'25 Portal Thread

[Carp]

I imagine Heard will be looking at the NFL after next year and Sanders goes to LT.

Agreed. Brazzell will also be in line to be WR1. So if he has a good year (say 900+ yards and close to10 tds) he would likely head to the draft as well.

 

[GVol1966]

Throw to the TE more than WR

But we don’t

 

[WillisWG]

Tennessee Transfer WR Flips Commitment From ACC To Big 10 School | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee transfer receiver Kaleb Webb flipped his commitment from Wake Forest to Maryland on Tuesday night.

www.rockytopinsider.com

 

[VolCowboy]

True Freshman vs Redshirt. And UT was a much better team.
If all that was reversed yall would be making 10 thousand excuses.

Their both potentially generational talents.

Some of yall can’t see nothing if it isn’t coated in orange

If you look at it, Raiola had a 1% higher completion percentage for 83 more yards on 54 more completions! 7 less TDs passing, 1 less TD rushing, 5 more interceptions, a rating -23.6 pts lower than Nico's, and rushed for 380 yards less. This isnt even close. Nico had a much better year, and while our Defense is way better than Nebraska's our Oline is not much better if any better.

Comp

Att

Comp %

Yds

Avg

TD

Int

Lng

Rtg

Sacks

Rush

Yds

Avg

TDS

Raiola

253​

380​

66.6​

2595​

6.8​

12​

10​

59​

129.1​

26​

47​

-69​

-1.4​

0​

Nico

199​

303​

65.7​

2512​

8.3​

19​

5​

86​

152.7​

24​

89​

311​

3.5​

1​

Raiola Diff

54​

0.9​

83​

-1.5​

-7​

5​

-27​

-23.6​

2​

-380​

-4.9​

 

[Carp]

Raiola had a perfectly fine true freshman season. He played better than most true freshman do. Of course very few true freshman start all season for a Power 4 school, so that is a bit of a misnomer.

Certainly, his performance should give Nebraska a lot of optimism going forward. But at the same time, it's perfectly acceptable to say that his season wasn't anything special in general and is not indicative that he's a generational talent.

Caleb Williams was a generational talent as a true freshman. Trevor Lawrence was a clear generational talent as a true freshman. Tua, even though he didn't start most of the season, was a clear generational talent as a true freshman.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Raiola had a perfectly fine true freshman season. He played better than most true freshman do. Of course very few true freshman start all season for a Power 4 school, so that is a bit of a misnomer.

Certainly, his performance should give Nebraska a lot of optimism going forward. But at the same time, it's perfectly acceptable to say that his season wasn't anything special in general and is not indicative that he's a generational talent.

Caleb Williams was a generational talent as a true freshman. Trevor Lawrence was a clear generational talent as a true freshman. Tua, even though he didn't start most of the season, was a clear generational talent as a true freshman.

Nico has had a better freshman season than Williams.

Just saying!

 

[TrippieRedd]

I think it’s funny how a majority of transfer guys are ranked.

1st and 2nd team guys get ranked low, while the guys that barely made a starting lineup get ranked in the top 25.

 

[Plove23]

Plove, Are you at liberty to answer this question?
Is Cam still talking to UT about possibly returning if he could get the right NIL deal or his mind made up 100% to leave?
I really hate seeing him go.

Yeah I really don't know, I haven't really talked to him yet

 

[Vols410]

If you look at it, Raiola had a 1% higher completion percentage for 83 more yards on 54 more completions! 7 less TDs passing, 1 less TD rushing, 5 more interceptions, a rating -23.6 pts lower than Nico's, and rushed for 380 yards less. This isnt even close. Nico had a much better year, and while our Defense is way better than Nebraska's our Oline is not much better if any better.

Comp

Att

Comp %

Yds

Avg

TD

Int

Lng

Rtg

Sacks

Rush

Yds

Avg

TDS

Raiola

253​

380​

66.6​

2595​

6.8​

12​

10​

59​

129.1​

26​

47​

-69​

-1.4​

0​

Nico

199​

303​

65.7​

2512​

8.3​

19​

5​

86​

152.7​

24​

89​

311​

3.5​

1​

Raiola Diff

54​

0.9​

83​

-1.5​

-7​

5​

-27​

-23.6​

2​

-380​

-4.9​

Raiola had a good freshman season, but it wasn't generational by any stretch. After adjusting for usage / sos / team-help, I have him worth -0.2 epa/play this year, which would be 32nd among starting true freshman qb's from the past 10 years. If you take into account expected growth by class, even accounting for the true vs. freshman difference, Nico's on a better trajectory.

I've got Nico as the projected #14 QB for 2025, and #9 for 2026.
Raiola peaks at #23 in 2027.

 

[Vfl2407]

Yeah I really don't know, I haven't really talked to him yet

Ok. Whatever happens, hope it goes well and he gets back to healthy.

 

[dascoop]

Jordan Matthews committing to Vanderbilt soon

 

[NighthawkVol]

Jordan Matthews committing to Vanderbilt soon

It's a desirable school for football players named Jordan Matthews.

 

[Carp]

Nico has had a better freshman season than Williams.

Just saying!

Nope. Caleb was a true freshman. Nico didn't play his freshman year. So not comparable.

And comparing Nico's season with Caleb's first season, Caleb Williams also wins out there. He had 21 TDs to 4 Ints and added another 6 TDs on the ground. And Caleb Williams didn't even start the entire season.

 

[Visidog]

NFL Players also have:

A minimum salary that is at the top end of what NCAA make.
Profit sharing
Pension
Signing Bonuses
And hole host of other benefits. They can get their own endorsements outside of their actual contract to play football.


You are also ignoring that other leagues like the MLB, MLS, etc have no caps and their contracts are fully guaranteed. Juan Soto just received a record contract of 765 million dollars, all of which is guaranteed. MLB teams had ZERO leverage in those negotiations.

And anyone can demand the same thing in the NFL or the MLB or any other sport. In fact that does happen from time to time, usually at the detriment of the player when it does happen.

Im not sure we disagree. MLB is more wide open than the NFL for sure, but even then the MLB teams are getting the assurance that Soto is playing for his team or nobody. CFB gives year by year renegotiation with no ability to lock a player down.

All pro leagues have rules about paying players that try to strike a balance between the player, the team, and the league. MLB is on the loose, player-friendly side of the spectrum and the NFL is on the strict rules side of the spectrum. CFB has basically nothing beyond a player not being able to play for two teams in one season, limited roster sizes, and academic requirements. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, but I think it’s just true.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Nope. Caleb was a true freshman. Nico didn't play his freshman year. So not comparable.

And comparing Nico's season with Caleb's first season, Caleb Williams also wins out there. He had 21 TDs to 4 Ints and added another 6 TDs on the ground.

Nico has minimum one more game.

Nico wil finish with 21-22 TDs passing TDs

Already surpassed him by 500+ yards passing in a tougher conference. Better passing pct


You’re also forgetting that Williams played the whole game. Nico has only played a half in a few games.

 

[Ace]

You need to go back and read every post @LittleVol has written about Cam. It’s all unnecessary bashing, and he was proud he was right about Bishop, and he’s proud now that he was right about Seldon. It’s his childish “I told you so” attitude. Everything he’s said is only serving to make himself feel good about being right

This is the reason there is an ignore button.

 

[Carp]

Im not sure we disagree. MLB is more wide open than the NFL for sure, but even then the MLB teams are getting the assurance that Soto is playing for his team or nobody. CFB gives year by year renegotiation with no ability to lock a player down.

All pro leagues have rules about paying players that try to strike a balance between the player, the team, and the league. MLB is on the loose, player-friendly side of the spectrum and the NFL is on the strict rules side of the spectrum. CFB has basically nothing beyond a player not being able to play for two teams in one season, limited roster sizes, and academic requirements. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, but I think it’s just true.

It's basically the same as MLB contracts with opt-outs.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Take him so we get their schemes

 

[Carp]

Nico has minimum one more game.

Nico wil finish with 21-22 TDs passing TDs

Already surpassed him by 500+ yards passing in a tougher conference. Better passing pct


You’re also forgetting that Williams played the whole game. Nico has only played a half in a few games.

Williams only played in 11 games his true freshman season, compared to Nico's 12 games this year (so far). And Williams was only QB1 for 8 of those games, as he started the year behind Spencer Rattler. His first 3 games he was just used in garbage time in blowouts. So 98% of Williams production came in only 8 games. For those 8 games he averaged 226 ypg, 47 rushing yards/game and 3.336 total TDs per game. If you projected that out over 12 games, that would be 2700 passing yards, 571 rushing yards, and 40 total TDs.

Any way you cut it, Nico's R-FR season stats are much weaker than Williams true freshman season. That isn't a knock on Nico. Caleb Wiliams legitimately had an epic season as a true freshman.

 

[Vols410]

I think it’s funny how a majority of transfer guys are ranked.

1st and 2nd team guys get ranked low, while the guys that barely made a starting lineup get ranked in the top 25.

It looks to me like they place a premium on years remaining. Their rankings are a lot closer to mine when I bring future projections into the equation.

 

[TrippieRedd]

It looks to me like they place a premium on years remaining. Their rankings are a lot closer to mine when I bring future projections into the equation.

Wendell Moe on 247 is sooooo far down the list.

Now on On3 he is a .90 4 star, which I can agree with.

 

[Vols410]

Wendell Moe on 247 is sooooo far down the list.

Now on On3 he is a .90 4 star, which I can agree with.

I really like Moe. Grades out right between Karic / Spraggins from this year, and that's as a sophomore. The only UT IOL that have graded better 3 years out of HS are Trey Smith and Cooper Mays. I've got Moe down as the #12 underclassmen IOL in the nation.

 

[Visidog]

It's basically the same as MLB contracts with opt-outs.

Fair enough. It’s like everybody has a free player-option opt out clause every year.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Wonder if we’re recruiting that LB Khimori House.

Vol football and RC both follow him. Did we recruit him in HS?

 

[orangejuice]

Raiola had a perfectly fine true freshman season. He played better than most true freshman do. Of course very few true freshman start all season for a Power 4 school, so that is a bit of a misnomer.

Certainly, his performance should give Nebraska a lot of optimism going forward. But at the same time, it's perfectly acceptable to say that his season wasn't anything special in general and is not indicative that he's a generational talent.

Caleb Williams was a generational talent as a true freshman. Trevor Lawrence was a clear generational talent as a true freshman. Tua, even though he didn't start most of the season, was a clear generational talent as a true freshman.

How does one call a player a generational talent and then list 3 “generational talents” all from the same generation? Math ain’t mathing