Well what do we have here? Initial reports came out that Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava was expected to play this Saturday against Georgia after he suffered an upper body injury in their game against Mississippi State this past weekend. But that however appears to already be changing.
Iamaleava is a star freshman QB for the Vols, and while nobody should ever wish injury on any player, Tennessee playing without Iamaleava would really increase the Bulldogs chances of winning this game. And it appears Iamaleava is trending towards not playing this weekend.
BREAKING:@chrisfallica says Nico Iamaleava is NOT EXPECTED to play against Georgia due to a concussion pic.twitter.com/90ogsqgGho
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 13, 2024
Nico Iamaleava expected to be out on Saturday
According to Chris Fallica with FOX Sports, the star Tennessee QB is not expected to play against Georgia this weekend. Now it is important to note that this report is not officialy ruling Iamaleava out for Saturday's contest, but it does state that it is unlikely that he does play.
Iamaleava is having an amazing freshman season for Tennessee so far this season. This year Iamaleava has completed 144 of 221 passes for 1,879 yards. He has also thrown 11 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions.
Tennessee already was going to have a hard enough time to win in Athens with Iamaleava, but if he does in fact miss this game it would bemuch more difficult for the Vols to pull off this win. Yes, Georgia football still needs to play a really good game in order to win, but their chances of doing so will greatly increase with Iamaleava on the sidelines.
Tennessee's first official injury report will be released on Wednesday, so it will be interesting to see what Iamaleava's status is on there. But as it stands now, it is looking like he will be sidelined which would be a nice break for Georgia.
Hopefully Kirby Smart and Georgia are able to take advantage of this news, because losing to Tennessee without Iamaleava would be very bad news.