Why Tennessee football fans waited in line for hours to get QB Nico Iamaleava’s autograph

Billy Sentelle and Amber McGee drove 100 miles and waited four hours on a cold wet sidewalk outside Alumni Hall to get Tennessee football quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s autograph.

It was much shorter than Sentelle was willing to wait.

“This is nothing,” said Sentelle, a lifelong 53-year-old UT fan from Greeneville. “Last season, I stood outside (Neyland Stadium) for six-and-a-half hours after a game to get (former UT quarterback) Hendon Hooker’s autograph and a picture with him.

“So to only wait four hours for another great Tennessee quarterback is easy for me.”

They weren’t alone. A seemingly endless parade of UT fans wrapped around every corner of the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek shopping center on Saturday for a meet-and-greet event featuring Iamaleava and cousin Zaida Puni, a UT star softball player.

They started signing autographs at 4 p.m. Some fans roamed around the Alumni Hall store at 9:30 a.m., waiting for the line to organically form. By noon, a few people started claiming their spot on the sidewalk.

Trinity Coggins, a 26-year-old season-ticket holder from Grassy Fork, was second in line. His mother, Sandy, delivered tacos to him during the wait and eventually joined him line. They both left with autographed photos of Iamaleava and Puni.

“This is going to be framed as soon as I get home,” Trinity Coggins said. “It was worth the wait.”

How did the event come together?

It was a joint event between two name, image and likeness collectives.

Iamaleava has an NIL contract with the Volunteer Club. Puni has a deal with the Lady Vol Boost (Her) Club, an NIL collective for athletes in UT women’s sports.

Large families made up much of line to get autographs and photos of the two Vol stars. Fittingly, it was a family affair at the front of the line. Several members of the athletes’ families flew to Knoxville for the event.

“Doing this together as a big family is pretty cool,” said Puni, who grew up a few miles apart near Long Beach, California. “Who would’ve ever thought we’d be doing things like this? What a blessing.”

Puni is an All-SEC third baseman who’s played in the Women’s College World Series twice, once each at Oklahoma and UT. In 2021, she was on the 2021 national title team and then transferred to UT. And she helped the Lady Vols reach the Final Four last season.

Iamaleava, who was unavailable to answer questions from the media, is a former five-star prospect who will take over the starting job next season. He will finish his freshman season when No. 21 Tennessee (8-4) plays No. 17 Iowa (10-3) in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1 (1 p.m. ET, ABC) in Orlando, Florida.

Iamaleava has drawn a crowd since he arrived in Knoxville a year ago to participate in Orange Bowl practices. But his father, Nic, said he’s still surprised when he sees long lines congregate for Nico’s autograph.

“He wasn’t expecting this. None of us were,” Nico’s father said. “Nico is humble. He’d rather be behind the scenes and allow others to get the limelight.”

Nico Iamaleava debut custom line of leis

There were new items for UT fans to buy at the event.

Iamaleava celebrated his Polynesian heritage by debuting his custom line of leis in three colors: Orange and white, orange and grey and orange and black. The Lady Vol Boost (Her) Club sold exclusive Big Orange Family T-shirts on site.

Each customer received a free autographed poster of Iamaleava and Puni. And they weren’t supposed to bring in additional items for the athletes to sign, but a few fans bent the rules.

McGee took photo magnets off her refrigerator with her sons and grandchildren displayed. Iamaleava signed all of them. Sentelle said his autographed posters will go to his grandsons, Bellamy and the aptly-named Neyland.

The Lowe family got to the front of the line around 4:45 p.m. They had waited about two hours.

Dad Anthony, mom April, 10-year-old Aiden and 8-year-old Alana left Alumni Hall with handfuls of UT gear, all scribbled in black marker by Iamaleava and Puni.

“I think the NIL events are great, especially for families,” Anthony Lowe said. “You get to incorporate the kids into it. The athletes are accessible, so the kids can meet them.”

The Lowes had waited for two hours to get UT receiver Squirrel White’s autograph at another NIL event, but they didn’t mind waiting a little longer at this. The Iamaleava-Puni event has had few rivals.

“It’s not the longest ever though,” said Aiden Lowe, a fifth-grader. “If Hooker was here, this line would stretch all the way to country that no one has ever heard of.”

Perhaps that’s something for Iamaleava to shoot for.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football fans waited hours to get Nico Iamaleava’s autograph