Last UT QB who stared down his WRs through the whole route??

[Orangeslice13]

Trajectory: Rebuild year, amazing year, better than TN recent average year, same better than average year.

Is this year an improvement over last year? Pre-season we expected it to be but it's looking about like last year.

Let's say Nico is tired of not having time to work and running for his life a lot, feels he's not able to showcase his talents as well as he could..... and dips out after this year. Nico has to see that next year's OL looks even thinner and scarier than this year.

Once again we'll hear, Merk is essentially a freshman, he needs adjustment, he's not taken a lot of game snaps, etc, etc as he gets chased out of the collapsing pocket.

Heupel is known as an offense and QB guy. Oddly, our D is carrying the season and to a large extent carried us last year.

Trajectory and expectations. That's all.

In my opinion….which isn’t worth much…..it’s all about the o line. We got nobody in the first class. Hypel was here 3 ish weeks. Second class got nobody. We tried, we just missed. Have done pretty well after that. Maybe the kids had a wait a see attitude. Who knows. The point remains that our best potential linemen are all freshmen and sophomore. Nobody in the sec has a significant amount of babies playing on the line. It’s not like the skills position where you can come in and play early. This group is almost completely guys who decided to play one more year instead of moving on. Can you imagine how bad this would be if we didn’t get these guys back. It would be nice if Hypel had been left some decent lineman and if he was able to land some in his first real class. Maybe the threat of the ncaa had something to do with that. But honestly we will be better in years to come on the line and if Nico was playing fast enough it would help the line out.
The question is how quickly Nico “gets it”. Hes not there yet but to say this is who he is as a player and he’s hit his ceiling is kinda silly

 

[Orangeslice13]

Not sure it’s even comparable. A toss into the end zone at least gives us a chance. Not sure OSU’s qb was gonna break a 40 yard run whether he slid or not. Maybe a Hail Mary chance. If it was a bonehead play it still doesn’t excuse another.

But it happens to a lot of them. Part of learning

 

[Volhoops]

Comparing any UT QB to JG should be a 1 week bannable offense.

Actually he currently does look like JG. In the last two SEC games UT has not scored 20 points (in regulation for you people wanting to throw in OT). That was a JG trade mark of couldn't score 20. Hopefully Nico comes out of it and becomes a play maker.

 

[RAVOL]

Nico looks like an amateur at best. I hate to say it but he does. Are we talking Gaurtermo? Compton? It’s been a while since we’ve had a QB literally lock eyes with every guy he’s gonna throw it to this consistently.

He’s got a chance to be really good come his senior year, but it ain’t as guaranteed as people think it. Dude plays like a 7on7 qb

EDIT: Please stop calling him a freshman quarterback! Dude was here all last year. UF however did have a true freshman QB that gave us the business and prolly didn’t cost 8 mil

Every QB in the Hall of Fame has starred down WR in both College and Pro. Why are we expecting Nico to not do what Every QB who is Elite has done many times. Nico will get better and better. Patience is a Virtue. In CHRIST Alone

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

In my opinion….which isn’t worth much…..it’s all about the o line. We got nobody in the first class. Hypel was here 3 ish weeks. Second class got nobody. We tried, we just missed. Have done pretty well after that. Maybe the kids had a wait a see attitude. Who knows. The point remains that our best potential linemen are all freshmen and sophomore. Nobody in the sec has a significant amount of babies playing on the line. It’s not like the skills position where you can come in and play early. This group is almost completely guys who decided to play one more year instead of moving on. Can you imagine how bad this would be if we didn’t get these guys back. It would be nice if Hypel had been left some decent lineman and if he was able to land some in his first real class. Maybe the threat of the ncaa had something to do with that. But honestly we will be better in years to come on the line and if Nico was playing fast enough it would help the line out.
The question is how quickly Nico “gets it”. Hes not there yet but to say this is who he is as a player and he’s hit his ceiling is kinda silly

I can agree that Heupel was left with nothing up front. And yes, if Cooper and Co hadn't stayed, we'd be in even deeper trouble.

Will the babies be ready? The veterans aren't looking all that ready...... right? If you can't coach upper classmen to perform at a high level, the younger guys surely aren't learning much. Sure, Elarbee should be out the door after this year, but it's arguable that our recruiting whiffs fall his way also, either not closing or not being a guy elite linemen want to work under. Elarbee HAS put some guys in the league, but there's something missing.

I'll cite Garner. Not only can he coach and put guys in the league, he's a guy kids want to learn from. You can tell he's a first class hard ass but he gets recruits and he gets results.

We're paying players for results. We need to apply the same idea to coaches. Elarbee isn't getting results and Heupel is keeping Elarbee. Unless he can show the ability to "recruit over" coaches like players, he's not getting us to a consistent elite place.

 

[Pride85]

Peyton was a true freshman and went 6-1 (lost to Bama who went 12-1 and finished ranked #5) as the starter. They lost 3 games he barely played in early that year. Also, he split time with Branndon Stewart in many of the games he started (which would affect his numbers and continuity) who many Vol fans did clamor for being the starter over Peyton. Apples and oranges (pound the rock offense) and wanting the backup to play is as old as football….

It was a pound the rock offense because they didn't trust the QBs yet. Same offense the next year and the numbers were significantly better. As for barely playing, it was an almost 50/50 split between him and Brandon Stewart. The starters that year were Jerry Colquitt and Todd Helton. Neither played much nor were effective. BTW, that was the same number of games that Nico has played. You want to cherry pick? The only difference is that Nico got to practice last year. He attempted 26 passes the entire regular season last year, all in complete garbage time. He completed 16 of those. The bowl game is included in the stats listed above. If you want to work that hard to bash a player, I truly feel sorry for you.

 

[Pride85]

Peyton was a true freshman in 1994 that had only gone through a one spring and one preseason camp. Nico is a redshirt freshman. He’s gone through 2 spring camps, 2 preseason camps, and a full season of football to include starting a bowl game.

Also, the game has changed so much since 1994 so comparing Peyton and Nico isn’t apples to apples.

Comparing Nico to Arch Manning would be more accurate in the modern era. Maybe throw Tua in the mix. Can’t think of anyone else at the moment.

We can play that game:
Tua Tagovaila (Freshman Year)
49 77 63.6 636 11 tds 2 ints


Arch Manning (also redshirt freshman)
57 83 68.7 931 9 tds 2 ints

Nico Iamaleave
122 188 64.9 1533 9 tds 3 ints

I think he more than matches up with those more contemporaries.

 

[Pride85]

If it's short-sighted, Heupel is the guilty person here. He's put UT in this position by not having an SEC ready QB.

I'll agree Nico is going to struggle and obviously is struggling against SEC competition. He's not the only member of our team who looked great against Kent State and iffy against anyone with a pulse.

Trying to put this all on Nico is missing the next link up in the chain. Who is responsible for Heard's apparently lousy effort? Who is responsible for the anemic play calls? Who is responsible for the VERY iffy clock management and game management?

This isn't primarily a Nico problem.

Yay, the "the coach that made the program relevant again is horrible" crowd has to jump in the conversation. Can't miss out on those sentiments.

 

[Pride85]

Uh....how many passing yards did Lagway get? Like 100??? Yeah, he blew us out of the freaking water......

Love the post.
DJ Lagway
9 17 98 yards 1 td 1 int

Your post is perfect and I love it. I just wanted to add some stats for effect.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Yay, the "the coach that made the program relevant again is horrible" crowd has to jump in the conversation. Can't miss out on those sentiments.

Heupel has a history at UCF of doing well and tapering off. It's his history, not my imagination.

Do you think his play calling is where it was previously?

Do you think his QB development is showing a lot of promise with Milton and Nico?

One cannot just idolize coaches based upon what they did. You end up with guys like Fulmer having gravitas they don't deserve simply because they once had success.

 

[uncle chewii]

Inb4 "its only his 6th start" while ignoring the fact he was here last year

Being here and starting is two different things. He should know the offense but being able to perform it is different. Your can practice all you want but until it’s performance time you don’t know how you will do under pressure. Not excusing his play or lack of plays but if being here translates into being able to perform then why do we have seniors that never see the field or a backup an that is a senior and not starting as he’s been there for more than a year.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Being here and starting is two different things. He should know the offense but being able to perform it is different. Your can practice all you want but until it’s performance time you don’t know how you will do under pressure. Not excusing his play or lack of plays but if being here translates into being able to perform then why do we have seniors that never see the field or a backup an that is a senior and not starting as he’s been there for more than a year.

Tee Martin took very, very few snaps before 1998. Coaches can have QBs and other personnel prepared to do the job without meaningful game snaps.

 

[YankeeVol]

The kid is freshman with a bad o-line so kind of hard to judge him at this point but we are seeing now why there were several of us on here wanting a portal QB last year.

*redhsirt

 

[Orangeslice13]

I can agree that Heupel was left with nothing up front. And yes, if Cooper and Co hadn't stayed, we'd be in even deeper trouble.

Will the babies be ready? The veterans aren't looking all that ready...... right? If you can't coach upper classmen to perform at a high level, the younger guys surely aren't learning much. Sure, Elarbee should be out the door after this year, but it's arguable that our recruiting whiffs fall his way also, either not closing or not being a guy elite linemen want to work under. Elarbee HAS put some guys in the league, but there's something missing.

I'll cite Garner. Not only can he coach and put guys in the league, he's a guy kids want to learn from. You can tell he's a first class hard ass but he gets recruits and he gets results.

We're paying players for results. We need to apply the same idea to coaches. Elarbee isn't getting results and Heupel is keeping Elarbee. Unless he can show the ability to "recruit over" coaches like players, he's not getting us to a consistent elite place.

It wasn’t just cooper. It’s like 4-5 starters.
The seniors are not as talented as the babies. There just not.
You can say you’re paying for results all you want but you can’t make chicken salad out of horse ****. If it takes 3years to develop lineman everywhere else then it will take that here. And it doesn’t matter how much money you think someone else is throwing at it.
Realistically you don’t have any idea if we’re paying lineman for results or not. Even Nicos deal is pure speculation. All you actually know is he has one.

 

[jtdavis]

Patrick Mahomes couldnt play behind our line. In my opinion, play calling isnt helping matters. I think because of NIL we all have expectations of Nico that are unrealistic at this point. I think he is going to be good, just needs game time to get there. But when you are running for your life as soon as you get the ball it makes it hard.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

It wasn’t just cooper. It’s like 4-5 starters.
The seniors are not as talented as the babies. There just not.
You can say you’re paying for results all you want but you can’t make chicken salad out of horse ****. If it takes 3years to develop lineman everywhere else then it will take that here. And it doesn’t matter how much money you think someone else is throwing at it.
Realistically you don’t have any idea if we’re paying lineman for results or not. Even Nicos deal is pure speculation. All you actually know is he has one.

We don't know the talent of the young guys and won't until "they're ready." I keep seeing here that "starting is different than being here" for Nico but I suppose it's not for the OL?

I assume we're using NIL deals like all schools do to recruit players to provide results on the field. The comment that "you don't have any idea if we're paying linemen for results or not" is pretty weird. If we're paying them...... it's for results on the field. If we're not paying them...... I can see why we're struggling up front.

It seems odd to try to distract the conversation with NIL. We DO know Coach Josh Heupel is being paid very well and his job is to get results.

He's had a really tough job turning around the culture, getting players, keeping them, and trying to compete in the SEC. Honestly, he's had one truly amazing year and that was a tremendous credit because no one thought it could happen that fast at TN.

Since 2022, things haven't improved and I think it's fair to say they've regressed in efficiency since then. Efficiency.... pre-snap penalities, missed assignments, missed coverages, clock management issues, etc are coaching issues.

If we were more efficient, as we were in 2022, we'd not be struggling. I expect the coaching staff to produce that efficiency.

 

[Orangeslice13]

We don't know the talent of the young guys and won't until "they're ready." I keep seeing here that "starting is different than being here" for Nico but I suppose it's not for the OL?

I assume we're using NIL deals like all schools do to recruit players to provide results on the field. The comment that "you don't have any idea if we're paying linemen for results or not" is pretty weird. If we're paying them...... it's for results on the field. If we're not paying them...... I can see why we're struggling up front.

It seems odd to try to distract the conversation with NIL. We DO know Coach Josh Heupel is being paid very well and his job is to get results.

He's had a really tough job turning around the culture, getting players, keeping them, and trying to compete in the SEC. Honestly, he's had one truly amazing year and that was a tremendous credit because no one thought it could happen that fast at TN.

Since 2022, things haven't improved and I think it's fair to say they've regressed in efficiency since then. Efficiency.... pre-snap penalities, missed assignments, missed coverages, clock management issues, etc are coaching issues.

If we were more efficient, as we were in 2022, we'd not be struggling. I expect the coaching staff to produce that efficiency.

Alright.
What are we paying each guy ?

Not your assumption. What are we paying each of them?
I need to know what kind of results we should be expecting, if any.

Edit: if it’s an odd to distract with nil talk, then why did you bring it up?

 

[uncle chewii]

Tee Martin took very, very few snaps before 1998. Coaches can have QBs and other personnel prepared to do the job without meaningful game snaps.

That is true but tee was also 2 yrs older two and had more time to learn. Like I said practice is different than playing. Kid may be practice heisman but game time Timmy.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Alright.
What are we paying each guy ?

See, you know that no one outside of Spyre and a few massive donors know that and you're just trolling at this point. Enjoy it but I'm not biting.

 

[Orangeslice13]

See, you know that no one outside of Spyre and a few massive donors know that and you're just trolling at this point. Enjoy it but I'm not biting.

Lol
Ok.
Don’t bite on the conversation you brought up.

 

[A2K]

I'm not sure that I'm not more concerned with him wearing a dress to the game....lol

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

That is true but tee was also 2 yrs older two and had more time to learn. Like I said practice is different than playing. Kid may be practice heisman but game time Timmy.

That's the thing. Here we are in year 4 and we all KNEW we were getting a early enrollee redshirt freshman starter this year and our Head Coach PLANNED on starting him this year.

Yet, you say (and rightly so) that you can't expect a redshirt freshman to play that well. Guess what, if Nico leaves after next year, guess who will be starting? An early enrollee redshirt freshman.

Rinse and repeat. I'm just not certain that elite teams trade one "he's learning" year for an "okay, he's ready" year.

 

[BigALWiLson]

Inb4 "its only his 6th start" while ignoring the fact he was here last year

Did he play ? It's a whole lot freaking different then routes on air right ? Practice speed isn't the same as live bullets and a bad LT..... if you gonna make statements like this include all factors. He needs time if he still looks like this next season after a full year then I may agree. But but he makes 8 million. We don't really know what the kid makes but he is selling product which is what his NIL is based on, just like appearances etc. This sh1t is tiring after and yall act like haters with a half brain who can't comprehend he needs more help from the OL and game experience. I usually respect your post but again this crap is tiring. Everything isn't perfect. Coaches, Players and Nico himself have to do a better job. I think we agree on that but it is not just Nico

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Lol
Ok.
Don’t bite on the conversation you brought up.

You're majoring in minors. I brought up that we see folks saying "they're pros now" and I pointed out that the coaches are and have been pros.

I'm hardly going after the linemen for having NIL deals. I'm going after the coaching for not living up to their millions.

 

[Orangeslice13]

That's the thing. Here we are in year 4 and we all KNEW we were getting a early enrollee redshirt freshman starter this year and our Head Coach PLANNED on starting him this year.

Yet, you say (and rightly so) that you can't expect a redshirt freshman to play that well. Guess what, if Nico leaves after next year, guess who will be starting? An early enrollee redshirt freshman.

Rinse and repeat. I'm just not certain that elite teams trade one "he's learning" year for an "okay, he's ready" year.

If Nico leaves after next year…..it will have been an awesome year and confirm that Hypel knows what he’s doing. The replacement will then be a redshirt sophomore. Who will have a lot of game experience because of all the blowout wins.
That guy will still have to adjust to the game speed.