Tennessee HC Josh Heupel addresses the high expectations from the media for QB Nico Iamaleava

Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava has only started one game at the collegiate level, but that hasn't stopped the former five-star recruit from receiving some Heisman hype ahead of the 2024 season. 

Iamaleava, who will be the Vols' starting quarterback this fall, is facing some high expectations due to his high recruiting rating and his lucrative NIL deal. 

High expectations can be tough for some young players to handle. But Vols head coach Josh Heupel doesn't expect that to be the case with Iamaleava -- mostly because Iamaleava's expectations for himself are higher than the expectations from the outside. 

"Outside the building, everybody's got extremely high expectations of him," said Heupel during an appearance on The Nation this past week. "Inside the building, we do too. Most importantly, none of those expectations are higher than his. But he's able to go to work every single day and ultimately that's what takes you to being the player that you're capable of [being]. So he's in a race to get there as fast as he can. This spring's going to be big for him, just continue to grow and master the things he needs to play the position extremely efficiently."

It's much easier to deal with high expectations when your internal expectations are higher than the outside expectations. 

Iamaleava understands that everyone will be watching him closely in 2024. But that's not where his focus is -- instead, it's on improving every single day as he looks to lead the Vols to their first ever College Football Playoff appearance.