Tennessee Volunteers want Nico Iamaleava free, loose with Oklahoma trip on deck

Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava is just one week away from a major test on the road in the SEC at Oklahoma, but head coach Josh Heupel and the seventh-ranked Vols are going out of their way to keep their Heisman candidate loose.

A freshman in terms of eligibility, Iamaleava has five touchdowns, two interceptions and ranks 34th in the nation with 525 passing yards in his first two-regular season starts. He’s made multiple highlight-reel throws, zipping the ball through coverage. And a few mistakes, as former Oklahoma quarterback and current Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel knows all too well.

“At this level you’re going to have to throw into tight windows,” Heupel said. “Being open at this level of play, you’re going to have to be able to place the ball accurately. That comes from your fundamentals, from your eyes. You’ve got to know where you’re going. You’ve got to be on the same page — wide receiver and quarterback can be on page with one of them and then there’s protection.

“A couple of those maybe you’d like to have back. But you’ve got to be really careful pulling the reins on the quarterback. Nico, two games into this season and the bowl game, he’s had great command and control of the offense. Decision-making has been really solid. I’ve been really excited about his command of what we’re doing offensively.”

Related: Week 3 college football rankings

Heupel said protection “as a whole” has been solid but the offensive line is working out some areas of focus to get all 11 on offense working on the same timing.

“All of those things have to play off of each other. It takes all 11, doing the ordinary things at a really high level, to function the way that you want to,” Heupel said.

Reminding the team and media Tennessee is the home or “Reggie White, Al Wilson, Eric Berry,” Heupel said his defense continues to be focused on evolving as a physical and assignment-sound bunch.

“We’ve played really good football here the last few weeks,” Heupel said. “That was the point of emphasis on Monday morning as we came into the building. As a program, we want to play aggressive. There’s a lot of things that we continue to improve on and we need to. That’s the goal every day that we’re in this building.”

Related: Former NFL GM explains why he would ‘never’ draft Shedeur Sanders

More must-reads:

• South Carolina, LSU Tigers bracing for Hurricane Francine’s impact
• How much longer will Deion Sanders be Colorado’s head coach?
• Former NFL GM explains why he would ‘never’ draft Shedeur Sanders