'25 Recruiting Forum: Official Tennessee versus Oklahoma Pre-game/Game Thread

[Weezer]

Not inside two minutes. Heard an idiot at the game complain about it. The clock did stop but starts back up as soon as everyone gets back on the field of play. Learn the rules.

Not inside two minutes. Heard an idiot at the game complain about it. The clock did stop but starts back up as soon as everyone gets back on the field of play. Learn the rules.

You're cranky. Learn how to post. No need to post it twice.

 

[SmyrnaATLVolisback]

he makes a good point man, you see ethan davis or kits, you know he's a threat; you see a guy with zero catches on the night you don't fear it as much. it was a good play call, he was wide ass open and he just let it hit his head.

The game and playoffs are on the line. You need two yards. You don’t go to a freshmen who hasn’t caught anything really all year.

It was for the season. You go to your best players.

Unreal it’s even a debate. It was terrible.

 

[orange parmejohn]

The age old question, who you gonna get that’s better (and worth sacrificing our insanely good offensive recruiting class for)

In no way do want to get rid of Heup. I just don’t think he will ever sniff a championship unless he makes changes in his staff.

 

[orange parmejohn]

DW didn’t run him off. That’s dumb. Tony wanted to be the first to go straight to MLB. He has been funded to the hilt and that wasn’t changing. Some media buzzards invented a scapegoat for attention and to make money off irate fan attention. Can’t believe people fell for the “engagement farming.” No, I can believe it.

I was being facetious but I believe you.

 

[Enki_Amenra]

The game and playoffs are on the line. You need two yards. You don’t go to a freshmen who hasn’t caught anything really all year.

It was for the season. You go to your best players.

Unreal it’s even a debate. It was terrible.

It would've been genius if he caught it

 

[SmyrnaATLVolisback]

It would've been genius if he caught it

But it wasn’t and cost us the playoffs. Would have been genius to not run a bunch set against Bama that led to a pick six too. Those were coaches calls

 

[benholt06]

Feels like this program has a very well defined ceiling currently.

Year 5 and we’re still waiting for that mythical QB to come in and take us to the promised land.

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

Feels like this program has a very well defined ceiling currently.

Year 5 and we’re still waiting for that mythical QB to come in and take us to the promised land.

And anyone thinking it’ll be next year because of a true freshman needs to understand reality.

 

[I4Jay]

It would've been genius if he caught it

That’s most coaches problem, trying to have a “gotcha, imma genius moment” instead of the basic getting the ball to your playmakers

 

[Aesius]

Feels like this program has a very well defined ceiling currently.

Year 5 and we’re still waiting for that mythical QB to come in and take us to the promised land.

Heup just got unlucky with the QB situation up to now. If Mac and/or Brandon aren’t it, I’ll start to doubt.

But IMO Milton and Nico just come down to bad luck (thought he could fix the first, which everyone else does too, and thought the second was better than he was, which everyone else did too). He lucked out a bit with Joey in that we didn’t end up with a scrub or forced to roll with Merk/true FR Mac. But Joey has limitations as we’ve seen.

It’s not like Heup has been churning QBs. Year 5 and had Nico not bailed we would have only seen 3 under Heup. Joey was a last minute emergency replacement.

There’s a lot to criticize Heup for but the QB situation isn’t one of them IMO.

 

[TrippieRedd]

Heup just got unlucky with the QB situation up to now. If Mac and/or Brandon aren’t it, I’ll start to doubt.

But IMO Milton and Nico just come down to bad luck (thought he could fix the first, which everyone else does too, and thought the second was better than he was, which everyone else did too). He lucked out a bit with Joey in that we didn’t end up with a scrub or forced to roll with Merk/true FR Mac. But Joey has limitations as we’ve seen.

It’s not like Heup has been churning QBs. Year 5 and had Nico not bailed we would have only seen 3 under Heup. Joey was a last minute emergency replacement.

There’s a lot to criticize Heup for but the QB situation isn’t one of them IMO.

Portal is the biggest issue, but that’s just my personal opinion….like always

 

[GVol1966]

The game and playoffs are on the line. You need two yards. You don’t go to a freshmen who hasn’t caught anything really all year.

It was for the season. You go to your best players.

Unreal it’s even a debate. It was terrible.

Exactly. Not a bad play dialed up if you go to a “go to “ guy.
But a guy that hadn’t even played hardly . Come on , that’s dumb.

 

[RiseToTheTop]

Worst yr of coaching since Heup has been here

He can say whatever he wants but hes also been a big issue this particular year. His whole coaching style is boring. Guy has never seen a clock mgmt situation he didnt **** up this entire season.

Low T coaching style

 

[Jackcrevol]

Worst yr of coaching since Heup has been here

He can say whatever he wants but hes also been a big issue this particular year. His whole coaching style is boring. Guy has never seen a clock mgmt situation he didnt **** up this entire season.

Low T coaching style

keep it up, you'll find yourself bitching about sam pittman as coach. there are a **** ton of opening and very little options. no one wants to take on nil. so be careful what i you wish for

 

[drylo]

But it wasn’t and cost us the playoffs. Would have been genius to not run a bunch set against Bama that led to a pick six too. Those were coaches calls

I mean, you don’t have to like either of those calls, but it’s the execution that killed us. The pass last night bounced off JVD’s facemask and the pick-6 against Bama was an awful awful throw. I get it, “execution is on coaching too,” or whatever, but the play result being devastating doesn’t mean the play call was necessarily equally bad.

 

[benholt06]

Heup just got unlucky with the QB situation up to now. If Mac and/or Brandon aren’t it, I’ll start to doubt.

But IMO Milton and Nico just come down to bad luck (thought he could fix the first, which everyone else does too, and thought the second was better than he was, which everyone else did too). He lucked out a bit with Joey in that we didn’t end up with a scrub or forced to roll with Merk/true FR Mac. But Joey has limitations as we’ve seen.

It’s not like Heup has been churning QBs. Year 5 and had Nico not bailed we would have only seen 3 under Heup. Joey was a last minute emergency replacement.

There’s a lot to criticize Heup for but the QB situation isn’t one of them IMO.

I agree with all this. But it’s year 5 and we haven’t seen one of Heup’s QBs mature within the offense and become the guy. We’re gonna have an inexperienced guy next year. We’ll see.

 

[Aesius]

I agree with all this. But it’s year 5 and we haven’t seen one of Heup’s QBs mature within the offense and become the guy. We’re gonna have an inexperienced guy next year. We’ll see.

Hooker exploded under Heup and Joey has been better than expected. So 3 out of 5 years, Heup's QBs have overperformed IMO. Milton and Nico are limited between the ears and no amount of coaching is going to improve them, but I still think he managed them well (and in fact, it seems the run-heavy offense we deployed those years was in some ways MORE effective in a complimentary football fashion than we have now, although we do score more now).

Nico was supposed to be the guy who was fully developed by Heupel but it turns out he kinda sucks. So that's why I'm waiting on Mac and Brandon. I think Merk is likely a lost cause/transfer portal candidate. But if neither Mac or Brandon are good, then it's really time to worry because they are both highly rated guys who should elevate each other in 2026 and 2027.

 

[fearsvols]

In no way do want to get rid of Heup. I just don’t think he will ever sniff a championship unless he makes changes in his staff.

How many guys coaching have won a National Championship…

 

[jave36]

Exactly. Not a bad play dialed up if you go to a “go to “ guy.
But a guy that hadn’t even played hardly . Come on , that’s dumb.

If you're a 4* tight end, it's not unreasonable to expect him to catch a pass any of us could easily catch. I prefer to go to your proven playmaker, but it's not a bad call to scheme a freshman wide open for the easiest catch ever.

I have much much bigger problems with abandoning the pass short and medium pass game that worked so well in the first quarter.

 

[nashvol1]

Until, we, the fans demand excellence and titles we won’t get them. OHSt fans revolted after Michigan loss last year and only the title run saved Day and now he has the top down best staff in the nation. GA got a bit lucky with Kirby being such a great coach and he has shown to make hard decisions.

Josh can only get there if he is willing to make hard choices and he has not proven a willingness to do that. Danny has to force his hand or fans have to vote with their voice and dollars. If we want 8 win seasons with the occasional 10 win, you have your staff and team. We need to define what we want

 

[Bantha fodder]

He’s similar to richt but may never get that SECchamp

I can’t unsee what you wrote. That hurts.

 

[benholt06]

Hooker exploded under Heup and Joey has been better than expected. So 3 out of 5 years, Heup's QBs have overperformed IMO. Milton and Nico are limited between the ears and no amount of coaching is going to improve them, but I still think he managed them well (and in fact, it seems the run-heavy offense we deployed those years was in some ways MORE effective in a complimentary football fashion than we have now, although we do score more now).

Nico was supposed to be the guy who was fully developed by Heupel but it turns out he kinda sucks. So that's why I'm waiting on Mac and Brandon. I think Merk is likely a lost cause/transfer portal candidate. But if neither Mac or Brandon are good, then it's really time to worry because they are both highly rated guys who should elevate each other in 2026 and 2027.

Hook was already here when Heup got the job, but he was an ideal fit for the offense— a true dual threat.

And yeah— the #1 guy we invested in kinda sucked and then left. We lucked into an upgrade. We still haven’t beaten any of our elite competition. Schedule only gets less favorable in the coming years. Credit that this could’ve been a throwaway year and we’ve been mostly competitive, but it still feels like a missed opportunity given what we’ve seen. I don’t think we’ve reached that point yet but there will come a time when we have to decide if "pretty good" is good enough.

 

[JacketVol]

I was out and now I’ll make some comments. I knew we’d lose before halftime, hell, I knew it as most of us did. I get the bend not break defense because that’s what’s needed on our offense . @InVOLuntary, I can’t imagine your blood pressure now and you’ve been consistent. Tim Banks needs to go. No, I don’t lay it all on the defense, but dang it, it’s past mid season and teams know what to do on offense. We made Mateer look like a Heisman candidate and I wasn’t even surprised. We’re out as far as the CFP, as we should be. Until Banks is gone, I’m done.

Done with the Vols as a fan until the DC is gone? It takes more than Banks, Pruitt, Dooley or Butch for me to be done.

 

[JacketVol]

We went 12 personnel several times in the game. Bishop and Thomas weren’t getting anything, don’t mind trying Lewis. The 4th call was such a good call because no one is expecting the freshman to get the ball, he’s been mostly a blocker all season. Was a perfect throw. Has to catch it. That simple. Kitsleman is a way better blocker than Davis, but Davis still got a lot of snaps and had a good game. 3 runs after a turnover is a fair critique. Didn’t like the second down run call, get running it on 3rd and 2 though.

We kept trying to attack the edges in key situations and to do that with Oklahoma’s speed was something I do not understand. Also shorter passes especially to the middle of the field was there but we kept slinging it deep. Take your deep shots but what was working was medium to short passes and didn’t always have a lot of time. We are still a better team and should’ve won.

 

[JacketVol]

Ethan was ticked off!

What I see is a team invested emotionally as they ALL reacted to it with unbelievable disappointment. They cared and if good teammates which I think they are outside of Boo, they will pick him up. Kid is a 4 star who will do great things.