Nakos reporting Aguilar is trending to be named the starter

#201
#201
volfever007 said:
So you're gonna just ignore JA's 2024 stats, which are more recent and not very good?
Click to expand...
Stats can be deceiving. How many of JA's INT were thrown while the team was trailing and desperately needed a big play to get back in the game? How many were due to bad decisions? How many were due to bad throws? How good was his pass protection? How good were his receivers? It could be that no one would have performed much better in the same circumstances as JA.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DuckInAPen, Woodlawn VOL, FBtime and 1 other person
#202
#202
LAVol1 said:
So was Nico. So was Guarantano. QB's coming out of HS are not reliably predictable. Then, there's the ones that fly under the radar, like Baker Mayfield and Mahomes.
Click to expand...

Of course, and time will tell. But I’m liking what I’m reading about Brandon and excited to see what he brings to the table.
 
#203
#203
volfever007 said:
Dude, you can't just throw out the stats you want to make your case look better. JA was 3⭐ 82 out of JUCO and now 3⭐ 85 as a transfer guy, so I guess the guys that evaluate players should ignore that last season at App St , huh?
Click to expand...
You act like being a 3 star is an easy feat. 90% of this board wouldn't be 2 stars. Not only are you horrible at evaluating talent, but you're a star gazer on top of that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YankeeVol and Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va
#204
#204
DaddyChad said:
You don’t see any signs at all. JA was brought in bc the coaches knew what they had in Merk at the time.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. You can't enter a season in the SEC with only 2 scholarship QB's. Three may not be enough.
 
#205
#205
volfever007 said:
Dude, you can't just throw out the stats you want to make your case look better. JA was 3⭐ 82 out of JUCO and now 3⭐ 85 as a transfer guy, so I guess the guys that evaluate players should ignore that last season at App St , huh?
Click to expand...
Nowhere did I say throw them out. Its called critical analysis, which includes film and a greater understanding of the bigger picture than stats and stars without it. Also, again, not grandstanding for JA, but he is the best option for us at this point. If Merk was good, he would be the starter, but it sounds like he isn't ready. Experience is usually better than none. Think about the NFL: do you think an average rookie could beat out an experienced backup QB? In most cases, unless the rookie is going to be the face of the organization, than no. That is what we are dealing with here: free agents and rookies that were taken as depth pieces with potential to start.

Also, your other comment on QBs making or breaking a team: the inverse is true as well. Teams can make or break a QB. While it is the most important position, QB is just the mechanism to get the ball in play for the rest of the offense. If you can get an average guy, like Stetson Bennett (walk on), Mac Jones (3 star), or even Will Howard (3 star), you can certainly succeed with a ball wise game manager who gets the ball to the playmakers.

Which, is my bigger concern: our WRs are not playmakers. So you have Aguilar, who has experience and shown bright spots, throwing to a bunch of unknowns and serial injured reserved (Brazzell and Mathews in particular). So who knows how this year goes, but JA is undoubtably surrounded by better talent than he had last year at App St.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FBtime
#206
#206
VolFreakJosh said:
You claimed to not watch a single practice but claimed Merklinger as our best chance to win despite being the most inconsistent out of all the other QBs according to reports.

Nobody is taking this personal but your reasoning on why Merklinger should be handed the starting job despite not seeing all three QBs in practice is beyond dumb.
Click to expand...
Okay, I'm gonna explain this again. If you have 2 QB'S, one has 1 year left and the other has 3 years, both are fairly equal, my question to you is, why would you play the guy that's gonna give you 1 year when both seem fairly close, over the other guy that has 3 years left and then go through all this again next year? I'm not sure how people are not understanding what I'm saying. JA has had 2 years of JUCO play at Diablo Valley and 2 years of D1 at App St, so that's 4 years of college football and still can't really separate himself from a guy that has only had 9 snaps of D1 ball, what does that tell you? I hope JA proves me wrong, he seems like a great guy.
 
#207
#207
Whats undeniable is that Joey Aguilar is starting from a higher level of performance at App State versus Hendon Hooker at Virginia Tech. Aguilar threw 56 touchdowns in two years at App State. Hendon Hooker threw 58 Touchdowns and 5 interceptions in his 2 years at Tennessee. Hooker threw 22 touchdowns and 7 interception in his two seasons at Va Tech. I think that is a very encourage stat line. Joe Milton threw 20 touchdowns in 1 season as the starter and 5 interceptions. He threw 5 touchdowns and six interceptions in two years of sporadic starts at Michigan Nico - 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in his lone year as the starter. Statistically its undeniable that Nico was the weakest of Heupel's 3 starters.

Its always an open question as to whether a mid-major's game will translate to big boy college football, but I have a hard time seeing how he can be a downgrade from what we got in the passing game from Nico and Joe the last two years. He is more of a proven commodity than *ANY* of the quarterbacks we have had in Josh Heupel's tenure.

Lets say he holds steady in touchdowns and cuts interceptions at the same rate Joe and Hendon did at Tennessee, and you are looking at like 23 touchdowns and maybe 10 interceptions. Lets say he returns to 2023 form, maybe he throws like 26 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, assuming he isn't quite as good against SEC defenses as he was in mid-major football. All in all, I don't see much of a downgrade at the qb position from what we got with Nico last year. At worse, he throws a few more interceptions, but also a few more touchdowns.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Proud Army Wife and FBtime
#209
#209
HARTUPM said:
Because Milton has an absolute cannon and he looked better in practice. I'd say pretty much every head coach would've made the same assessment.
Click to expand...
Didn't say they wouldn't, my point is just because one is good in practice, doesn't mean he's a gamer. People are really struggling to understand what I'm saying for some reason.
 
#210
#210
volfever007 said:
Okay, I'm gonna explain this again. If you have 2 QB'S, one has 1 year left and the other has 3 years, both are fairly equal, my question to you is, why would you play the guy that's gonna give you 1 year when both seem fairly close, over the other guy that has 3 years left and then go through all this again next year? I'm not sure how people are not understanding what I'm saying. JA has had 2 years of JUCO play at Diablo Valley and 2 years of D1 at App St, so that's 4 years of college football and still can't really separate himself from a guy that has only had 9 snaps of D1 ball, what does that tell you? I hope JA proves me wrong, he seems like a great guy.
Click to expand...

If both are fairly equal (let's say even 100% equal) in practice, then almost always coaches are going to go with experience. We play a P4 team to start the year. The reason you play the other guy is because Augilar has 24 career starts under his belt and has played P4 competition before. The chances he communicates the offense effectively are better. The chances he gets rattled are less, the chances the moment is too big weakens. We've never seen Merk handle that. This isn't year 1 of an NFL rebuild, nor is it like the 2010 Vols where the team has zero shot of any sort of major bowl. This is a team with serious playoff hopes. If Merk clearly outplays and has a clear advantage, then you play him. If it's equal, you go with the experience. And if it is equal, from a guy that didn't get here till April compared to a guy that has been here 18 months, that seems like a pretty good indicator that the senior is going to give you a better chance to win.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FBtime and Adam2014
#211
#211
zjcvols said:
If both are fairly equal (let's say even 100% equal) in practice, then almost always coaches are going to go with experience. We play a P4 team to start the year. The reason you play the other guy is because Augilar has 24 career starts under his belt and has played P4 competition before. The chances he communicates the offense effectively are better. The chances he gets rattled are less, the chances the moment is too big weakens. We've never seen Merk handle that. This isn't year 1 of an NFL rebuild, nor is it like the 2010 Vols where the team has zero shot of any sort of major bowl. This is a team with serious playoff hopes. If Merk clearly outplays and has a clear advantage, then you play him. If it's equal, you go with the experience. And if it is equal, from a guy that didn't get here till April compared to a guy that has been here 18 months, that seems like a pretty good indicator that the senior is going to give you a better chance to win.
Click to expand...
And by several accounts it is not equal. It has been said on the 247 podcast that the reason for separation is not because Joey has excelled but because Merk has not performed well at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Woodlawn VOL
#212
#212
zjcvols said:
If both are fairly equal (let's say even 100% equal) in practice, then almost always coaches are going to go with experience. We play a P4 team to start the year. The reason you play the other guy is because Augilar has 24 career starts under his belt and has played P4 competition before. The chances he communicates the offense effectively are better. The chances he gets rattled are less, the chances the moment is too big weakens. We've never seen Merk handle that. This isn't year 1 of an NFL rebuild, nor is it like the 2010 Vols where the team has zero shot of any sort of major bowl. This is a team with serious playoff hopes. If Merk clearly outplays and has a clear advantage, then you play him. If it's equal, you go with the experience. And if it is equal, from a guy that didn't get here till April compared to a guy that has been here 18 months, that seems like a pretty good indicator that the senior is going to give you a better chance to win.
Click to expand...
Dude has played 4 years of college ball since 2019 and really hasn't separated himself from a guy that's had like 9 snaps of D1 ball, that's the issue for me. I'm just a fan like everybody else, I obviously hope he does well but, just doesn't make sense. There no way dude knows our playbook in 3ish months so guess what now, we have to minimize it again. I know Halzle said we're gonna open it up, we'll see.
 
#214
#214
WillisWG said:
JA INTs occur most often on between his OWN 21-39 yard line with most occurring on 1st down, that's a killer. Struggled in the RZ last year completing only 37.5%.

View attachment 763493
View attachment 763494View attachment 763498
View attachment 763497
Click to expand...
I get interceptions happen but the concerning thing with me about JA is he had 5 games last year where he threw multiple INT's. You just cannot spot SEC teams 2 possessions and be a winning team. In comparison Nico had 1 multi INT game and that was against NCST in game 1 last year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WillisWG
#215
#215
  • Like
Reactions: Freak, WeeohdeeWood, SquirrelOrange3 and 3 others
#217
#217
volfan411 said:
I get interceptions happen but the concerning thing with me about JA is he had 5 games last year where he threw multiple INT's. You just cannot spot SEC teams 2 possessions and be a winning team. In comparison Nico had 1 multi INT game and that was against NCST in game 1 last year.
Click to expand...

It has been repeated ad nauseum but that was in another offensive system and we now KNOW for certainty that QBs in Heupel's system do NOT throw many INTs. I saw with great certainty JA will cut down on the INTs
 
#218
#218
volfever007 said:
Dude has played 4 years of college ball since 2019 and really hasn't separated himself from a guy that's had like 9 snaps of D1 ball, that's the issue for me. I'm just a fan like everybody else, I obviously hope he does well but, just doesn't make sense. There no way dude knows our playbook in 3ish months so guess what now, we have to minimize it again. I know Halzle said we're gonna open it up, we'll see.
Click to expand...

We don't know that. We see 15-30 minutes of routes on open air from beat reporters. That's it.

That wasn't your hypothetical, you said if things are fairly equal, if should be Merk. If Augilar doesn't have the playbook down (and he's been here since April so it's 6 months), then it's not equal.
 
#219
#219
One thing that should reduce Aguilar's interceptions is that Appy State threw the ball over half the time, whereas Tennessee under Heupel runs the ball a majority of the time, even with the prolific 2022 passing offense. This season will probably be like more like 2021 when Tennessee threw the ball 29.6% of the time rather than 2022 when 44.7% of the plays were passes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: titansvolsfaninga and FBtime
#220
#220
He tr
zjcvols said:
We don't know that. We see 15-30 minutes of routes on open air from beat reporters. That's it.

That wasn't your hypothetical, you said if things are fairly equal, if should be Merk. If Augilar doesn't have the playbook down (and he's been here since April so it's 6 months), then it's not equal.
Click to expand...
He transfered on April 21, it's August 14, how in the world is that 6 months?
 
  • Like
Reactions: titansvolsfaninga
#221
#221
zjcvols said:
We don't know that. We see 15-30 minutes of routes on open air from beat reporters. That's it.

That wasn't your hypothetical, you said if things are fairly equal, if should be Merk. If Augilar doesn't have the playbook down (and he's been here since April so it's 6 months), then it's not equal.
Click to expand...
Even including all of April and all of August, that's only 5 months
 
#222
#222
Rocky Top T said:
I would hold off on the Brandon talk, people said same thing about Nico. I think Gmac starts next year
Click to expand...
Few freshmen are ready to start in the SEC so yes, I realize Brandon likely won't either. He's a possibility and most QBs aren't but it's still unlikely.

I don't look for him to sit more than a year though and that still leaves us with an "extra QB" who will never start at UT and will likely transfer. It's likely a really very talented kid like Merk or G-Mac wants to start somewhere. Heck, Gaston Moore transferred to have a shot at seeing the field and who can blame a kid for that?

Stacking talent on the bench is getting REALLY expensive and paying Nico $2M to sit didn't give much ROI. I'm not sure we could keep Brandon if we said, "Wait your turn....."

I'm sure we can't keep Merk or G-Mac if we say, "Sorry, kid, but you'll never go beyond QB2 here."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rocky Top T
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top