Is Nico being "pampered"

#1
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cyclevol

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#1
I appears to me that Nico is being pampered so far. The offense relies on the QB running and he is not running, he's only getting yardage on scrambles and even then he is passing when he could coast for a 1st down. Just one first down near the end would have sealed the win. We are completely predictable without the threat of the QB running and I believe it's to keep him from getting hurt. I seriously believe that either of our backups could have won this game because they run the ball a lot.
 
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#3
#3
I “think” Heupel and company have stressed making plays with his arm and not getting hurt. I don’t think he’s afraid of contact at all. I think with how our Oline was playing and how our WRs were covered all night it was in his head badly.
 
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#4
#4
Needs to scramble more imo. There were a few plays he probably could’ve run for 20+ yards. They need to design more plays that roll him out of the pocket as well. For a mobile qb he hangs inside of the pocket a little too long sometimes. He’s young, I really think that he will be fine. We still should’ve won last night though.
 
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#5
#5
rocketskates said:
Needs to scramble more imo. There were a few plays he probably could’ve run for 20+ yards. They need to design more plays that roll him out of the pocket as well. For a mobile qb he hangs inside of the pocket a little too long sometimes. He’s young, I really think that he will be fine. We still should’ve won last night though.
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I think it's a wake up call for the play calling. Yes, he's being pampered but I hope and think the playbook and scrambling attempts are going to open wide now.
 
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#7
#7
NcVolfan24 said:
I think it's a wake up call for the play calling. Yes, he's being pampered but I hope and think the playbook and scrambling attempts are going to open wide now.
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I don’t understand why we don’t roll him out more like we used to do with Hooker. If they are going to bring a blitz, get him out of the pocket and give him a RPO.
 
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#9
#9
rocketskates said:
Needs to scramble more imo. There were a few plays he probably could’ve run for 20+ yards. They need to design more plays that roll him out of the pocket as well. For a mobile qb he hangs inside of the pocket a little too long sometimes. He’s young, I really think that he will be fine. We still should’ve won last night though.
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Exactly! He could have gotten a first down on many occasions early, but I kept waiting for him to run a keeper on a roll out late in the game. Arkansas was setup to give up at least 1 first down late since they wouldn't expect it.
 
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#10
#10
cyclevol said:
Exactly! He could have gotten a first down on many occasions early, but I kept waiting for him to run a keeper on a roll out late in the game. Arkansas was setup to give up at least 1 first down late since they wouldn't expect it.
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They were selling out to stop the inside run and/or coming straight down the pipe with their blitz packages. Roll Nico out a few times and they would’ve stopped doing it, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. We refused to adjust and honestly, once Green was out, I think that Heupel thought that it was in the bag and just tried to cruise this one out. Didn’t work too well.
 
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#11
#11
Yall love to overreact. Nico's a first year starter. Growing pains are inevitable. The key is does he grow from this. To expect him to never struggle is unrealistic. Me personally I'm glad his struggles are happening now early in the year when he can learn from them. It would be worse if he skated by early in the year without any struggles only for his moments to come late in the year when championships are on the line.

Nico will be fine. This team will be fine. This is just how the journey to greatness unfolds.
 
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#12
#12
cyclevol said:
I appears to me that Nico is being pampered so far. The offense relies on the QB running and he is not running, he's only getting yardage on scrambles and even then he is passing when he could coast for a 1st down. Just one first down near the end would have sealed the win. We are completely predictable without the threat of the QB running and I believe it's to keep him from getting hurt. I seriously believe that either of our backups could have won this game because they run the ball a lot.
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You can’t put an 8 million dollar player in harms way.
 
#14
#14
He looked like a freshman. With the star rating and the hype, I think we can forget he’s still young. Let the kid develop. He’s going to be a superstar.

Our o-line could have helped him out by holding blocks. He was pressured all night and the receivers didn’t get any separation.
 
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#16
#16
DukeDaisySam said:
You can’t put an 8 million dollar player in harms way.
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Well.....that's basically what I said, but he's not in much danger rolling out and coasting for 8 to 20 yards now and then. Still, he's no good to us if we don't win. The other QBs run the same offense I remember Hooker running. That's the same as having a Porche that you never drive fast.
 
#17
#17
DaddyChad said:
I “think” Heupel and company have stressed making plays with his arm and not getting hurt. I don’t think he’s afraid of contact at all. I think with how our Oline was playing and how our WRs were covered all night it was in his head badly.
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The problem is they also are very clearly pampering him (I said babying him last night) with the entire offense. Ok, he now has half a season of experience under his belt. It’s time to take off the training wheels and if he makes some mistakes fine.

Because right now the philosophy and play calling is so basic both Oklahoma and Ark figured out that you can defend the current state of this offense by pinch the DL (since every run play is straight up the middle) which allows the DBs to play off, prevent big plays, and keep everything in front of them. And wait for Tenn to run up the middle for three yards on 3rd and 7.
 
#18
#18
rocketskates said:
I don’t understand why we don’t roll him out more like we used to do with Hooker. If they are going to bring a blitz, get him out of the pocket and give him a RPO.
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I’m not sure who said it but Nico’s completion % isn’t too high when he rolls out. He is much better as a play action passer.

But I agree as he could elude the pass rush.
 
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#20
#20
Another thing that strikes me is this offense is so basic/simple that’s inherently predicated on tempo, creating a mismatch in the chaos of that tempo and not getting behind the chains. One false start and it’s like a house of cards.

Couple that with an inexperienced QB and the fact that we don’t have a Jalin Hyatt theres no gash plays in the passing game especially when the tempo isn’t really there to get defenses out of place. We haven’t operated at that pace since Hooker was the QB. Last year the OL was a huge issue. This year the OL may still be a problem but they’ve got to get this thing moving. The offense is too basic to play the equivalent of a half court offense to use a basketball analogy. This is a fast break offense and we are not fast right now. Remove the governor and let’s see if Nico can speed it up.
 
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#21
#21
The dual threat QB is tearing up the college football game & the NFL game! If we had Hooker or Dobbs playing last night we would have won easily! Nico seems to hold the ball too long & is hesitant to run! Wr's are not getting open & routes seem too basic! Nico is athletic, but he appears to think too much! We don't get enough pressure on QB! We had 2 sacks! Their QB Balled Out on us! It's time to give our other Wr's a shot! I was shocked that Sampson got caught by Slaughter!
 
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#22
#22
So far he has not handled the pressure well. Looked like they told him at the half he needed to run more to slow down Arky's pass rush because he ran several times in first 2 drives after the half.

The conservative play calling by Hype is a bit strange. Is it because of pampering Nico or no confidence in the O-line.
 
#23
#23
To elaborate more on this offensive scheme, it’s pretty clear all of us are seeing the same thing. Even though Dylan had 138, 53 of that came on one play (otherwise 21 carries for 85).

It is clear that this offense is incredibly vanilla and predictable. Is that by design for Nico?

Every run play is up the middle.

Ever pass play (sans the TE) is either a go route, a comeback/curl (when DBs are soft), a post or a WR screen. There isn’t much else in there. I recall once we had slot run a mesh that opened up the TE across the middle for a good gain, which illustrates some variety mixed in will offer opportunities for success.

In its sum, however, it’s really simplistic. This is why the tempo is important. Either that or add some variety to the routes and run game. Right now we are too predicable and exercising our option to conduct stupid penalties is making this issue worse.
 
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#25
#25
cyclevol said:
I appears to me that Nico is being pampered so far. The offense relies on the QB running and he is not running, he's only getting yardage on scrambles and even then he is passing when he could coast for a 1st down. Just one first down near the end would have sealed the win. We are completely predictable without the threat of the QB running and I believe it's to keep him from getting hurt. I seriously believe that either of our backups could have won this game because they run the ball a lot.
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There is a fine line here.

For those of us who remember Peyton as a freshman, you can argue that he was actually protected more. We rarely threw the ball down the field and relied heavily on our running game. His stats were very pedestrian as a frosh.

Coaches cannot put expectations on young players that they are not ready to meet. It’s akin to driving a square peg into a round hole.

Coaches instead have to find a player’s capability and comfort zone, and operate there.

However, whatever the staff is doing with Nico is not working because he is playing very tentatively.
 
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