Poll: Nico or Joe vs UTSA?

[Butch s]

Dude, I'm just saying some are letting this fanfic hope that Nico is currently some rock star who will come in and lead us to a 14-1 season cloud their judgement. If he was that good, Milton wouldn't have been playing. I agree Milton ain't it, but it's entirely possible, very likely even, that Heupel (who has seen 100% of the practices vs. the 0% most VN posters have seen) is right that Milton currently gives us the best chance to win at present.

Some people don't want to hear that, because it shatters the 14-1 fantasy, but the worst thing we could do would be to throw our QB of the future out there before he is ready and have him get injured or broken mentally. This season we will be lucky to win 8-9 games, no matter what, next year can be alot better but we need to bring Nico along in a manner that maintains the integrity of the locker room (I imagine Joe Milton's got a lot of support in there as long as he's been here), and sets Nico up for success when it's inevitably his time. Fans forget these decisions involve human beings and have cultural/morale consequences, it's not Madden where you just plug another guy in.

Little Dickey satan has played 3 qb this year because what they started with wasn’t acceptable. If our players would get butt hurt because the coach isn’t playing the people they want to play, sit their asses too. This isn’t a popularity contest. No one knows how nico will perform under fire, but we see and know how joe does. He looks like a cow staring at a new gate

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

We already saw that Hooker was 2nd to Milton under Heupel, so that’s not true at all.

Hooker wasn't a true freshman.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Little Dickey satan has played 3 qb this year because what they started with wasn’t acceptable. If our players would get butt hurt because the coach isn’t playing the people they want to play, sit their asses too. This isn’t a popularity contest. No one knows how nico will perform under fire, but we see and know how joe does. He looks like a cow staring at a new gate

And both the guys that have come in off the bench for Bama look worse than the original starter. I knew Bama was in trouble when they went and got Buchner to start with. He's not good, and the fact they thought he might could even possibly help them, spoke volumes.

 

[Drewbydoo]

There is not a QB out there who would be successful behind this OL. Not a single one.

And I can double down on that with the inept play calling. We are more predictable than the sun rising in the east. And if I see another bubble screen, I’d likely scream.

Plus bubbles and screens don't exactly go together. The whole concept is flawed from the very beginning.

 

[USMC-TNVOL]

Hooker wasn't a true freshman.

Hooker was also a 3 star recruit. Nico has been with the team since December. Just because he’s a freshman doesn’t mean he can’t start.

 

[Butch s]

One thing is certain. JM will not be qb for Tennessee next year. Would make sense to get nico some early learning experience, and to get an idea if he’s capable of being an sec qb or not. If not gives you an early opportunity to bring in someone else, and gives him a jump on next season if he’s the man. We are currently very easy to stop defensively. Florida packed the box, stopped the run, dared joe to throw downfield, knowing we couldn’t out score them if he did. If memory serves, we had 2 good passes across the line of scrimmage. Not very hard to defend against that

 

[CAVPUT]

Start Nico or Joe? If coach isn't going to serious roll with Nico or give him tons of meaningful playing time, please redshirt him. There is absolutely zero reason to waste a year of eligibility with him sitting on the sidelines.

Our worst nightmare is that he transfers.....

Milton should start, but regardless of score, I think Nico needs to see playing time in the first half.

 

[loosecannon]

Doesn’t matter if all we throw are slants and bubble slants. When Joe goes down the middle of the field and gets to throw a volume of deep balls he is good. Problem is, we have a ton of bad penalties and easy incompletions that makes a missed deep ball a drive killer. Running/slant/bubble for 6 on a 1 & ten to go lets us take the deep shot on second down or with play action on a first down. When we are 1st and 15 or 2nd and 12, our limitations are severely exposed. That has killed us the last two weeks. We have to be able to stay on schedule because he doesn’t scramble for first downs. 3rd and 5 or more is really hard for us. I would love for Our offense to get a little more creative with Joe on designed runs. Him on QB power or ISO would help tremendously as Florida and others are just sitting in basically a man 2 or man 3 concept at times with a super soft box.

 

[Butch s]

And both the guys that have come in off the bench for Bama look worse than the original starter. I knew Bama was in trouble when they went and got Buchner to start with. He's not good, and the fact they thought he might could even possibly help them, spoke volumes.

Yes, but we don’t know if our backups are better or not. Have to play to know. How they perform in practice is not necessarily the determining factor

 

[loosecannon]

One thing is certain. JM will not be qb for Tennessee next year. Would make sense to get nico some early learning experience, and to get an idea if he’s capable of being an sec qb or not. If not gives you an early opportunity to bring in someone else, and gives him a jump on next season if he’s the man. We are currently very easy to stop defensively. Florida packed the box, stopped the run, dared joe to throw downfield, knowing we couldn’t out score them if he did. If memory serves, we had 2 good passes across the line of scrimmage. Not very hard to defend against that

We were so predictable that at times, we had seven in the box and they had five and we were still trying to throw horizontally. They literally sat a guy press, a guy on the slant , and a guy over the top on both sides. We are out in 21 personnel and couldn’t run the ball because the center of our line was getting mashed.

 

[Drewbydoo]

The vols follow the pattern of whatever the Buffalo Bills do because they are professionals and Josh Allen had a terrible week last week. Agreed?

I believe the Bills will be playing at 1PM on CBS in about 20 minutes.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Start Nico or Joe? If coach isn't going to serious roll with Nico or give him tons of meaningful playing time, please redshirt him. There is absolutely zero reason to waste a year of eligibility with him sitting on the sidelines.

Our worst nightmare is that he transfers.....

We will not redshirt him?
He will be gone in yr 3
He will play when needed and he will not start over Joe unless it gets real, real ugly.

 

[Sara Clark]

If Nico was better than Milton right now he'd be starting already. That doesn't mean Nico won't be really good, but true freshmen have a HUGE learning curve going from high school to the SEC. We don't want to throw him to the wolves like we did Guarantano and break him mentally too. Guarantano's internal clock was permanently broken by those early beatings he took. If Heupel thought Nico was capable of saving the season, he'd already have played. It's probably best to ride with Milton, see if he can figure it out, he's got several games at home to play. If we've got 3 or more losses after Bama, let's start the transition in a way that tries to set him up for success.

You can't apply that logic if you look at Heupel history. The ONLY reason Hooker started when he did, was due to Milton's injury. Hooker was CLEARLY the better QB.

 

[DustyRockSolid]

You put Nico out there behind this line…and he is out hurt within three games.

That is the reality.

Then you're also saying our head coach let our offensive line become the worst in college football. Plenty of teams start true freshman. Only at TN will starting under bad conditions ruin you for your career. As if we haven't started true freshman QBs before.

 

[Butch s]

We will not redshirt him?
He will be gone in yr 3
He will play when needed and he will not start over Joe unless it gets real, real ugly.

I’ve been a fan for over 50 years. I would say last night is about as ugly as I’ve ever seen. Honestly

 

[Sara Clark]

Milton is a paper tiger...while he’s physically gifted and probably a swell teammate off the field, there is something missing between the ears. If the argument against rolling with Iamalaeva from here onward is that our OL sucks and he'll get injured, could it be that his speed can help avoid that as well as mitigate the OL's deficiencies?

Could also be a scenario of chemistry clicking.

 

[DustyRockSolid]

If you think QB play lost that game, I'm not sure where to start.

The QB was unable to put up points in an offense designed to put up points.
Yes, QB play was the biggest factor in why we lost. Milton severely limits what our offense can do. Our coaches flat out do not trust him to throw. There is no point in starting a QB that you don't trust to throw. Especially when you've got a 5 star freshman sitting on the bench that is almost surely going to be the starter next year. Its flat out stupid.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Then you're also saying our head coach let our offensive line become the worst in college football. Plenty of teams start true freshman. Only at TN will starting under bad conditions ruin you for your career. As if we haven't started true freshman QBs before.

You really are on drugs and it is quite apparent when it comes to the talent on the OL. Look at the NFL of Senior OLineman from Tennessee past 4 years should tell you all you need to know. But you are brain dead.

OLINE last yr is better, wiser, experienced and was older than this years. Here's the difference.



Hooker's processor was twice as fast as Milton. Nico

 

[Butch s]

The QB was unable to put up points in an offense designed to put up points.
Yes, QB play was the biggest factor in why we lost. Milton severely limits what our offense can do. Our coaches flat out do not trust him to throw. There is no point in starting a QB that you don't trust to throw. Especially when you've got a 5 star freshman sitting on the bench that is almost surely going to be the starter next year. Its flat out stupid.

Absolutely correct. I can’t understand how more people, who have watched us play, do not get it

 

[cpavol]

Start Nico or Joe? If coach isn't going to serious roll with Nico or give him tons of meaningful playing time, please redshirt him. There is absolutely zero reason to waste a year of eligibility with him sitting on the sidelines.

Our worst nightmare is that he transfers.....

Joe Milton has done nothing to keep the starting QB job. He does not make decisions quickly enough for this offense to run the way it is supposed to run. He also cannot throw on the move.

 

[Butch s]

You put Nico out there behind this line…and he is out hurt within three games.

That is the reality.

That is not reality, may get hurt 1st snap and may never get hurt at all. That is reality. You have no idea, nor do I or anyone else, for that matter

 

[Shaun1985]

Joe. No reason to hurt Nico. This team plays like p*ssies. They are about to take a few to the chin because the first SEX team was probably the most trash we play outside of Vandy.

 

[Sudden Impact]

I’ve been a fan for over 50 years. I would say last night is about as ugly as I’ve ever seen. Honestly

Keep watching because you must have memory loss (alzheimers) if you can't remember any of the JG, Butch Jones, Dooley, Pruitt tenures.

 

[DustyRockSolid]

Keep watching because you must have memory loss (alzheimers) if you can't remember any of the JG, Butch Jones, Dooley, Pruitt tenures.

Last night was.....pretty bad dude. It was up there.

 

[Smokymtnbullet]

Why you all want to get Nico killed he’s skinny as a broom and that Oline couldn’t block a trickle of water with a truck load of flex seal