Dale Jones comments on Aguilar

#101
#101
superdave1984 said:
Folks who bash a QB because he played at a smaller school also need to realax. The overall team talent level may be lower, but you just never know about a guy's determination to play. Maybe he needed some time in the weight room, maybe he needed some coaching and film study time, maybe his high school coach did a crappy job of getting teams to look at him. I have no idea. Give the guy a chance before passing judgement.
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There has been some pretty impressive QBs that came from smaller schools, Brett Favre comes to mind.
 
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#109
#109
wmcovol said:
Dale was on Doug Mathews show this morning. Dale said JA “could make all the throws & can run the ball effectively.” He added JA wasn’t afraid to make a throw.

Says he’s retired from coaching & still living in Boone.
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If only someone had predicted this…

3 weeks and no Aguilar reports.

Just think it’s odd that after being in Knoxville for three weeks, there have been no reports about what the new QB thinks about things or what his new coaches and teammates think about him.
www.volnation.com www.volnation.com
 
#111
#111
TennEddie said:
When peeing into a urinal , eyes must always remain straight ahead !
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I was at the Tropicana in Vegas and he walked by me with a blond just about as big looked like a valkyrie, he was a big human being as I've ever seen, Lou Ferrigno that is.
 
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#112
#112
The Georgia game will help frame my opinion of JA if he plays. Assuming he would start.
 
#117
#117
txbo said:
I roomed with Dale a couple of years in college. He usually a friendly, lovable guy. Would sit and talk to anybody.
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No violence at all. He just let it be known he was not happy that I would not stop honking.

Another All American from the 80s, however, beat the s out of me one time. I was not in the wrong, but I also would not back down and called him things he was not, like a F’ing p***y.

I am not a smart man.
 
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#118
#118
NorCalVol67 said:
No violence at all. He just let it be known he was not happy that I would not stop honking.

Another All American from the 80s, however, beat the s out of me one time. I was not in the wrong, but I also would not back down and called him things he was not, like a F’ing p***y.

I am not a smart man.
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LMAO. I'm sure alcohol was involved. I'm now wise enough to not judge any man from his college years.
 
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#120
#120
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
Absolutely no question that UCLA sucks and Nico screwed himself for the season. I'd never bet against UT having a better season, including Joey Aguilar, than UCLA, including Nico. Everyone can agree Nico damaged his career by moving to a much less talented team and Aguilar improved his twice by going to UCLA then UT.

My issue is with the inability to look at the reality that without all the Nico drama, there's no way anyone on Volnation would've said, "You know what we should do? We should get rid of Nico and grab this guy Joey Aguilar from App State. That would make UT better."

I'm just the voice of: just because you're a Vols fan doesn't mean you have to suspend the reality of our QB situation. It's sketchy. It just is. There's a lot more unknowns than I'd like to see.
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I’ll chime in here a bit and say that I agree and disagree with you. You hit the nail on the head with “we should get rid of Nico and grab Aguilar and that would make Tennessee better.” I think most of us would have been looking for Nico to take a big step this season but most were never ready to “push” him out the door. However, I really don’t think there are more unknowns now with Aguilar than there were with Nico. The only thing that is a known with Nico is how he plays. It’s unknown if he was going to take a step forward this year. It’s unknowns if he was going to get better at reading defenses. It was unknown if he was going to make better decisions. The only other “known” thing that Nico was good at was handing the ball off to Sampson.

I honestly think we have much much more potential with Aguilar than we do with Nico. Does that mean we will go 12-0 and win the SECCG? No not at all. But when you look at the blueprint of Heupels offense and what it takes to be a good qb in his system, Aguilar has a lot of what it takes. To me, you’re more likely to catch that lightning in a bottle with Joey than you are Nico just because of their play styles. It’s all speculation at this point which is where I agree with you. I just really don’t think it’ll be that hard to beat Nicos production. I think you’ll see us open up the offense a little more and you’ll definitely have more experience under center this year.
 
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#121
#121
VolKnight9 said:
I’ll chime in here a bit and say that I agree and disagree with you. You hit the nail on the head with “we should get rid of Nico and grab Aguilar and that would make Tennessee better.” I think most of us would have been looking for Nico to take a big step this season but most were never ready to “push” him out the door. However, I really don’t think there are more unknowns now with Aguilar than there were with Nico. The only thing that is a known with Nico is how he plays. It’s unknown if he was going to take a step forward this year. It’s unknowns if he was going to get better at reading defenses. It was unknown if he was going to make better decisions. The only other “known” thing that Nico was good at was handing the ball off to Sampson.

I honestly think we have much much more potential with Aguilar than we do with Nico. Does that mean we will go 12-0 and win the SECCG? No not at all. But when you look at the blueprint of Heupels offense and what it takes to be a good qb in his system, Aguilar has a lot of what it takes. To me, you’re more likely to catch that lightning in a bottle with Joey than you are Nico just because of their play styles. It’s all speculation at this point which is where I agree with you. I just really don’t think it’ll be that hard to beat Nicos production. I think you’ll see us open up the offense a little more and you’ll definitely have more experience under center this year.
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Certainly it would be great if Aguilar or Merk has a great year but the fact that Nico's ceiling is so much higher keeps him on lists as a QB to watch this year vs anyone in our current QB room.

If you look, Nico still has mentions in most articles about the 2026 NFL QB draft class. Joey Aguilar may be that lightning in a bottle but that's not how recruiting works in general.

It's hard to say you'll have a better year in the SEC with a QB who isn't a sure thing NFL prospect vs the guy you had with a couple of years in the system and playoff experience. It COULD happen but it usually doesn't. It just doesn't.

We could have a Pavia year but it's far more likely the loss of Nico is bigger than most here want to admit.
 
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#122
#122
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
Certainly it would be great if Aguilar or Merk has a great year but the fact that Nico's ceiling is so much higher keeps him on lists as a QB to watch this year vs anyone in our current QB room.

If you look, Nico still has mentions in most articles about the 2026 NFL QB draft class. Joey Aguilar may be that lightning in a bottle but that's not how recruiting works in general.

It's hard to say you'll have a better year in the SEC with a QB who isn't a sure thing NFL prospect vs the guy you had with a couple of years in the system and playoff experience. It COULD happen but it usually doesn't. It just doesn't.

We could have a Pavia year but it's far more likely the loss of Nico is bigger than most here want to admit.
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I think the ceiling on Nico might be out there, but he might be another Jarret Guarantano. Who all coaches said had a high ceiling but IMO he had the same problem Nico has, decision making. Some QBs just out athlete teams in HS and can make all the throws in a controlled practices but when the shells start firing vs SEC the decision making is too slow. Look at Nico in games vs Mediocre OOC teams and Vandy he looked like he was in HS controlling the game and lights out. In all others and the playoffs, he had no control and relegated to a game manager that handed off to D Sampson.
Also, a lot of great college QBs just don't pan out in NFL it's a different game to an extent. I could give you a list a mile long Tebow, Jamarcus Russel, Matt Leinhart, Danny Wuerffel, Heath Shuler, Eric Crouch, Jason White and on and also even NFL guys keep giving Guarantano a chance he has all the throws and all, just don't have it between the ears when the arrows start to fire. As the old saying goes that separates the men from the boys.
 
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#123
#123
KTrain said:
I think the ceiling on Nico might be out there, but he might be another Jarret Guarantano. Who all coaches said had a high ceiling but IMO he had the same problem Nico has, decision making. Some QBs just out athlete teams in HS and can make all the throws in a controlled practices but when the shells start firing vs SEC the decision making is too slow. Look at Nico in games vs Mediocre OOC teams and Vandy he looked like he was in HS controlling the game and lights out. In all others and the playoffs, he had no control and relegated to a game manager that handed off to D Sampson.
Also, a lot of great college QBs just don't pan out in NFL it's a different game to an extent. I could give you a list a mile long Tebow, Jamarcus Russel, Matt Leinhart, Danny Wuerffel, Heath Shuler, Eric Crouch, Jason White and on and also even NFL guys keep giving Guarantano a chance he has all the throws and all, just don't have it between the ears when the arrows start to fire. As the old saying goes that separates the men from the boys.
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Still, it's not reality to suggest we're anywhere near better off rolling the dice, as we are, with Aguilar or Merk.

While Nico wasn't the star of last year's team, he was a significant cog on a team that made the CFP.

Had Nico NOT showed his butt and left, we'd all be fine and hopeful that with our other improvements we'd be in the running to go back to the CFP. Would Nico have gotten better? Many do and many don't, as you say. The team should be better so even a "same mid performance as last year" Nico would not have been a bad UT team.

The question for UT is will Aguilar get ready because the SunBelt is long way from the SEC.

I get it that people want to spin "we're okay" from this and hopefully we are but the tendency to deny that a seasoned Nico wouldn't be a very decent asset to go with our other improvements is just not looking at reality. He would've been a great asset with strong receivers, a stronger line, etc especially because of his SEC experience and specifically his experience in Heupel's offense.

It's just the reality. Losing your starter after Spring practice is not good. Losing your starter who is in various conversations as potentially one of the better 2026 QBs in the NFL draft is not good.
 
#124
#124
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
Still, it's not reality to suggest we're anywhere near better off rolling the dice, as we are, with Aguilar or Merk.

While Nico wasn't the star of last year's team, he was a significant cog on a team that made the CFP.

Had Nico NOT showed his butt and left, we'd all be fine and hopeful that with our other improvements we'd be in the running to go back to the CFP. Would Nico have gotten better? Many do and many don't, as you say. The team should be better so even a "same mid performance as last year" Nico would not have been a bad UT team.

The question for UT is will Aguilar get ready because the SunBelt is long way from the SEC.

I get it that people want to spin "we're okay" from this and hopefully we are but the tendency to deny that a seasoned Nico wouldn't be a very decent asset to go with our other improvements is just not looking at reality. He would've been a great asset with strong receivers, a stronger line, etc especially because of his SEC experience and specifically his experience in Heupel's offense.

It's just the reality. Losing your starter after Spring practice is not good. Losing your starter who is in various conversations as potentially one of the better 2026 QBs in the NFL draft is not good.
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Sun Belt may be far from the SEC but the guys that Aguilar is throwing to, are way better than anyone he had at App. Nico may still have hope to making it to the NFL but he will have to take advantage of sub par defenses while at UCLA.
I really don’t think Nico’s ceiling is much higher based off performance. The NFL draft is not always about college performance. It’s about projection. Anthony Richardson is a decent example of that. Never did show much in college but was drafted 4th overall. The Colts drafted him solely on potential and were hopeful that NFL coaching would take him to the next level. Nico is going to continue to show up on draft boards because of his ceiling but that still doesnt mean the guy is going to perform well in college. That is why I said Joey may put us in a better situation performance wise. He probably won’t go high in the draft but he may put up better numbers than what Nico ever could.
 
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#125
#125
VolKnight9 said:
Sun Belt may be far from the SEC but the guys that Aguilar is throwing to, are way better than anyone he had at App. Nico may still have hope to making it to the NFL but he will have to take advantage of sub par defenses while at UCLA.
I really don’t think Nico’s ceiling is much higher based off performance. The NFL draft is not always about college performance. It’s about projection. Anthony Richardson is a decent example of that. Never did show much in college but was drafted 4th overall. The Colts drafted him solely on potential and were hopeful that NFL coaching would take him to the next level. Nico is going to continue to show up on draft boards because of his ceiling but that still doesnt mean the guy is going to perform well in college. That is why I said Joey may put us in a better situation performance wise. He probably won’t go high in the draft but he may put up better numbers than what Nico ever could.
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With Aguilar it's not adjusting to the receivers that concerns me, it's adjusting to the DBs.

If you're slinging the ball, which he can and likes to do, and throw quite a few picks against SunBelt competition, it's not too big of a stretch to suggest SEC DBs might feast. There's all manner of "he was behind and taking chances" explanations which seem to say we will never be behind and need to take chances and need a clutch throw for a reception not an interception.

The rap on Nico was he held it too long but he didn't throw a lot of bad passes that could get picked. Sacks suck but picks suck worse.

The test will be early against GA which will be among the toughest and cagiest defenses we will see. If he performs passably against them, we'll know we have something.
 
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