Recruiting Football Talk VIII

#49,803
#49,803
MarcoVol said:
1. Who could actually confirm they’ve told Nico not to scramble?
2. Agree but I suspect Nico isn’t seeing the field well or not trusting what he’s seeing
3. Could work. Opposing teams could and likely will (just a guess) start finding more creative ways to stack the box
4. We’re #8 and chasing a playoff spot. If we end up headed towards 7-5 then sure. Not now.
5. Defenses are switching up their entire structure that they play all season just for the Vols. Difficult to prepare for something you haven’t seen. And how do you prepare the team? Your practice time is limited, you can’t prepare the team for multiple different defenses throughout the week. Not sure exactly how to fix this quickly.

Every team loses players to the portal so yes. But I don’t think trimming the fat is a bad thing.
Click to expand...
That’s simple you stop playing to what the defense is showing and execute the play in front of you
 
#49,804
#49,804
Ace said:
Team rolled into Arkansas thinking (like I did) this would be an easy win because of all the hype. Hopefully ship gets righted and a lesson is learned. Arkansas wanted more it than us.
Click to expand...

I don't think they overlooked Arkansas at all. Arkansas just has SEC players too and they played out of their minds especially that QB. Go back and look at some of the throws he completed over Jermod McCoy. The coverage was perfect. The pass was just better.

Sometimes you just get beat cause the opponent played better. In sports this happens. Even the Super Bowl champs can get beat any given Sunday by a less talented team that plays lights out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volsdeep4 and drvenner
#49,805
#49,805
MarcoVol said:
How do you know they’ve handcuffed him? And in what ways have they stopped him from showing his god given talent and kept the training wheels on? Be specific.
Click to expand...
They’ve stopped a little bit after NCST.

He’s only accounted for 2 TDs the last 3 games.
He’s always been a 60% passer that takes care of the ball and makes safe decisions. (HS stats included)

Not saying that can’t be fixed but they definitely need to be more aggressive. Example of this would be Nico slinging it down field at the end to Thornton. Be aggressive like that.
 
#49,806
#49,806
It's Monday. Time for a little less rah-rah and a little more honesty.

Still 100% believe we can beat anyone left on the schedule. We just have to go out and do it.

I find it concerning when a player comes out and says they were lackadaisical in the off week and not prepared for Arkansas. Goes against the image that Josh Heupel teams have projected.

Omari Thomas. Bad move by him, but credit to him for apologizing. Not sure it deserves a suspension, but I hope the coach has him run stairs. Maintaining discipline, even in the face of defeat, is important, IMO.

OL was subpar in that game. I could pile on Elarbee, but I won't. I've expressed my opinion and concern before that game was ever played. We have no real depth there. I've seen some say Nico holds the ball too long, and while probably true, our OL did not hold up in that game, and that was with both of our starting OTs back.

Officiating was questionable, as always, but we still should have won that game. We just needed more from the offense.

I look forward to seeing what adjustments coaches make for Florida. I still think we whoop their ass.

Both team and fans need to put that loss behind us. Still the rest of the season to play. You learn from your mistakes, you get better, and you move on. Dwelling on it does no one any good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VolsDoc81TX, Orangeredblooded, berryvol and 6 others
#49,809
#49,809
TrippieRedd said:
They’ve stopped a little bit after NCST.

He’s only accounted for 2 TDs the last 3 games.
He’s always been a 60% passer that takes care of the ball and makes safe decisions.

Not saying that can’t be fixed but they definitely need to be more aggressive. Example of this would be Nico slinging it down field at the end to Thornton. Be aggressive like that.
Click to expand...

Maybe he’s the one not being aggressive is what I’m saying. It’s not like the offense doesn’t have dudes running downfield where he could take shots.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TrippieRedd
#49,812
#49,812
VolsDoc81TX said:
I think that the OU game rattled Nico. Maybe he chalked it up to the two starting OTs were out. When they got back in the arkansas game and performed worse than the backups, that again rattled him. I think that I read that Karic rated the highest of all the OL. Higher than Mays and Spraggins. That would be great if he scored higher than 70. Now honestly, I don’t know if that’s on a 100 point scale, but if it is, our best graded OL got a 70. 😳
Hard to be confident as a QB …

I would start with the 2 TE sets in every game until the OL can handle business. Short quick passes until they all get their confidence back. JMO
Click to expand...
You would be correct, IMO. The coaches know for sure now that Nico has development needs, so help him out while the O-line figures it out.

They went 12 personnel in the third quarter, not sure why they would wait until after half time to do that, but it worked well in that quarter. Then they went away from it again in the 4th quarter and lost the game. How many targets were to TEs - 3. Kitselman had two catches and was blown up on his last target late in the game. Nothing from the others. How many catches did Sampson and Bishop have - 1. Why is Seldon not playing when they have him returning kicks? He is big, fast and dynamic - use him. Both Sampson and Bishop averaged over 6 yards per carry - why not start out with and later go away from a successful run game with 12 personnel in a slugfest? I don't get it.

JMO - this issue is scheme and play calling. Heup went away from what he knows will work with a young QB and an O-line dealing with injured OT's. Help Nico out and build his confidence. It lands on Heup to fix it since it is his O and he is play calling.

I am confident he will figure it out and get them back on track. The ultimate prize is still in view.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SmokinBob, VolsDoc81TX, drvenner and 6 others
#49,813
#49,813
MarcoVol said:
How do you know they’ve handcuffed him? And in what ways have they stopped him from showing his god given talent and kept the training wheels on? Be specific.
Click to expand...
Reality is that no one except those in the program know whether it's coaches or Nico making the decision to forego the opportunity to scramble and gain 5-7 yards, in exchange for staying in the pocket and looking downfield. At this point it doesn't really matter whose decision it is, so long as they recognize that staying in the pocket exclusively isn't working and adjust.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SugarCC, Billy Antrim and MarcoVol
#49,814
#49,814
vol9799 said:
Reality is that no one except those in the program know whether it's coaches or Nico making the decision to forego the opportunity to scramble and gain 5-7 yards, in exchange for staying in the pocket and looking downfield. At this point it doesn't really matter whose decision it is, so long as they recognize that staying in the pocket exclusively isn't working and adjust.
Click to expand...

Bingo bango
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigSteve09
#49,816
#49,816
RiseToTheTop said:
Just be aggressive and if you’re going to lose then lose by letting the kid rip it.


Losing like this is much worse. What can he even learn from when they are calling the game this way? Run, screen, long pass incomplete, punt. We look more like Vandy on offense than Vandy does currently.
Click to expand...
As @Orange. pointed out, we threw on first down a whole bunch of times. But I know that’s not what we want the narrative to be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Orange., SugarCC and MarcoVol
#49,817
#49,817
RiseToTheTop said:
Just be aggressive and if you’re going to lose then lose by letting the kid rip it.


Losing like this is much worse. What can he even learn from when they are calling the game this way? Run, screen, long pass incomplete, punt. We look more like Vandy on offense than Vandy does currently.
Click to expand...

How do you know they’re not letting him rip it? What if it’s just Nico not liking or trusting what he sees downfield?
 
#49,819
#49,819
Overall I think we're better than we were at every position on offense last year. And yet the offense is looking more or less the same.

One big play from Sampson and a bunch of penalties on Arkansas is the only reason we got out of there with 14.

The script on beating this offense has been put out there a bunch of times at this point. Every game it feels like we don't really know what the defense will do (Heupel has said as much), but everyone knows what we are going to do.

I think if it doesn't turn around, you take a long look at Halzle. Not even as a scapegoat, even though this will be two years of underperformance. The offense could just use an infusion of new ideas. Getting stale is always the risk of in-house hires.

Still believe in the talent. Will be interesting to see how they adjust. Everything still in front here.
 
#49,822
#49,822
MarcoVol said:
This is like a case study on misinformation spread. People run with their own narrative despite the facts. Interesting witnessing it in real time.
Click to expand...
Like the growing legend of Alex Golesh. I heard he once schemed a receiver so wide-open that he broke away from the Earth’s gravitational pull and was never seen again.

While fighting a bear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: barrylee, drvenner, UTJoe and 12 others
#49,825
#49,825
RiseToTheTop said:
Just be aggressive and if you’re going to lose then lose by letting the kid rip it.


Losing like this is much worse. What can he even learn from when they are calling the game this way? Run, screen, long pass incomplete, punt. We look more like Vandy on offense than Vandy does currently.
Click to expand...
Some of the issue might be, and we will never know, is Nico just not making the right reads? Is he just gun shy and does not want to make a mistake? It's easy to say just let a kid "rip it" but maybe he does not have the confidence to do that right now.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top