So did we sacrifice this season

#26
#26
perico said:
Nico wasn’t ready. He has the potential to be as good as Hendon, which is the modern benchmark for how good a player could be in Heupel’s system, but he would’ve gotten slaughtered with this team in SEC play. It could have ruined him.

I love the kid and what I think he can accomplish the next few years though.
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You don’t know that unless you’re a coach or blindly trust those that are. Remember that we almost never saw Hendon due to a decision to start Joe until he was hurt. We’ll never know if Nico would have made a difference, but my gut tells me he would’ve. Offense looked like Heupel’s for the first time since Hendon went down. One things for sure. Joe was never it. But it doesn’t matter now as it’s all in the past.
 
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#29
#29
This forum is ridiculous. Nico was awful dropping back to pass today. Failed to process pass the first read. Yeah he's young and hopefully he can grow and his athleticism is exciting yatta yatta. Joe was the best QB on the roster this year and this game only confirmed it
 
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#31
#31
daj2576 said:
Wouldn't that extra win, plus more experience, make a significant difference?
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Sure, but I am not upset we didn't go that route. His confidence will be high next season and we should have a better OL and better receivers.
 
#32
#32
This season was not sacrificed. And Nico was not ready. He was barely ready today. Most of the time he looked good, but sometimes under pressure, he acted like he was still in high school. He thought he was athletic enough to escape. So instead of throwing the ball, he took the sack. Trying to be too much. Some of that may be pressure from the fans thinking that he's the second coming of Christ. He's also too skinny. I hope they can put another 15 lb or so on this kid at least before next season. He's not made of cotton candy, but he big enough to be tucking the ball and running like he did in the SEC week in and week out.
 
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#33
#33
Atlvol313 said:
By allowing Nico to sit knowing that Milton was going to try but not be a world killer. Did we look at the schedule and say that beating Bama and UGA would be too much to ask for a freshman.
Nico was prepared for today way more than I thought he’d be.
Looking forward to spring and next fall.
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I wish Nico would’ve gotten more experience playing in the SEC. But I also know it would’ve possibly only bought us 1 more win, that being Florida. We didn’t have the team to beat the others.
 
#36
#36
Atlvol313 said:
By allowing Nico to sit knowing that Milton was going to try but not be a world killer. Did we look at the schedule and say that beating Bama and UGA would be too much to ask for a freshman.
Nico was prepared for today way more than I thought he’d be.
Looking forward to spring and next fall.
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Nico was prepared bc he had time to prepare and grasp the offense. Quite frankly Iowa is not a very good football team. Our WRs and Oline still weren’t remarkable imho. I think given the performance of the Oline and the wrs I’m fine with Milton having this year.
 
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#37
#37
xpsyclonex2002 said:
This season was not sacrificed. And Nico was not ready. He was barely ready today. Most of the time he looked good, but sometimes under pressure, he acted like he was still in high school. He thought he was athletic enough to escape. So instead of throwing the ball, he took the sack. Trying to be too much. Some of that may be pressure from the fans thinking that he's the second coming of Christ. He's also too skinny. I hope they can put another 15 lb or so on this kid at least before next season. He's not made of cotton candy, but he big enough to be tucking the ball and running like he did in the SEC week in and week out.
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I hope you don’t really think the players feel pressure and make on field decisions based on fan expectations. That’s just plain silly.
 
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#38
#38
Go47 said:
On the radio a few days ago . . . Ainge said Nico did not play for a high school team that taught him how to read defenses . . . And he was a raw talent that needed most of this year to learn how to read defenses / really play the QB position. It was a process for him all year.
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Considering this info it’s quite possible if Heupel would’ve rushed him into the starting line up before being ready, likely he develops bad tendencies, affects his confidence, etc. looks like Coach might know what he’s doing and has more than “right this very second” in his mind for decision. 🤔
 
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#39
#39
Atlvol313 said:
By allowing Nico to sit knowing that Milton was going to try but not be a world killer. Did we look at the schedule and say that beating Bama and UGA would be too much to ask for a freshman.
Nico was prepared for today way more than I thought he’d be.
Looking forward to spring and next fall.
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No!
 
#40
#40
Atlvol313 said:
By allowing Nico to sit knowing that Milton was going to try but not be a world killer. Did we look at the schedule and say that beating Bama and UGA would be too much to ask for a freshman.
Nico was prepared for today way more than I thought he’d be.
Looking forward to spring and next fall.
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No. Watching this OL this year our coaches made the right decision. We have a healthy top notch QB to start next year.
 
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#41
#41
If we had a Big 10 schedule then yes.....we sacrificed this year.

I would hate to think what Bama....Georgia..
Florida...or Missouri would have done to that kid behind the O line that had issues all year.

Plus, sitting and watching for the season probably had an impact on his decision making today versus what it would have been early in the year.
 
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#43
#43
Atlvol313 said:
By allowing Nico to sit knowing that Milton was going to try but not be a world killer. Did we look at the schedule and say that beating Bama and UGA would be too much to ask for a freshman.
Nico was prepared for today way more than I thought he’d be.
Looking forward to spring and next fall.
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You can put what I know about it on the end of my finger but I believe it was the plan all along. Let Nico get bigger, stronger and learn the offense under Milton. This year was never going to be as good as last year. I think we all knew that. But if that was the plan, going by this game, I think it worked
 
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#44
#44
He got sacked several times. What would happen against GA or AL? He does tend to hold the ball too long. He will probably be great next year with a few more warm-up games.
 
#45
#45
EastTNVol6240 said:
It also could’ve given him much more needed experience in SEC play. All this talk about getting slaughtered with “this team”. It’s much of the same team he will play with next season. Seeing SEC play could’ve done good for him.
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The offense were making the same mistakes today that they have been all year. And A&M/Bama/UGA/Mizzou defense were a lot more violent than what we saw today. No doubt Iowa had a very good defense, but I didn’t see anyone on the field that looked like they were going to break the kid in half like we see against talented SEC defenses.

Look at what happened to Dante Moore at UCLA this year, one of two other kids who were as highly touted as Nico as a recruit last year. Look at the high 4 star kid who started this year as a freshman at AZ State.
 
#46
#46
Nico was ready today. He was not ready in September. Never even read a defense in high school. We played with the players who gave us the best chance to win.
 
#47
#47
modernVol said:
This forum is ridiculous. Nico was awful dropping back to pass today. Failed to process pass the first read. Yeah he's young and hopefully he can grow and his athleticism is exciting yatta yatta. Joe was the best QB on the roster this year and this game only confirmed it
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lol. Guess you didn’t watch this season. Nico just gave us a decent performance as a true freshmen. Decent was joes ceiling. It’s Nico’s floor. Nico panicked a bit, but he also hit his third progression on a few plays. Joe never processed progressions. In one start Nico gave us as much as Joe has been a few years in.
 
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#49
#49
Nico was not ready and is still not ready for SEC play. He did not see the field well today and was a tick slow getting rid of the ball. He’ll be fine but clearly the game has not slowed down for him yet
 
#50
#50
No.

First off, Nico was great today because he had a whole season to get mentored by Joe and get acclimated.

But also there's no particular game that I look back and think Nico would've won that Joe didn't. At most, I think you could say Nico would've scored a few more points in some of the late season games.

Georgia beats us regardless. Milton had one of his best games against Bama. O-line and defensive issues killed us against Florida, not Milton. Nico may add some more points against Mizzou, but he doesn't stop Shrader from running all over us.

I think things worked out pretty well overall for the transition. Joe was the best QB to start the season. Nico probably overtook him at the end of the season. Worked out perfectly.
 
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