DuckInAPen
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Well said!"Definitely" huh? You bet your house and life savings on that, right?
And good on them if they made their decisions about Nico and his development WITHOUT caring whether you wanted to see him play or not. Personally, I did not want him to play this year unless absolutely needed due to injury. Why? For one, Fr are NEVER truly ready to play QB at the SEC level. They play. Some do well. But they need a really strong team around them for that to happen. This was a "good" O roster but it would have hurt his long term development to have played this year and taken the beating. That is especially true before Mays came back and Milton was having to help the OL more.
He came in at 6'6" and reported at an inflated 195 lbs. He was a twig. Now I think he's around 220 if reports are correct. That's still thin but a lot closer than he was even 4 months ago.
Nico will likely be the starter next fall. He will have the benefit of a year and a half of S&C without having to scale anything back during the season. He will have had time in the film room with Hooker and Milton. He will have had the opportunity to learn from Milton who is a "book smart" QB and Milton's mistakes. There is a chance that all of the WRs will return except Keyton. Webb and Nimrod are getting better. IOWs, the plan is playing out and has a pretty good chance of optimizing Nico's chances for immediate success.
There comes a time when a player can't get a lot better in practice. They need the challenge of a real live opponent. But the better you can prepare before they have that challenge... the better their chances of success are. Nico's timing to go out and be "the man" looks like it is coming together almost perfect.
Everyone is saying the bowl game does not count, yet every article out there says it was a one-time waiver for the 2022-23 season. I'd really love to see where everyone is saying that rule is still in effect.
NCAA issues waiver to allow redshirts to play in bowl games
The move will help rosters that have been hit hard by injuries, opt-outs and/or players entering the transfer portal.theathletic.com
“Earned”. I giggled a bit.Nico will not start against Vandy unless Joe is hurt. That is Senior night and Joe has earned the right to start, just like he has started every game this year. Whether Nico plays will depend upon how the game goes. We do not want to be 7-5, 8-4 is the goal. Yes, I know it is Vandy and we should win, but you don't start your second-string players just because some in the media and some fans say "do it".
If CJH started Nico and we ended up losing the game, those of you who are saying start Nico, would be bashing CJH for throwing the game away. Let him coach.