Recruiting Football Talk VIII

[Jimmy Football]

There was some concern earlier that Jimmy Football may have been considering entering the portal, but that appears to have fizzled out. He approached the staff with some concerns about the lack of transfers to make edits for, but they reassured him that portal activity would pick up soon.

- AP, a few minutes ago.

 

[Vols410]

So…rumor has it Nico and his dad met with Heupel yesterday to discuss the OL and WR as they both aren’t happy with it (both being nico and his dad). Also, apparently Nico visited Miami and Oregon during the season

I don’t think I believe this, but if this is true… Yikes. I hate that.

 

[volstudent26]

How does anyone know how much money we have? Nobody knows.

There’s estimates and confirmed amounts raised by spyre. It’s not exactly transparent but it’s very clear that Ohio state has millions more than we do. They where able to pull the top player in the country out of the portal and roster like 17 5 stars and pull top portal talent and recruiting talent while many teams couldn’t afford to keep their rosters together let alone add crazy talent.

Tennessee actually kept its roster and did way better last year than most teams with NIL but it’s obvious we don’t have OSU money.

 

[peaygolf]

I have spent many an evening in this establishment. Good music every time.

The late 80's and early 90's.......Printers Alley was a little "dicey" but always fun!

 

[volstudent26]

- AP, a few minutes ago.

What is this supposed to mean is AP trolling or is he saying that MM is going into the portal.

 

[Adam Sandler]

So…rumor has it Nico and his dad met with Heupel yesterday to discuss the OL and WR as they both aren’t happy with it (both being nico and his dad). Also, apparently Nico visited Miami and Oregon during the season

I find this exceptionally hard to believe

 

[Vol423]

Squirrel I think had a less than expected year due to timidness from playing injured most of the season. He’s known for acrobatic catches but he made the routine look hard leaving his feet way too often and I think maybe it was part habit expecting off target passes and part trying to protect himself since he was injured. Nimrod had a bad year with drops, maybe that’s what kept him off the field in the past when his speed and development were hyped? Not sure why Webb didn’t make the field over nimrod, seemed to be an athletic pass catcher with a large catch radius, at least in practice. Maybe they prioritized nimrods ability to create separation and he just let them down by not capitalizing.

I think the staff values being dependable and bru, while not much of a threat to create separation, was the most dependable blocker and pass catcher. Deonte Thornton has the best speed. He did average like 25 yards a reception. He had plenty of big plays. He also had a couple key non-plays, specifically an easy third down drop against uga, and a non effort against osu.

When I look at our group versus others, it doesn’t appear to be that much different than elsewhere. For example, a lot of us might trade spots with uga because of their depth of top tier talent, but I don’t know that I would have traded receiver rooms with them this year. The only receiver rooms that were definitively better than ours were in the elite category this year: Osu, Texas, Miami, bama (whose lost some of those guys to portal too), to name a few. I think the offensive line taking time to jell and Nico still being relatively inexperienced as a passer was glaring. It’s just a shame that this group didn’t have one more year to put it all together.

I think biggest thing is we are still in a spot where we need to play above our talent level to beat the best and any inconsistency looks like a clear deficiency. Losing the depth is not a good look but I hope the staff is letting this play out the way it is because they are planning to upgrade mightily as opposed to stalling and not being able to take the next step. It’s hard to see that happening but they have come up with a couple key players in the portal recently so I’m hopeful they can patch the holes and make another playoff run next year, albeit with hopefully a different first round outcome.

I do think in addition to adding some key playmakers, we will need to assess the coaching staff and determine why in big games we are not able to scheme our way into a position to win and instead appear to have less to offer than in other games. That is a concern that needs to be addressed. Great competitors play their best when the opposition is greatest, and we don’t seem to have that extra gear. The players are what they are. That part comes down to coaching.

You lose all credibility when you try to claim only teams with elite WR rooms (and you named only 4) were better than our WR room in 2024. Our WR room was bad. Not elite, not good, not average. It was bad.

 

[jave36]

Nico will go to NFL after next season. .....


BTW MaHomes got those numbers in the Big 12 to use the SEC water Carriers phrase. Bet those numbers are elevated due to crappy defense being played..

Nico will need to have a much, much better season next year if he's going to go early.

 

[Brillovol]

In other news, I’d rather watch paint dry than watch the Titans.

 

[KB5252]

What is this supposed to mean is AP trolling or is he saying that MM is going into the portal.

I think it means we have waited to get our players locked in before we hit the portal.

I think the MM situation has delayed their timeline some.

 

[volstudent26]

You lose all credibility when you try to claim only teams with elite WR rooms (and you nsmed 4) were better than our WR room in 2024. Our WR room was bad. Not elite, not good, not average. It was bad.

Was it though? Take into account the injuries and I don’t think it was bad. But it wasn’t good either. I can think of quite a few SEC teams that It was better than. Bama and Missouri obviously had better rooms but still it’s not like we had awful rooms.

 

[thistime]

The late 80's and early 90's.......Printers Alley was a little "dicey" but always fun!

I can say I saw Heaven Lee at The Black Poodle back in the day.

 

[volstudent26]

I think it means we have waited to get our players locked in before we hit the portal.

I think the MM situation has delayed their timeline some.

Hope so

 

[Jimmy Football]

What is this supposed to mean is AP trolling or is he saying that MM is going into the portal.

No, I was just making a joke. I’ll blue font it.

 

[volstudent26]

No, I was just making a joke. I’ll blue font it.

Ah my bad I didn’t read your username. So AP didn’t put anything out?

 

[mr.checkerboards]

So…rumor has it Nico and his dad met with Heupel yesterday to discuss the OL and WR as they both aren’t happy with it (both being nico and his dad). Also, apparently Nico visited Miami and Oregon during the season

Ummmm, how unless it was on a bye?

 

[peaygolf]

In other news, I’d rather watch paint dry than watch the Titans.

It's like me with my Govs for years.................Total trash, but I loved, followed and watched with ZERO expectations.

It's kinda nice to know the outcome, but still hope for the best. Stress Free fan........

 

[Vol423]

Big 12 was a Power 5 conference and those numbers were setting college on fire.

Not disputing Nico comment, MaHomes is a bad comparison though to make is all. Now his teams weren’t winning in college, he was 12-12 those two seasons.

The knock on Mahomes coming out of college was that he was a system QB and that was why his numbers were so great. The fact that all Texas Tech QB’s preceeding him had huge college stats and sucked in the pros lent support to that belief.

 

[Orangeburst]

- AP, a few minutes ago.

 

[Jimmy Football]

Ah my bad I didn’t read your username. So AP didn’t put anything out?

No.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Nico transferring would be a huge annoyance, since landing him seems the staff has met every demand. Saved the RS, helped him setup his own clothing line instead of just using existing NIL apparel, and they worked to keep Campbell and bring in Heard last year.

 

[Orangeburst]

No.

 

[Brillovol]

What is this supposed to mean is AP trolling or is he saying that MM is going into the portal.

 

[Midas]

I find this exceptionally hard to believe

Yeah this isn’t completely made up at all lol. Hard to believe 6’6 Nico wasn’t caught on camera at either of those campuses in today’s day and age of social media and iPhones and idk how he had the time when he had to practice everyday and games on Saturday.

 

[Vol423]

Was it though? Take into account the injuries and I don’t think it was bad. But it wasn’t good either. I can think of quite a few SEC teams that It was better than. Bama and Missouri obviously had better rooms but still it’s not like we had awful rooms.

Yes. It was.