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We've been very blessed here at UNT at the running back position this past decade. Patrick Cobbs. JaMario Thomas. Both led the nation in rushing. Who would have thought that we'd have another one come along who is, in my opinion, more talented than both of those guys, and that is high praise. Lance Dunbar can do it all. Last year, he got 29 or more carries 4 times. Our record in those games? 3-1. Coincidence? I think not. If we can consistently get the ball in his hands, we are in very good shape. He's a top ten running back in the country by all measures, and that is a luxury that I'm sure helps Coach Canales sleep easy. This time next year, he'll be in training camp. Our second string running back is James Hamilton, who could start at a lot of other schools. He's a small scatback who can make plays out of the backfield. He's a great pass-catcher with great speed. I could also see him splitting out and running few plays from the receiver position. I'm okay with that. The more talent on the field, the better. Third string is Brandin Byrd. He's not particularly big, but he serves as our power back. He's a good running back that will be used primarily in short yardage situations. As for our freshmen, we have two kids coming in; Zac Whitfield and Antoinne Jimmerson. Whitfield is the guy that I presume will take over for Dunbar next year. Jimmerson is very talented as well and I expect him to make lots of plays in the future. I think there is a chance that Whitfield will see snaps this season, but I expect Jimmerson to redshirt. The other guys on the roster will only play special teams, so I'm not going to discuss them. Starter: Lance Dunbar 2: James Hamilton 3: Brandin Byrd Overall Confidence Rating: 10/10 Starter Confidence Rating: 15/10(yeah, I said it) Backup Confidence Rating: 9/10 This post has been promoted to an article

U-Back: Our starting U-Back is Daniel Prior. Even though this position isn't used on a regular basis, I feel VERY comfortable when he is on the field. Prior is our best blocker that isn't a lineman. He clears holes like crazy. I don't know the exact numbers, but I guarantee you Lance averaged more yards per carry when Prior was in the game than when he wasn't. He's a road grater. He used to play linebacker, so you know he loves hitting people, and that is exactly what we need from this position. This is another position that I am very comfortable with. I'm not sure who his backup is, so I can't comment on that. Starter: Daniel Prior Starter Position Rating: 7/10 Backup Position Rating: ?/10 Overall Position Rating: 7/10 Tight End: Tight End is also one of our strongest positions. Andrew Power is 6'5" and weighs 265 pounds. He's very strong and is one of our best pass-catchers on the entire team. Watching film, he looks like a phenomenal blocker, but according to McCarney, he is very raw, and needs work. After 2-a-days, I expect him to be up to speed. I think he will add a dynamic that we didn't see during the dodge era, and that is a Tight End that can make plays through the air. I expect him to be Thompson's security blanket, and convert more than a few important first downs that will keep us in ballgames. At backup we have Drew Miller, who is also a pretty large guy at 6'1" 253. He's already proven that he is very capable of playing at this level. He can make plays through the air, and is a very capable blocker. Greg Brown is the third string guy. He's one of the strongest and most athletic guys on the team, but he is very small for the tight end position at 6'1" 230. He may or may not see the field on offense, but I expect him to be a great special teams player. And again, I can't comment on the rest of the guys because I haven't seen them in action. Starter: Andrew Power 2: Drew Miller Starter Position Rating: 6.75/10 Backup Position Rating: 6.25/10 Overall Position Rating: 6.5/10 This post has been promoted to an article

"Are you kiddin' me?"----Coach Mac is INCREDIBLE!

Everything about the new era of North Texas football is better!

Wide receiver kind of worries me. My main worry is that our most talented receiver, Darius Carey, was recently kicked off the team. He'll be much harder to replace than Jamaal Jackson. Now, our best receiver, by far, is Christopher Bynes. This may come as a surprise to some of you because he's only been seen in limited action. Well, you're just gonna have to trust me on this one. His brother was the 2nd best player on the defense of the 2011 National Champions. The Bynes' family is just talented, I promise. Our next best receiver, in my opinion is Jamize Olawale. He's huge for a receiver, and very fast. The only concern with him is that he doesn't know the plays. That will come with time. Third, we have Mike Outlaw. Outlaw is very talented. Before the Ohio game he was very good. That game messed with his head I think. With an entire new coaching staff, I think and hope, that this marks a fresh start for him. Next, we have Brelan Chancellor. He's young, so he's limited in his knowledge of the offense, but you can't deny his talent. Even if he doesn't make an impact at receiver, he's still one of the best returners in the country. And he's incredibly strong. At 175 pounds, he squatted 510. That's just absurd. Next, you have Willie Taylor. He's a small, slot receiver with good hands and good quickness. He's also very shifty. I think he'll be a decent 4th receiver. Then, we have Tyler Stradford, the transfer from Oklahoma. This kid is 6'2" with unbelievable speed. Athletically, he is probably a top 20 receiver in the entire country. However, he has huge problems catching a football. Being a receiver, that is kind of an important trait. Then you have Breece Johnson. Breece has the best hands on the team and knows the playbook. His athleticism is the only thing holding him back. Although, I would rather have a guy like him out there than an athletic guy who doesn't know what he is doing. Other than that, I don't think anyone else will see the field. Chase Baine might, but I haven't seen him at the position, so I can't comment on that. Starter Outside: Chris Bynes Starter Inside: Willie Taylor Starter Inside: Brelan Chancellor Starter Outside: Mike Outlaw 2 Outside: Jamize Olawale 2 Inside: Chase Baine 2 Outside: Breece Johnson 3 Outside: Tyler Stradford 3 Inside: Jeremy Brown Overall Position Rating: 5.75/10 Starter Position Rating: 6.5/10 Backup Postion Rating: 5/10 This post has been promoted to an article

Tackle: Tackle is the most questionable of the positions along the line. While we have a very talented, all-conference candidate on one side, we have a complete question mark on the other. Tomlinson will get the job done, no questions asked. He is our second best lineman, behind Johnson, and he runs a very close race with him. Tomlinson has great feet and is very strong, but I hear he has a questionable work ethic. That doesn't effect his on-field performance, but his potential is sky-high if he works hard. if he put the work in, he could potentially get drafted. However, on the other side at left tackle, we have what is, by far the biggest question mark on the offense. Unfortunately, this is also one of the most important positions on offense. Don't believe me? Just go look up the player salaries in the NFL. Other than QB, you may not find a higher paid position. Our left tackle as of now is Antonio Johnson. He has unlimited potential because he is very athletic for his size(6'5, 285), but he's not very strong. I think him and Ayodele Adepipe will compete for the starting job, even though they both have huge holes in their game. Left tackle is the only position on the entire offense that I don't feel good about. As for everyone else on the depth chart, again, I can't comment, because I haven't seen them play. Starter Position Rating: 6.5/10 Backup Position Rating: 5/10 Overall Position Rating: 6/10 Starter: Antonio Johnson Starter: Matt Tomlinson 2: Ayodele Adepipe 2: Grant Shaw Guard: At guard, we have Aaron Fortenberry and Mason Y'Barbo. These are 2 of the 4 guys I feel comfortable with on the offensive line, along with Johnson and Tomlinson. Fortenberry is taller but they are both very similar in that they are both pretty big, strong guys that will do a fine job paving holes for Dunbar, and protecting for Thompson. As for the backups, Feeley has experience as a starter, so I would feel comfortable with him in the lineup because he is another big body who can move people. As for the rest, they are freshmen, so I know nothing. However, they are very large, and that is one of the improvements McCarney has made over the previous staff; recruiting larger football players. Starter: Aaron Fortenberry Starter: Mason Y'Barbo 2: Coleman Feeley 2: Cyril Lemon/ Travis Ellard Starter Position Rating: 8/10 Backup Position Rating: 7/10 Overall Position Rating: 7.5/10 Center: At center, we have one of our most experienced and best linemen. JJ missed all of last year, save for a few snaps at Clemson. However, he's been in the offense for 4 years, and knows the playbook in and out. He's a technician. He's our smallest O-lineman, but his knowledge of the game makes up for that, and then some. He's the guy that I trust the most on the entire offensive line. We're in good shape with him starting. Technically, our backup is Nic Summerfield. However, if JJ gets hurt, I expect Fortenberry or Y'Barbo to shift to the center position, because we are much deeper at guard than we are at center. I don't expect Summerfield to play a snap under any circumstance, so I'm going to base my backup rating on Y'Barbo and Fortenberry. Starter: JJ Johnson 2: Nic Summerfield Starter Position Rating: 8.5/10 Backup Position Rating: 7.75/10 Overall Position Rating: 8.25/10 This post has been promoted to an article

Opening Vegas line has the Mean Green at minus 14. Vito sez, as he predicted, UNT is a "huge" underdog in the season opener. I beleive that UNT will beat the spread and actually has a chance to deliver a surprise to pundits. What do you think ?

Objectively speaking, I think you have to pick FIU to win. They're bringing back a lot of the talent that helped them win the Belt and their bowl game, and with the recruiting they've had the past few years, they ought to be able to plug their holes pretty well (no Quonerisms, please). We do have a number of unknowns/variables which could go our way, but they could potentially go against us as well. That's objectively speaking. But the homer in me sure thinks we can win it.

When Vito talks about the FIU game he makes it seem like we're playing Florida State. It's like we have no chance and are better off just praying for mercy from the all mighty Golden Panthers. I don't get it...

This depends on how the road unis look on TV, right?

Green to SDSU

Well, teams weren't punting against us a lot.

I guess you don't read this board much.

People complained "NT isn't Big Time." They have hired a proven FBS head coach. They have built a 78 million dollar stadium. They are having closed practices. Welcome to the BIG TIME!! You have nothing to complain about now, what are you going to do???? Just sit back and enjoy the show that Mac and the Mean Green are going to put on for you. I promise you'll be impressed!

Ding, Ding, Ding. That's the correct answer!!!

Winning?

I can't get over the fact that the football program actually has the feel of a legit D-1 program now. Just by listening to Mac talk and seeing pictures of practice, you can tell there is WAY more structure and experience in place now compared to the past. Can't wait for this team to pull off some upsets this season!

No one cares what non UNT fans think about OUR uniforms. True story.

DAMN! Isn't there ANYTHING associated with this athletic department that everyone will like???

If as a country you demonstrate you have people in the government that are willing to take their own country down the rabbit hole by using the threat of defaulting to get what they want - it would be ridiculous to think a downgrade was not coming. While I would agree that there is reason to be concerned about America's fiscal situation, the credit rating agencies have consistently overestimated the risk of public defaults while consistently underestimating the risk of private defaults. For instance, S&P downgraded Japan in 2002 (then the 2nd biggest economy in the world) and they can still borrow at absurdly low rates. Yet they were utterly wrong when they gave AAA ratings to the CDO's that helped finance the housing bubble. S&P has been doing a terrible job over the last decade.

If you look at the roster......there are several walk-on WRs (two from Florida). Had heard about Etheridge....Andre Holloway I had never known about. The kids whose name are in black....SOME of those are walk-ons. (not all....Bruner, Tanner Smith, Cam Feldt and a few others have been around or are not walk-ons). The roster: http://www.meangreensports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=1800&SPID=562&SPSID=9053

I hope you all enjoyed my preview of the offense. I will do a defense preview in the near future. Thanks for all of the +1's in advance. I really do appreciate it.

Me too.

When I saw this topic title I immediately started hoping that someone had called out Lee Jackson on his job performance...

Yup, and Galbreath was the 2002 New Orleans Bowl MVP. We have been blessed at RB for sure. Rick

Beef + DMac's 30 Years of DLine Coaching Experience = USDA Prime Beef

We all know that Bush gets a "poor" rating for fiscal responsibility but this chart, wherever it came from, distorts the hell out of things. Where is the revenue produced by the tax cuts in the chart for instance? Here's another point...who voted for this spending? How much of this was proposed/caused by Bush's party and how much by Obama's? The Democrats controlled Congress during Bush's administration and check to see how much of the spending came directly from bills rammed down our throats by Pelosi/Reed. The chart covers eight years of Bush vs. two years of Obama actual without future spending already voted in by Congress. Remember when Nancy Pelosi said you'll have to pass this bill to see what's in it? Has that been included? How about adding those items in then produce a chart and let's see what it looks like?

I agree with what GreenBat is saying, except the "just sit back" part. Don't just sit back. It's time to be "big time" fans as well. Join the Mean Green Club. Buy season tickets. Put Mean Green flair on your car (number of pieces is up to you). Post the schedule in your office. Wear green on Fridays. Talk up the Mean Green around the water cooler. And when Saturdays come around, bring people with you, pack the stands, get up, and make some noise! I can't wait to maximize the acoustics in our new home.

Waa waa waa I've never heard so many people whine about something so asinine.

I believe our official color is Kelly Green, not dark green. I like them.

Mike Ladner. Here's game flim of him. Returning a kickoff? Yes. Playing fullback - blowing a guy up pretty good at 1:18 on a block. I'd say 70% of the film is him playing fullback, the final 30% is him on defense. On the defensive side of the ball, you notice that once a guy runs into him, he stops. Of course at 5-11, 280, he's a fireplug in the mold of Booger Kennedy and Baltimore's Kelly Gregg. He looks real athletic. Maybe he was overlooked because his film emphasized him of offense too much, and there are too many teams using fullbacks for option anymore. Either way, he looks pretty dadgum athletic. If this is the quality of walk on we'll be getting again, the future will be good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkTHX56g2Ew

This kid is a beast: http://www.pixtus.com/forum/sports/95471-texas-state-powerlifting-championship-mar-28th.html (Scroll down through the link for several pics of Micheal)

I think it will be a big advantage for NT at least in the first game. New coach and hopefully a new atitude, it will be tough for FIU to know what to plan for.

I think many here are blinded by their hatred for Dodge and their love for Mac. If Mac came out with pink tutus for uniforms, we'd hear the exact same comments. "Love it, what a clean, classic look, just what we needed, way to go Mac!"

I'm not saying it's never happened but i've never seen a us do a punt blocking drill like that before.

UNT Mean Green had a good post on this: Not sure exactly what the "before" weights were, though . . .

Now that we're not AAA, every country who has that rating has socialized health care.

You jut have to believe...WHY NOT NORTH TEXAS INDEED! If you can listen to Coach mac and not believe then you have a real problem. If he gets the team to believe like he has the Mean Green faithful...watch out opposing teams! GO MEAN GREEN

You hit the nail on the head Greenbat!

I'll bet you $50 we win.

damn fine response - thanks!!!

What's the over/under on the first time a field goal bounces off that eagle's noggin'. If it's hollow, it should make a nice "GONG" sound.

Calm down folks...the sky is not falling and we will all see the light of day come Monday morning. There is a theory that the markets had already priced this downgrade in as it has been known to be coming for many weeks if not months. Corporate earnings continue to be pretty strong and the US still has one of the very highest ratings in the world. Yes, we may see some volatility Monday morning, but it may not be as bad as some here seem to think. The challenge will come if everyone (see Saudi Arabia & China) holding US debt panics and opens up Monday in a selling mood. If that happens, yes, hide the women and children, but there is a lot of behind the scenes work going on and lots was done even before the downgrade. Anyway, most people sell at the wrong time and buy at the wrong time. Take that into consideration before you make any move. By the time the general public buys or sells it is often "after the fact" and at the absolute wrong time as all the "smart money" moved some time ago...one way of the other. But, the good news is that everyone gets to make their own call as it is their money. Unlike the crap DC is doing with "other people's money" these days.

I agree with this which leads me to more confusion about yesterday. Why not have a photo shoot with players wearing the gameday look? We also have no idea what the roadies will look like. Everything else since McCarney's hire has been so top notch, but this "unveiling" felt thrown together. In the end, after watching McCarney's press conference, I can deal with a lame uniform unveiling.

Agree...I much prefer the darker green. That being said, these are better than last year.

Man, if only we were as strong as those AAA rated CDOs that Goldman & co screwed the world on.

Actually, they are blaming it on a math error by S&P....as if we didn't deserve the downgrade anyway...

Looks weird. Not symetrical at the bottom, no wings?

I won't respond to that because we all know how things went once I did