Maybe CJH knew all along...

[volbound1700]

Milton gets a bad rep...

Considering how quick Hype has returned us to a normal scale of relevance, Milton was not that bad of a qb looking back.

Milton has actually looked better in the NFL versus Hooker so far. Also from an attitude perspective, Milton is 180 from Nico, he tends to be all Vol. I can't hate the guy at all as he is a true VFL.

 

[89 VOLS grad]

Nico does have exceptional physical talent. And I think he had a chance to develop into a very good QB under Heupel and likely get drafted. I don’t see that happening at UCLA, and I can see him being benched before the season ends.

Nico don't have ****, never will! He will never put on the weight needed to be more than a back up in the NFL. He doesn't have it between the ears either! I don't even think he makes it as a back up long!

 

[volbound1700]

Nico does have exceptional physical talent. And I think he had a chance to develop into a very good QB under Heupel and likely get drafted. I don’t see that happening at UCLA, and I can see him being benched before the season ends.

Nico probably needed to leave Tennessee to develop but he went to the worse possible destination. He should have went to a G5 school where competition isn't as tough on opposing Ds and pressure isn't there. Instead, he went to a team that basically still plays a Tennessee-like schedule but has half the talent.

 

[Delmar]

Commentary: DeShaun Foster drags the Bruins into another embarrassment

Bill Plaschke asks whether DeShaun Foster can coach after UCLA's miserable performance against Utah Saturday night at the Rose Bow.

www.latimes.com

Enjoy. 36,000 fans in a 100,000 seat stadium for a home opener even with the Nico hoopla.

Hey maybe that’s the reason why Big Nick forced this. He got tired of squeezing his big butt in those 14 inch seats at Neyland in a full stadium and needed room to spread out. Well now he has it.

 

[OffTackleVol]

I think Heuple wanted him pretty badly. If reports are true, UT
was willing to pay up to $3 million for Iama. That's not chicken feed.

Don't think those reports were true.......

 

[EZE]

Hey maybe that’s the reason why Big Nick forced this. He got tired of squeezing his big butt in those 14 inch seats at Neyland in a full stadium and needed room to spread out. Well now he has it.

Bwahahaha…LMAO!

 

[Delmar]

I posted this last night in the UCLA game thread, he seemed almost relieved in the interview when Nico thing broke, go watch it again.

Yeah, I think Josh was happy to be rid of that family circus. And I wonder if Boo and his Mom are paying attention. There are lessons to be learned from poor decisions.

 

[JMSqb11]

I don’t think he was near as bad and the fan base made home out to be either. He got zero help from the WR’s which made him look worse than he actually was.

Realistically, we should have been 9-3 at worst and 10-2 at best in 2023. That 2nd half stinker in Tuscaloosa was a debacle and home town discount advantage with the reffing and we should NOT have gotten punked by Mizzou

 

[Cartervol]

I'd say he knew he wasn't worth the asking price..

 

[strongj81]

And he got to play in front of a whopping 35k last night. Stupid kid.

I get your point but our game had 45k. But again I understand your thought.

Gbo!

 

[Flipdaddy]

I get your point but our game had 45k. But again I understand your thought.

Gbo!

Stand in a room with 10k and see how much that makes a difference. 45k for a neutral site on an opener with a minor opponent at noon was good because obviously Neyland will be full next week. That was Nico’s home crowd my dude.

 

[Vol_guy]

You do realize that Milton is a #2 QB in the NFL in his second year? Milton always has had, and always will have, better arm talent than anyone on his team…and that will carry through his pro career.

And he got better over his time here. And looks like he’s continuing to develop.

Milton was a true team player and all vol!!

He did everything he could do. I hope he continues to develop.

 

[driscokid]

Milton gets a bad rep...

Considering how quick Hype has returned us to a normal scale of relevance, Milton was not that bad of a qb looking back.

And still employed in the NFL which is a pretty small group of former college QBs

 

[VolGirl81]

Boy it sure seemed like a lot of Vol fans didn't know...or didn't want to know. I got reminded many times last year "but he's only a Freshman!" As if there's some major reason a RS freshman should be way behind a sophomore.

Amazingly, as soon as he hit the portal a lot of Vol fans started to agree with me.

Other than it being late in the cycle, I was thrilled we got a chance to dump his salary. I said after the season we should cut him and upgrade the roster- I just don't think we'd be able to pull it off so late in the cycle.

I think we were all hoping and waiting for him to improve and show us what he was capable of. What we saw, may have been his best all along.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

I think we were all hoping and waiting for him to improve and show us what he was capable of. What we saw, may have been his best all along.

There is no question he was and is physically gifted and had and has a high ceiling, BUT there are intangibles required to maximize them. So far they have not been displayed.

 

[kckempf]

From what I've seen of Nico, he's not especially smart. It takes him a good long while to really learn an offense, and even after a year of training we used a small playbook for him last year. I didn't see him doing well with a totally new offense and not much familiarity with it. He would have been better with us, for sure.

 

[DaddyChad]

Heupel saw Nico had potential and could be successful if he put in the work and developed into a leader. There was a time in the offseason where it looked like he was buying in, being a more vocal leader, and possibly looking like he would invest the time to become better off the field. Then all of that changed and I think Heupel was pretty much done with it. This kid will never be successful as long as his father is making his decisions for him. Impossible to be a team leader when you’re not even a leader of your own life

 

[Majors]

Nico probably needed to leave Tennessee to develop but he went to the worse possible destination. He should have went to a G5 school where competition isn't as tough on opposing Ds and pressure isn't there. Instead, he went to a team that basically still plays a Tennessee-like schedule but has half the talent.

Nico is getting exposed on and off the field.

 

[olemtnboy]

Just watched the UCLA game. Nico looked the exact same as he did last year, and Utah clobbered them. So it's crystal clear that our O-line, running game, and defense were the reasons for our success last year, not our star QB.

When CJH announced that Iamaleava was leaving UT, it came out of nowhere. It was very sudden. Coach didn't seem to be all that interested in persuading Iamaleava to stay. So I have to wonder: did CJH know that Iamaleava was way over-hyped, that he was our weakest link, and maybe he saw Nico's demand for more NIL money not as a sudden problem, but rather as an opportunity? Joey Aguilar was on nobody's radar before the trade, but it's obvious UT upgraded. Maybe CJH knew any old QB who could go to a 2nd or 3rd read receiver would be an upgrade.

Side note: seems Heupel is such a good coach, that our system can do great things with an average WB.

It's game 1 of long season ... overall I think Vols looked like team 3 yrs ago
I believe Nico couldn't run offense at fast pace and I thought QB looked ok for 1st game always something to improve on..
GO VOLS.,...

 

[Majors]

From what I've seen of Nico, he's not especially smart. It takes him a good long while to really learn an offense, and even after a year of training we used a small playbook for him last year. I didn't see him doing well with a totally new offense and not much familiarity with it. He would have been better with us, for sure.

First pass, tipped at the line of scrimmage.

OSU game last year, too many blocks at the line of scrimmage. He’s too predictable. He arrived to learn the playbook when we played Clemson, sat behind Milton and still had a limited grasp of the offense.

 

[VOLtaism]

I question the logic of giving Nico an 8 million dollar contract, which at the time was exceptionally large? I saw his HS film online and he was most effective running the football not passing. Where did all the hype come from, potential? I think CJH knew Nico's hold out was a get out of jail card for himself.

 

[VolsnRavens]

I saw the same Nico we had. Inconsistent. Which means he is not taking his physical gifts seriously. I think if he didn't have his dad trying to run his life, he may have had a better head on his shoulders and would have had the chance to grow much better.
One thing I did notice, he had the same over the middle pass at a full speed reciever. JA hit our guy in stride, and Nico Nico'd. And I will agree with whomoever pointed out the difference in UCLA's defense and our defense. Our D bailed Nico out quite a bit, as did our run game. But without those strengths, we can see where Nico's cieling is. Good enough to play the game, but not good enough to carry a team when it needs that QB leader to carry them.

 

[Tman44]

 

[Majors]

I saw the same Nico we had. Inconsistent. Which means he is not taking his physical gifts seriously. I think if he didn't have his dad trying to run his life, he may have had a better head on his shoulders and would have had the chance to grow much better.
One thing I did notice, he had the same over the middle pass at a full speed reciever. JA hit our guy in stride, and Nico Nico'd. And I will agree with whomoever pointed out the difference in UCLA's defense and our defense. Our D bailed Nico out quite a bit, as did our run game. But without those strengths, we can see where Nico's cieling is. Good enough to play the game, but not good enough to carry a team when it needs that QB leader to carry them.

First pass tipped at the line of scrimmage.

Picking up where he finished in Columbus.

 

[rickyyrs]

Just watched the UCLA game. Nico looked the exact same as he did last year, and Utah clobbered them. So it's crystal clear that our O-line, running game, and defense were the reasons for our success last year, not our star QB.

When CJH announced that Iamaleava was leaving UT, it came out of nowhere. It was very sudden. Coach didn't seem to be all that interested in persuading Iamaleava to stay. So I have to wonder: did CJH know that Iamaleava was way over-hyped, that he was our weakest link, and maybe he saw Nico's demand for more NIL money not as a sudden problem, but rather as an opportunity? Joey Aguilar was on nobody's radar before the trade, but it's obvious UT upgraded. Maybe CJH knew any old QB who could go to a 2nd or 3rd read receiver would be an upgrade.

Side note: seems Heupel is such a good coach, that our system can do great things with an average WB.

I think Nico does not read the defense fast enough to be a top tie QB. Holds onto the ball too long. Which leads to QB sacks. People blame the O-line.