But as a Freshman it was a decent start.
No major mistakes and he completed around 60% of his passes. I thought it was decent for a true freshman. But he never got better from that game until the next season.
But I agree with what you said. He didn't set the world on fire.
The biggest plays Nico made under pressure was leaving the pocket too soon and running. Rarely did he make a great throw under duress or while scrambling.
If he saw ANY pressure at all, he was bailing out to run.
Im not saying he was overrated, but we all have to be honest with ourselves...
Watching Nico play was about hope for the future.
You'd watch him overthrow a receiver or miss a player wide open and chalk it up to inexperience.
I kept waiting on him to put everything together against a good team and it just never happened.
Unless you count his first game against Iowa...
Nico missed an unbelievable amount of open receivers last year.
If JA can actually read the defense and make a halfway decent throw, he will beat Nico's stats by 500 yards and half a dozen touchdowns. And that's just if he's adequate at doing a basic skill a quarterback should have.
They seemed to struggle with the RPO against WCU. Their safties kept getting sucked in for run defense. WCU couldn't make them pay for it like UT can.
I'd say start there and adjust.