'25 Portal Thread

[VolGee4]

Yes it is. As much as I’m not sold with pope sometimes it certainly is about money.

No, it’s not on the school side. You insinuated we didn’t have enough. There is enough NIL to appease MM. There was more to it.

 

[InVOLuntary]

WTF are we doing?

Go look at his stats. Not impressive.

 

[RiseToTheTop]

Go look at his stats. Not impressive.

now go look at his 23 stats when he actually had a QB

 

[Tennessee Golfer]

Maybe this will rid us of Pope and recruit an actual covered WR coach

What’s he covered in?

 

[volstudent26]

Idk what Branch is asking nor how how much money we have to offer. Nonetheless, you still make the phone call and see if we can make a deal happen. We losing 7 WRs to the portal or draft so we should have some funds allocate for the position.

Again I don’t know the numbers for certain. But If you’re the staff and are hearing that branch is looking for 2-3 million and you’re having a hard time getting Mike Matthews 1 million you might not even try.

Lots of stuff goes on behind the scenes so we really don’t know either they may have already done that and decided that it’s not possible or he may only want to look at certain schools.

 

[Berry4Heisman14]

My god the football forum is a disaster hahahah

 

[Brillovol]

My god the football forum is a disaster hahahah

And what’s new.

 

[Tennessee Golfer]

My god the football forum is a disaster hahahah

When has it not been?

 

[MemphisVol3]

Everyone has been trashing the WR room for two years now. Pope was receiving accolades when he coached up Tillman, Hyatt and Keyton in 2022. Hyatt and Keyton both made large improvements in 2022. We even had to give Pope a big raise to fend off other schools from hiring him away.

IMO Nico and Milton both throw a much harder ball to catch than Hooker. Plus neither of them make quick decisions like Hooker did. Keyton regressed and Bru was injured in 2023. Bru and Squirrel and Thornton were all injured in 2024. Although Thornton did improve from 2023 to 2024 despite his injuries. My biggest complaint with Pope/Heupel is they shouldn't have played squirrel after his shoulder injury. They should have played others in the slot more. I am hoping that Nico can improve in 2025 to make quicker decisions and throw a more catchable ball. He seemed to improve late in 2024.

It would be interesting to hear Bru's and Thornton's opinions on Pope. Doesn't surprise me that the players that weren't playing enough (in their opinion) didn't like him.

Kodi Burns developed Hyatt and Tillman though. He was their coach in 2021 up until the 2022 season. Hyatt and Tillman started much of their improvement in 2021. Hyatt then hit the jug machine tough in the offseason and took off. I think Pope did help players like Bru and Squirrel though. But last season and especially this season, the room has left a lot to be desired. So either it’s recruiting/evaluations, coaching, or both. Pope is a solid recruiter though.

 

[InVOLuntary]

now go look at his 23 stats when he actually had a QB

Nah. He was an ok reciever. We need better.

 

[volstudent26]

Maybe this will rid us of Pope and recruit an actual covered WR coach

One thing I don’t understand is if pope is so terrible why did we hand to fend off Georgia and potentially even auburn ?

You’d think if the SEC champs want him then he’s gotta be a decent coach. Our receivers block very well and have a lot less drops than some teams. I’m not sure pope is as bad as some people make him out to be. It’s easy to blame assistant coaches when this may really be an issue of NIL and an offense that takes a bit to learn because of reads.

Now it could be pope I’m not sold on him but anyone acting like they know for certain is probably over confident.

 

[Vol8188]

Nico could help us and earn some of that $2mil/year. Talk to CJH, see who he thinks can help us that’s in the portal. Pick up the phone make some calls. OL, WR, RB? You want/need help then lead the way.

I’m sure he already does.

 

[volstudent26]

One thing I don’t understand is if pope is so terrible why did we hand to fend off Georgia and potentially even auburn ?

You’d think if the SEC champs want him then he’s gotta be a decent coach. Our receivers block very well and have a lot less drops than some teams. I’m not sure pope is as bad as some people make him out to be. It’s easy to blame assistant coaches when this may really be an issue of NIL and an offense that takes a bit to learn because of reads.

Now it could be pope I’m not sold on him but anyone acting like they know for certain is probably over confident.

Have to*

 

[jakez4ut]

Don’t know about that either. He was just leveraging but also think he was unsure about Nico.

Agree. Supply and demand. All the other wr departures increases his value by default. And if we're gonna shop for WR's in the portal, they're at least going to be similar caliber, or more likely less.... Also increasing his value because it's not likely we're going to get guys better than Matthews at this point.

 

[VolGee4]

Kodi Burns developed Hyatt and Tillman though. He was their coach in 2021 up until the 2022 season. Hyatt and Tillman started much of their improvement in 2021.

Hyatt didn’t. He was not much of a factor in 2021. He even publicly stated that he didn’t put in the effort in Heupel’s first year.

 

[tnvolfan16]

WTF are we doing?"

"Evaluating the position"

 

[Jackcrevol]

Go look at his stats. Not impressive.

we're running out of options here.

 

[Vol8188]

Is she your best friend? I bet she dont want no scrub, even when you holler!

Likely so. It’s so I can do some work on my laptop that I need to catch up on. But in all seriousness, it makes me feel like a scrub. Or me never having my wallet so she’s always paying (same account and I technically make more than her, but still scrub behavior).

What I refuse to do though, is be the guy who sits in the car while his woman pumps the gas.

 

[Vol8188]

Someone mentioned a dead period approaching. Can someone give me more info on that?

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

I do think other DCs have caught up to CJHs offense somewhat but also believe QB play has regressed since Hooker. We went much faster with Hooker at QB in 2022. All goes back to QB total command of the offense. Like I said before .. I think Nico will be better in 2025.

They haven't caught up with how to defend it...they've just watched film and realized that we always check into the same plays when the defense gives us a certain look. The offense has easily predictable tendencies, and that's a coaching/playcalling issue...not a scheme problem. The Arkansas DC admitted as much and an OSU defensive player said they knew exactly what we were going to do. If the defense knows what's coming, then obviously your offensive players are really handicapped before the ball is even snapped. We've completely lost the element of surprise because Heupel and the staff haven't done enough self-scouting to make sure they're not predictable. It's disappointing but also encouraging because that's easy to fix and could certainly lead to a leap forward on offense next season.

 

[MemphisVol3]

Hyatt didn’t. He was not much of a factor in 2021. He even publicly stated that he didn’t put in the effort in Heupel’s first year.

@VolGee4 he got better during towards the end of the year but when he hit the jug machine and put in the work in the offseason was when he took off. When he returned for fall camp he was a different player. Not saying Pope didn’t help him at all, but Hyatt took the onus and did a lot of the work himself. Tillman got a lot better in 2021.

 

[Adam Sandler]

For this graphic to have been ready, this whole thing's been in the works for a few hours. That Hayes Fawcett fellow must be under a really heavy non-disclosure agreement, because he gets word early on before seemingly anyone else.

I think that graphic took minutes.

 

[Adam Sandler]

It means he grabbed us by the nads and got what he wanted.

He never “deleted” those photos. They were just hidden, since IG lets you do that.

Like they said last night, it was a money play and it seems like it worked to perfection for him.

Good for him. Now take the opportunity to be the best wr in the conference next year.

 

[Jackcrevol]

How many top 25 teams did Butch beat, not counting bowl games?

about as many five star freshmen as Pope plays.

 

[MemphisVol3]

Our corners were solid against UGA. Our LBs and Safeties got their lunch money taken.

I’ll add there’s not a secondary in the country that can man up on OSU’s receivers. You have to get creative and also pressure their QB. That’s the only way to contain or shut down that passing game.