Is Nico being "pampered"

#28
#28
EZE said:
There is a fine line here.

For those of us who remember Peyton as a freshman, you can argue that he was actually protected more. We rarely threw the ball down the field and relied heavily on our running game. His stats were very pedestrian as a frosh.

Coaches cannot put expectations on young players that they are not ready to meet. It’s akin to driving a square peg into a round hole.

Coaches instead have to find a player’s capability and comfort zone, and operate there.

However, whatever the staff is doing with Nico is not working because he is playing very tentatively.
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Peyton was a true freshman, not a RS freshman who'd been with the program for a year by the time he was asked to start.

Apples and oranges.
 
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#30
#30
BeardedVol said:
Peyton was a true freshman, not a RS freshman who'd been with the program for a year by the time he was asked to start.

Apples and oranges.
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It is not ideal either way. Nico will be fine though but the whole offense needs work. Just sloppy everywhere last night coaches and players. Penalties killed any chance more often than not
 
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#31
#31
BigALWiLson said:
It is not ideal either way. Nico will be fine though but the whole offense needs work. Just sloppy everywhere last night coaches and players. Penalties killed any chance more often than not
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Still, pretending that he's a raw true freshman thrown to the wolves out of necessity, and not someone who will have been with the program two years in two months, and had 5 starts going into this game, is disingenuous.
 
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#32
#32
cyclevol said:
I appears to me that Nico is being pampered so far. The offense relies on the QB running and he is not running, he's only getting yardage on scrambles and even then he is passing when he could coast for a 1st down. Just one first down near the end would have sealed the win. We are completely predictable without the threat of the QB running and I believe it's to keep him from getting hurt. I seriously believe that either of our backups could have won this game because they run the ball a lot.
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No. He's a frosh/soph, who until very recently had no SEC experience. Who hadn't played anyone other than pipsqueaks until OU. Where we saw, he struggled against a REAL defense. We will see it again as the SEC season moves along. Hopefully, he grows up FAST, very FAST. if not, hopefully, Josh doesn't make the same wrong move he did when he Joe in when he should have put Hendon in, instead. Said it months earlier, got laughed at, but we may well see Gaston Moore on the field taking over for the 8 million dollar man. Nico isn't super human, he will grow, he will be great (I honestly believe that) but he isn't any of that yet. And SEC teams especially, will exploit his current vulnerability. Now, that OL, it's good, but not as much as we might have believed at season start. Just he same, I believe we will be OK. I believe in our coaches.
 
#33
#33
BeardedVol said:
Still, pretending that he's a raw true freshman thrown to the wolves out of necessity, and not someone who will have been with the program two years in two months, and had 5 starts going into this game, is disingenuous.
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I don't pretend he doesn't need to play better. I AGREE. However failing to recognize it was his 6th start and understanding the game is about reps. He openly took blame for the last play. He understands he has to play better. That is step 1. He also understands penalties killed drives and ultimately lost the game. Coaches and players deserve some critique. However laying it all at the feet of the QB is not fair. He didn't run into the kicker in a punt safe and he didn't let a punt bounce 20-25 yards at the end of the game with a few minutes left. There are a lot of things to fix in this game.
 
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#34
#34
orangerush said:
Run the ball out of bounds when you need to throw it, pure comedy.
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That play made me wonder if Nico has the tools from the neck up. Kid obviously has great physical tools but does he have the mental game to be a great QB?
 
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#35
#35
volgr said:
That play made me wonder if Nico has the tools from the neck up. Kid obviously has great physical tools but does he have the mental game to be a great QB?
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He is gonna struggle some. The play calling is not helping him get into a flow. Either penalties or dumbass play calling when we have so much at our disposal. Nico is fine unless this fan base destroys him
 
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#37
#37
DaddyChad said:
I “think” Heupel and company have stressed making plays with his arm and not getting hurt. I don’t think he’s afraid of contact at all. I think with how our Oline was playing and how our WRs were covered all night it was in his head badly.
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I don't think he is afraid, but the coaches are. I'm talking about designed runs to get first downs on occasion. I was hoping they'd call a run in the 4th, but no. It would have worked and we would have won.
 
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#38
#38
EZE said:
There is a fine line here.

For those of us who remember Peyton as a freshman, you can argue that he was actually protected more. We rarely threw the ball down the field and relied heavily on our running game. His stats were very pedestrian as a frosh.

Coaches cannot put expectations on young players that they are not ready to meet. It’s akin to driving a square peg into a round hole.

Coaches instead have to find a player’s capability and comfort zone, and operate there.

However, whatever the staff is doing with Nico is not working because he is playing very tentatively.
Click to expand...
So, we can just say wait till next year again I guess and if next year is a great year, then he'll just go pro. I guess we just need to get lucky and get a good kid that was overlooked. It does UT Football no good to have him if we don't use him like we would some nobody from podunk Mississppi. Besides, if he gets hurt and is done for life, he's made more money than most players can ever hope to earn in a lifetime. Hooker was one of those guys that had failed in the past. There was no fear of losing a former failure to injury by letting him loose as a runner, yet we are afraid of losing a QB that is highly touted. I don't see how we lose less than 3 games and maybe even 5. My God, Vandy may be able to claim best team in the state if things keep going the way they are.
 
#39
#39
cyclevol said:
So, we can just say wait till next year again I guess and if next year is a great year, then he'll just go pro. I guess we just need to get lucky and get a good kid that was overlooked. It does UT Football no good to have him if we don't use him like we would some nobody from podunk Mississppi. Besides, if he gets hurt and is done for life, he's made more money than most players can ever hope to earn in a lifetime. Hooker was one of those guys that had failed in the past. There was no fear of losing a former failure to injury by letting him loose as a runner, yet we are afraid of losing a QB that is highly touted. I don't see how we lose less than 3 games and maybe even 5. My God, Vandy may be able to claim best team in the state if things keep going the way they are.
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IMG_6729.jpeg

Panic much?

You completely missed my point.
 
#40
#40
WoodsmanVol said:
No. He's a frosh/soph, who until very recently had no SEC experience. Who hadn't played anyone other than pipsqueaks until OU. Where we saw, he struggled against a REAL defense. We will see it again as the SEC season moves along. Hopefully, he grows up FAST, very FAST. if not, hopefully, Josh doesn't make the same wrong move he did when he Joe in when he should have put Hendon in, instead. Said it months earlier, got laughed at, but we may well see Gaston Moore on the field taking over for the 8 million dollar man. Nico isn't super human, he will grow, he will be great (I honestly believe that) but he isn't any of that yet. And SEC teams especially, will exploit his current vulnerability. Now, that OL, it's good, but not as much as we might have believed at season start. Just he same, I believe we will be OK. I believe in our coaches.
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With our defense we could only need to score 28 or less to win. Sabin would have pulled Nico after the 1st half last night because he doesn't care about the player developing in a game, that's what practice is for. When someone is playing badly, it's time to let the next guy have a try, especially if they are "expendable" so to speak. Winning is everything. It wouldn't mean Nico wouldn't start the next game, but I think if he isn't playing well, it's time to try someone else. I'm done waiting for development, I want victories and we have the defense to deliver wins without scoring 40 plus points. I've seen the wrench it throws into a defense when a different QB comes in. They aren't prepared to defend against him and if they guy is pretty good, at least he'll run the ball and get yards in ways the defense doesn't expect. I want Nico to be the man, but I want to win too, with him or without him.
 
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#41
#41
WoodsmanVol said:
Said it months earlier, got laughed at, but we may well see Gaston Moore on the field taking over for the 8 million dollar man.
Click to expand...

If Josh ever did that for any reason other than injury, he should be summarily fired. Fortunately, he's a hell of a lot smarter than that.

He would lose the team, and every QB recruit would avoid this place like the plague.
 
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#42
#42
cyclevol said:
I don't think he is afraid, but the coaches are. I'm talking about designed runs to get first downs on occasion. I was hoping they'd call a run in the 4th, but no. It would have worked and we would have won.
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He’s definitely scared. I just don’t think it’s of getting hit. He’s scared of screwing up.
 
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#43
#43
sami said:
If Josh ever did that for any reason other than injury, he should be summarily fired. Fortunately, he's a hell of a lot smarter than that.

He would lose the team, and every QB recruit would avoid this place like the plague.
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We'll see.
 
#44
#44
Posted in another thread, didn't see this one. Training wheels need to come off, we need to know what we have in him. If we drop 2 or 3 more games whatever. If Nico throws 3 or 4 picks in a game whatever. We need to see Nico grow over these last 7 games and get better, or go portal hunting a QB to give him competition next year. Heupel's offense was great with QB's who have less talent than Nico because they went lightning speed. We are not running with the same speed and tempo we used to. They need to find a way to get that back. Defenses were confused because we didn't give them time to think and it provided a lot of explosive plays which are missing from this team. Heupel has got to get this worked out.
 
#45
#45
DaddyChad said:
I “think” Heupel and company have stressed making plays with his arm and not getting hurt. I don’t think he’s afraid of contact at all. I think with how our Oline was playing and how our WRs were covered all night it was in his head badly.
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He slides nearly every time he runs or runs out of bounds. Hardly the sign of a player not afraid of contact and he passes up clear running lanes while forcing low percentage throws.
 
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#46
#46
landscapingvol said:
He slides nearly every time he runs or runs out of bounds. Hardly the sign of a player not afraid of contact and he passes up clear running lanes while forcing low percentage throws.
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Ok. You think he should initiate contact when he runs and run over people? Dude is like 6’6” 220
 
#47
#47
Good grief...Nico is not the issue. The O line is where it starts and ends. How many times were we behind the sticks because of pre snap penalties. The playcalling is conservative because they can't hold up in pass protection
 
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#48
#48
It’s obvious Josh has shackles on him. Whether that’s because he’s a freshman or the oline play? Probably both. But something has to change.
 
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#49
#49
Maybe he is being taught to slide ? Or get out of bounds. Seems smart to me that you don't want your starting qb yo get hurt. The guy isn't built like Milroe. I don't think he lacks because I have seen him take on a Lb and a safety then get up and shove the guy trying to dog walk him. This line of thinking is bs
 
#50
#50
DaddyChad said:
Ok. You think he should initiate contact when he runs and run over people? Dude is like 6’6” 220
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I do not but he needs to run more when the defense is dropping back in coverage even if it’s just a 5-6 yard game as opposed to forcing throws or throwing late. If he does that, defenses will spy him more than they do which will open up the passing game a little more. There were several times he had wide open runs that he passed up only to punt a couple of plays later.
 
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