Josh Heupel reportedly ?can hardly afford? turning to Jake Merklinger at QB

[BanditVol]

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.

[PirateVOL]

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.

TROLL ALERT!

[BanditVol]

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.

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

[volsboy]

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.

[BanditVol]

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.

  True true, but I think a lot of people are questioning Heupel judgement on QB talent.

TROLL ALERT!