Tennessee football is entering a new era this season, as former five-star recruit Nico Iamaleava has taken over as the starting quarterback. Iamaleava is one of the most hyped up quarterback recruits in recent years, and he wasted no time making a strong impression in his first start.

In Tennessee's season opening win against Chattanooga, Iamaleava completed 22 of his 28 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns before sitting a majority of the second half in the blowout. The California native's performance led star wide receiver Bru McCoy to heap plenty of praise on his quarterback on The Paul Finebaum Show

“He takes command of the field really well,” McCoy said. “He's a great leader. He's an awesome guy off the field. He's just really easy to work with and learn from. It's been awesome to see him go out and do what all of us at Tennessee have seen him do, but now he's putting kind of the world on notice. This kid is special.”

Iamaleava will get his first tough test of the 2024-25 season on Saturday when Tennessee, now ranked No. 14, takes on No. 24 NC State in Charlotte.

Can Nico Iamaleava enter the Heisman Trophy discussion for Tennessee?

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The Heisman Trophy race this season figures to be a crowded one. There are a plethora of veteran quarterbacks on top teams that should have a chance to win the award, and some are already off to red-hot starts after week one.

However, that might not stop Iamaleava from being a factor in this race. While the competition was admittedly not up to snuff, he youngster showed everything you want to see from an inexperienced quarterback in a season opener. It was a nice piggyback off of his stellar performance in Tennessee's win over Iowa in the Citrus Bowl last season.

For Iamaleava to stick in the race, he's going to have to win a lot of football games. The Vols are certainly good enough around him to maintain a spot in the top 25, but their ceiling will determine their quarterback's candidacy in this race. The SEC is loaded in 2024, and Tennessee likely has to win at least 10 games against a gauntlet of quality teams for him to be in the discussion.

The other factor is whether Iamaleava can produce that “Heisman moment” that propels so many candidates to the award. Tennessee has three marquee games in the SEC where the redshirt freshman can shine: Sept. 21 at Oklahoma, Oct. 19 vs Alabama and Nov. 16 at Georgia. If he can have a big game and pick up a win on one or two of those occasions, he could find himself in New York in December.