Tennessee has freshman QB 'ready to play at a really high level' behind starter

The Tennessee Volunteers will go as starting quarterback Joe Milton III goes in 2023, but that doesn't mean the Vols will be out of luck if, for some reason, Milton can't go.

Milton gives Tennessee the best chance to make a run at the College Football Playoff, but head coach  Josh Heupel seems comfortable with the quarterback waiting in the wings behind the super senior. 

That's former five-star recruit Nico Lamaleava.

“I think he’s ready to play at a really high level,” Heupel said of his freshman backup, per On3. “All young quarterbacks, it’s different when you get out there and it’s live bullets and you don’t have a red jersey on. But feel really good about where he’s at. Command of our offense, being a really sound decision-maker, fundamentally being able to get himself in a good position to be consistently accurate with the ball. I like what he’s done.”

That's extremely high praise for a freshman quarterback, but it shouldn't be all that surprising. Lamaleava was the No. 2 recruit in the nation last cycle, behind only five-star quarterback Arch Manning. Manning is considered a future superstar for the Texas Longhorns, so expectations for Lamaleava shouldn't be all that different.

Whether or not he becomes that type of player for the Volunteers remains to be seen, but it's worth noting there's plenty of time. He's also exactly where he needs to be development-wise, per Heupel.

“As a young man coming into the program understanding the standards that we have here but the demands of playing quarterback at this level. Being able to start to grasp and understand what’s going on from us up front, protections, defensive structure, being able to see, and recognize, and anticipate, and see post-snap rotations from the back end," Heupel explained. 

“At the end of the day controlling his job and having his eyes on the right spot. He’s a dramatically different player than he was in spring ball, love the steps that he took in the spring too. This football team’s got a lot of trust in him."