Is Nico being "pampered"

#76
#76
I’m wondering if he has been instructed to hold back on running. Either for safety concerns or to try to catch future opponents off guard by starting to run. There was one play during the Oklahoma game where he started to run and had an open lane, but pulled up and ran laterally toward the sideline and into a defender. Made me think that maybe he remembered at the last second that he wasn’t supposed to run. He did end up running a couple of times during the last drive of that game when we needed the first down to run the clock out.
 
#78
#78
UTK said:
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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A little of both. If we were protecting the play book opens, if he’s on and hitting throws with confidence the play book opens even more. RS freshman, he’s going to have the training wheels on early in a lot of games.

Heupel basically thought the defense would hold up at the end against a back up qb. It bit him in the ass.
 
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#80
#80
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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There is a reason you continue to get laughed at.
 
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#82
#82
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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How much SEC experience did Bryce Young have when he took over? And before you say anything, yes I expect Nico to be at least on par with Bryce given the recruiting hype coming out of HS.
 
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#84
#84
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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Totally agree. I’ve been expecting them to cut him lose when we needed it. Last night, we obviously needed it. On that second to last drive, had we just assumed it was 4 down territory the entire drive, I find it hard to believe we couldn’t have picked up 1st downs and run out the clock. We didn’t sell out for the 1st down likely because it was the safer way being that the defense had played well and their staring qb was out. But I freakin hate that logic. The safest way, imo, was to take the risks necessary to not give them the ball back.
 
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#85
#85
UTK said:
Gaston Moore throws about 3 pick 6s under the the pressure Nico was all night 💀
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That's not fair at all to make that presumption of an experienced backup. It's possible, sure. It's also possible that he played with much more confidence and threw 3 TDs.

Aren't too many people making the assumption that Nico has to be "the one"? He may gain confidence and have a breakout performance against Fla or Bama, but he might not. He might struggle with confidence and end up being very much like Guarantano struggling internally to live up to expectations and unable to despite his best efforts. One thing is certain. We need a mobile QB who is a dual threat and this offense will be more effective when he uses his legs using the same precautions all QBs routinely take to avoid injury.

The Vols have Gaston who has been a mainstay in Heupel's offenses. Merklinger a 4 star freshman, MacIntyre a 4 star (2025) class, and Faisley Brandon coming in (2026). I think the coaches should turn him loose this week and let him show what he can do with his legs. This OLine may get him hurt in the pocket before he ever has the chance to run the ball.
 
#86
#86
LibertyVolance said:
That's not fair at all to make that presumption of an experienced backup. It's possible, sure. It's also possible that he played with much more confidence and threw 3 TDs.

Aren't too many people making the assumption that Nico has to be "the one"? He may gain confidence and have a breakout performance against Fla or Bama, but he might not. He might struggle with confidence and end up being very much like Guarantano struggling internally to live up to expectations and unable to despite his best efforts. One thing is certain. We need a mobile QB who is a dual threat and this offense will be more effective when he uses his legs using the same precautions all QBs routinely take to avoid injury.

The Vols have Gaston who has been a mainstay in Heupel's offenses. Merklinger a 4 star freshman, MacIntyre a 4 star (2025) class, and Faisley Brandon coming in (2026). I think the coaches should turn him loose this week and let him show what he can do with his legs. This OLine may get him hurt in the pocket before he ever has the chance to run the ball.
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The drop off between Gaston and Nico is insane. Why do you think they’re so protective of Nico? (To a fault) they know if he goes down and Gaston is the QB, you think we’re in trouble now, lmao
 
#87
#87
UTK said:
The drop off between Gaston and Nico is insane. Why do you think they’re so protective of Nico? (To a fault) they know if he goes down and Gaston is the QB, you think we’re in trouble now, lmao
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Okay. But if we have a QB that is so important that we can't use him to run the ball when the need arises, I'd say we are in deep trouble now. And is definitely being pampered by certain fans. I don't want a QB who can't run in this age of football, college or pro.
 
#88
#88
UTK said:
How much better was Young’s oline
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Good point. But it’s not all on the OL. Has he at any point this season really showed that wow moment? That moment when you say, whoa that’s THE dude. Has he made some good throws? Sure. But by any metric Nico has been below average. He will improve.
 
#90
#90
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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Being “in the program”, and making SEC road starts are not the same thing… but I’m sure you know that. Right?
 
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#92
#92
DaddyChad said:
I “lhave 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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DaddyChad said:
He’s definitely scared. I just don’t think it’s of getting hit. He’s scared of screwing up.
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I don’t know if he’s being coached up or coached down.
In the KSt or UTC he ran over a few people.
Now he balls up like he’s afraid to get hit every time he slides.
He’s probably heard get down and don’t get hurt so many times it’s in his head
 
#93
#93
KeyVol14 said:
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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You’re half wrong.
Nico has been as much of an issue as what you say is the issue. Equal blame is warranted.
He’s been slow in decisions, late in getting the ball out, not seeing open receivers or going to the wrong ones,
Not running when he should, leaving the pocket sometimes when he shouldn’t.

So to say he isn’t ONE of the issues is false.
Certainly not the only one, but one of the issues.
 
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#94
#94
Who here was at the game? If you elevated in the stadium you can see how many running lanes were there that he rejected.
 
#95
#95
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
Yall love to overreact. Nico's a first year starter. Growing pains are inevitable. The key is does he grow from this. To expect him to never struggle is unrealistic. Me personally I'm glad his struggles are happening now early in the year when he can learn from them. It would be worse if he skated by early in the year without any struggles only for his moments to come late in the year when championships are on the line.

Nico will be fine. This team will be fine. This is just how the journey to greatness unfolds.
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Arkansas backup QB didn't seem to have any trouble adapting, and he's played a lot less than Nico. Also gets paid way, way less.
 
#98
#98
UTK said:
The drop off between Gaston and Nico is insane. Why do you think they’re so protective of Nico? (To a fault) they know if he goes down and Gaston is the QB, you think we’re in trouble now, lmao
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I don't think this is true.
 
#99
#99
If the offensive line would stop getting penalties, we could go back to how we played in 2021 when Hendon let it rip 50 yards downfield. I’d rather throw away once per series on trying to gain chunk plays than trying to make it second and manageable by a seven yard run that gets us back to 2nd and 8.

Hendon overthrew it a lot in 21, but he got some good experience while doing so, and it kept the safeties away from the line of scrimmage.
 
#100
#100
It sure appears that way. I think they've got no choice now but let him take off more. Otherwise we likely lose this week and it unravels, for this year anyway. They're in a tough spot.
 
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