Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava is listed as questionable for Saturday’s showdown at Georgia, according to the SEC availability report released on Wednesday night.
Iamaleava left Tennessee’s 33-14 win over Mississippi State on Saturday with an injury, but coach Josh Heupel called it a “cautionary measure,” expressing optimism that Iamaleava could play this weekend. On Tuesday, ESPN reported that Iamaleava was in concussion protocol and his status was uncertain.
Earlier on Wednesday, Heupel was coy about Iamaleava’s status, deferring to that night’s availability report.
“Nico’s been good here in the early part of the week,” Heupel said. “At this point in the week I’ll refer everybody to the availability report that comes out (Wednesday night), and everyone can wait with anticipation for that.”
Iamaleava, a redshirt freshman, came into the season with high expectations, lauded for his upside. The first half of his season was relatively underwhelming, with Tennessee mostly riding its defense. But Iamaleava’s play has ticked up lately, with zero interceptions the past two games, 292 passing yards in a Nov. 2 win over Kentucky, and 174 yards on 8-of-13 passing before leaving the Mississippi State game last week.
Gaston Moore would be Tennessee’s quarterback if Iamaleavea can’t go. Moore is a senior who has been with the program since 2021, seeing action earlier this season in blowout wins, then going 5 for 8 passing for 38 yards when he entered against Mississippi State.
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Georgia has its own key player listed as questionable: Tailback Trevor Etienne, who has been dealing with a rib injury the past two games. He played through it in the loss at Ole Miss but only had six carries in the game.
Georgia’s third-leading rusher, Cash Jones, is also listed as questionable with an unspecified new injury. The Bulldogs are already without tailbacks Branson Robinson (knee injury, missed last three games) and Roderick Robinson (foot, hasn’t played this season).
Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked during Wednesday’s teleconference whether he believed what he saw on the availability reports — in general, not specific to Tennessee.
“It depends on the team,” he said, chuckling. “But honestly, I don’t really pay much attention to it. I mean, I look at it and see it, but it’s not a lot of control you have over that. So, when it comes out, it doesn’t matter if you’re skeptical of it or not. You got to prepare your team to play. And these teams we play in the SEC, they have capable backups, so it’s not like, once you’re in the probable or questionable area, you know there’s a chance they can play. So that’s what you go with.”
No. 12 Georgia, coming off a loss at Ole Miss, appears to be in a win-or-else situation on Saturday after the latest College Football Playoff rankings have the Bulldogs as the first team out. A loss would seriously damage Georgia’s Playoff hopes, while a win would likely cement its bid as long as it finishes off with wins over UMass and Georgia Tech.
Photo of Nico Iamaleava: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images
