Watched film of Arkansas and Florida game with a former NFL defensive coordinator.

[OrangeScare]

Pretty sure I’d rather have Mincey back. OL is the source of our struggles so far and realistically it all comes from tackle position. Missed assignments, bad footwork, holding, and just plain getting beat.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Unsubstantiated rumors about his agent holding him out due to injury is not something that should be celebrated on this board, but oh well im not a mod….

There are several pretty well regarded posters that mentioned Heard got some bad advice from an agent. I don’t know what that is, but it was implied that he might’ve been encouraged not to rush back for fear of making it long term. The problem I have is that this isn’t something that an agent should influence . At least IMO.

 

[GVol1966]

According to him Heard is awful. Bad footwork, slow off the line and gives up easy. He is big but his technique is high school level play. Frankly he is lazy and doesn't show much drive. Whoever recruited him did not know what to look for on film. His lack of ability blows both pass and running plays.

I’ve never coached at any level.
But I could of told you all that.

I’m hoping it’s just results of being injured and out of shape.

He showed on 1 or 2 running plays he can move,

 

[VolRage]

Westmoreland was an all state RB in Jasper. Wilson was moved to LB the minute he stepped foot in campus.

Correct, a superior talent for sure. I believe one of the mid 90’s rosters listing him at safety but he never played a down there. His time on the field for us was at LB and what a LB he was.

I wish I could remember the other RB that switched to LB that excelled. I don’t think it was Raynoch Thompson.

 

[vik]

Looking at Heard, he has no butt. NONE. You can't have good balance without some Butt. You can't be powerful without some butt. So whoever evaluated Heard doesn't know simple anatomy.

You other brothers can't deny.

 

[Teeman]

I’ve wondered if Ellarbee/Heupel missed an opportunity to work Karic at LT or RT. He has the best feet of any on our OL along with Cooper. Texas used Karic at Tackle and as a blocking TE.

Maybe the coaches worked Karic at Tackle during a Spring or Fall camp, and weren’t impressed. I don’t recall that. Believe he was rehabbing another injury this Spring. He’s performed pretty well at LG this Fall. But, obviously we need help at LT now.

Longer term, I hope a lot of Heard’s issue is residual knee/ankle injuries + conditioning, and time and hard work will help him with both. I’d caution against criticizing him unless it’s KNOWN he isn’t working hard.

I've been wondering the same thing. Karic played 272 snaps for Texas in 2021. Mostly at LT. He had one start at RT against Oklahoma.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Pretty sure I’d rather have Mincey back. OL is the source of our struggles so far and realistically it all comes from tackle position. Missed assignments, bad footwork, holding, and just plain getting beat.

Mincey wasn’t any better.

Dude had like 3 holding penalties against Vandy and whiffed on a few blocks.

 

[GVol1966]

I'm hearing he is more suited to play guard. Not sure why he's at tackle.

Because tackles make more money and that’s what they offered him to come here. Left tackle.
Question is why is he playing LT now?
For whatever reason he’s been playing terrible. People seem to think the backups played as good vs Arkansas.
We really that weak at OL or is it CJH just won’t make the switch?

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

SIGH! First Nico, now Heard, Vols player hating is back in season.

That's why we can't have nice things. Fans act like they own the players. It is a very weird dynamic.

 

[sami]

Haven't said anything that has not been already been said on the UT daily/weekly sports shows (Sports Talk J, Locked on Vols, Dave Hooker, Volcast, ETC).

Well, that makes a world of difference. I mean, if the media hacks are all saying it then there must be merit to it.

Negativity gets views and clicks, and that's all the media is about.

 

[BigALWiLson]

Heard has good tape from the limited LSU film and HS. He’s outta shape here, and has used poor technique. However I’ve also seen a clip of him running faster than any dude his size should ever be running to block down the field for D Samps TD that put us up 17-10. I think it’s unfair to say the kid “gives up easy”. He’s been injured this year and he’s clearly not in game shape. Now is that because he’s lazy? Maybe, our coaches need to get the best out of him, the potential is there.

That's what is so damning is because he has the upside to be a 1st rd pick. If he takes pride in his craft. To do that he needs to get his body and mind right. Patticake won't look good on film. He looks lethargic and hopefully the rumors were not true about his handler/agent telling him not to play

 

[farmdogvol]

Correct, a superior talent for sure. I believe one of the mid 90’s rosters listing him at safety but he never played a down there. His time on the field for us was at LB and what a LB he was.

I wish I could remember the other RB that switched to LB that excelled. I don’t think it was Raynoch Thompson.

A. Carter was a RB.

 

[Mccage]

According to him Heard is awful. Bad footwork, slow off the line and gives up easy. He is big but his technique is high school level play. Frankly he is lazy and doesn't show much drive. Whoever recruited him did not know what to look for on film. His lack of ability blows both pass and running plays.

According to him Heard is awful. Bad footwork, slow off the line and gives up easy. He is big but his technique is high school level play. Frankly he is lazy and doesn't show much drive. Whoever recruited him did not know what to look for on film. His lack of ability blows both pass and running plays.

Ok

 

[Mccage]

I'm hearing he is more suited to play guard. Not sure why he's at tackle.

Who you hear it from? lol…

 

[miket4god]

Correct, a superior talent for sure. I believe one of the mid 90’s rosters listing him at safety but he never played a down there. His time on the field for us was at LB and what a LB he was.

I wish I could remember the other RB that switched to LB that excelled. I don’t think it was Raynoch Thompson.

Eddie Moore

 

[livefaith]

I get thi

According to him Heard is awful. Bad footwork, slow off the line and gives up easy. He is big but his technique is high school level play. Frankly he is lazy and doesn't show much drive. Whoever recruited him did not know what to look for on film. His lack of ability blows both pass and running plays.

I 100% get this. He looked utterly horrible out there. Buuut, before he got injured I watched him and he looked like a completely different player. When he got hurt I was really sad because he looked better than any of our other linemen in my non-qualified opinion. But after his injury, especially in that Arkansas game, he looked lackadaisical, slow, disinterested, and weak.

I don't know if his injury was still lingering or what. But, I'm not sure that's really who he was when we brought him in and made him a starter day one.

 

[aRmo]

That's what is so damning is because he has the upside to be a 1st rd pick. If he takes pride in his craft. To do that he needs to get his body and mind right. Patticake won't look good on film. He looks lethargic and hopefully the rumors were not true about his handler/agent telling him not to play

If this is the product thats going to be put on tape, his handler needs to tell him to sit the rest of the season. He is ruining his chances to get drafted with alot of this stuff. This is baaad.

 

[VolBricks]

Heard has good tape from the limited LSU film and HS. He’s outta shape here, and has used poor technique. However I’ve also seen a clip of him running faster than any dude his size should ever be running to block down the field for D Samps TD that put us up 17-10. I think it’s unfair to say the kid “gives up easy”. He’s been injured this year and he’s clearly not in game shape. Now is that because he’s lazy? Maybe, our coaches need to get the best out of him, the potential is there.

how can he not be in game shape 6 games in?

 

[NighthawkVol]

how can he not be in game shape 6 games in?

Injuries.

 

[walkenvol]

They absolutely did about Wanya and Wright. The WVU game opener is truly the worst Tennessee OL performance I’ve ever seen. OT is a very hard position to learn, even for gifted linemen.

Again, I disagree on Wright. Morris wasn’t ready to play as a freshman and didn’t stay in the lineup full time IIRC. Wright was more solid from the start.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Again, I disagree on Wright. Morris wasn’t ready to play as a freshman and didn’t stay in the lineup full time IIRC. Wright was more solid from the start.

If you get a chance, watch (any small segment) of his first three games. I went to two of three. It wasn’t pretty. He ended up being Freshman All SEC. Great player. That’s not how he started.

 

[UTK]

how can he not be in game shape 6 games in?

He looked mostly fine the first two games, I’m assuming he got out of shape not playing for almost a month before coming back against Arkansas

 

[1Big_Orange_Fan]

275 is way to light for an OT. Would need to put on over 40 pounds.

You are right but I don't know what OTs have to be so big. They almost always go up against 240-280 lb guys who are more fast than just strong.

 

[Batman1948]

SIGH! First Nico, now Heard, Vols player hating is back in season.

We have our fair share of keyboard coaches. I scroll past a bunch of posts because of their comments----it's sad really----some people are just miserable in life and run to their keyboard to spew their venom

 

[Doctrippin]

It’s tough projecting how qbs and olinemen will pan out. That’s nil tho you take a risk by paying guys. Hopefully he’s just in that weird coming back from injury phase and gets better. He’s had flashes.

That is true. You're taking kids that have played in front of 500 or 1000 people and putting them in Neyland stadium with an 8 figure fan base. I think the pressure has gotton to Nico the past 2 games. He's just not played like the first 4 weeks.