Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava dropped a big hint about some changes coming to Tennessee’s offense
Tennessee Vols fans spent much of the 2024 season debating if UT’s offense under Josh Heupel has become predictable now that the SEC has four seasons of tape on it.
The concern is that teams have “figured out” how to effectively defend Heupel’s offense (Tennessee has seen a downtick in scoring the last two seasons).
Those concerns were seemingly validated last season via comments from an opposing player, an opposing coach, and a former Vol.
“People are seeing our team run it more,” said former Vols tight end Jacob Warren last season. “And I think it’s just getting to the point where people are starting to kind of understand what it is, understanding how to break it down. And that’s on the coaches, that’s on the players to adapt and be able to continue to push that needle and stay ahead of the curve and continue to have success with this kind of offense.”
Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams said that he noticed things on tape from two years ago that helped the Razorbacks in their win against Tennessee last season.
“When I go home, I’m watching a lot of tape by myself,” said Williams. “That’s kind of when I get my thoughts and I said you know what, every time they (Tennessee) got this look, they did this. And it’s [going] back to 2021, 2022, just watching every team that they played and trying to get a beat on, you know, what are their identities once they see a certain look.”
Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom made a similar revelation after the Buckeyes’ win against the Volunteers in the College Football Playoff.
“We actually had, I don’t know how Coach (Jim) Knowles knew this, if we showed a certain look, we had an idea that they were going to check to speed option,” said Ransom. “And if it was to the field, it was going to be Caleb (Downs) that was going to take the pitch and if it was to the boundary, it was gonna be me. And we got that exact look on third down, we knew they were going to do it….there’s not a better feeling when you see that look in scout and then you see that exact look in the game.”
It’s time for Tennessee’s offense to evolve. It doesn’t mean that Heupel needs to overhaul his entire system, but the Vols clearly need to add some wrinkles and new looks.
Fortunately for Vols fans, it sounds like that’s exactly what’s happening this offseason.
Tennessee starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava met with reporters on Wednesday and he hinted at some scheme changes that are coming to the Vols’ offense.
“I spent a lot of time with [wide receiver Mike Matthews], he came out to Cali and trained with me a little bit,” said Iamaleava. “I got some extra reps in with him out there. Really just — we got a new scheme in and just him dialing into the new scheme and just us building our rapport.”
I don’t know what all the “new scheme” entails — and it’s unlikely that Iamaleava or Heupel or offensive coordinator Joey Halzle will provide much insight as to what that means — but it definitely sounds like UT’s coaches gave Iamaleava and Matthews (and, presumably, the rest of the offense) some new stuff to work on this offseason.
Whether that leads to offensive success remains to be seen. We’ll see how it looks this fall. But it should definitely be encouraging that Tennessee is seemingly working on bringing some new looks to the offense in 2025.
