Elite QB Iamaleavea Set for Multi-Day Visit With Vols

2023 Downey (Calif.) quarterback Nico Iamaleava will visit Tennessee this upcoming weekend as the recruiting period is live once again. Iamaleava and his entire family plan to be in town on either Thursday evening or Friday morning and stay through Monday. 

The elite quarterback is a consensus top-10 overall prospect nationally, and he sits atop Tennessee's 2023 recruiting board. This visit will be pivotal for him as he returns to Knoxville for a deeper look. 

Iamaleava visited Tennessee during the season for a game, and the Vols made a lasting impression on him at the time. 

"I took a visit up there this past year, and I loved it," Iamaleava said of the buzz regarding the Vols in his recruitment during a January interview with Sports Illustrated. "The fans there, the whole city of Knoxville, they are great fans. It was great. I signed my first autographs over there. They had pictures of me out there, and it was a cool experience that me and my little brother got to do. I actually felt bad for the fans over there, I gave them a terrible signature, but I have worked on it and improved my signature. I look forward to signing it for those same fans to give them a better signature."

During that visit, Iamaleava had a great chance to bond with the Tennessee staff. 

"I think that my relationships with the coaches got even stronger," he said immediately following the trip. "Me and Coach Heupel and Coach Halze had a great relationship before, but it was just great meeting Coach Heupel. I had never really met him. The game, overall, how it went, the offense is really dynamic. They just need a couple of more pieces, and I think I would fit right into that and leading that team to big wins. Coach Heupel pitched to me that he thinks I am a game-changer. I could come in and rebuild this back to the greatness that it was once at. Coach Heupel pitched to me that I have a chance to come in and compete with anyone and start as a freshman. Coach Halzle, we really didn't talk too much about football. He was asking me about my flight and if everything was treating me well. I really felt the love from Coach Halzle."

The expectation is Iamaleava could make an early decision, so this visit will be crucial for the Vols in his recruitment. The California standout is expected to take visits to Alabama and Georgia this Spring as well. The trio of SEC teams, along with Oregon, are battling hard down the stretch to secure a verbal commitment from the elite signal-caller.