Josh Heupel was hit with the quarterback question immediately during Monday’s weekly press conference, as Tennessee gets ready to head to Athens for a titanic Saturday night showdown against Georgia.

The Volunteers head coach had to know that question was coming right away, too, after starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava left Saturday night’s victory over Mississippi State at halftime with an upper-body injury. Iamaleava took a hard hit on a running play, then took another hit on an incomplete pass late in the second quarter.

Heupel told reporters Monday he expects Iamaleava to be fine for the Georgia game.

“He was with us today. Had a really good day,” Heupel said. “Feel like he’ll be in great shape for Saturday, but you guys can monitor whatever the report is that comes out on Wednesday and track it through the week. But certainly feel like he’ll be in a good spot.”

Seldom-used senior backup Gaston Moore replaced Iamaleava in the second half of the Mississippi State game and did just fine, completing 5 of 8 passes for 38 yards while not throwing an interception. The Volunteers cruised to a 33-14 victory to improve to 8-1.

After providing a positive outlook on Iamaleava, the next question to Heupel, naturally, had to do with Moore and whether there’s value in giving him added reps this week in practice.

“Gaston gets reps throughout the course of practice every day, every week,” said Heupel. “That’s why he went out and played the way he did (last Saturday).”

Tennessee and Georgia will kick things off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, with the matchup having huge College Football Playoff implications. Georgia is an 8.5-point favorite, via DraftKings.