The Tennessee football team is having a great week. In the team’s 35-0 victory over Iowa on Monday, rookie quarterback Nico Iamaleava showed off his skills by scoring four touchdowns in all against one of the best defenses in the nation.
WR Bru McCoy said on Tuesday that he will play one more season for the Vols in the autumn of next year. The Tennessee offense is greatly bolstered by the announcement.
The importance of McCoy to the Vols cannot be overstated. When the ball is in the air, the seasoned receiver is a dependable route runner and sure-handed catcher. Even if he lacks the playmaking prowess that Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman displayed in 2022, he has still had some notable plays, including as a performance against LSU that featured seven catches for 140 yards that was full of chunk plays.
Since he went down against South Carolina with a horrific ankle dislocation, his value to the Vols’ attack when the ball isn’t in his hands has been on full display. Of Tennessee’s wideouts, he is the most willing and capable run blocker on the outside. He is quite the mauler for a wide receiver. After he was taken off the squad, no one was able to perform to his level as a blocker.
Josh Heupel’s preferred offensive strategy is the perimeter passing game. Throughout Heupel’s three years, the Vols have consistently used that. It is just the run game expanded upon.
Heupel will now expect his player to fully carry out that playbook portion, which creates opportunities for the offense as a whole.
In 2023, Tennessee’s passing offense was mainly disappointing, and both the quarterback and the wide receivers shared some of the responsibility. By 2024, both ought to be noticeably improved. Already, Nico Iamaleava is playing with the ease and pocket presence of a player two years older than he is. Tennessee is introducing several formidable weaponry in TE Holden Staes, the highly anticipated (and gifted) wide receiver signees Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley, and gateway WR Chris Brazzell II (Tulane). Everyone has the capacity to have an immediate effect.
Fortunately, Vol fans won’t have to remember the sight of him down on the field as their last memory of him inside Neyland Stadium; hopefully, it will be of him celebrating with his teammates in the checkerboards next fall. Still, the return of a familiar face should have the biggest impact on the Vols in 2024.
