'25 Portal Thread

[volinexile17]

Hooker made Hyatt look good, not Pope. As we've seen by his lack of NFL success. And who has progressed under Pope the last 2 years? Squirrel just continued to get worse, Brazzell was horrible last year. But, the last 2 years we've had 2 different guys at the top or near the top of the dropped pass category in the SEC! Guess he can use that as a recruiting pitch! So, hush now little lady! You're dismissed,carry on!

JMO, it’s pretty early to write Hyatt off. The Giants have been terrible in basically every facet of the game. Daniel Jones was horrible. Tons of coaching turnover. Hyatt has actually looked pretty solid when he’s gotten run. They just don’t put him on the field much. Maybe it’s because he’s not good or underdeveloped or maybe the Giants just suck. I’m taking the latter.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

That's a fair point. However, you then also have to give him credit when his unit performs at a high level like they did in 2022 for the same reasoning.

It’s not all on coaching. Anyone who says that is being intentionally thick headed. I mean take coach Garner. He can coach them up like crazy. But if those players don’t execute to the best of their ability, then that’s on them. It’s like when Clowney played. He was a generational talent. Yet didn’t play like it all the time. Was that the coaches fault? No

At some point players HAVE to share the blame.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

There were several overthrown from hooker too, I remember vs uga in ‘21 we had velus open for a 75 yard td play one and hooker overthrew him

Hooker did miss guys as well. A normal amount. Every QB does, just Nico and Joe had the dang yips.

I do remember people wanting Hendon to be benched against Ball State lol.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Hooker made Hyatt look good, not Pope. As we've seen by his lack of NFL success. And who has progressed under Pope the last 2 years? Squirrel just continued to get worse, Brazzell was horrible last year. But, the last 2 years we've had 2 different guys at the top or near the top of the dropped pass category in the SEC! Guess he can use that as a recruiting pitch! So, hush now little lady! You're dismissed,carry on!

Scheme helped Hooker and Hyatt achieve the level they did.

But it played on their strengths

Hyatts speed, Hookers poise and ability to throw a nice deep ball.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Facts are still facts.

It’s always odd to me when fans criticize when things are bad but don’t praise when things are good. But that’s the VN way. Pope was the analyst when Burns was here one year. He’s had an SEC leading 22 one hundred yard games from WR’s. He currently has 4 WR’s who were top 250 and another that was a 4 star.

I’ve never said he’s elite, but he’s coached and developed receivers. The offense hasn’t been struggling because of just receivers. Anyone with eyes and watched film can see that our receivers are open in every game. We need a QB to get it to them, too,

Donte Thorntons jump from early 2023 until late 2023 into this year is underrated development.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Some credit to coaching, but that's just one WR of many. Credit also goes to Hyatt himself, who took extra time on the jugs to work it out.

And round and round we go…

 

[NighthawkVol]

Donte Thorntons jump from early 2023 until late 2023 into this year is underrated development.

That’s fair. But since he was always hurt, many didn’t notice it as much.

 

[Ericvol2096]

@Ericvol2096

Are we still expecting good news soon?

We are done with portal (adding anyone who would contribute in 25 season especially). Cal WR had everything moving towards being a Vol until it didn’t happen at the very end which was what I believed was coming after Hood.

HS 2026 class is the focus now.

 

[deatojl]

The past two seasons they've underperformed. If they underperform for a third straight season, he should be replaced. Feel the same about Elarbee. Get your units right or find a new job. That's JMO.

Elarbee is an interesting conundrum. I get frustrated with the amount of sacks we allow at times, too. However, we have had over 2,500 yards rushing three straight years and his units have been Joe Moore semifinalists three straight years, as well. Apparently, there are more knowledgeable football people besides his boss who think he has done a good job with the OL.

 

[miket4god]

Saw plenty of drops, too. I understand the tendency to want to blame the guy no longer here, but there were problems on both sides. I have not been impressed by Pope. Should we be criticizing Halzle as well? He was the coach of the guy people are saying overthrew the WRs.

Agreed about the drops. I also think criticizing Halzle and Heupel about the predictability of play calling is fair. Not sure how much criticism Halzle deserves on the overthrows though.
I just don't know enough about whether its a technique issue or a QB issue. He's certainly not coached to overthrow.

 

[Weezer]

Elarbee is an interesting conundrum. I get frustrated with the amount of sacks we allow at times, too. However, we have had over 2,500 yards rushing three straight years and his units have been Joe Moore semifinalists three straight years, as well. Apparently, there are more knowledgeable football people besides his boss who think he has done a good job with the OL.

Elarbee is great at teaching run blocking. Pass blocking leaves much to be desired. At some point, that needs to be addressed. Either he improves, or they hire him an assistant that can teach pass blocking, or they find someone who can teach both. If we can't pass block, we become one dimensional.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

I think we'll all know for sure if Pope and Elarbee are going to work out long term as coaches at UT by how their groups do this season. The WRs and OL are likely going to be significant upgrades in talent but a step back in experience. Lack of talent will not be an available excuse and development, or a lack thereof, will be obvious.

 

[Jackcrevol]

I think we'll all know for sure if Pope and Elarbee are going to work out long term as coaches at UT by how their groups do this season. The WRs and OL are likely going to be significant upgrades in talent but a step back in experience. Lack of talent will not be an available excuse and development, or a lack thereof, will be obvious.

Also a big year on the trail. Moar.

 

[RiseToTheTop]

Yeah I think Squirrel just couldn't stay healthy honestly.

or move laterally at all despite being 150lbs....completely straight line.

 

[Jackcrevol]

or move laterally at all despite being 150lbs....completely straight line.

He was track fast. Just not football fast.

 

[De La Cloobs]

Listened to a video this morning where apparently "insiders" were saying mid season last year that Nico just couldn't run the offense and couldn't wrap his head around what Heupel wanted to do.

That explains a lot actually.

 

[Jackcrevol]

Listened to a video this morning where apparently "insiders" were saying mid season last year that Nico just couldn't run the offense and couldn't wrap his head around what Heupel wanted to do.

That explains a lot actually.

Wonder if there was just an entitlement/work ethic issue. Not saying there was, but would explain a lot.

 

[MarcoVol]

Wonder if there was just an entitlement/work ethic issue. Not saying there was, but would explain a lot.

Or he just didn’t “get it”. More likely he couldn’t process what he was seeing.

Heup has said consistently that Nico was a hard worker.

 

[JCVol00]

Wonder if there was just an entitlement/work ethic issue. Not saying there was, but would explain a lot.

Could be. makes me think that if he didn’t show to his nil obligations (signings, meet & greets, etc) as well as tv production meetings, it’s easy to assume that he didn’t do anything extra on the side like film study or working on routes with receivers after practice

 

[Playdo]

To sum everything up: Nico was not good at being a quarterback last season and it had an impact on how we see the entire offense outside of Dylan Sampson who wasn't reliant on Nico for his own success.

If the quarterback is better in this offense, everyone will be better. That's it.

 

[Jackcrevol]

To sum everything up: Nico was not good at being a quarterback last season and it had an impact on how we see the entire offense outside of Dylan Sampson who wasn't reliant on Nico for his own success.

If the quarterback is better in this offense, everyone will be better. That's it.

Big 'ol boy, actually. Teams will have to appreciate and account for QB run.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

or move laterally at all despite being 150lbs....completely straight line.

Yeah always thought he would be way more elusive than he was

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Big 'ol boy, actually. Teams will have to appreciate and account for QB run.View attachment 741684

I see you are coming down with Aguilar fever?

 

[Jackcrevol]

I see you are coming down with Aguilar fever?

Im excited to see hwat he can do.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Or he just didn’t “get it”. More likely he couldn’t process what he was seeing.

Heup has said consistently that Nico was a hard worker.

Yeah, I remember Ainge breaking down his high school film and noting that he wasn't doing anything complicated in that offense and would need time to develop his football IQ.

Didn't he start playing a little late?

Still, dude got in his head bad, missing those wide open ones. He still settled in eventually and made a lot of goof plays. Wouldn't be surprised if Nico eventually figures it out. Going to be tough to do that at UCLA.