Nico to start the bowl game? Confirmed

#426
#426
OrangeTsar said:
My worry is the insane expectations people have for Nico, even this early. kid is STILL a Freshman. No matter what he does Monday, some of the fans are bound to be disappointed
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I’m sure there will be disappointment. I had actually wished Joe would start and play the 1st half and turn it over to Nico in the 2nd half. BUT it is what it is. Nico should do pretty good and learn a lot.
 
#428
#428
BigOrangeTrain said:
No we won’t
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Some people tend to think the freshman thing only applies to UT. That didn’t stop Bama from throwing in Tua and Young recently as true freshman and let’s not forget Lawrence won a NC as a true freshman with Clemson not along ago either. The best option can sometimes be a freshman, idk if it will ever get through their heads.
 
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#429
#429
OrangeTsar said:
My worry is the insane expectations people have for Nico, even this early. kid is STILL a Freshman. No matter what he does Monday, some of the fans are bound to be disappointed
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The season is over and at this stage Nico is a second year player as he has 12 games under his belt.
 
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#431
#431
Orange931 said:
Some people tend to think the freshman thing only applies to UT. That didn’t stop Bama from throwing in Tua and Young recently as true freshman and let’s not forget Lawrence won a NC as a true freshman with Clemson not along ago either. The best option can sometimes be a freshman, idk if it will ever get through their heads.
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Good point but you must also realize Bama and Clemson’s rosters were loaded with 5 star talent that Nico doesn‘t have the luxury of having. I know some in the fan base will not agree but the bowl game should not be any indication of what Nico is capable of.
 
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#433
#433
Orange931 said:
Some people tend to think the freshman thing only applies to UT. That didn’t stop Bama from throwing in Tua and Young recently as true freshman and let’s not forget Lawrence won a NC as a true freshman with Clemson not along ago either. The best option can sometimes be a freshman, idk if it will ever get through their heads.
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The one thing with Bama playing true freshman QBs that works I. Their favor of course is stepping into to an offense and being surrounded with 4 and 5 stars, especially on the line.
Clemson was a similar situation but not as pronounced. Not saying Nico will not light it up (he sure has the potential) but we need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for a much more pedestrian effort.
My fear is that all of the sad souls who spent all season expecting Nico to be the instant ticket to the promised land are not going to accept anything less than an MVP performance.
I think Nico gets us there sooner rather than later; but he ain’t Superman. I worry some will not have the necessary patience
 
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#435
#435
volfan411 said:
Good point but you must also realize Bama and Clemson’s rosters were loaded with 5 star talent that Nico doesn‘t have the luxury of having. I know some in the fan base will not agree but the bowl game should not be any indication of what Nico is capable of.
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One game wasn’t gonna make it or break it for me. The point to my post was people making a big deal about freshman starting.
 
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#437
#437
Orange931 said:
One game wasn’t gonna make it or break it for me. The point to my post was people making a big deal about freshman starting.
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Gotcha. I just posted in another thread that UT has started a freshman QB in 3 other bowl games and are 1-2 in those games so while it is not unheard of for UT to start a freshman we have have limited success but the good news is those three QB’s went on to have outstanding careers. Tyler Bray didn‘t produce A bunch of wins but statistically he was a very good QB.
 
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#438
#438
turbovol said:
Heupel didn't even start Hooker--he started Milton. So I'm not quite buying the Huepel as QB guru narrative. He got his first big decision wrong. I'm not negative on Heup, but I'd rate Kiffin as a better offensive/QB coach. At the end of the day Hooker was just a good player. I don't know if Heup got the best out of Milton, either--as Heup seemed pretty frustrated at tiimes with Milton and the offense.
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Heupel may have gotten the best out of Milton. It's just that his best, was not we all hoped it would be.
If I remember correctly, Mike Ditka once traded an entire year of draft picks to get Heath Shuler to be his qb (I think in New Orleans). He later said Shuler was the best "practice quarterback he'd ever seen".
 
#439
#439
Orange931 said:
Some people tend to think the freshman thing only applies to UT. That didn’t stop Bama from throwing in Tua and Young recently as true freshman and let’s not forget Lawrence won a NC as a true freshman with Clemson not along ago either. The best option can sometimes be a freshman, idk if it will ever get through their heads.
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Young was a redshirt freshman.


And Tua didn’t get the reins until the second half of the NC game.
 
#442
#442
basspond said:
Heupel may have gotten the best out of Milton. It's just that his best, was not we all hoped it would be.
If I remember correctly, Mike Ditka once traded an entire year of draft picks to get Heath Shuler to be his qb (I think in New Orleans). He later said Shuler was the best "practice quarterback he'd ever seen".
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That’s funny how coaches get tricked by fantastic QBs in practice, I seem to recall a lot of people talking about how Tee Martin was awful in practice, and sometimes didn’t even show up 😂 but the lights cane on for the game, and he was in the zone.. some people just operate like that.. and vice versa
 
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#443
#443
OrangeTsar said:
My worry is the insane expectations people have for Nico, even this early. kid is STILL a Freshman. No matter what he does Monday, some of the fans are bound to be disappointed
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I'm also concerned with the WR group he'll be throwing to on Monday. They haven't been able to get much separation all season, so even if he plays well he still needs guys to get open and catch the ball. I'm hopeful that he's more mobile than Milton but I'm not expecting more than 200 passing yards, at least not against that defense.
 
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#444
#444
loservol said:
He has to start sometime, or we will never have 60 snaps under his belt. If Heupel didn't think Nico was ready, Joe would be starting the game this Monday.
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For me, it's more about the WRs than Nico. Nimrod and Webb just haven't shown that they have the speed or the ability to get separation. Will their reads match Nico's? Can they go get enough of those 50/50 balls? Iowa is also a very disciplined team. Can we create the confusion in their secondary that the Heupel offense feasts on? I'm doubtful. Having said that, this game might come down to a few big plays. Perhaps an early long one from Sampson. One guy who might be an X factor would be Dee Williams. He's certainly going to get a lot of hands on the football. Might be a long one...or hopefully 2 long punt returns for scores....if he's playing. The notion that Nico can win this thing by himself is silly. He needs the weapons. I'm not seeing that many tools his toolbox right now.
 
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#445
#445
CAVPUT said:
For me, it's more about the WRs than Nico. Nimrod and Webb just haven't shown that they have the speed or the ability to get separation. Will their reads match Nico's? Can they go get enough of those 50/50 balls? Iowa is also a very disciplined team. Can we create the confusion in their secondary that the Heupel offense feasts on? I'm doubtful. Having said that, this game might come down to a few big plays. Perhaps an early long one from Sampson. One guy who might be an X factor would be Dee Williams. He's certainly going to get a lot of hands on the football. Might be a long one...or hopefully 2 long punt returns for scores....if he's playing. The notion that Nico can win this thing by himself is silly. He needs the weapons. I'm not seeing that many tools his toolbox right now.
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I just don’t think posters on here understand how tough It is for a freshman QB to start and be successful. Oklahoma and Texas AM both played freshman and lost so the expectations shouldn’t be that Nico is going to dominate this game.

I am just hoping we make it through this game without an injury and not worrying about winning or losing.
 
#446
#446
volfan411 said:
I just don’t think posters on here understand how tough It is for a freshman QB to start and be successful. Oklahoma and Texas AM both played freshman and lost so the expectations shouldn’t be that Nico is going to dominate this game.

I am just hoping we make it through this game without an injury and not worrying about winning or losing.
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I've said it many times that it seems like in every UT sport...in every UT season...you take the top 1 or 3 players that we just cannot afford to see injured and that's exactly who goes down. Next season there's one huge name that I dare not speak. Just get experience and get out of this meaningless game without serious injury. Of course, everyone assumes our tempo and speed will be the difference. Like Iowa doesn't have a coaching staff who watches the fainting goat syndrome that our opponents always use? Everything about this game points to an Iowa victory. Now maybe Nico goes off like the USC qb did, but as you pointed out, that's not usually the norm with true freshmen QBs at this level. Not to beat a dead horse, but I'd feel a lot better if we had Wright, Small, Thornton and Bru for Nico to play with. Not saying our backups aren't capable, but they've not really done it yet. Tough opponent and stage for their debuts. I think Iowa takes a close one.
 
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#447
#447
Probably been said already but Nico will be as good in this game as the oline will allow him to be. Gotta give him some time to find the receivers or it’s going to be a tough game to watch. Go Vols!
 
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#448
#448
Am I just a jerk, or has anyone else thought about this? We talk about Joe mentoring Nico and how helpful it is for him to be there. The guy has such a low football iq that I can’t see it being beneficial beyond a morale boost. Can’t make reads, can’t play the up tempo offense, runs out of bounds on downs where he shouldn’t. Just don’t see much “teaching” that could come from him.
 
#449
#449
I’m excited to see what Nico brings to the table. That said, he likely will struggle at times in this game, and that’s ok. There will be growing pains. I don’t want to see anyone call for his benching if he throws a pick or two.
 
#450
#450
BruiserVol said:
Am I just a jerk, or has anyone else thought about this? We talk about Joe mentoring Nico and how helpful it is for him to be there. The guy has such a low football iq that I can’t see it being beneficial beyond a morale boost. Can’t make reads, can’t play the up tempo offense, runs out of bounds on downs where he shouldn’t. Just don’t see much “teaching” that could come from him.
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lol… no… I’m sure we’ve all had that thought to some degree.

By all accounts, Joe is a good teammate though and for all of his shortcomings, he’s at least played well enough to keep Nico from being force fed the SEC. He’s frustrating at times, but I’m sure a guy with 15 starts in the system has a word of wisdom every now and then just because.
 
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