About Nico

#126
#126
Every year, every position should be open for competition. This includes QB.

Last night Nico missed some throws no doubt. He was also a lion who gave his all. Win or lose, that level of effort will always make him a winner on the field as far as I’m concerned. Right now, I’ve got his back.

Don’t forget he’s a Freshman. I expect many great years from Nico as he grows and fights to hold his position and win.
 
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#127
#127
Nico rarely throws the ball unless the receiver is already wide open. He never throws a guy open or puts up 50/50 balls. Many of the pass plays take a long time to develop and he doesn't have the time to progress through the tree. Pretty disappointing to lose that way.
 
#128
#128
NcVolfan24 said:
Nico was awful in the passing game tonight.
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Well to start off, the receivers never got any separation so where was he to throw it, a dropped td pass that hit the shoulder pads, was he supposed to run down the field and catch it also, the offensive line was terrible to say the least, defense was in his face all night. Starting running back injured and didn't play much, back-up running backs are ok but not as good as the starter. Several starting receivers were injured or non existent. And you think non of this attributed to the bad passing game?
 
#129
#129
Out of curiosity, who were the other schools recruiting Nico? What other schools was willing to pay him even half of what the UT Nil collective is paying him?
 
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#130
#130
FortSanders said:
Tennessee needs to spend more NIL funds to hire a backup QB. Nico missed throws and open receivers. He held the ball too long. He was too slow on his release. There needs to be another option.
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He is literally a one read quarterback right now, as in if his 1st option isn’t their he panics and exits the pocket to scramble. The oline didn’t help him tonight, and he did run hard, but if we are going to be an elite team Heupel is gonna have to teach to stay in the pocket longer and to look at more than one receiver before he bolts. Hopefully he will improve next season, and be more confident in his reads.
 
#133
#133
jarnol32 said:
He is literally a one read quarterback right now, as in if his 1st option isn’t their he panics and exits the pocket to scramble. The oline didn’t help him tonight, and he did run hard, but if we are going to be an elite team Heupel is gonna have to teach to stay in the pocket longer and to look at more than one receiver before he bolts. Hopefully he will improve next season, and be more confident in his reads.
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Historically, how many freshman quarterbacks in their first year are lighting it up and quick going thru their reads?
 
#134
#134
VawlIn said:
He doesn’t understand how to play the position at a high level. That’s what happens to a QB when they’re coached how to run a gimmicky 1-2 read system where the entire field isn’t used in the passing game, and Heupel is doing a disservice to him and every other QB and WR that he recruits by pigeon holing them into running the same 6-7 plays the entire game
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This is 1000000000% accurate. Nico doesn’t have a great feel as a QB. He definitely doesn’t identify things post snap because his eyes are all over the place and then he stares down receivers.

The scheme either needs tinkering or it needs to be coached better. I encourage everyone to go back to week 1. I know UTC was an easy matchup but he looked confident, played with anticipation, and our playcalling was multiple.

Last night it hurt to watch our offense. No creativity, no deep shots. Our offense is very stale. Year 2 in the system, Nico has to be better…period. He’s still a young player and not all hope is lost. But something has to change.
 
#136
#136
MDsweetT said:
This is 1000000000% accurate. Nico doesn’t have a great feel as a QB. He definitely doesn’t identify things post snap because his eyes are all over the place and then he stares down receivers.

The scheme either needs tinkering or it needs to be coached better. I encourage everyone to go back to week 1. I know UTC was an easy matchup but he looked confident, played with anticipation, and our playcalling was multiple.

Last night it hurt to watch our offense. No creativity, no deep shots. Our offense is very stale. Year 2 in the system, Nico has to be better…period. He’s still a young player and not all hope is lost. But something has to change.
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To be fair, I think the piss poor defensive efforts put pressure on our offense and caused a collapse in morale.

This game was on our defense more than our offense.

A lot of it was coaching. It was clear from onset that our DBs, Safeties, and LBs were not keeping up with their WRs but we NEVER adjusted to try to run a better defense to address that.
 
#137
#137
volbound1700 said:
I was listen to some pregame content earlier this week from some Ohio State fans (different take). They had cited our WR core was not impressive. They called out Thornton and White as being good (but White has been injured most of the year) and mentioned us not having much after that.

I agree. The big issue has been our WRs.
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Why?? Have any of them gotten any better than when they got here?
I don’t see it
 
#138
#138
JMSqb11 said:
Historically, how many freshman quarterbacks in their first year are lighting it up and quick going thru their reads?
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Eric Ainge, Tyler Bray, Dobbs, and obviously Peyton…. The thing that worries me is he is a redshirt freshmen so he’s had two years to digest the playbook. Hopefully he takes a huge leap next year with the mental game, because he has all the other tools to be a great quarterback.
 
#140
#140
GVol1966 said:
Why?? Have any of them gotten any better than when they got here?
I don’t see it
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I am starting to think the Heupel system is a lot like Butch Jones system but a little improved.

Issue with Butch Jones was that he wanted to run his offense and never adjusted the system to fit the players like Alvin Kamara. So we could not take advantage of what talent we had. Heupel's offense does change up but, IMO, it doesn't address our strengths and weaknesses. For example, with our offensive line issues, quick passes are the way to go. We are great at run blocking (I have noticed) but terrible at pass blocking. We also don't have the downfield WRs so we need to be calling more quick passes. Basically, I would like to see us run an offense similar to the one Georgia ran against Tennessee in Athens or even similar to the one Arkansas ran against us.

The defense was getting torched and there was no effort to double-team or put safeties into spots that could help. We also aren't creative in our blitz packages which is odd as I think Tim Banks did a great job with that in years past.
 
#141
#141
Some of you watch a game and only watch the QB. I’m not going to say Nico missed any reads or throws but watch the entire field. Ohio State DBs were literally sitting on our WRs all night. They had no concerns about getting beat deep. They had no concerns about getting beat anywhere because none of our guys could create separation against them and they knew it. And in the few instances someone briefly got open pass protection was already breaking down. The only point in the game he had any time to throw was the first couple of drives and there was no one to throw the ball to. After that OSU’s D-line had already figured out how beat our OL.

Even the reporters were asking CJH about the receivers inability to get open. What do you want Nico to do? Throw it in stands earlier. No, he tried to find a way to get yards on his own. His performance was gutsy.
 
#142
#142
volbound1700 said:
To be fair, I think the piss poor defensive efforts put pressure on our offense and caused a collapse in morale.

This game was on our defense more than our offense.

A lot of it was coaching. It was clear from onset that our DBs, Safeties, and LBs were not keeping up with their WRs but we NEVER adjusted to try to run a better defense to address that.
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Oh for sure. But in order to win a National Championship, you’ve gotta be able to win differently each time. Yes, the defense didn’t show up and they’re the catalyst, but offense had opportunities to respond and didn’t.

This game to me is on the coaches. Banks….why not bring pressure/disguise? Will Howard isn’t good and we made him look like Carson Beck against us. That’s a recurring theme to me.

Love Heupel. And to have a 10 win season, beat Bama/Florida is certainly an accomplishment. But I want a National championship. That’s gotta be the standard here. We weren’t ready to play and that’s unacceptable
 
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#143
#143
volbound1700 said:
I am starting to think the Heupel system is a lot like Butch Jones system but a little improved.

Issue with Butch Jones was that he wanted to run his offense and never adjusted the system to fit the players like Alvin Kamara. So we could not take advantage of what talent we had. Heupel's offense does change up but, IMO, it doesn't address our strengths and weaknesses. For example, with our offensive line issues, quick passes are the way to go. We are great at run blocking (I have noticed) but terrible at pass blocking. We also don't have the downfield WRs so we need to be calling more quick passes. Basically, I would like to see us run an offense similar to the one Georgia ran against Tennessee in Athens or even similar to the one Arkansas ran against us.

The defense was getting torched and there was no effort to double-team or put safeties into spots that could help. We also aren't creative in our blitz packages which is odd as I think Tim Banks did a great job with that in years past.
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Basically on Offense and Defense.
They do what they planned to do.
If it works we’re ok.
If opposing teams have a better plan or it’s just not working, they don’t have an answer.
 
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#145
#145
UT97Vol said:
Some of you watch a game and only watch the QB. I’m not going to say Nico missed any reads or throws but watch the entire field. Ohio State DBs were literally sitting on our WRs all night. They had no concerns about getting beat deep. They had no concerns about getting beat anywhere because none of our guys could create separation against them and they knew it. And in the few instances someone briefly got open pass protection was already breaking down. The only point in the game he had any time to throw was the first couple of drives and there was no one to throw the ball to. After that OSU’s D-line had already figured out how beat our OL.

Even the reporters were asking CJH about the receivers inability to get open. What do you want Nico to do? Throw it in stands earlier. No, he tried to find a way to get yards on his own. His performance was gutsy.
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Not all on Nico. But QB’s get either too much credit or too much blame. That’s part of the job. That’s why I mentioned in the game thread, how is he being coached? What is he looking at on the defensive side? What’s his footwork on the backside of the progression?

Playing QB is INCREDIBLY difficult. The great ones make it look easy, but we all know it’s not. Gotta know pre-snap what to do, post snap how to adjust, how to look off defenders and then throw people open with proper timing/rhythm/accuracy. It’s a lot. Need to do a deep dive into how we’re developing our QB’s in this veer & shoot system
 
#146
#146
Horrible take. I watched the skycam view and our revievers never got open. Nico was having to throw into tight windows every single throw. This post is horrible.
 
#148
#148
MDsweetT said:
Not all on Nico. But QB’s get either too much credit or too much blame. That’s part of the job. That’s why I mentioned in the game thread, how is he being coached? What is he looking at on the defensive side? What’s his footwork on the backside of the progression?

Playing QB is INCREDIBLY difficult. The great ones make it look easy, but we all know it’s not. Gotta know pre-snap what to do, post snap how to adjust, how to look off defenders and then throw people open with proper timing/rhythm/accuracy. It’s a lot. Need to do a deep dive into how we’re developing our QB’s in this veer & shoot system
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Agreed. Everything needs to be looked at when you perform this poorly.

But the one thing I saw last night was Nico at least trying to get to a third read. I think he has some indecisiveness sometimes for of INT. But last night especially when they showed replays from the end zone he would look right nothing there, look left nothing there, and if he had time come back to wherever the third option or a check and not much there. It was like watching a HS team try to play a college team. They just blanketed our receivers with ease.
 
#149
#149
GVol1966 said:
Basically on Offense and Defense.
They do what they planned to do.
If it works we’re ok.
If opposing teams have a better plan or it’s just not working, they don’t have an answer.
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Issue is that other teams, like Georgia. Run a different offense or defense to match the opposing team. They don't always do it but they do for their bigger matchups. Tennessee has ran the same vanilla offense, and to a degree defense, every week. I do think defense adjusts at times.
 
#150
#150
Vol4LIFE85 said:
Horrible take. I watched the skycam view and our revievers never got open. Nico was having to throw into tight windows every single throw. This post is horrible.
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There were 4 throws that were batted down. There were at least 6 throws where Nico missed the receiver. He threw to the left or right of his receiver. That is 10 of the 17 he missed.
 
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