Please DON'T start Nico [Nico merged]

[UTFranklinVol]

Amen. If Nick Saban of all HC’s made the decision to start a skinny 5-star Frosh QB in a critical game and DOMINATE then what’s our excuse??

Nick Saban also had an amazing team surrounding him. We do not.

 

[jasonvol18]

I get that he needs experience but this is NOT the kind of experience he needs. The OL has major issues and is flat out dangerous. The last thing we need is an inexperienced and talented QB to get a major injury for nothing.

Milton is not our future and he probably has no future in the NFL based on his accuracy and decision making but he is HUGE and can take punishment.

Until the OL is fixes we need to start Milton. If he gets hurt and we have to go to plan b so be it but dont risk hurting Nico or giving him a bad experience as a starting QB. This year isnt worth it.

Yes it is!! Start Nico!

 

[Cartervol]

We should just petition the SEC to let us sit out the rest of the season since no freshman QB ever did anything worthwhile without having five first-round draft picks on the O-line and it’s completely impossible that a consensus five-star QB might play on a whole different level with this line than a QB who can’t make reads or move in the pocket and has already failed previously at two Power Five programs.

Yes. It's ridiculous that you want to see something other than the shat show you've watched for 3 games now.. We should throw the season away so we can makes excuses next year that Nico hasn't played very much when he makes a mistake. Vols motto. "Next year is our year "...

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

I think Nico getting his leg broken in half would be a bigger disaster. It’s a crap show, no disagreement and people want change and I understand that but I don’t think the qb position is the biggest problem. Oline is absolutely horrendous.

A quicker decision maker and somebody with wheels might get the O line in sync. Even if we stay primarily with Joe, I see nothing wrong with playing Nico some. That is going to be the quickest way to speed up his learning process. I am pulling for Joe but locking onto 1 wide receiver and processing things to slow in your 6th year are not good signs. GBO

 

[UTFranklinVol]

A quicker decision maker and somebody with wheels might get the O line in sync. Even if we stay primarily with Joe, I see nothing wrong with playing Nico some. That is going to be the quickest way to speed up his learning process. I am pulling for Joe but locking onto 1 wide receiver and processing things to slow in your 6th year are not good signs. GBO

Playing Nico against San Antonio just to see what he can do is one thing. Benching Milton and starting Nico against Bama or Georgia is another story. There is literally no way that ends well for UT. People are hoping for some Jesus figure to fix all the problems. But QB isnt our biggest issue and a better QB isnt going to fix it.

 

[Woke]

Nick Saban also had an amazing team surrounding him. We do not.

What does that have to do with anything? You play the best assets you’ve got. You don’t hold them in reserve until the moment your team is suddenly good enough.

Nico is good enough to get an $8 million deal. Time to step up

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Lol

Yeah I am sure you would be lol if Nico gets blasted and hurt. The dude isn’t ready.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

A quicker decision maker and somebody with wheels might get the O line in sync. Even if we stay primarily with Joe, I see nothing wrong with playing Nico some. That is going to be the quickest way to speed up his learning process. I am pulling for Joe but locking onto 1 wide receiver and processing things to slow in your 6th year are not good signs. GBO

I don’t have a problem with playing Nico sparingly. But starting him? With this OL??? No way.

 

[nomads-11]

I get that he needs experience but this is NOT the kind of experience he needs. The OL has major issues and is flat out dangerous. The last thing we need is an inexperienced and talented QB to get a major injury for nothing.

Milton is not our future and he probably has no future in the NFL based on his accuracy and decision making but he is HUGE and can take punishment.

Until the OL is fixes we need to start Milton. If he gets hurt and we have to go to plan b so be it but dont risk hurting Nico or giving him a bad experience as a starting QB. This year isnt worth it.

At this point, this is spot on. Joe is now a known liability and they've been hiding the weakness that is the OL in pass protection. Bad combination right now, but that's what is on tape at this point.

 

[nomads-11]

Milton is mediocre at best but he’s not the biggest problem right now. Oline is terrible, defense is soft, secondary is laughably bad probably the worst in the conference. Nico isn’t a magic wand that makes everything better. Give him some time and protect your future; this year is likely going to suck.

Yep, ride it out and try to enjoy the trip. #2024

 

[He_Made_It]

Not trying to stir up anything but what if there’s internal tensions over Milton? It wouldn’t be the first time in CFB. What if Nico came in and, all of a sudden, things started clicking?

Morale is a fickle thing. Hinging on many variables. Ask any coach - professional, college, high school, peewee, what the most important position to a teams success is.

What’s going on? I still believe in JMIII but we will never know what’s truly going on. Speculation only brings so much light to the table. Let’s see what happens the next two weeks going into the Bye.

 

[THEONLYTENISEE]

Yeah I am sure you would be lol if Nico gets blasted and hurt. The dude isn’t ready.

Wont have a choice if we lose to sc.

 

[orangepeopleeater]

Is Milton capable of running this hurry up offense? I have noticed that in the three games that the offense is set, but he stops and stares at the sideline. Sometimes to the point where the clock runs out or have to burn a timeout. He has all the talent in the world for QB, but is he having trouble reading the defense and calling an audible without needing it called in?

 

[GAVol]

You have to be able to run the ball, protect and hit gimme throws to play with tempo. TFLs, sacks, having to throw it away and penalties completely neuter our ability to go fast. Joe's struggles along with personnel issues we're trying to work through have made the playbook really limited right now and going fast just exposes our weaknesses even more. You're going to see more "hurry up and wait" at the LOS.

 

[sjt18]

Is Milton capable of running this hurry up offense? I have noticed that in the three games that the offense is set, but he stops and stares at the sideline. Sometimes to the point where the clock runs out or have to burn a timeout. He has all the talent in the world for QB, but is he having trouble reading the defense and calling an audible without needing it called in?

Maybe we're missing Golesh more than we thought we would?

 

[GAVol]

Maybe we're missing Golesh more than we thought we would?

And throw in the fact that the offense is a dysfuntional mess due to personnel with the QB, X, Z, TE, LT, C, and RT all being different Saturday from what they were last season.

 

[sjt18]

And throw in the fact that the offense is a dysfuntional mess due to personnel with the QB, X, Z, TE, LT, C, and RT all being different Saturday from what they were last season.

I don't think we can accept that as an excuse. There is turnover every year in CFB. It will actually be worse next year for the Vols. Also, all of those guys except the LT have multiple years in the system... and the LT played pretty well.

 

[TucsonVol]

Is Milton capable of running this hurry up offense? I have noticed that in the three games that the offense is set, but he stops and stares at the sideline. Sometimes to the point where the clock runs out or have to burn a timeout. He has all the talent in the world for QB, but is he having trouble reading the defense and calling an audible without needing it called in?

Fire the players and start over!! Do not fire the coaches! It is on the players!!

 

[ALLVOL 4LIFE]

Again! Milton looked like a shoe in for the Heisman Trophy in the Orange Bowl. What happened? What hasn’t happened? Besides Right Tackle, this is about the same offensive unit.

It’s a mind thing. If all goes as planned, he’s phenomenal. If things breakdown and he has to process the move, he’s screwed.

Just the facts!

 

[uncle chewii]

It’s not just the Qb that is the problem. The defense was way out of position especially on the big plays that Florida had in the game. Florida had one good qtr and scored 20 points 14 of which came off the botched tackling on the long run and Milton’s what was you thinking throwing that interception. Our offense though is lacking it swagger and is different than last year. I think Milton is too scared to run the ball and is limiting himself to just throwing it. We have not had the RPOs like we have done with Hooker so that is either Milton not checking down to that on his pre-snap reads or CJH not calling it but it’s not working this year and we have the horses to get it done and 4 games into the season we should be hitting our stride and not losing to FL the way we did.

 

[GAVol]

I don't think we can accept that as an excuse. There is turnover every year in CFB. It will actually be worse next year for the Vols. Also, all of those guys except the LT have multiple years in the system... and the LT played pretty well.

Whatever you want to call it, it's obviously an issue. We're basically going through what Alabama and UGA are going through as far as a dropoff in offensive efficiency. The difference is that they have O-lines that let them protect and run it enough to get away with not having elite QB play.

 

[Voldawg1970]

Milton - Heisman Candidate??? - I guess him throwing the ball 80 yards like 100s of other people can makes him that candidate. In the Orange Bowl he did have a supporting cast but now he has nothing but McCoy and watching him in the hurry up is nauseating. One game doesn't make a Heisman Candidate. He shouldn't be on the field at this point but there really is no other choice than playing a green Nico. I think that's the direction we should be heading but time will tell. If we continue to play we are going to be a 3 star recruiting school or another stepping stone....

 

[vegasvolfan]

I get that he needs experience but this is NOT the kind of experience he needs. The OL has major issues and is flat out dangerous. The last thing we need is an inexperienced and talented QB to get a major injury for nothing.

Milton is not our future and he probably has no future in the NFL based on his accuracy and decision making but he is HUGE and can take punishment.

Until the OL is fixes we need to start Milton. If he gets hurt and we have to go to plan b so be it but dont risk hurting Nico or giving him a bad experience as a starting QB. This year isnt worth it.

If we fix our OL, Milton will go pro. I agree with you however. People want to play Nico now because he can run and give us a better chance or at least to see if he can. I still agree with you.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Im not defending Milton, as I also think he has processing issues before and during the play, but nobody is going to be good as long as the Center doesn't know what he's doing. This impacts the entire OL as he is responsible for calling the blocking assignments pre-snap. Lane also false started several times or caused it by not snapping it when Joe clapped. Dayne got in there and nothing really got better, so Im not sure what the answer is. Cooper needs to come back ASAP. Hopefully he is ready by USCjr. That will be 6.5 weeks since surgery.

What a mess.

 

[DaddyChad]

You have to be able to run the ball, protect and hit gimme throws to play with tempo. TFLs, sacks, having to throw it away and penalties completely neuter our ability to go fast. Joe's struggles along with personnel issues we're trying to work through have made the playbook really limited right now and going fast just exposes our weaknesses even more. You're going to see more "hurry up and wait" at the LOS.

Spot on. I think the Oline is our main issue. Milton will never be close to what Hooker was but if you give him time and keep him on schedule he could give you something. I think though you’ve seen what you’re going to get there. If you fix the Oline I’m still not sure you can win many games with Milton as your qb. If you lean on the ground game and go to Nico I’m not sure what you get. If we scrap or minimize up tempo I’m not sure we can win with this defense.