KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Nico Iamaleava, wearing his trademark glasses and an easy smile, sat in the Peyton Manning Room last week at Tennessee's Anderson Training Center.
All around the Volunteers redshirt freshman quarterback were pictures, mementos and reminders of the best -- and most celebrated -- quarterback ever to play at Tennessee.
"He texts me before every game and then texts me after every game, whether it's a good game or bad game," Iamaleava said of Manning. "It's not that he's giving me tips so much, but more, 'Great job. Keep working. I'm here whenever you need me.'"
When Iamaleava interacts with Manning outside the season, it tends to be a bit different.
"He might send me a YouTube clip of an NFL game and how he breaks it down and what I see," Iamaleava said. "If you ask him something, he's got the answer.
"With Peyton, it's always the little things."
Not since Manning three decades ago has a football player walked onto Tennessee's campus with expectations as lofty as those Iamaleava carried with him when he made the trek from Long Beach, California, to Rocky Top last year as a true freshman. That's fitting because Tennessee will play in its biggest game in decades Saturday night (8 ET, ABC/ESPN+) when it travels to Ohio State for the first round of the College Football Playoff.
"The first time I met Nico in person, I knew he had the right stuff," said Tennessee senior Cooper Mays, an All-SEC center. "There wasn't any entitlement, none of that. He wanted to earn everything, wanted to grow as a player, and you've seen him do that. I think this is probably the best it's been yet, his comfort level and his command, and I think the big thing for us is we've been better at protecting him.
"He has that experience now and is just able to play ball, and that's going to exponentially increase how comfortable you are."
But Iamaleava has always seemed comfortable in his own skin despite the dizzying hype surrounding him during his recruitment. He was a rock star before he ever took a snap in college. Fans at Tennessee baseball games would chant his name when he and his family would drop by Lindsey Nelson Stadium on visits. He was a five-star recruit with a big arm and even bigger NIL price tag.
Iamaleava's reported $8 million deal, which escalates every year and averages at least $2 million annually, was unprecedented for a high school prospect when he signed in 2022 with Spyre Sports. Tennessee was on the front end of NIL collectives, brokering high-priced deals, and the commitment to Iamaleava changed the market as seven-figure deals are now commonplace among highly recruited quarterbacks.
"I was fortunate enough to be a part of that first class when NIL came out, and maybe it opened the door for others, but I wouldn't say I take pride in it," Iamaleava said. "I take pride in what I can do to help our team."
So far, it's difficult to argue with Tennessee's investment, even with Iamaleava putting up pedestrian individual numbers this season against the Vols' toughest competition. He accounted for just nine touchdowns and turned the ball over six times in eight SEC games.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel wasn't a numbers guy when he played quarterback at Oklahoma, so stats don't concern him about Iamaleava, who threw eight of his 19 touchdown passes in his last two games.
"The primary goal for Nico, the No. 1 thing and the only thing, is to win. And to me, that's how quarterbacks get measured," said Heupel, who led Oklahoma to a national championship in 2000. "Numbers are one thing, but it's about wins."
Iamaleava already has etched his name into the Tennessee record books. He's the first freshman (true freshman or redshirt) in school history to win 10 games as a starter. He's also one of two freshman quarterbacks, along with Arizona State's Sam Leavitt, to lead his team to the first 12-team playoff.
"This is why I came to Tennessee, not to break records or anything else like that, or to be known by all the fans out there," Iamaleava said. "It's about this team, my brothers. We want to win that last game of the season. I think I've gotten better each game. I still feel like I haven't played my best game yet, really our whole team, but we're looking to put that together."
Iamaleava has gotten bigger and stronger since arriving on campus after facing questions about his durability and size coming out of high school.
The 6-foot-6 Iamaleava was gangly as a high school senior and admits he has been hit more this season than he was in his entire high school career. Also an outstanding volleyball player in high school, Iamaleava -- who has beefed up to 215 pounds -- has put to rest any questions about his toughness.
He took some wicked shots early in the season, but kept getting up. After suffering a concussion in the first half of the Vols' Nov. 9 game against Mississippi State and missing the second half, he was back on the field the next week against Georgia after passing the concussion protocol.
"Your football team is going to take on the traits of your quarterback, and you're talking about toughness," Heupel said. "When your football team sees that guy playing with physical toughness and mental toughness too, it garners a ton of respect from the guys around him.
"I also think it raises the level of play of the guys around him."
Former UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton has worked closely with Iamaleava the past two seasons as an offensive analyst at Tennessee. Milton was recently hired to return to UCF as quarterbacks coach under Scott Frost, but he will stay on with Tennessee throughout the playoff.
Milton has been impressed with the way Iamaleava came in with an underdog mentality despite all the acclaim -- and has kept it.
"He soaks up everything, wants to learn, absorbing everything he can from the coaches and his teammates," Milton said. "Yeah, he might come in as the top dog, but watching the way he helps bring guys along, maybe guys who are struggling a little bit, while also remaining humble and just being a sponge is the definition of a leader."
In fact, Iamaleava was named to the team's leadership council this season despite having just one career start: the 35-0 Citrus Bowl victory over Iowa to cap his true freshman season.
"It was really cool to see the way his demeanor sharpened, especially when it was time to take over the team," said Tennessee senior linebacker and team captain Keenan Pili, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in October. "Nico's not a rah-rah guy. He's more the kind of guy that takes a teammate aside and tells him what the team needs out of him.
"He's more on the quiet side, but he's loud when he needs to be."
Some restless fans started getting loud earlier this season when the Vols were puttering along on offense, with explosive pass plays few and far between. Iamaleava was being sacked more than he was throwing touchdowns.
In one five-game stretch, he was sacked 15 times. Some of that was because he was holding on to the ball too long, but the Vols also had trouble protecting him off the edge, and his receivers weren't getting open or making key catches.
In Tennessee's 19-14 road loss to Arkansas on Oct. 5, Iamaleava got his best dose yet of what it's like to play quarterback in the SEC when things don't go right. The Vols had one last play from the Hogs' 20-yard line, and as Iamaleava scrambled right, he ran out of bounds as time expired instead of taking a shot at the end zone.
It was a young quarterback, in only his second start against an SEC team, letting the moment get the better of him. And in the aftermath of that loss, with fans lighting up the message boards and talk radio shows, Iamaleava recalled what former Tennessee quarterbacks Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton told him.
"Both of them told me that the fans can be cruel sometimes and they're on your side when you're doing good and they can be against you when you do something bad," Iamaleava said. "They said whether it's good or bad to stay focused on your team ... and stay off social media."
Iamaleava insists he has followed that advice.
Told that he may be the only 20-year-old on the planet not on some form of social media, Iamaleava smiled and said, "Nah man, I've got it downloaded, but my pops never wanted me to have social media, so I kind of just stay off it and stick to my video games."
Video games were how Iamaleava was introduced to football; as a toddler he used to sit in the lap of his father while he played Madden. Iamaleava is one of eight siblings, ranging in age from 23 to 11, and family is extremely important. He said the entire family was together for Thanksgiving, and they all drove to Nashville that Saturday for the Vanderbilt game. His parents have been to every Vols game this season.
"My dad always forced us to compete, to learn how to get that competitive edge," Iamaleava said. "I think that's one of the reasons I have such a great bond with my teammates because of how family-oriented it was in our house growing up. You don't back down, but you treat people the way you want to be treated."
Soon after word of Iamaleava's NIL contract surfaced, he knew the stakes. So did his father, Big Nic, whose advice to his son was simple.
"He just told me that it all starts over when I get here," Iamaleava said. "None of that high school stuff matters. Any accolades that happened in the past ... that it all starts over again. The work starts over. So as soon as I got here, I put my head down and went to work.
"All that other noise, I let it go. It wasn't going to get in my way."
Some young players are swallowed up by the hype. Others thrive. Heupel said he knew during the recruiting process what he was getting in Iamaleava.
"There's no doubt that he's heard those expectations and has to live with them every single day," Heupel said. "But what's really unique about Nico is that he can be himself and go through his journey as a quarterback growing into the player that he's going to be capable of, which is elite, but he can handle everything else that's going on around him.
"It's really rare for a young quarterback to be able to do that."
Mays, who comes from a family of Tennessee offensive linemen, admits he's no quarterback guru. But he can usually sniff out who's a competitor and who's serious about putting in the work that it takes to be elite.
The Vols were finishing their Orange Bowl preparations in December 2022 when Iamaleava, who was among a group of incoming freshmen already on campus, walked up to Mays after practice.
Immediately, Iamaleava started asking Mays why he was turning the protection a certain way.
"For him to be invested enough to come up and ask me those things, just showing that kind of humility in and of itself, told me that he was going to figure stuff out here early," Mays said. "Obviously, you're going to wonder about any five-star kid who gets that much attention, how he's going to react to not being the best player on the team anymore. A lot of times it's hard for those kids to adjust, but not Nico."
Heupel added: "Players know faster than anybody who the real players are and who's a facade."
Over time, Iamaleava has become accustomed to his celebrity status in Knoxville. He quips that he could "hide in Cali." Even during classes, students will occasionally come up and want pictures or autographs.
He joked that teammates Ethan Davis and Cam Seldon have acted as his bodyguards.
"But it's all cool. You know that's just part of the deal," he said.
Having a chance to learn under Milton a year ago and not have to be the starter right away was a huge benefit for Iamaleava, who played some but didn't see any meaningful action until the bowl game.
Of course, as this season began, the expectation was that he would be the reincarnation of Manning. And in reality, their numbers as second-year players were similar. As a sophomore, Manning passed for 2,954 yards, 22 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, while Iamaleava has 2,512 yards, 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. But Manning also had an offensive line in which all five starters went on to play in the NFL, as well as future NFL receivers Joey Kent and Marcus Nash.
This year's Tennessee team has played more to its defense, which allowed 20 or more points only once in 12 games, and leaned heavily on running back Dylan Sampson, who rushed for 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns on his way to SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors. Iamaleava attempted 30 or more passes only twice all season and passed for more than 200 yards in only two of eight SEC contests.
"He's still young in the sense that he can get so much better in certain areas," said Milton, who passed for 4,037 yards and 37 touchdowns in his sophomore season at UCF. "But the thing about him, and you're talking about a kid who has everything, is that he's as eager to learn as he is talented, and I think he's one of the most talented, if not the most talented kid that I've ever been around."
Any time he's felt even the slightest tinge of pressure this season, Iamaleava has gone back to his days when he was playing flag football as a 6-year-old.
"Football is a fun sport. I think the more you enjoy it, the more you have fun with it," Iamaleava said. "The less stress you feel with all the outside noise and stuff like that, just going back to when you were a little kid playing the game you love, that's when it's the most fun.
"I feel like I have to remind myself at times that it's a game at the end of the day."
All the while knowing the game of his life, at least to this point, awaits in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday.