'25 Portal Thread

[Jackcrevol]

Concepcion committed to A&M

WTF are we doing?

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Everyone has been trashing the WR room for two years now. Pope was receiving accolades when he coached up Tillman, Hyatt and Keyton in 2022. Hyatt and Keyton both made large improvements in 2022. We even had to give Pope a big raise to fend off other schools from hiring him away.

IMO Nico and Milton both throw a much harder ball to catch than Hooker. Plus neither of them make quick decisions like Hooker did. Keyton regressed and Bru was injured in 2023. Bru and Squirrel and Thornton were all injured in 2024. Although Thornton did improve from 2023 to 2024 despite his injuries. My biggest complaint with Pope/Heupel is they shouldn't have played squirrel after his shoulder injury. They should have played others in the slot more. I am hoping that Nico can improve in 2025 to make quicker decisions and throw a more catchable ball. He seemed to improve late in 2024.

It would be interesting to hear Bru's and Thornton's opinions on Pope. Doesn't surprise me that the players that weren't playing enough (in their opinion) didn't like him.

The biggest issue with the offense right now is that the playcalling is stale and incredibly predictable. Multiple opponents knew what was coming...fortunately several weren't talented enough to completely stop us. Heupel and staff need to do a lot of selt-scouting this offseason to make sure other teams can't figure them out so easily from just watching film.

 

[VolGee4]

That is why recruiting matters. And not valuing WR highly like some others do shows when you play good talent. Or we can be happy playing in bowl games and occasionally having a cup of coffee in the playoffs.

Matthews was a 5 star, and Travis Smith is a top 60 overall player. Brazzell was highly recruited out of the portal.

 

[Orangeblood75]

WTF are we doing?

Drinking coffee

 

[volstudent26]

Gotta see if we can get Branch to hold off doing anything until after the dead period so he can possibly visit.

Branch would cost way more than Mike Matthews how do you propose getting branch when we may not have enough $ to keep Mike Matthews?

 

[Jackcrevol]

Matthews was a 5 star, and Travis Smith is a top 60 overall player. Brazzell was highly recruited out of the portal.

We had three injured last year. Granted we limped them along, logically one would think other players would step up.

Now we have no depth. So, we need ... all the five stars.

 

[Jackcrevol]

Drinking coffee

In Maryville, need a Vienna Espresso?

 

[VolGee4]

Branch would cost way more than Mike Matthews how do you propose getting branch when we may not have enough $ to keep Mike Matthews?

Money is not the issue with Matthews.

 

[MemphisVol3]

They both dominated us one on one at all three levels. Just pointing out that not blitzing wasn’t our biggest problem.

Our corners were solid against UGA. Our LBs and Safeties got their lunch money taken.

 

[Vol8188]

WTF are we doing?

I’m currently in the passenger side of my wife’s ride. I’ve accepted my scrub status

 

[Volbrando]

Money is not the issue with Matthews.

Pope likely

 

[VolGee4]

Pope likely

Don’t know about that either. He was just leveraging but also think he was unsure about Nico.

 

[Jackcrevol]

I’m currently in the passenger side of my wife’s ride. I’ve accepted my scrub status

Is she your best friend? I bet she dont want no scrub, even when you holler!

 

[WesTnVol]

Nico could help us and earn some of that $2mil/year. Talk to CJH, see who he thinks can help us that’s in the portal. Pick up the phone make some calls. OL, WR, RB? You want/need help then lead the way.

 

[Jackcrevol]

Money is not the issue with Matthews.

So he gone?

thought there was hope.

 

[VolGee4]

So he gone?

thought there was hope.

There is. Nothing I said changes him leaving.

 

[JT3]

Branch would cost way more than Mike Matthews how do you propose getting branch when we may not have enough $ to keep Mike Matthews?

Idk what Branch is asking nor how how much money we have to offer. Nonetheless, you still make the phone call and see if we can make a deal happen. We losing 7 WRs to the portal or draft so we should have some funds allocate for the position.

 

[EJVOL4LIFE]

Any updates on MM?? Everyone saying he is gone or he is potentially staying has me feeling all kinds of different ways. Does anyone know what is going on or has anyone heard an update??

 

[volstudent26]

Money is not the issue with Matthews.

Yes it is. As much as I’m not sold with pope sometimes it certainly is about money.

 

[Vols2DaWall]

Maybe this will rid us of Pope and recruit an actual covered WR coach

 

[Jackcrevol]

Any updates on MM?? Everyone saying he is gone or he is potentially staying has me feeling all kinds of different ways. Does anyone know what is going on or has anyone heard an update??

probably won't get an update until monday

 

[smokeyz1]

The biggest issue with the offense right now is that the playcalling is stale and incredibly predictable. Multiple opponents knew what was coming...fortunately several weren't talented enough to completely stop us. Heupel and staff need to do a lot of selt-scouting this offseason to make sure other teams can't figure them out so easily from just watching film.

I do think other DCs have caught up to CJHs offense somewhat but also believe QB play has regressed since Hooker. We went much faster with Hooker at QB in 2022. All goes back to QB total command of the offense. Like I said before .. I think Nico will be better in 2025.

 

[Carp]

Butch Jones went from 5-7 to 9-4 in 2 years. And 9-4 again.
What more did he need to prove?
Oh yeah —- how to crash and burn at 4-6 the next year.
Early success isn’t always proof.
Sustainability is.

How many top 25 teams did Butch beat, not counting bowl games?

 

[volstudent26]

Any updates on MM?? Everyone saying he is gone or he is potentially staying has me feeling all kinds of different ways. Does anyone know what is going on or has anyone heard an update??

Has not entered officially but he has the paperwork needed to enter. The deadline for him to request the paperwork was midnight last night and he requested it at 10 or 11pm last night. If he submits it before Monday at midnight he’s in the portal if not nothing happened.

AP and some insiders think it’s possible he doesn’t enter the portal. Even if he does it’s not over and we could pull him back but the odds of doing so drop dramatically if he officially enters today or tomorrow

 

[SPEDVoL14]

WTF are we doing?

Never even went after him. Frustrating