No-Huddle: Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee football throttle UTC in opener

B mck and Patrick bro goals 247 here inside of nean stadium with our no huddle following Tennessee 69 nice to three win over Chattanooga Tennessee handles business the way that it should against an FCS opponent and uh obviously I I saw X and and Twitter buzzing about the Nico ya malava show there everybody looked good for the most part today uh but certainly Nico was was the headliner and and got Tennessee fans rightfully excited with how he performed yeah not perfect uh that was suggested to Josh hpel and he was like that's not my how I thought about it uh and E do his credit too was like I got to finish the half better two minutes drill didn't work out they had a three and out before that where he had a couple of sort of Miss throws and a bobble to snap but man he he looked really good throwing the ball down the middle of the field throwing the ball down the field vertically uh hit Dante Thorton for a big play Then for a touchdown uh brw McCoy for a big play he never looked rushed or flustered he was always in control and uh took what was there when he needed to I like a couple plays where he kind of looked around and then hit the check down to a running back for a positive play was able to scramble and extend plays a couple times and yeah his first game as a starter here it's 718 yards uh he put up 314 and a half 22 of 28 so pretty good day for him and and obviously a lot of reason for excitan I think he showed why in this game yeah uh that 314 yards in the first half didn't play in the second half uh that 314 yards a new Tennessee record for most yards uh thrown in a half by a quarterback and uh we will talk about the running game in a minute but a lot of Tennessee's weapons looked really really good today Ethan Davis makes his first career touchdown catch out of the gates uh we mentioned a couple of big plays for Dante thoron he has two touchdowns today after having won all of last season looking good out on the perimeter then of course Brew McCoy and it wasn't just those guys I mean others made plays as well but those those were kind of the ones that stood out to me yeah I think I think Nico hit 10 different receivers during his first half so spreading the ball around there were some running backs couple tight ends involved in there so since he's got a lot of lot of Playmakers and and with a quarterback like that they have a chance to be really good on offense again yeah and the running game looked really good again uh to to your point about things looking good again offensively the running game looked really good uh Dylan Samson did not get a ton of work in the preseason but you can not tell by the way he ran the football today uh and then of course cam Seldon and and deshun Bishop with his first career touchdown payt Lewis getting in late khif Khalifa Keith had his first career touchdown there towards the end as well that running back room as a whole given how banged up they were during camp and how limited they were in terms of receiving reps they looked really good today as well yeah this was sort of the first time that derell Sims the new running backs coach has had his whole group healthy they Haven him in full strength all off season and uh you know Dylan Samson handled not getting a lot of practice time in Camp like you would expect a veteran to and he said it in there you I didn't want to come out in this game and look like I wasn't ready so he was intentional about how he found ways to get ready and you saw him play like he had never missed a beat and didn't skip a beat out there and he's very versatile can catch the ball can run outside the tackles in space can run in between the tackles as well he looked really good Cameron Seldon I think is a really impressive Story I mean this guy it was iffy if he was going to be available for the start of the Season uh and even Samson said this guy's a freak that he was ready to get back as quickly as he did and uh he didn't look like he had any limitations or hesitations with his shoulder either so uh I think he's going to be a good running back to it you know Sean Bishop had a good run too almost he like he was running on his tip toes like 20 yards and uh Samson had a good line in there I was like he should have scored that touchdown too so um that's a good three-headed start for him s Bishop's had a great offseason so uh they they've got some depth there in the back field and and they've got some guys new cast of guys but uh some guys that are really good fits for this offense that can be really productive running backs yeah I hate to just now start talking about Tennessee's defense because they had just as good of a day if not more of a perfect day they did not allow a touchdown uh even when Gaston Moore threw an interception and Chattanooga got the football right behind us here and and was set up two great hustle play by Nathan Le great hustle play absolutely even Gaston Moore uh track tracking the ball carrier down as as well but the defense it was a lights out performance and as Josh hpel said following the game they dominated the line of scrimmage for the majority of the game which is the expectation for this group and that's why they had so much success that they did yeah it was hard to pick a stand out cuz they were just rotating so many guys in and out I don't know who they're end up T leading tackler end up being but I would say if there was a standout it's got to be Tyreek West had a huge hit for the fumble uh on Chattanooga's first drive had the big hit for the sack the quarterback didn't see him coming I think he had another pressure too another tackle that he made uh his G he had nine months apart between this one and the Citrus Bowl but he also played really well in the Citrus Bowl and so this is a guy that was a highly rated recruit was committed to Georgia for a while now junior he said he kind of you know try is trying to carry himself like a pro cuz he's surrounded by a lot of guys that do that and if he can get consistent that's another just another playmaker that tenness has got up front and uh he was the guy that stood out today but yeah really coverage was good in the tight in the back end as hyp said solid play from linebackers the defensive line did what what a lot of people expected him to do absolutely Tennesse Begins the season in the win column they'll be in Charlotte next Saturday night to play NC State in Bank of America Stadium there for the Panthers and in the meantime we've got plenty of coverage of Tennessee 693 win over Chattanooga up at the side of goal 247.com he's Patrick Brown I'm Ben mcke