VTTW Board Index

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/tennessee-head-football-coach-josh-heupel-reportedly-can-hardly-afford-turning-jake-merklinger-qb/93fd3f9785e87ea37adfe80c

Seems to be a sports gossipest with an agenda
Perhaps a Nico fan girl

But is he wrong? It shouldn't be hard to make an average QB out of a 5* player. The hard thing to duplicate will be the RB position and defense that carried us last year. It definitely wasn't Nico. We could be weak in all three of these aspects compared to last year. Plus WR position is questionable too. Gonna be interesting to see how Heuple copes. If the Vols have a good year, he will have done a stellar coaching job. I hope the RB position overachieves. But then there is the OL. Damn!

What 5 star are you referring to? Merklinger is a 4 star, or was.

both Merkslinger and GMAC were 4*

yes, his head is up his ass

I was referencing Nico's 5* rating. A 4* should be able to be an average QB as well.

Sow's ear ----> silk purse doesn't work out very often, no matter how good the texture of the sow's ear.

I think CJH recruited Nico because he saw the obvious athletic ability. I also believe that when Nico arrived on campus and began working in the offense, CJH saw other obvious shortcomings that were never going to allow him to mold that silk purse. This is simply my opinion based on what I've heard and seen. I could very well be wrong.

i tend to agree
They changed the offense about 3 games in last year as a result

IMO we are looking at a rocky road this season having young inexperienced QBs....And I don't see a portal coming in with only 5 months until the start of the season and didn't have a Spring practice. Heupel would have to dumb down the offense even more from last season. I see an 8-4 type season which might be a miracle. Thank gosh we have an easy schedule for SEC standards. We will probably never see another easier schedule like we had last season and this season.

You know far more than me, but I think that maybe we see more of the "normal" CJH offense this season than we did last year. I'm hoping for that, at least.

I mean, last season's QBs were no more experienced than this- and the starter, as we've come to find out, was kind of a dullard. We went 10-2 and made the playoffs anyway.  :dunno:

That's where the weak schedule last season and this season comes into play. Nico was a 5 star that played backup a whole year and got the start in the Bowl over Milton.

And we need to see a different offense...more like the 2022 offense. Need more patterns....use the middle of the field a lot more. And for gosh sakes, use the RBs and TEs in the passing game.

I agree. I'm hoping that the playbook will be much expanded next season.

When it comes to Nico, "5 star" is doing some heavy lifting at this point. He may have been a 5 star in high school, but he's no better than a 3 star in college.

I still think we'll get someone out of the portal. Not that we can be TOO picky, but I would prefer a one year guy so we don't upset the apple cart in 26. The Illinois guy would be perfect, if we could get him.

If this year will be a bit of a rebuild, let's find out if Merk and Mac have potential.

No need to spend big on a QB who may not learn the playbook in five months.

Heup dosn't share your view
We have been and will continue to aggresive in the portal for a QB

Right now I believe we bring a QB, at least one WR (possibly 2), at least 1 DT and possibly a DB (the departure of Charles may have changed the dynamic - he was a reliable B/U)
I don't see us bringing an OL, I think they are happy with their starters and several B/Us with some versatility
- with the departure of Johnson that means that Sanders will be the starter which means we have two 5* OT starting
Sham really had a very good Spring, finally showing some development over just potential
I had expected Pendleton ending the Spring as the center but Satterwhite did very well
Sanders will have issues for sure as a true FR starting at RT but I expect his play to be better than anyone playing RT last year and better than an ingured Heard
With a QB that plays as well as Nico did last year and a good WR add (see BYU WR) then 8-4 is the floor and 9-3 expected
With Merkslinger then IMO the floor is 7-5 (at best even with the favorable schedule we ahve)

As usual, YMMV

While I was typing the above looks like we will get vistis from WRs Marian (BYU) and Hurry
At DT Nelson from Western Michigan will visit, IMO there are better available but I do trust Rodney G and Chop with their evals

If Hype brings in a QB to start this season then Merk is probably gone....and I don't blame him. We played Nico as a RS freshman and we need to allow Merk the same.

OTOH, after watching him all Spring, Heup immediately went to the portal
That tells us about his readiness

I can see him bringing in a backup because we don't need a true freshman as a backup. But I will be shocked to see a transfer with 5 months and no Spring practice be the starter.

I agree and my initial take was a B/U but it seems he is going for a potential starter

Perhaps his take is that if I am going to expend capital and bring in someone, they should be to compete to start

We should know within the week one way or another

I'll throw out this. Everyone isn't going to hit, but if Merk can't play, Heupel has brought in Milton, Nico, and Merk who aren't great.

Mac is too early to judge. Bear in mind this is only if Merklinger can't win.

Would I love a proven starter? Absolutely. However, we're wasting time and money recruiting if Merk or Mac can't be really solid.

Exactly... Heupel's QB recruiting has not been all that great...And I'm not real sure I trust him to bring in a QB that starts with 5 months to prepare and most of that over the Summer months.

And why would we want an UCLA QB that they didn't want and took our QB. That looks like an odd exchange.

At the risk of sounding like the resident troll, what is Heupel's track record on QBs at UT?  Not great IMHO.  He inherited Hooker, and did not start him immediately.  He gets credit for optimizing him after finally allowing him a shot, but none for not making him the starter to begin with.  Milton was above average at best, and so was Nico, and I see a pattern of great physical skills combined with below average processing capability.  I'll cut Nico some slack for being a RS frosh in his only year of playing, and he may have done much better this fall had he stayed, but I'm not that impressed with either Milton or Nico.

Having said that, we had top 30 or 20 offenses both years, and Hooker definitely spoiled us. 

Factoring in everything above, I still dont have a huge amount of confidence in Heupels judgement on QB talent.

He comes at a bargain basement price and is essential insurance for injuries, is my take.

Crazy how quick you can go from a playoff team to being in turmoil again. We've had enough turmoil on Rocky Top. Will the Vols be one of the top 8 teams in the SEC or a bottom 8 SEC team? That's a question that can't be answered right now.  A little better player development would be a great thing to see this season.