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

[C-south]

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.

He got it last year. An entire year to sit back and learn without being thrown into the fire. It’s time to put up now.

 

[Smokey19rt]

He is not performing as a high level athlete in his given sport. He was the 3rd best QB on the field against Florida.

Troll Alert.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

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

Underrated comment.

Of course it helps to work for the senility that is Jerry Jones.

 

[Delmar]

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

Then get back to class

You’ve explained your opinion which a number of us don’t agree with. Many of us believe it’s not much different than the NFL now with players signing and transferring for hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when it eventually gets to contracts between the players and the university, it will be full blown pro sports. Like it or don’t, it doesn’t much matter.

 

[livefaith]

Imagine hiring a builder (Nico) to build your home. He’s somewhat new, he’s built some nice sheds (high school) but he’s really inexperienced building homes (college), and he has a lot to learn but you pay him top dollar anyway while he learns through his many mistakes.

Nobody here paid him a dime. Now if a collective want to whine and moan, then they have a case. People act as if someone ELSEs NIL $$$ affects them in some way. Comical.

 

[livefaith]

Think of his NIL like an endorsement contract, he gets paid for appearances, product promotion, autograph signings, etc. Nothing is tied to his quality of play. Now what is tied, would be future endorsement opportunities.

Have you seen that national commercial with all the college stars on it? Got the Colorado kid, Milroe, and somebody else maybe from USC? But right there in the middle of it is DJ Uiagalelei!!! LOL, I know those guys would love to write him out of it, but they didn't paid the bills.

 

[livefaith]

That's what we had to pay him to come here. We assumed the risk that he would not perform to every VN posters' specifications. To my knowledge we have never had 100% satisfaction here with any player. Maybe Al Wilson (on second thought I am sure someone was unhappy with him at some point). Definitely not Peyton. Though I doubt many today would own up to it, there were plenty of people at the time who preferred Branndon Stewart.

"We" (UT) didn't pay him a penny. Still think a lot of people are not getting this NIL thing.

 

[livefaith]

I’ve been on both sides of unions in my lifetime. They’re garbage. I think they were initially founded on good thoughts. Now they are nothing more than an organization promoting mediocrity where no one can ever reach their true potential. While in a union a busted my ass and worked hard because that’s me. Yet earned the same wages as the people sleeping half their shift not giving a ****. That’s what unions now promote.

Sad, but true.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

You’ve explained your opinion which a number of us don’t agree with. Many of us believe it’s not much different than the NFL now with players signing and transferring for hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when it eventually gets to contracts between the players and the university, it will be full blown pro sports. Like it or don’t, it doesn’t much matter.

The HUGE difference is that in the NFL the guys are spending almost all their time practicing, attending meetings, working on their craft, etc. , full time.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

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.

That's an unknowable hypothetical that is irrelevant

 

[C-south]

That's an unknowable hypothetical that is irrelevant

So has been every excuse and comparison to everyone else. Of course there’s nothing hypothetical about what he’s shown the last 3 games.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

"We" (UT) didn't pay him a penny. Still think a lot of people are not getting this NIL thing.

That's a technicality and you know it. It's Spyre, and Spyre works primarily on behalf of athletics at UT.

Moreover, I'm not sure what your point is, I'm saying the average VN poster doesn't have a right to *****, that money was paid to get him to come here and promote products/services/events, it's not and legally can't be performance based. Now if you contributed $ 100,000 annually towards his deal or something, complain away, and if you have a legal way to bail, and want to, knock yourself out, but that's not the average poster who is on here acting like Nico stole something from them.

 

[deatojl]

Here is where the $8 million dollar man ranks in the SEC.

Passing yards: 8th, barely above Diego Pavia and less than Peyton Thorne.
-Also, more than Brock Vandagriff, Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Graham Mertz, DJ Lagway and Connor Weigman, Marcel Reed , etc. More than Weigman and Reed combined. He is only 132 yards behind Brady Cook and 103 ahead of Pavia

Comp %: 8th, behind Pavia
Barely behind Carson Beck and higher than Brady Cook, Garrett Nussmeier, Weigman/Reed, Vandagriff, Payton Thorne, Taylen Green

Average: 7th, yet again behind Pavia
Higher than Mertz, Ewers, Nussmeier, Green, Weigman/Reed, Cook, etc.

TDs: 10th. Behind Blake Shapen who hasn’t played in weeks.
Same as Cook and more than Weigman/Reed, Vandagriff, Green

Rating: 9th. Way behind Pavia.
Just behind Nussmeier and higher than Weigman/Reed, Cook, Vandagriff, Green

He is good for about 203 yards per game on average. Right now he has 1219 yards. So assuming he throws for his average from here on out, he will have somewhere around 2500 passing yards and maybe 20 TDs.

I am sorry but that’s pathetic for a guy of his supposed talent.

From an overall statistical standpoint, Nico is right on par with guys like Brady Cook and Garrett Nussmeier, QBs who are considered among the best in the league. I agree Nico needs to be better but he is a long way from pathetic.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

The HUGE difference is that in the NFL the guys are spending almost all their time practicing, attending meetings, working on their craft, etc. , full time.

This is part of why NIL is unsustainable. Pro teams, actually paying players for performance, can require a lot and offer bonuses for on field performance in a contract. NIL contracts are appearance or outside activity based contracts and it's against the rules to have on field performance requirements in them.

While the coach may establish team rules about meetings, behavior, etc, I'm doubtful when the school is giving NIL contracts that the NCAA will allow performance based "bonuses" even then. The NCAA is trying as hard as possible to keep players from becoming legally employees while trying to establish "revenue sharing" via school based NIL.

It's all a ridiculous bastardization of amateurism now and it'll be much worse with school based NIL because this "$8M man" type of argument will come up despite it being impossible for the school to actually treat that compensation like it's performance based even as they provide it.

The NCAA needs to rip off the band-aid and either get in the pro sports business or get out.

 

[hjeagle1vol]

What’s Will Levi’s makin?

 

[McDad]

What’s Will Levi’s makin?

Boneheaded plays.

 

[VOLLeeann]

You must have low expectations. It’s ok.
The world needs ditch diggers too.

VolRage...raging.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

So has been every excuse and comparison to everyone else. Of course there’s nothing hypothetical about what he’s shown the last 3 games.

A young, talented QB having trouble adjusting to the speed of the SEC

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

I was going to say it's been a long time since I've seen this much crying over a 20 year old kid giving his all for his team and university. But then I remembered last season.

 

[DaddyChad]

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.

Let me just address the “recruiting issue”. Quite frankly yes the initial challenges of recruiting held Heupel and his staff back a bit. Ncaa investigation, Tennessee being a dumpster fire for years, negative recruiting, players leaving the school in droves, Heupel being kind of an unknown. At a few positions especially the most competitive we struggled. That turned around slower than some wanted but the past two classes we’ve really turned it on. Tennessee is landing elite players at most important positions like EDGE, QB, OT, starting to not only land but stack talent at several positions and do that by taking the talent from other top programs. Olinemen unfortunately aren’t going to be magically ready; there’s only a few freshmen that can play at a high level vs dlinemen in this conference.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

From an overall statistical standpoint, Nico is right on par with guys like Brady Cook and Garrett Nussmeier, QBs who are considered among the best in the league. I agree Nico needs to be better but he is a long way from pathetic.

No he isn’t. Nuss has way more passing yards and TDs.

 

[Hubbard]

He got it last year. An entire year to sit back and learn without being thrown into the fire. It’s time to put up now.

Respectfully, it helps to look at some film breakdown and see what is happening with the other offensive areas.

Nico is the main piece of the offense but his performance is somewhat dependent on other areas.

With that said, Nico has work to improve. The sometimes chaos around him has rattled him at times and will effect his development.

Just this fan's opinion.

 

[87Vol]

NOW ! If he can't do it, then play someone else who can. Perform or sit. It's as simple as that.

 

[C-south]

Respectfully, it helps to look at some film breakdown and see what is happening with the other offensive areas.

Nico is the main piece of the offense but his performance is somewhat dependent on other areas.

With that said, Nico has work to improve. The sometimes chaos around him has rattled him at times and will effect his development.

Just this fan's opinion.

Two plays against UF would have been easy touchdowns with an accurate throw. Add to that he was under no pressure. Under pressure he really buckles and becomes even more inaccurate. Obviously he has the talent but maybe his football IQ and ability becomes worse when the pressure is the greatest which makes you wonder what he was thinking the last play of the Arkansas game. Hopefully he gets better sooner rather than later but all the excuses are just that….excuses.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

NOW ! If he can't do it, then play someone else who can. Perform or sit. It's as simple as that.

Choices are:
Gaston Moore - knows the system but likely lacks the athletic gifts to be successful in the SEC

Jake Merklinger - true freshman who likely has only the rudiments of the system down and next to zero SEC experience

Ryan Damron - redshirt freshman walk on

Navy Shuler - legacy redshirt senior walk on

So........ who performs better than Nico, you think?