'24 GA QB Jake Merklinger (Tennessee)

I’m still not sold . I’m going to need a Dobbs for Hiesman endorsement to get on board
he couldn't even play in the second half, and I don't think he has played a full game all year! How is he going to hold up in the SEC if he can't even handle a high school game.
 
Star receiver Thomas Blackshear sat out last night, but Merklinger and Calvary Day didn't miss a beat as they trounced Thomasville, 49-0.

Calvary got off to a quick start after a botched snap on a Thomasville punt gave the Cavs a short field, leading to a short scoring run by Trevor Strowbridge. Tennessee-bound quarterback Jake Merklinger took over from there as the senior connected on 10 of 14 first-half passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns. He hit Doopah Coleman on a 24-yard scoring strike on a crossing pattern, connected with South Carolina commit Michael Smith for a 16-yard touchdown and found Caden Arnold in the left flat – watching the senior make a nice move en route to a 69-yard touchdown...Merklinger scored a second-half rushing touchdown before taking a seat.
How Benedictine and Calvary dominated to advance to state football quarterfinals
 
My BVS is scared he is going to be the next Harrison Bailey.

But dude is crazy good. Wow.
odd thing to worry about. They're completely different style of QBs.


I am more worried about who's going to be coaching him.
I believe sometimes players can be over coached. No way in hell Nico wasn't ready to seriously contribute right out of HS. Yet he gets here early, and then gets redshirted...with how terrible Milton is??

Then when you watched him play, he held the ball too long and would just roll out and improvise.
He was never that gun shy...until Halze
 
odd thing to worry about. They're completely different style of QBs.


I am more worried about who's going to be coaching him.
I believe sometimes players can be over coached. No way in hell Nico wasn't ready to seriously contribute right out of HS. Yet he gets here early, and then gets redshirted...with how terrible Milton is??

Then when you watched him play, he held the ball too long and would just roll out and improvise.
He was never that gun shy...until Halze
Only difference between Halzle and Golesh is Heupel presented the latter more prominently and let him sell himself as a HC candidate. And it worked. Didn’t hurt that Golesh is great at the podium and very engageable. Otherwise you compare first seasons with a quarterback and HEUPEL calling plays and you have seven wins vs eight. Not suggesting that Milton would be HH’s level with a second season…we can see better. There was tons of second guessing of the playcalling the first season under Heupel. Our expectations were more reduced after a generation of offensive ineptness. Now we’re down to thinking a TE’s coach was the architect of last season? Unless Golesh fails at USF, he’s not coming back to coach our TE’s and entertain us at press conferences. And Abelin’s TE’s looked better when Milton bothered to include them anyway.
 
Merk is the real deal. He will push Nico. From what I have seen in the tapes, Merk also has really good vision and can throw a receiver open. Also, our offense works best when we can hit the seem route and also the slant/drag route. With our wideouts being so far wide, it leaves a ton of room over the middle. Milton can’t throw this route at all.

If Nico and Merk can throw this route in college, we will be back to scoring 40+ a game.
 
Merk is the real deal. He will push Nico. From what I have seen in the tapes, Merk also has really good vision and can throw a receiver open. Also, our offense works best when we can hit the seem route and also the slant/drag route. With our wideouts being so far wide, it leaves a ton of room over the middle. Milton can’t throw this route at all.

If Nico and Merk can throw this route in college, we will be back to scoring 40+ a game.
This is the worst offense(statistically) that Heupel has ever had and we're looking at an 8-9 win season. My hope is that it shows this isn't a gimmick offense to people who actually know a little about football. It isn't just plug and play.

Here's my opinion on why we've struggled so much this year. The offensive scheme is dependant on rhythm. The play calling builds off of other plays, so you have to have sustained drives for that rhythm to occur. There we're various reasons why they never really seemed to find that rhythm, but it's almost like they had to keep starting at the beginning of the song and we never built up to the good parts. Hendon was like Mozart out there. He was, by far, the best QB that Heupel has ever had. He was the most efficient QB in Vol history, and most of us took that for granted. Last year's offense was like a symphony orchestra and this year's was more like a garage band. The best that it looked all year was in the first half against Bama. I'll never understand why they went all conservative to start the second half. I think the staff learns from this, and the worst we see moving forward is somewhere in the middle of that.
 
Last edited:
odd thing to worry about. They're completely different style of QBs.


I am more worried about who's going to be coaching him.
I believe sometimes players can be over coached. No way in hell Nico wasn't ready to seriously contribute right out of HS. Yet he gets here early, and then gets redshirted...with how terrible Milton is??

Then when you watched him play, he held the ball too long and would just roll out and improvise.
He was never that gun shy...until Halze
based on what?

he is 50% for less than 100 yards, and only 1 TD.

and those stats mostly came against.....UCONN.

there is a pretty big difference in SERIOUSLY contributing against UCONN, vs contributing against an SEC gauntlet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigOrangeTrain
based on what?

he is 50% for less than 100 yards, and only 1 TD.

and those stats mostly came against.....UCONN.

there is a pretty big difference in SERIOUSLY contributing against UCONN, vs contributing against an SEC gauntlet.
And stats against any team of a handful of plays are zero indication one way or the other how he would perform in a full game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LouderVol
based on what?

he is 50% for less than 100 yards, and only 1 TD.

and those stats mostly came against.....UCONN.

there is a pretty big difference in SERIOUSLY contributing against UCONN, vs contributing against an SEC gauntlet.

Just somebody looking for something to complain about. Like all the sudden Heupel doesn’t know what to do with QBs
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigOrangeTrain

VN Store



Back
Top