Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava is out for the remainder of Saturday’s game against Mississippi State with an upper body injury. It isn’t clear when the setback occurred, as Iamaleava was on the field for the Vols near the end of the second half and led them on a quick drive ending in a field goal.
Prior to exiting the game, Iamaleava completed eight of his 13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He was not on Tennessee’s sideline at the start of the third quarter.
No. 7 Tennessee plays at No. 3 Georgia next week. Georgia is coming off a road shellacking vs. Ole Miss.
Backup Gaston Moore entered the game in Iamaleava’s stead. The Vols went three-and-out on Moore’s first drive leading the offense. Recently, 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins put Tennessee in the bucket of teams that were “not prepared” if their starting quarterback missed time, citing Moore’s lack of pedigree and production.
Moore was an unrated prospect coming out of Hilton Head, South Carolina, in the Class of 2020, but at least he knows head coach Josh Heupel’s offense well. Moore began his college career at UCF with Heupel before transferring to Tennessee.
Iamaleava has had an up-and-down season in his first year as Tennessee’s starter, but he has played his best football lately. In Tennessee’s Week 10 win against Kentucky, the redshirt freshman threw for 292 yards — a season high against Power Four competition — and one touchdown while completing 73.7% of his passes. He likely would have had a couple more scores were it not for a rash of drops from Tennessee’s receivers.
Entering Saturday”s game, Iamaleava had 136 completions for 1,705 yards and nine touchdowns. He also rushed for 193 yards and another touchdown.
