Former Georgia quarterback makes a strong plea to Josh Heupel ahead of Tennessee Vols' clash with Florida Gators
The Tennessee Vols renew their annual rivalry with the Florida Gators on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. However, the feeling entering the game for both teams is markedly different than what it was just a week ago. The Vols dropped a 19-14 stinker to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night, with Tennessee's offense disappearing almost […]
The Tennessee Vols renew their annual rivalry with the Florida Gators on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. However, the feeling entering the game for both teams is markedly different than what it was just a week ago.
The Vols dropped a 19-14 stinker to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night, with Tennessee's offense disappearing almost completely for most of the night outside of two drives. Meanwhile, the Gators secured a convincing 24-13 win over UCF to improve to 3-2, where the Gators were dominant on the defensive side of the ball.
So, what does Tennessee need to do to get back on track offensively? According to former Georgia Bulldogs QB Aaron Murray, Josh Heupel needs to take the restraints off of QB Nico Iamaleava and let it rip in the passing game. (UT-Florida discussion begins at 32:10 in following video.)
"He definitely has lost a little bit of that almost gunslinger mentality, go out there knowing that I am this elite quarterback and I'm going to go out there and play like it," Murray responded to co-host T-Bob Hebert on his Snaps podcast this week. "Now, it's kind of like, 'ok, I'm playing not to make a mistake because I know how good my team is, and I don't want to be the one that costs them a victory.'
"You can play too conservative to where you are costing your team a victory because you're not letting it rip, so I want to see him go out there against a really bad Florida defense. I mean, just a piss poor defense against the pass, against the run. You're at home. The only problem for Tennessee is how healthy are they at receiver? But they're deep. I mean, Heupel said it all year long. 'We've got six, or seven, or eight receivers that we feel good with.' Well, ok. Let's roll the ball out there and see how good your second team guys are at receiver, and how much that chemistry works.
Hebert reminded Murray about how Florida gives up 172 yards a game, implying Tennessee may not need to rely on Nico to deliver on Saturday in a big way to win. Murray responded it was more about establishing Nico's confidence moving forward.
"But I'm just going back to what you said though about building Nico's confidence back up. I think this is still a good game to start to do that. I hope so because at some point you've got to stop protecting him, or you're going to lose another football game if not two.
"If you're Heupel, you're not building this roster right now to just beat Florida. You're building this roster and you're building Nico up to beat Georgia, to beat Alabama. You can't just say, 'hey, we're going to play conservative and protect Nico versus Florida and then we're going to roll the ball next week versus Alabama and he's just going to go off.'
"You have to start getting him back into shape and form that he looked like for Chattanooga, and NC State, and Kent State, because there have been two weeks of a downward – not spiral – but going backwards. It's not even just Georgia and Alabama. It's Kentucky, too, and their defense. So, he's got to get better."
II don't think it's fair to say it's been two weeks of Nico going backwards. It goes pretty much without question that Heupel took the game out of Nico's hands in the second half of the Vols' 25-15 win over Oklahoma back on September 28. But with a 22-3 lead in the second half and the Vols' defense dominating, that was a move that worked out well. There was no need to increase the chances of turnovers and short fields, especially after that had already happened twice in the game with sack-fumbles. And Nico had some big throws in the game that set up scores, so it's not really fair to say he struggled there.
However, last week was a completely different story. Tennessee's passing attack did absolutely nothing, and the blame for that falls on multiple parties. Tackles Lance Heard and John Campbell, Jr. were absolutely terrible, earning the lowest grades on the team for the offensive by Pro Football Focus. They allowed 7 pressures combined, per PFF. The Vols' wide receivers appeared to have trouble getting open, and all three starters ended up getting hurt by the end to varying degrees. And the team just didn't look as hungry and ready to play as the Razorbacks, perhaps due to some of that rat poison they'd been fed during the week.
But when the Vols needed a play from their QB, they couldn't get one. Nico looked somewhat indecisive with his reads, and when something wasn't there, he didn't seem quite as comfortable turning it upfield and looking for yards on the ground.
But that was one game in a young career. That was always going to happen. Now, it should be Heupel's job to put the ball back in his talented young quarterback's hands and give him the opportunity to get back in a groove at home. Because the Vols aren't going to bowl their way over Alabama, Georgia, or Kentucky. They might not over Florida either, as the Gators will surely stack the line and dare Nico and a banged up WR group to beat them.
And it's time that Heupel obliges that request. Because Nico has the talent, and the Vols' WR room is deep enough to withstand some losses if some players can't go. Freshman Mike Matthews deserves a chance, among others. And the Vols' suddenly forgotten tight end group has proven it can produce in the passing game as well.
Indeed, it's time for Heupel to allow Nico to let it rip once again.
Steve Spurrier tries to pour cold water over the Nico Iamaleava hype ahead of Vols’ clash with Gators
The Gator great isn’t a fan of what he’s seen lately from the Vols’ Nico Iamaleava
