Iamaleava Earns Spot on Maxwell Award Watch List

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was recognized among the nation’s best college football players entering the 2024 season as one of 80 individuals named to the preseason watch list for the 88^th Maxwell Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding college football player in the country.

Iamaleava is the only player on the watch list that is not at least a sophomore in terms of athletic eligibility. The redshirt freshman signal caller is among 15 players from the Southeastern Conference and one of 41 quarterbacks who made the preseason list for the prestigious award. The full 2024 Maxwell Award watch list can be seen HERE.

The Long Beach, California, native enters his second season with the program and is poised to be the Vols’ starter in 2024 after serving as the backup quarterback and playing in five games during his true freshman season in 2023.

Iamaleava arrived at Tennessee as the No. 1 prep player in the country according to On3 for the Class of 2023 and capped his debut season in Knoxville by leading the Volunteers to a convincing victory over No. 17 Iowa in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

Thrust into his first-career start, Iamaleava led the Big Orange to a 35-0 shutout victory in which he was named MVP after accounting for 178 yards of total offense and four touchdowns against a stout Hawkeye defense. By doing so, Iamaleava became the first UT true freshman quarterback to win a bowl game since Peyton Manning beat Virginia Tech in the 1994 Gator Bowl.

Manning is the only Tennessee player to win the Maxwell Award, doing so in 1997. Hendon Hooker was a finalist in 2022 while his top target Jalin Hyatt was a semifinalist in that same year.

Iamaleava finished his freshman season completing 28-of-45 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while adding 71 rushing yards on 20 carries with three scores.

Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced Nov. 12, 2024, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled Nov. 26, 2024. The winner of the 88^th Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 12, 2024. The formal presentation of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on Friday, March 14, 2025 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

The Maxwell Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most…