Vols QB Nico Iamaleava and Sooners QB Jackson Arnold Could Be SEC Wildcards

July 16, 2024

Rick Nyman,

DALLAS (AP) — Southeastern Conference quarterbacks fall into a few categories this year.

There are the cover boys: Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Georgia’s Carson Beck and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe who are all featured on the deluxe version of the new EA Sports College Football video game.

The experienced entrenched starters: Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart, Missouri’s Brady Cook and Florida’s Graham Mertz are in that group.

There are the new transfers such as Taylen Green at Arkansas and Brock Vandagriff at Kentucky and high-upside veterans like LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Texas A&M’s Conner Weigman, who have shown glimpses of star potential.

And then there are maybe the biggest wild cards, a couple of former five-stars who have been handed the reins to blue blood programs: Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava have the potential to turn their teams into College Football Playoff contenders.

The Sooners made their SEC Media Days debut on Tuesday and Arnold was the main attraction, drawing a three-deep crowd of reporters around his dais.

“What I feel best about and have the most peace about is his ability to be able to handle the highs and the lows, the challenges, the success, the failure that a season will bring you,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said. “Nobody is more competent or more ready, even though he’s a young player, and we’ve got to, in some ways, be the headlights for him.”

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel decided to leave his first-year starter at home, but don’t mistake that for a lack of confidence for Iamaleava.

“We want him to hit the ground running,” Heupel said. “He’s a young quarterback. Played really well in the bowl game. He’s going to continue to grow. Through all of his experiences here throughout the course of the season, he’s only going to continue to get better from all of those. But we expect him to play at a really high level from the very beginning, and we need that from him.”

The excitement among Volunteers fans about the Long Beach, California, quarterback was stoked by his performance in a 35-0 victory against a strong Iowa defense in the Citrus Bowl.

“I think it’s built a little bit of aura of confidence around him,” Tennessee center Cooper Mays said.

The 6-foot-6 Iamaleava ran for three touchdowns and threw a TD pass against the Hawkeyes.

“I knew he could throw it. I just didn’t realize he had as much twitch as he does,” former Alabama quarterback and ESPN analyst Greg McElroy said. “And for a guy that’s that long, I didn’t anticipate that type of quickness and lateral agility, so that was surprising. Really bullish on his potential.”

Heupel said Iamaleava has a magnetic personality that has made his transition to team leader smooth.

“He’s a humble guy, humble kid, you know, a guy that came in ready to work … and just was picking everybody’s brain,” Mays said. “And for a kid to come out of high school like that, five-star, whatever many followers on Instagram. People probably aren’t that humble. And that’s a kid that came in and was ready to go and ready to work.”

Arnold also started a bowl game last season after Dillon Gabriel read the room in Norman, Oklahoma, and went back into the transfer portal. Gabriel will be QB1 at Oregon.

The Sooners got a look at their future against Arizona in the Alamo Bowl and it was a wild ride. Arnold threw for 361 yards and two touchdowns, but also had three passes intercepted in a 38-24 loss to the Wildcats.

Arnold, from Denton, Texas, said the experience helped boost his confidence while also giving him a dose of reality.

“The turnovers are unacceptable, especially coming into the SEC,” he said.

Arnold spent the offseason trying to assert himself on the field and off.

“I think my biggest part of leadership that I focused on this offseason was being a vocal leader, stepping up through conditioning or working out or whatever. Just being vocal for those guys and picking them up,” he said.

Oklahoma linebacker Danny Stutsman is bought in. The senior said he worked out with the offense early Tuesday before leaving for media days and was impressed with how Arnold was first in the gym and the first guy to speak up.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s everything that we need,” Stutsman said.

Arnold and Iamaleava meet Sept. 21 when the SEC era at Oklahoma begins with a home game against Tennessee.