Finebaum says Tennessee and Georgia QB situations are “not fine”

[OrangeBeachVol]

Yeah, so...

If Nico was still here, he's QB1. Merk and GMac fighting for QB2/3.

Nico's gone. Aguilar in. He's a gamer, but if the best he could do (at the time) was UCLA, well...

Maybe Heupel is exactly what Aguilar needs. It worked with Hooker, so...

If I had to lay a Ben Franklin on the table, all or nothing, I'd say Merk takes the field against Syracuse. Next up is Aguilar. GMac is the "We've got issues" 3rd option.

Aguilar is here for depth. Hopefully quality depth. If he starts without Merk being injured, it's an 8-4 year. At best.

I'm wrong a lot. So don't go mortgage the house on my opinion. I sure as heck didn't.

VFL's are a dying breed. If you are one, good on ya'.

I don't buy into the depth. JA only has 1 yr eligibility left. He could have gone to other schools that would have guaranteed him a starting job but he took Hyp's offer which makes me believe he will be the starter. Every QB Hype looked at was a starter so makes me believe he does not see Merk as that guy. I think maybe him and Merk share the duties in game 1.

The concern if JA starts for the yr if Merk will stay. I would be no as there is the hot shot recruit coming in next yr plus Gmac. Going to be an interesting fall practice.

 

[volfaninky]

I’m going on record… I think this kid is gonna show out in a big way this year. Motivation can be huge for a college kid and Nico showed none.

 

[VolInNW]

I don't buy into the depth. JA only has 1 yr eligibility left. He could have gone to other schools that would have guaranteed him a starting job but he took Hyp's offer which makes me believe he will be the starter. Every QB Hype looked at was a starter so makes me believe he does not see Merk as that guy. I think maybe him and Merk share the duties in game 1.

The concern if JA starts for the yr if Merk will stay. I would be no as there is the hot shot recruit coming in next yr plus Gmac. Going to be an interesting fall practice.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what is the difference to Merk if he is JA's backup, with a solid shot to start in '26, or as Nico's backup as he would have been, with the same shot to start in '26?

I just don't get why everyone thinks he will transfer if he isn't the '25 starter. He was not going to start this year anyway.

 

[vegasvolfan]

That was one of my main concerns over the offseason. All we had was Satterwhite who has virtually no experience. Aren’t they letting the ND transfer get some reps at center? Think his name is Pendleton

I think they mentioned that. We share(d) the same concerns. Their overall assessment is we are in trouble there.

The center issue is glaring and represents the failure as a whole there. We should have easily had a 5* champ behind Mays as ready to go if not more than Nico was ready to play QB.

With regards to the rest of the line, we have recruited some guys with high ratings, and they haven’t performed when it comes to pass protection.

People point to our rushing game and attribute our OL in the same breath, but they fail to acknowledge how many times Sampson and Nico were hit in the backfield only to gain positive yardage.

I’ve enjoyed the product we have had on the field for the most part, but have fully believed our OL has cost us way more than some people let on.

All this said, we turned Darnell Wright into a top 10 first round pick. So, I’m not so sure it’s coaching. It could be both recruiting and strength and conditioning at that position. Hard to say, and as always, hope I’m wrong.

But I haven’t been the past two years.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what is the difference to Merk if he is JA's backup, with a solid shot to start in '26, or as Nico's backup as he would have been, with the same shot to start in '26?

I just don't get why everyone thinks he will transfer if he isn't the '25 starter. He was not going to start this year anyway.

My thinking is when Nico left he knew he was next in line to start and then Hype went and signed another guy. We don't know what he is thinking its just an opinion but he has to be disappointed to be back up again and with another 5* guy coming next season. We could all be wrong, wouldn't that make for a crazy fall.

 

[KTrain]

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That's all it is until the end of August. If he turns out to be wrong, he'll ignore it and move on--no skin off of his big nose.

Exactly not just Finebaum but all the talking heads. If their right, they accentuate and bring it up all the time if their wrong they eliminate it from their talking points. Finebaum and Cowherd are great at this, and it has been profitable for them through the years. They control their narrative and their listeners.

 

[woodpusher]

Finebaum didn't have a national show until 2014. Before that, he was on WJOX in Birmingham (it did have some affiliates throughout the Southeast, but it had far and away its biggest following in and around B'ham) and ran basically a 24-7, 365 Alabama/Auburn smack talk show. You are correct - he wasn't widely known when ESPN gave him his SECN show, and it didn't really become a show about the SEC at large until he joined SECN. I think ESPN saw the Maury, Jerry Springer-like quality his show had and thought he could parlay that into making it a show about the SEC at large, and they were right.

IMO, the national relevance of the Alabama/Auburn rivalry in the early 2010s, with the Harvey Updyke tree poisoning call being the cherry on top, is what "made it" for him.

He was on 24 hours per day?