Gaston Moore, Jake Merklinger 'did a great job operating the offense' in scrimmage

Redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava enters his second season at Tennessee and his first as the Vols’ starting quarterback in 2024.

The Vols scrimmaged for the first time in fall camp on Friday at Neyland Stadium. Following the scrimmage, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel discussed how his backup quarterbacks, redshirt senior Gaston Moore and freshman Jake Merklinger, performed.

“Both of them did a great job operating the offense, but they really have all training camp,” Heupel said. “Merklinger is a young guy that continues to get better every single day. He has great confidence and works extremely hard at it. He has a really good energy in the huddle. His demeanor is really positive.

“Gaston, has done a really fantastic job. Tonight he made some really nice throws out on the run. He has done that all of training camp. He has taken pretty good care of the football throughout the course of training camp too, so pleased with the development of both of those guys.”