 20 yards deep. He is throwing all the vertical shots. He has a big-time arm. He is accurate. He can escape, extend.”

Up Next: No. 8 Tennessee vs. Florida, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Iamaleava completed 16 of 28 passes at Arkansas and was 13-for-21 at Oklahoma, including a 66-yard touchdown to Dont’e Thornton in the first half.

He set a Tennessee passing record for a half when he had 314 yards and three touchdowns in the first half against Chattanooga on August 31. He had 276 total yards and three total touchdowns against North Carolina State and 173 yards and a touchdown against Kent State.

Napier described Iamaleava looking like a quarterback that is still early in his career, with just six starts under his belt.

“He is a young player,” Napier said. “He is getting experience. He will continue to get better. A lot of hype around him and I think on the tape you can see why.”

Josh Heupel said Monday that Iamaleava being more productive comes down to  playing cleaner, both at the quarterback position and the other positions around him.

“As the (Arkansas) game went on,” Heupel said during his weekly press conference , “we didn’t play as clean. Some of that’s Nico. Some of that’s the guys around him. At the quarterback position, (it) takes 10 guys around you playing at a high level too.

“So sum of all parts, all 11 operating, doing … ordinary things that are really high level, consistently is the difference in the ball game.”

Josh Heupel: ‘We’ve got to go attack it and play well’

Tennessee returns home this week — the Vols have four home games over the next five weeks, against Florida, Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi State — to face a Florida defense that has struggled this season.

The Gators are ranked 14th in the SEC in scoring defense (24.4 points per game), 15th in rush defense (172.6 yards per game), 13th in pass defense (222.4) and 15th in total defense (395.0).

Defenses will continue mixing up looks against Iamaleava and the Vols. It’s up to Heupel and his offense to adjust.

“The last couple of years we’ve seen four-down (fronts), five down, three down, seeing those structures,” Heupel said. “We’ve got to go attack it and play well.”

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