At what point do you expect the $8,000,000 man play up to his compensation level?

[Special Ed]

For now, with basketball just around the corner, I'm just hoping Rick Barnes lives up to his compensation level and finally gets UT to the Final Four.

Nico deserves our patience.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

"Hes a kid."
"Hes a Redshirt Freshman."
"He's only played 7 games."

All of that is fine and good.however, the money drastically changes expectations. This is now a professional sport.

Expectations are impacted by rationality, and emotional maturity. Many posters are obviously not strong in those areas. Anybody not anticipating a learning curve through on field experience is way down that scale.

He does not have habits to unlearn, but will have to adjust his clock to do something faster, and be prepared to throw into existing but tighter windows or pull it down and get what he can get.

His skills have not diminished.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

I mean, if we're going off of NFL standards, you can be a mid-range QB and become the highest paid ever.

This is true. I’m not going to pretend that we aren’t headed towards an NFL model, but this is eventually going to comeback to Earth as some point. Rich people didn’t become rich by giving all their $$ away. If they don’t get the ROI they are looking for in a timely manner they will be reluctant to keep investing. This is why I think this whole collective thing is on borrowed time, as a whole, not meaning Spyre .

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Well he beat Oklahoma and Florida, so that’s a good start.

But lost to somebody we shouldn't have.

 

[superdave1984]

He threw 12 his junior season, 11 Senior season, look it up. Come back and let me know if I'm wrong

You are correct. He threw only 4 his sophomore season. I was a year off.

 

[VolBallGuy]

Damn guys. We are 5-1 and just beat Florida. Let’s keep the chin up.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

"Hes a kid."
"Hes a Redshirt Freshman."
"He's only played 7 games."

All of that is fine and good.however, the money drastically changes expectations. This is now a professional sport.

Why would i give a .... how much money he has.

Why do you? Did you donate $25 to his NIL deal

 

[OleRockyTopTennessee]

When I am the one who has to sign his checks. If it isn't my money I'm not gonna bitch about it.

It is your money, starting next year, if you buy tickets to games. There is a talent fee added to ticket prices to cover the cost of buying these high dollar, unproven players.

 

[VolArmy74]

95 percent of first year NFL starting QBs play at a below average level. Manning completed 56 percent of his passes, and threw 28 interceptions vs 26 tds his first year. Just because you're getting paid to do a job doesn't mean your learning rate should be light years ahead of what other QBs are doing at the same age.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

No you are wrong bud, it 100 percent matters. Why wouldn’t it? SMDH

Read through the posts. I've explained it plenty.

Then get back to class

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

For now, I'm just hoping Rick Barnes lives up to his compensation level and finally gets UT to the Final Four.
Nico deserves our patience.

More BS

 

[Hubbard]

Fix the O-line then we can talk about Nico.

 

[Mccage]

Between this and the thread suggesting a 'board of directors' including fans (!) to help coach the team, this board has officially jumped the shark.

It used to be fun coming on here and talking ball, but it has turned into a depressing mix of the angry and the absurd.

Yeah it ain’t fun anymore. I love Tenn. football but we have a bunch that don’t know S*** from shoe polish about the game. Maybe the worst.

 

[Wezcoast]

If it’s a professional sport compare it to Manning’s rookie season with the Colts and no offensive line. He was less than impressive. Did they waste those millions on him? Nico may never pan out but your expectations aren’t the benchmark he’s being judged by this year

That's a good comparison . Peyton had streaks where he struggled a lot .
*edit : as BKG already pointed out.*

 

[lawgator1]

"Hes a kid."
"Hes a Redshirt Freshman."
"He's only played 7 games."

All of that is fine and good.however, the money drastically changes expectations. This is now a professional sport.

Been waiting for this realization to dawn on people, including the players and their agents. The players reserve the right to transfer schools or to re-negotiate their NIL deals? That works both ways and we reserve the right to re-negotiate and pay you less next year.

 

[adam.vol]

Nico was worth $8 million because that’s what he was going to get whether it’s with us or another school. We invested in the top QB of 2023 and now he’s ours. Don’t act like we paid him to put up a certain number of passing stats. We paid him to choose TN so that TN could build a roster around him.

If you have another $2 million or so to offer him incentives to produce certain stats and you can get Nico to accept, then you have a case for performance.

 

[Voltradamus]

Seems to me, the job is getting done more often than not 6-1 as a starter.

The job is getting done by the team. At this point in his career, you can't call him a game manager yet.

Gaston can not run this offense better than Nico. He does not have the arm talent and the SEC would eat him up.

Which sounds like a talent acquisition/recruiting issue doesn't it???

You people are freaking looney

If pointing out what's obvious is 'looney' then I'll be that. You just keep pretending that everything is fine.

All of us want Nico to succeed, but he isn't there yet. Unless they simplify some aspect of this offense for the young man, the offense is going to continue to look like it has for the past 2 games.

 

[Okie]

Is there a one of us who, if offered $8 million (or even $1 million) to go to school and play football, would turn it down? Any issue with how much money a kid is making vs. what his performance is belongs solely on the clowns who are paying the money. Nobody is going to say "well, I appreciate the offer, but I haven't done anything at the college level yet, so I am going to have to decline your offer".

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Damn guys. We are 5-1 and just beat Florida. Let’s keep the chin up.

Their nose is too heavy.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Posters complaining about Nico not “earning” his 8 million NIL deal are the same ones complaining about us getting outbid in NIL.

Can’t have it both ways.

 

[BigALWiLson]

The job is getting done by the team. At this point in his career, you can't call him a game manager yet.


Which sounds like a talent acquisition/recruiting issue doesn't it???


If pointing out what's obvious is 'looney' then I'll be that. You just keep pretending that everything is fine.

All of us want Nico to succeed, but he isn't there yet. Unless they simplify some aspect of this offense for the young man, the offense is going to continue to look like it has for the past 2 games.

Gaston is not better than Nico. No matter how you spin it. Nico is more experience and talented. Age won't help Gaston. The playbook is not limited. It is an execution problem and a less talented QB doesn't make up for blockers.

 

[DaddyChad]

This times 1000. You can see how paying Butch Jones 4 million a year didn't make him any smarter. Now that has just extended to the players.

The good news is, for the "true vol fans" they now have so much more to hate. Life's good.

Fact is players should’ve been compensated in the past. Fair compensation could’ve been worked out by the ncaa.

 

[luthervol]

"Hes a kid."
"Hes a Redshirt Freshman."
"He's only played 7 games."

All of that is fine and good.however, the money drastically changes expectations. This is now a professional sport.

I disagree. I don't think it should change expectations at all.

The three points above are equally true if he gets 8 million or 8 hundred.

 

[VOLtaism]

"Hes a kid."
"Hes a Redshirt Freshman."
"He's only played 7 games."

All of that is fine and good.however, the money drastically changes expectations. This is now a professional sport.

He is not living up to the HYPE because the 6 weeks of hype was just hype. The hype was built off the backs of bad teams on our schedule. Quite different than the SEC schedule. Forget the hype and come back to SEC reality, surely you see what our defense has done to every SEC QB this season.

 

[C-south]

The winning qb with the better statistics? That one?

So needing a td with less than a minute to go do you think Nico would’ve thrown that td pass? So far he has only shown that he buckles under the pressure and runs out of bounds. Of course if he connects on the two wide open touchdowns earlier in the game it’s a non issue.