Where Tennessee Vols QB Nico Iamaleava falls in national media outlet's post-spring SEC QB rankings

With spring practice now behind us, 247Sports ranked the 16 starting SEC quarterbacks and they had a more than fair ranking for Tennessee Vols starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava. 

The redshirt freshman will enter the 2024 season as Tennessee's starting quarterback after receiving his first career start in last season's Citrus Bowl matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes. 

Iamaleava passed for 151 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for three touchdowns in Tennessee's win against Iowa. 

247Sports thinks that Iamaleava is exiting the spring months as the No. 6 quarterback in the SEC (you can check out 247Sports' full SEC quarterback rankings here). 

From 247Sports: Nico Iamaleava only played four series in Tennessee's spring game, but that was enough to shake off the rust with the rest of the first-team offense. There are big-time expectations for him this season, along with a supporting cast that includes a couple veteran wideouts and potential rising stars in the backfield. Luckily for the Vols, Iamaleava only played in four regular-season games last fall, preserving his redshirt. That may not matter if the 2024 season goes as planned at Tennessee and his draft stock soars during the 2025 campaign. The former five-star's likely a three-and-out player in Knoxville.

This definitely feels fair for Iamaleava, even though Vols fans undoubtedly hope the California native is at the top of these types of lists by the end of the 2024 season. 

For now, Iamaleava is ranked this high mostly because of his reputation as a five-star recruit. He played extremely well in his first career start for the Vols, but that's just one start. Iamaleava has to prove he can live up to the hype on a weekly basis if he wants to climb these rankings this fall. 

And while it seems like most fans are confident that Iamaleava will deliver on the hype, he still has to actually do it this fall for the rest of the country to believe that he's truly an elite quarterback.