Joey Halzle details Nico Iamaleava’s 20 rushing attempts against Ohio State

Nico Iamaleava, DeSean Bishop and Cooper Mays. Tennessee Volunteers versus the Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff first round at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio on December 21, 2024. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava completed his first season as Tennessee’s starting quarterback.

The 6-foot-6, 215-pound signal caller completed 14-of-31 passing attempts for 104 yards in Tennessee’s, 42-17, loss at Ohio State on Saturday in the College Football Playoff first round. He also totaled 20 rushing attempts for 47 yards and two touchdowns.

Tennessee offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle discussed Iamaleava’s performance against the Buckeyes.

“A lot of the runs that Nico ended up doing was just him extending plays on his own,” Halzle said. “We did have some design quarterback run on the play he scored on and a couple third and shorts.

“We weren’t creating big plays in the pass game, weren’t creating big windows. We had difficulty up front. It was just an entire unit where from start to finish it couldn’t get anything to pop going right there. That’s why you ended up seeing him running with the ball in his hand a lot.”

Iamaleava had two other games this season with 10-plus rushing attempts. He totaled 11 rushing attempts at Arkansas and 12 at Georgia.

PHOTOS: Ohio State defeats Tennessee at Ohio Stadium

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Joey Halzle details Nico Iamaleava’s 20 rushing attempts against Ohio State

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/joey-halzle-details-nico-iamaleavas-153239827.html

Author : Vols Wire

Publish date : 2024-12-22 15:32:00

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