Hey Negavols

[posivol]

Random sampling from 5 or 6 game thread pages.

you can see that in every thread all year long even with hooker playing

 

[Caz]

I don’t know anyone that wasn’t cheering for him. It’s insane to suggest fans wanted him to fail, knowing that would mean a Vols loss. I hadn’t seen one post suggesting that. You all create these fights any time someone points out any slight concern over a player.

I love the point you make. Some folks just like being confrontational. This is a forum to voice good and bad performance.

 

[hUTch2002]

He played well tonight , from previous outings he wasn’t called overthrow Joe for nothing. Hopefully he takes this outing and improves on it.

Really he has been hitting deep throws at a high clip over the entire 2022 season. Yes he overshot some against Vandy in a downpour but in other games he hit them. Hooker overthrew guys a lot too when he was in because it happens to all QBs. Milton actually had some touch on a couple deep throws last night. He’s going to be the starter game 1 and I believe he will do well.

 

[Doyle Hargraves]

I don’t know anyone that wasn’t cheering for him. It’s insane to suggest fans wanted him to fail, knowing that would mean a Vols loss. I hadn’t seen one post suggesting that. You all create these fights any time someone points out any slight concern over a player.

Some things never change around here. If you for one second doubt or question anything about this team, you are forever labeled a negavol. Sunshine Pumpers are the worst.

 

[hUTch2002]

Milton can def improve on things but he made enough good decisions tonight to get that W. And that’s all that really matters. Going forward, I would like him to be a better runner and use his body better on his runs. Fall forward. Use his strength to pick up short yardage. Hooker was an extremely adept runner. Always knew where the sticks were. Milton just doesn’t seem confident running with the ball even though he has all the physical gifts in the world. But he had a great game. Managed it well. All credit to him.

Hooker’s good runs weren’t called runs. It seems we had more scripted runs for Joe. There were a couple times where I thought he should’ve run but some of the sacks he took might’ve been sacks with Hooker too. Clemson’s D line is legit.

 

[posivol]

Listen, I love our lads, every single one of them. Joe's a great young man, big heart and freakish raw talent.

But the criticisms are valid to the extent that they point out he is not prolific. His personal talent, his skill sets, don't always translate into piles of points on the board.

Joe makes mistakes just often enough to kill drives. Does three or four great things, maybe even five or six ... then one or two missed throws, ineffective runs, or bad decisions, and it's time to punt.

We ran 14 offensive drives last night. Only four of them resulted in a touchdown. That's very different from what we did most of the season with Hendon in the shotgun.

That's how we end the game with 28 or 31 or 35 points. Not nearly enough to continue to be the #1 offense in college football. Probably not even among the top 10.

We don't score 40-60 points a game with Joe Milton at the helm. We can score 20-40, but not 40-60. It is simply not the same offense as it was with Hendon dealing. Two or three more of those 14 drives needed to be TDs.

The negavols aren't totally wrong here. Orange Bowl victory notwithstanding, MVP trophy aside, there is validity to the concerns.

Now, that can change during the off-season. Maybe. All Joe's shortcomings seem coachable. His accuracy can improve. He can be taught to make better decisions. There's great hope for another 10-11 win season with Joe at QB. On the other hand, he has been a college QB a lot of years already; coaching tends to follow an S-curve, with all the heavy improvement earlier on and tweaking in the last year or two.

Let's celebrate the bowl win, and a really awesome season. Let's be excited about the future, because Josh Heupel is still--my opinion--the best coach in the SEC, perhaps the best in college football. We're building toward championships again. The future is exciting.

But Joe may not be the answer when the question is about getting back to winning championships.

Go Vols!

you do realize we were playing the acc champs right.a team stacking top 10 classes for the last decade straight.we are in year 2 w/ a new coach and beat 3 out the last 4 national champions.thought big joe played well above expectations and much better than last year.we hardly missed a beat.

 

[hUTch2002]

Listen, I love our lads, every single one of them. Joe's a great young man, big heart and freakish raw talent.

But the criticisms are valid to the extent that they point out he is not prolific. His personal talent, his skill sets, don't always translate into piles of points on the board.

Joe makes mistakes just often enough to kill drives. Does three or four great things, maybe even five or six ... then one or two missed throws, ineffective runs, or bad decisions, and it's time to punt.

We ran 14 offensive drives last night. Only four of them resulted in a touchdown. That's very different from what we did most of the season with Hendon in the shotgun.

That's how we end the game with 28 or 31 or 35 points. Not nearly enough to continue to be the #1 offense in college football. Probably not even among the top 10.

We don't score 40-60 points a game with Joe Milton at the helm. We can score 20-40, but not 40-60. It is simply not the same offense as it was with Hendon dealing. Two or three more of those 14 drives needed to be TDs.

The negavols aren't totally wrong here. Orange Bowl victory notwithstanding, MVP trophy aside, there is validity to the concerns.

Now, that can change during the off-season. Maybe. All Joe's shortcomings seem coachable. His accuracy can improve. He can be taught to make better decisions. There's great hope for another 10-11 win season with Joe at QB. On the other hand, he has been a college QB a lot of years already; coaching tends to follow an S-curve, with all the heavy improvement earlier on and tweaking in the last year or two.

Let's celebrate the bowl win, and a really awesome season. Let's be excited about the future, because Josh Heupel is still--my opinion--the best coach in the SEC, perhaps the best in college football. We're building toward championships again. The future is exciting.

But Joe may not be the answer when the question is about getting back to winning championships.

Go Vols!

To be fair that game was called very differently than when we had Hooker. With Hooker we looked to run a lot and stay in good balance. Plus Hooker had Hyatt all year and Tillman some of it. We didn’t remotely try to run the ball until the second half and once we did establish some run game that’s when our offense seemed to wake up. Make no mistake, we’re a running team. So to ask Joe to sling it all over with no running game and no Hyatt or Tillman was a tough ask. It’s amazing what a good run game does to any QB.

 

[Sudden Impact]

For three Weeks we have discussed WITH little faith Tennessee would win --

MEANINGLESS BOWL GAME
OPT OUTS
MILTON CAN'T ANSWER THE BELL
BANKS GONE

Let US give Credit where Credit is Due.

The players played Great!
But the Coaching Staff Did their Jobs​

 

[sami]

Some Vol fans are going to be extremely distraught that Milton didn’t flop tonight.

Yeah, but a few admitted to eating crow, at least for one night. People generally don't like to be wrong, so there will be plenty of the same garbage next year anytime Joe overthrows a deep ball, you can count on that.

Joe let the game come to him, didn't force anything, and by the second half settled in beautifully. And he handled the post game with class and grace. A full off season with Heupel and the sky's the limit for this kid.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Yeah, but a few admitted to eating crow, at least for one night. People generally don't like to be wrong, so there will be plenty of the same garbage next year anytime Joe overthrows a deep ball, you can count on that.

Joe let the game come to him, didn't force anything, and by the second half settled in beautifully. And he handled the post game with class and grace. A full off season with Heupel and the sky's the limit for this kid.

Those who ate crow aren't included in my statement. Hats off to them. He could turn into Josh Allen next year and some wouldn't admit that he's doing a good job because, like you say, people generally don't like to be wrong (which is why we should avoid absolute statements like "he will never be good," "he is what he is," or, on the flip side, "he IS going to be good").

I'm optimistic after last night. Maybe it was an aberration and he flops next year. But he certainly gave us reason to hope.

 

[hUTch2002]

you do realize we were playing the acc champs right.a team stacking top 10 classes for the last decade straight.we are in year 2 w/ a new coach and beat 3 out the last 4 national champions.thought big joe played well above expectations and much better than last year.we hardly missed a beat.

The only D lines we saw that were as anywhere close to as good as Clemson were Pitt, LSU and UGA. In 2 of those 3 games we had fewer than 31 points in regulation.

 

[hUTch2002]

If criticism based on prior play is a negavol, call me what you will, if it makes you feel better.

He really hasn’t been overthrowing this year though except some in that downpour against Vandy. Hooker has been throwing high all year though.

 

[Sara Clark]

He really hasn’t been overthrowing this year though except some in that downpour against Vandy. Hooker has been throwing high all year though.

Hendon's deep pass hasn't looked good the second half of the season.

 

[hUTch2002]

Hendon's deep pass hasn't looked good the second half of the season.

I’m not just talking about deep balls. He threw high all year, even on short passes. That’s usually a sign he’s not setting his feet well. He will definitely have to improve his ball location to make it in the NFL. He’s a smart kid so he will figure it out.

 

[Delmar]

Listen, I love our lads, every single one of them. Joe's a great young man, big heart and freakish raw talent.

But the criticisms are valid to the extent that they point out he is not prolific. His personal talent, his skill sets, don't always translate into piles of points on the board.

Joe makes mistakes just often enough to kill drives. Does three or four great things, maybe even five or six ... then one or two missed throws, ineffective runs, or bad decisions, and it's time to punt.

We ran 14 offensive drives last night. Only four of them resulted in a touchdown. That's very different from what we did most of the season with Hendon in the shotgun.

That's how we end the game with 28 or 31 or 35 points. Not nearly enough to continue to be the #1 offense in college football. Probably not even among the top 10.

We don't score 40-60 points a game with Joe Milton at the helm. We can score 20-40, but not 40-60. It is simply not the same offense as it was with Hendon dealing. Two or three more of those 14 drives needed to be TDs.

The negavols aren't totally wrong here. Orange Bowl victory notwithstanding, MVP trophy aside, there is validity to the concerns.

Now, that can change during the off-season. Maybe. All Joe's shortcomings seem coachable. His accuracy can improve. He can be taught to make better decisions. There's great hope for another 10-11 win season with Joe at QB. On the other hand, he has been a college QB a lot of years already; coaching tends to follow an S-curve, with all the heavy improvement earlier on and tweaking in the last year or two.

Let's celebrate the bowl win, and a really awesome season. Let's be excited about the future, because Josh Heupel is still--my opinion--the best coach in the SEC, perhaps the best in college football. We're building toward championships again. The future is exciting.

But Joe may not be the answer when the question is about getting back to winning championships.

Go Vols!

Best post I’ve seen about this topic. Have certainly seen plenty of unreasonable posts about Milton from folks who would not give him a chance. But there have been the questions that you pointed out and those questions were/are valid whether folks want to admit it or not.

No, he is not going to be Hendon Hooker in terms of decisions or running. But he has made progress for sure and I saw enough last night to know that he will be QB 1 this fall. That was a good defense he was going against and he wasn’t going to be perfect. But he took care of the ball and only made one really bad throw that I can recall. The TD throws to Bru and Squirrel were as good as you’ll see. Overall, he did a great job under some major pressure to perform and we should all be pretty pleased.

I’m also excited for the young guys that played well last night. (Not the secondary but that’s been an all year issue.) And all the opt outs didn’t matter. All those who got their panties in a wad wasted a lot of time on that subject. Next man up. And the next man up did a good job last night in every case that I can think of. On to 2023.

 

[sami]

Those who ate crow aren't included in my statement. Hats off to them. He could turn into Josh Allen next year and some wouldn't admit that he's doing a good job because, like you say, people generally don't like to be wrong (which is why we should avoid absolute statements like "he will never be good," "he is what he is," or, on the flip side, "he IS going to be good").

I'm optimistic after last night. Maybe it was an aberration and he flops next year. But he certainly gave us reason to hope.

Maybe, but I don't think so. The Vandy game was in miserable conditions, and last night Milton looked light years removed from that game, but needed a half to settle in. Once the run game was finally established, the offense took off - don't forget that this offense depends on a solid run game to be truly effective, and that was even the case with Hooker.

A full off season with Heupel and to work with Bru, Squirrel, and Ramel, plus a full roster come September, and I can't imagine Joe not taking another few steps forward. Will he be as good as Hooker? Doesn't matter, because he won't need to be with an improved defense and more depth.

 

[dovervolz]

He played well tonight , from previous outings he wasn’t called overthrow Joe for nothing. Hopefully he takes this outing and improves on it.

I looked as if in this game Milton put a little more touch on his deep passes. Which is a really good sign for the future. Even the announcers brought up that point.

 

[DooleyOrangePants]

You all can’t enjoy anything, you’ve got to wage war on other fans, or the ESPN crew, or Bob Kesling. It’s always something. Why can’t everyone just enjoy the success?

I’ll go to war over how terrible the broadcast was last night. Atrocious.

Now excuse me while I go have my Klubnik flakes in my Klubnik pajamas.

 

[sami]

Listen, I love our lads, every single one of them. Joe's a great young man, big heart and freakish raw talent.

But the criticisms are valid to the extent that they point out he is not prolific. His personal talent, his skill sets, don't always translate into piles of points on the board.

Joe makes mistakes just often enough to kill drives. Does three or four great things, maybe even five or six ... then one or two missed throws, ineffective runs, or bad decisions, and it's time to punt.

We ran 14 offensive drives last night. Only four of them resulted in a touchdown. That's very different from what we did most of the season with Hendon in the shotgun.

That's how we end the game with 28 or 31 or 35 points. Not nearly enough to continue to be the #1 offense in college football. Probably not even among the top 10.

We don't score 40-60 points a game with Joe Milton at the helm. We can score 20-40, but not 40-60. It is simply not the same offense as it was with Hendon dealing. Two or three more of those 14 drives needed to be TDs.

The negavols aren't totally wrong here. Orange Bowl victory notwithstanding, MVP trophy aside, there is validity to the concerns.

Now, that can change during the off-season. Maybe. All Joe's shortcomings seem coachable. His accuracy can improve. He can be taught to make better decisions. There's great hope for another 10-11 win season with Joe at QB. On the other hand, he has been a college QB a lot of years already; coaching tends to follow an S-curve, with all the heavy improvement earlier on and tweaking in the last year or two.

Let's celebrate the bowl win, and a really awesome season. Let's be excited about the future, because Josh Heupel is still--my opinion--the best coach in the SEC, perhaps the best in college football. We're building toward championships again. The future is exciting.

But Joe may not be the answer when the question is about getting back to winning championships.

Go Vols!

Why establish a ceiling for Milton already, even a "he may not be the answer" type of limit on what the kid can accomplish?

He played one game in awful conditions, then a second a month later missing some key WR's, and still balled out in the second half once the ground game got going. A big part of Hooker's success this year was having a ground game that created space and a ton of open looks - we saw that in the second half last night.

See, here's the thing - we won't need our QB playing Superman and putting 50 pts/game on the board to win when we have a full roster and quality depth on defense, and that's coming starting in 2023. I'd much rather not need any "#1 offense" in order to win games, and would much prefer winning games 31-14 than 52-49. Teams that win like we did last night are the ones winning championships virtually every year.

Milton let the game come to him, didn't force things, and once the ground game created some open looks he capitalized. That's exactly the type of play that wins big games. Now he has a full off season with Heupel and the receivers he'll be working with next season. There are certainly no guarantees, but the sky's the limit with both Milton and the program.

 

[The Original Fade]

11-2 in Heupel's second year. Zero complaints.

This all day long

 

[OldVolMan]

Listen, I love our lads, every single one of them. Joe's a great young man, big heart and freakish raw talent.

But the criticisms are valid to the extent that they point out he is not prolific. His personal talent, his skill sets, don't always translate into piles of points on the board.

Joe makes mistakes just often enough to kill drives. Does three or four great things, maybe even five or six ... then one or two missed throws, ineffective runs, or bad decisions, and it's time to punt.

We ran 14 offensive drives last night. Only four of them resulted in a touchdown. That's very different from what we did most of the season with Hendon in the shotgun.

That's how we end the game with 28 or 31 or 35 points. Not nearly enough to continue to be the #1 offense in college football. Probably not even among the top 10.

We don't score 40-60 points a game with Joe Milton at the helm. We can score 20-40, but not 40-60. It is simply not the same offense as it was with Hendon dealing. Two or three more of those 14 drives needed to be TDs.

The negavols aren't totally wrong here. Orange Bowl victory notwithstanding, MVP trophy aside, there is validity to the concerns.

Now, that can change during the off-season. Maybe. All Joe's shortcomings seem coachable. His accuracy can improve. He can be taught to make better decisions. There's great hope for another 10-11 win season with Joe at QB. On the other hand, he has been a college QB a lot of years already; coaching tends to follow an S-curve, with all the heavy improvement earlier on and tweaking in the last year or two.

Let's celebrate the bowl win, and a really awesome season. Let's be excited about the future, because Josh Heupel is still--my opinion--the best coach in the SEC, perhaps the best in college football. We're building toward championships again. The future is exciting.

But Joe may not be the answer when the question is about getting back to winning championships.

Go Vols!

Very intelligent and accurate post here.
Not someone looking to put other Vol fans down for doubting Milton. We had every reason to doubt him, and it has been the consensus opinion of most Vol fans. But, since he won the MVP and had a good game some want to post actually making fun of others and calling them negavols like a kid would do.

 

[AdoptedVOL]

Random sampling from 5 or 6 game thread pages.

Careful. People will try to destroy you for exposing truth.

 

[Vato]

Fine you are right. Milton is the second coming of Manning, he is the greatest and all of us that called his faults are not real fans. we are negavols. We just waste our time on here to troll you real fans. crap you broke the code guys. all us negavols unite and move to the tiger droppings page.

 

[The Tall Gguy]

Random sampling from 5 or 6 game thread pages.

This is against the forum rules. If you weren't reported, consider yourself lucky.

 

[Raebo]

I don’t expect Milton to be a clone of Hooker. He is not as quick on his feet as Hooker. I just want us to win at least 10 games or more next year. If the QB that gets us there is Milton or someone else, I am ok with that. I think the coaching staff will start the QB that is most likely to get us there.

I listen to posts that say a player needs to work on xxx or he has been doing the same thing for z years or other valid concerns.
I just ignore posts where they say player x sucks or is trash or needs to transfer, or isn’t SEC caliber, etc.. These posts tell me more about the poster than the player.