Recruiting Football Talk VIII

#50,077
#50,077
This game was an inflection point for this season in every way imaginable. Could go 1 of 2 ways and how these players, this staff and this TEAM responds will tell us all we need to know. If we come out flat and let Arky beat us 2 weeks in a row, then we deserve to get beat again. I don’t think CJH is going to let that happen.

Call me a ☀️ pumper all you want, but many great teams over the years have taken hard losses and came back to win it all in the end. 2017 Bama is the first one that comes to my mind. After everything he’s shown me so far, I have FAITH in Josh Heupel to put us in a position to succeed and one game doesn’t make him a bad coach. I have full belief that he’s going to light a fire under this teams ass come Saturday. I almost (but not really) feel sorry for fLorida.
 
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#50,078
#50,078
Big Orange#1 said:


Whatever we are paying this guy it’s way too much
Click to expand...

He looked slow and lackadaisical. Not getting to the line quick enough to run hurry up. Moving around slow like seen there. Think the presumed ankle injury is one he’s playing through and not particularly well. Shows the severe lack of faith in Larry Johnson. Maybe Campbell should move back to left and heard/Dwayne Davis on the right?
 
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#50,080
#50,080
KPT_VFL said:
We have more than enough experience between Webb, Nimrod, Thornton, and Brazzell (Tulane). Add in the TE’s and talent in Mike Matthews and we really have no excuse. Nimrod started last year.
Click to expand...
Some people saying Thorton might be out this weekend? He finished the game up so would be surprised if doesn’t suit up. Mike Matthews needs to get prepared by the coaches to play.
 
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#50,082
#50,082
vol_in_ga said:
He looked slow and lackadaisical. Not getting to the line quick enough to run hurry up. Moving around slow like seen there. Think the presumed ankle injury is one he’s playing through and not particularly well. Shows the severe lack of faith in Larry Johnson. Maybe Campbell should move back to left and heard/Dwayne Davis on the right?
Click to expand...

Looks real tired to me. You gotta think sitting out 2 weeks isn’t exactly a recipe for being in game time shape, especially for big ol boys like himself. I watched him closely against NC ST and he didn’t look anything like that.
 
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#50,085
#50,085
DD4ME said:
QB is better in some aspects, but still inconsistent.

WR is better.

DB is better IMO.

The rest i agree with.
Click to expand...
Well if you go by stats in SEC play all of last year, Joe had an average qb rating of 141.86 where Nico in 2 games has an average QB rating of 129.55.

Joe had average of 240 ypg where Nico is averaging 175 yards

Joe had a completion percentage of 69.5 vs Nico's 59.2

I'm not saying Nico isn't the more talented QB but 6th year Joe >= 1st year Nico

As to the wide outs they seem to be pretty equal IMO. I'm not seeing any of them doing anything special. Squirrel may have regressed a bit.

I think we've seen one player that is better on the backend but other than that it's a push IMO We still can't cover a wide receiver.
 
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#50,087
#50,087
InVOLuntary said:
Well if you go by stats in SEC play all of last year, Joe had an average qb rating of 141.86 where Nico in 2 games has an average QB rating of 129.55.

Joe had average of 240 ypg where Nico is averaging 175 yards

Joe had a completion percentage of 69.5 vs Nico's 59.2

I'm not saying Nico isn't the more talented QB but 6th year Joe >= 1st year Nico

As to the wide outs they seem to be pretty equal IMO. I'm not seeing any of them doing anything special. Squirrel may have regressed a bit.

I think we've seen one player that is better on the backend but other than that it's a push IMO We still can't cover a wide receiver.
Click to expand...

I’m still wondering why Squirrel has been so hyped up these past few years. He’s got wheels and seems to know the playbook, but his results haven’t been anything special. He’s dropped a lot of catchable balls this year and that’s on him. He looks like the same guy he was last year. Big play ability but can never cash it in. Seems to always be one step short from where he should be.

Donte has looked better than he did last year for sure but still has trouble getting open. Matthews should start getting more snaps if these trends continue and I don’t think anyone would complain. Kid plays with fire and intensity and I think he could be a major contributor for us down the stretch.
 
#50,091
#50,091
InVOLuntary said:
Well if you go by stats in SEC play all of last year, Joe had an average qb rating of 141.86 where Nico in 2 games has an average QB rating of 129.55.

Joe had average of 240 ypg where Nico is averaging 175 yards

Joe had a completion percentage of 69.5 vs Nico's 59.2

I'm not saying Nico isn't the more talented QB but 6th year Joe >= 1st year Nico

As to the wide outs they seem to be pretty equal IMO. I'm not seeing any of them doing anything special. Squirrel may have regressed a bit.

I think we've seen one player that is better on the backend but other than that it's a push IMO We still can't cover a wide receiver.
Click to expand...
Worries me that Nico has always been a 60% completion guy, even in HS.

Can’t deny the TD/INT ratio in HS, he keeps the ball safe.

It’s weird he threw for 75 TDs and only 7ints in his HS career, but only 60% completion. He averaged around 225 yards per game in his career, 197 his senior season.


Maybe Nico will only be a game manger type QB like the AJ McCarron’s of the world….just more athletic.

But again, I tell myself he is a freshman, there’s plenty of time. I also go and look at Mariota’s freshman season, which Nico is on pace to surpass passing yards:
- 2677 passing yards
- 68%
- 32 TD / 6INT
- 205 yards per game
 
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#50,092
#50,092
So I am seeing too many clips on X of Heard and Campbell, especially Heard, just half ass blocking like they are going through the motions and not even trying. This is very upsetting and weird. One play Heard looks like he is just standing flat footed and lets the guy whizz right past him and doesn't even pursue...

Is there something going on where Heard didn't want to play and was made to play and so he just went 50 %? No way this could be true, but the tape doesn't lie.

I also saw Sampson running wide open free out of the backfield on the second to last play or last play and Nico instead focused on the covered WR and missed. Sampson could have jogged into the endzone. Hopefully the staff went over this play with Nico because it could have easily meant a W instead of the L we got.

This game is the perfect example of why I never truly believe we've made it to the next level and wonder if we ever will... We apparently played bad teams that made us look good and we fooled the media and ourselves into thinking we'd taken the next step. You clearly can't be a championship team and 'ish the bed from start to finish in a game like Saturday. Had my hopes that we truly turned the corner, but until Heup and this team proves me otherwise, I think we are going to be stuck in just that above average tier but not good enough to get to the championship for the foreseeable future.

Love the players we have, love the coaches and the staff, love the culture he has brought to this program, total class act and it's exactly what this program needed. But we still have a long way to go, especially with developing some position groups (Oline) and fixing this blah, vanilla, predictable offense we put on the field the last two games.

FL this weekend will tell us a LOT as to where this team is mentally and physically, along with just how good are our coaches... Have they been working above their ability in the #1 conference coming from UCF, "fake it till you make it" with this offense, this stage is too big and they've maxed out, or will they learn from their clear mistakes/shortcomings and bounce back and lift this team higher? We have the damn talent on this roster to blow out anyone. Period. But will this team be coached to reach that potential?

I can say this for certain, with the new ticket prices and "talent fee", if we pull another performance like we did last week, this week with FL at HOME, Neyland will sit at 60% occupancy for the remainder of the year and our recruiting will drop off, killing ourselves to hold onto who we have... does this movie sound familiar?

Fix the Oline issues and fix the offense. The rest will take care of itself.
 
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#50,094
#50,094
25vol said:
I’m still wondering why Squirrel has been so hyped up these past few years. He’s got wheels and seems to know the playbook, but his results haven’t been anything special. He’s dropped a lot of catchable balls this year and that’s on him. He looks like the same guy he was last year. Big play ability but can never cash it in. Seems to always be one step short from where he should be.

Donte has looked better than he did last year for sure but still has trouble getting open. Matthews should start getting more snaps if these trends continue and I don’t think anyone would complain. Kid plays with fire and intensity and I think he could be a major contributor for us down the stretch.
Click to expand...
Squirrel has always made big plays down the field and some tough catches but just seems like he hasn’t pieced it all together yet. He’s had some inexcusable drops from time to time or just doesn’t show up every now and then.

Donte has been the best this year but I feel like if he gets fed even a few more targets a game he probably puts up even bigger numbers on the stat sheet. Idk I always felt like playing receiver you need a rhythm too. It always sucks when you don’t get the ball enough and that can mess with your focus.

Agree on Mike, he needs to be ready this weekend. His athleticism is off the charts and we need as much of it as we can get right now especially with all the injuries.
 
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#50,098
#50,098
TrippieRedd said:
Worries me that Nico has always been a 60% completion guy, even in HS.

Can’t deny the TD/INT ratio in HS, he keeps the ball safe.

It’s weird he threw for 75 TDs and only 7ints in his HS career, but only 60% completion. He averaged around 225 yards per game in his career, 197 his senior season.


Maybe Nico will only be a game manger type QB like the AJ McCarron’s of the world….just more athletic.

But again, I tell myself he is a freshman, there’s plenty of time. I also go and look at Mariota’s freshman season, which Nico is on pace with:
- 2677 passing yards
- 68%
- 32 TD / 6INT
- 205 yards per game
Click to expand...
He's really just now experiencing live fire. I think the game will slow for him.
 
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#50,099
#50,099
volinbama256 said:
So I am seeing too many clips on X of Heard and Campbell, especially Heard, just half ass blocking like they are going through the motions and not even trying. This is very upsetting and weird. One play Heard looks like he is just standing flat footed and lets the guy whizz right past him and doesn't even pursue...

Is there something going on where Heard didn't want to play and was made to play and so he just went 50 %? No way this could be true, but the tape doesn't lie.

I also saw Sampson running wide open free out of the backfield on the second to last play or last play and Nico instead focused on the covered WR and missed. Sampson could have jogged into the endzone. Hopefully the staff went over this play with Nico because it could have easily meant a W instead of the L we got.

This game is the perfect example of why I never truly believe we've made it to the next level and wonder if we ever will... We apparently played bad teams that made us look good and we fooled the media and ourselves into thinking we'd taken the next step. You clearly can't be a championship team and 'ish the bed from start to finish in a game like Saturday. Had my hopes that we truly turned the corner, but until Heup and this team proves me otherwise, I think we are going to be stuck in just that above average tier but not good enough to get to the championship for the foreseeable future.

Love the players we have, love the coaches and the staff, love the culture he has brought to this program, total class act and it's exactly what this program needed. But we still have a long way to go, especially with developing some position groups (Oline) and fixing this blah, vanilla, predictable offense we put on the field the last two games.

FL this weekend will tell us a LOT as to where this team is mentally and physically, along with just how good are our coaches... Have they been working above their ability in the #1 conference coming from UCF, "fake it till you make it" with this offense, this stage is too big and they've maxed out, or will they learn from their clear mistakes/shortcomings and bounce back and lift this team higher? We have the damn talent on this roster to blow out anyone. Period. But will this team be coached to reach that potential?

I can say this for certain, with the new ticket prices and "talent fee", if we pull another performance like we did last week, this week with FL at HOME, Neyland will sit at 60% occupancy for the remainder of the year and our recruiting will drop off, killing ourselves to hold onto who we have... does this movie sound familiar?

Fix the Oline issues and fix the offense. The rest will take care of itself.
Click to expand...

The Dog said:
You were doing good until : if the Vols lose to Florida, we will average 60,000 fans in the rest of our home games.
Click to expand...
 
#50,100
#50,100
I listened to Swain running his mouth today, bad mistake...probably just like logging back in on here...I wonder if he was so quick to dog out his own teams and coaches.

Who is he to be so critical?

We are what I said we were in pre-season...a really good team with flaws and weak spots that could go anywhere from 8-11 wins.

I hate the Idiot Margin, and they are running wild and free on VN, louder, dumber and more obnoxious than ever, so I'm gonna leave again, but before I do..

I want to ask my many respected friends on VN to please pray for my daughter and son-in-law, she can not leave Clearwater due to her job as head of nursing staff at a rehab facility that is also a county Hurricane shelter...what sucks is she is due to leave Thursday on a 10 day vacation, but that will be after the storm, and if the long talked about, deeply dreaded nightmare scenario happens to T-Bay, it could be too late.

My nerves are shot....football doesn't mean that much to me right now.


Adios muchachos 🙋‍♂️
 
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