Nico is what he is THIS year......

[NighthawkVol]

I have not been following the boards as closely this year so not sure if someone posted this earlier in the year if they have I am sorry.

Nico is NOT going to have a 400 yard game. Nico is NOT going to have a 3-4 TD game this year. He is NOT going to go 28/38. He is NOT going to "breakout" in the post season or anytime else this season. We are not going to score more than 35 points (not counting UTEP) on anyone this year with Nico. I LOVE Nico and what he brings to the table and he has a SUPER HIGH ceiling and can lead this team to a great season NEXT year or the year afterwards, but just not now. He has some growth to do he has put the ball on a frozen rope and has had flashes of greatness in him. Most football players see the most growth between their freshman and sophomore year (or 1st and 2nd year in the system/coach). I think he will make great improvements during spring/summer workouts and then fall camp. He has the talent we all saw it at Oklahoma, NC State, and flashes of it (Some of it was NOT his fault TWO TD's dropped one by a hit and one by the ground). He will only get better as he plays in this system his 2nd year. IF......IF he is doing the same things next year of overthrown balls, not throwing to his checkdown passes or missing open recievers THEN we can start having conversations about his future with the team, but that is a LOOOOOOOOONNNNGGG way away from today.

If his receivers could’ve caught 3 perfectly thrown balls, he would’ve had 400 yards and 4 TDs Saturday.

 

[C-south]

Kid is 8-1 as a starter, doesn’t do anything dumb to cost us games, is starting to figure it out on the rollouts and when to scramble. Future is looking good. About as good as we can ask for from a freshman qb right now.

He literally ran out of bounds on the last play of the game against Arkansas to seal any chance of winning. Saturday night he slid down in bounds instead of throwing the ball away right before the half to prevent any chance at points. You can tout being 8-1 and then blame all the blunders on being a freshman. Hopefully he gets a lot better very quickly.

 

[DaddyChad]

Never seen some of these “fans” before with their expert opinions.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

I’m seeing steady continued improvement from Nico and not concerned about him at all. He’s about where you’d hope a guy would be in under 10 games as a starter. He just isn’t the instant all American our dumb selves made him out to be from the moment he committed. Shame on us.

 

[C-south]

If his receivers could’ve caught 3 perfectly thrown balls, he would’ve had 400 yards and 4 TDs Saturday.

Perfectly thrown? Nobody is holding the one where he hung the guy out. The diving catch in the end zone was tough but catchable. If it was perfect he wouldn’t have had to dive. The nimrod pass should’ve been caught but it wasn’t easy. A ball obscured coming between two guys at hip level while running full speed isn’t easy but should have been caught.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Never seen some of these “fans” before with their expert opinions.

90% of them are just trolling

 

[Other_Guy]

I get the post but it's odd you posted it after his near perfect game where he should have had that breakout game if his WRs showed up.

 

[GoVols9800]

Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston both won the Heisman as a redshirt freshman. Winston went undefeated and won a national championship. Tua Tagovailoa was a Heisman runner up and played in the national championship.

As true freshmen, Jalen Hurts was SEC player of the year and made it to the championship game. Trevor Lawrence won a national championship as a true freshman. Nico isn’t having a year anywhere close to what any of those guys had.

I’m referring to Tennessee qbs. That’s all I care about.

 

[UT97Vol]

Nico SHOULD have had 400+ against Kentucky. Nico SHOULD have had 4 td's vs Kentucky. Nico DID go 28/38 against Kentucky. Tennessee will score 35+ this week. Nico can only give the WR'S a catchable ball then it's on them to make the play which he did against Kentucky and the WR's let him down. That's all you can ask for from the QB. It was dang close to a true breakout game. My prediction, Nico does breakout and cement his legacy November 16th in Athens. He has already beat Florida and Bama and the kid is getting better every single play. He made some monumental throws against Bama in the 2nd half and carried it over the next game against Kentucky.

I think we score in the 50s Saturday and put the low bar at 42.

OL is finally starting to play a little better. Unfortunately a lot of big plays this season have been negated by dropped passes. That’s the last phase that needs to be cleaned up. This offense is so close.

 

[Mccage]

Troll guys. Yous a troll, yous a troll, I said that yous a troll.

His sister has him hemmed up in that double wide wearing them crimson 3x panties on a 2 x frame.
He needs to get some air.
.

 

[BigALWiLson]

There have been many redshirt freshmen through the years who have been better than Nico. He’s not a hopeless, worthless quarterback, but he also hasn’t been as good as we could ask. He has been a disappointment to this point, though Saturday he looked pretty good despite his receivers not helping him out.

So you blame Nico for WR dropping passes and OL problems because he didn't see the read fast enough as a first time starter against the SEC ? The truth is Nico like any QB needs help from the guys around him. He has the talent, it is rare when a Freshman burns up the SEC at QB. You can say what you want it being his 2nd year here, that helps in terms of knowing the playbook but practice is never the same as game speed. He basically didn't play football for a year. Give him the rest of the year and another camp, will look like a different player. Processing speed comes from experience. He was thinking to much and that internal clock is starting to adjust. He has made some mistakes for sure like any young player competing against world class talent does.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

He is becoming great week by week. And he will be a Top 10 draft pick when he leaves here.

And BTW, the SEC is just a hair different than the opponent in the opener.

Ole Miss put up 63 on Arkansas, Vandy put up 40 on Alabama, Florida nearly went for 50 on Kentucky. These aren’t great defenses that we are struggling against, SEC or not. I hope he does become a top 10 pick, but if he does, it won’t be based on anything he has done to this point.

 

[LittleVol]

I have not been following the boards as closely this year so not sure if someone posted this earlier in the year if they have I am sorry.

Nico is NOT going to have a 400 yard game. Nico is NOT going to have a 3-4 TD game this year. He is NOT going to go 28/38. He is NOT going to "breakout" in the post season or anytime else this season. We are not going to score more than 35 points (not counting UTEP) on anyone this year with Nico. I LOVE Nico and what he brings to the table and he has a SUPER HIGH ceiling and can lead this team to a great season NEXT year or the year afterwards, but just not now. He has some growth to do he has put the ball on a frozen rope and has had flashes of greatness in him. Most football players see the most growth between their freshman and sophomore year (or 1st and 2nd year in the system/coach). I think he will make great improvements during spring/summer workouts and then fall camp. He has the talent we all saw it at Oklahoma, NC State, and flashes of it (Some of it was NOT his fault TWO TD's dropped one by a hit and one by the ground). He will only get better as he plays in this system his 2nd year. IF......IF he is doing the same things next year of overthrown balls, not throwing to his checkdown passes or missing open recievers THEN we can start having conversations about his future with the team, but that is a LOOOOOOOOONNNNGGG way away from today.

You’re speaking two weeks to late….

He carried his good play from the 2nd half of Alabama all the way into the Kentucky game.
Drops from Brazzell and Nimrod (again) took away 2 TDs and 80 yards.

He’s trending upwards now…

 

[BigALWiLson]

Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston both won the Heisman as a redshirt freshman. Winston went undefeated and won a national championship. Tua Tagovailoa was a Heisman runner up and played in the national championship.

As true freshmen, Jalen Hurts was SEC player of the year and made it to the championship game. Trevor Lawrence won a national championship as a true freshman. Nico isn’t having a year anywhere close to what any of those guys had.

Johnny football remind me how many games they won that year? Winston had elite wr's and an elite defense in a sh1t conference. Alabama was sitting all sec players on those teams bruh. The OL's were freaking all world and they barely got touched. Lawrence had enormous amounts of talent around him as well. All of those teams except A&M were better than us at damn near every position save a few. Lol you can't make this sh1t up

 

[rocketskates]

He literally ran out of bounds on the last play of the game against Arkansas to seal any chance of winning. Saturday night he slid down in bounds instead of throwing the ball away right before the half to prevent any chance at points. You can tout being 8-1 and then blame all the blunders on being a freshman. Hopefully he gets a lot better very quickly.

That was a costly mistake, but the Arkansas loss was a team effort loss

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

So you blame Nico for WR dropping passes and OL problems because he didn't see the read fast enough as a first time starter against the SEC ? The truth is Nico like any QB needs help from the guys around him. He has the talent, it is rare when a Freshman burns up the SEC at QB. You can say what you want it being his 2nd year here, that helps in terms of knowing the playbook but practice is never the same as game speed. He basically didn't play football for a year. Give him the rest of the year and another camp, will look like a different player. Processing speed comes from experience. He was thinking to much and that internal clock is starting to adjust. He has made some mistakes for sure like any young player competing against world class talent does.

I blame Nico for the mistakes he has made and blame other guys for the mistakes they have made. He also hasn’t really gone against world class talent if we are being honest, this schedule has been very favorable. Things like running out of bounds with no time left aren’t really excused by going against SEC teams and only being in his second year of college football, that’s something you are supposed to learn long before college.

My only point is he has absolutely not been everything we could have hoped for, and if everyone were being honest, we would all admit that his play has been disappointing. We have played in the SEC for over 90 years now and many of those with young quarterbacks, but very few of those seasons resulted in 7 first half points in a 4 game stretch. He is far from our only issue offensively, but he has been an issue.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Johnny football remind me how many games they won that year? Winston had elite wr's and an elite defense in a sh1t conference. Alabama was sitting all sec players on those teams bruh. The OL's were freaking all world and they barely got touched. Lawrence had enormous amounts of talent around him as well. All of those teams except A&M were better than us at damn near every position save a few. Lol you can't make this sh1t up

A&M won 11 games that year. Beat the national champions in their place.

Also I can’t keep it straight, how is it that we have no talent when it suits you, but also we have so much talent that we are going to win the championship? It can’t be both.

 

[BigALWiLson]

I blame Nico for the mistakes he has made and blame other guys for the mistakes they have made. He also hasn’t really gone against world class talent if we are being honest, this schedule has been very favorable. Things like running out of bounds with no time left aren’t really excused by going against SEC teams and only being in his second year of college football, that’s something you are supposed to learn long before college.

My only point is he has absolutely not been everything we could have hoped for, and if everyone were being honest, we would all admit that his play has been disappointing. We have played in the SEC for over 90 years now and many of those with young quarterbacks, but very few of those seasons resulted in 7 first half points in a 4 game stretch. He is far from our only issue offensively, but he has been an issue.

Again he has made mistakes, some of his mistakes were at the hands of others not doing there job. That's my point. It takes time and Rome wasn't built in a day. Plenty of mistakes by a lot of people but Nico gets the blame when the offense doesn't score. Why ? Because everyone blames the QB. It doesn't always make it sensible

 

[BigALWiLson]

A&M won 11 games that year. Beat the national champions in their place.

Also I can’t keep it straight, how is it that we have no talent when it suits you, but also we have so much talent that we are going to win the championship? It can’t be both.

And we have played 8 games.... we very well could win 11 games. We have talent just not what FSU and Alabama had in those years. You are either stupid or crazy if you think we have it. We have a solid group and getting better at every position. Those teams were absolutely stacked

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Again he has made mistakes, some of his mistakes were at the hands of others not doing there job. That's my point. It takes time and Rome wasn't built in a day. Plenty of mistakes by a lot of people but Nico gets the blame when the offense doesn't score. Why ? Because everyone blames the QB. It doesn't always make it sensible

There’s plenty of blame to go around. The difference is no one is claiming that Lance Heard and Chaz Nimrod have been everything we could ask from them and taking objection to people saying their play has been disappointing.

 

[BigALWiLson]

There’s plenty of blame to go around. The difference is no one is claiming that Lance Heard and Chaz Nimrod have been everything we could ask from them and taking objection to people saying their play has been disappointing.

Heard has been better. The patticake laziness is what pissed most people off about his effort. I was pretty vocal about that myself. They are getting better as a group and that's all we can ask for right now. Nimrod has had the dropsies and will be fine if he can get his head right. Nico needs experience he has made some bone headed decisions at times but I wouldn't say he is a disappointment. Do I believe they can all be better hell yes because they are talented

 

[tbh]

What's good (no, great) to see is that he doesn't  have to have a 400yd, 4TD effort every Saturday for the Vols to prevail. Sampson at RB helps with that. The lights-out play of the defense helps with that. Honestly, I'm pleased as can be that it doesn't take a heroic effort on the part of a QB who is still growing into his own in order to win games. If it did, then we'd be in trouble this season because it'd mean the team is not nearly as complete/well-rounded as it is right now.

 

[TMvol10]

I have not been following the boards as closely this year so not sure if someone posted this earlier in the year if they have I am sorry.

Nico is NOT going to have a 400 yard game. Nico is NOT going to have a 3-4 TD game this year. He is NOT going to go 28/38. He is NOT going to "breakout" in the post season or anytime else this season. We are not going to score more than 35 points (not counting UTEP) on anyone this year with Nico. I LOVE Nico and what he brings to the table and he has a SUPER HIGH ceiling and can lead this team to a great season NEXT year or the year afterwards, but just not now. He has some growth to do he has put the ball on a frozen rope and has had flashes of greatness in him. Most football players see the most growth between their freshman and sophomore year (or 1st and 2nd year in the system/coach). I think he will make great improvements during spring/summer workouts and then fall camp. He has the talent we all saw it at Oklahoma, NC State, and flashes of it (Some of it was NOT his fault TWO TD's dropped one by a hit and one by the ground). He will only get better as he plays in this system his 2nd year. IF......IF he is doing the same things next year of overthrown balls, not throwing to his checkdown passes or missing open recievers THEN we can start having conversations about his future with the team, but that is a LOOOOOOOOONNNNGGG way away from today.

I mean you’re right for the most part but if he doesn’t have 3 dropped TDs that were perfectly thrown, he would have had 400 yards and 4 TDs. Again tho, I agree overall with what you’re saying. Next year is the year he takes off. I just hope the supporting cast is there to do it.

 

[Eastknox865]

I have not been following the boards as closely this year so not sure if someone posted this earlier in the year if they have I am sorry.

Nico is NOT going to have a 400 yard game. Nico is NOT going to have a 3-4 TD game this year. He is NOT going to go 28/38. He is NOT going to "breakout" in the post season or anytime else this season. We are not going to score more than 35 points (not counting UTEP) on anyone this year with Nico. I LOVE Nico and what he brings to the table and he has a SUPER HIGH ceiling and can lead this team to a great season NEXT year or the year afterwards, but just not now. He has some growth to do he has put the ball on a frozen rope and has had flashes of greatness in him. Most football players see the most growth between their freshman and sophomore year (or 1st and 2nd year in the system/coach). I think he will make great improvements during spring/summer workouts and then fall camp. He has the talent we all saw it at Oklahoma, NC State, and flashes of it (Some of it was NOT his fault TWO TD's dropped one by a hit and one by the ground). He will only get better as he plays in this system his 2nd year. IF......IF he is doing the same things next year of overthrown balls, not throwing to his checkdown passes or missing open recievers THEN we can start having conversations about his future with the team, but that is a LOOOOOOOOONNNNGGG way away from today.

You do realize Nico would have had 400 yards passing and 4 TD'S if the Wr's have caught the ball. Nico played great he needs his teammates to do their jobs

 

[TnVol!]

He's better every week. I'm glad he's a Volunteer