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Last night at the last hour, SMU called Connor Trussell, my son with an offer. For an hour or so he weighed the pros and cons. One thing that he kept coming back to was the "feel" that he got while on his official this past weekend. Several people including his head coach, Bob Wager, a teammate / friend and captain from last years team, Russell Bellomy who is now playing at Michigan, along with his mom and I told him that he had to go where he felt he would be happiest for the next 4-5 years. When asked that question, it was a resounding UNT answer. I send this not to talk about what Connor did, but what Coach Mac has done to change the attitude and direction of UNT. a very proud dad

Does he have deep thoughts?

Per Canales in the NSD Chat: "Mike Canales: Cooper is a quarterback and we are excited about the redshirt year he just had. He will make us better based on competition at the QB position."

This reminds me of the USA game in 2008, where we upset the undefeated (in SBC play) Jags. USA was good enough that year to make the NCAA's as an at-large (10 seed). We're gonna find a way to win this.

McQuerey used it to get an assistant job at PSU. Grand Jury testimony makes that pretty clear (JoePa: "I thought MCQuerey was coming to talk to me about an assistants job. I told him 'if your here about an assistant job, I got nothing for you'" paraphrased. Amazingly, the next year, McQuerey is a full time assistant. PSU is getting what they deserve. I'm sure many were sick when they saw how their campus put football in front of the safety of children (the demonstrations supporting JoePa, the riots when he was fired, the burial fit for a King). They will be bottom of the Big 10 for a long time to come. BIH, PSU football program!!!

These are all players who are signing with us. That makes me happy. We will win. This group is a win. You'll see. Haterz.

Your number 1 reason should get many recruits attention. A true freshman has a good chance to play at North Texas. And your number 3 reason best demonstrates it. The video is of Andrew McNulty, a true freshman, scoring the first touchdown at the brand new Apogee Stadium. Now, we need some true freshmen to score the NEXT touchdown at Apogee Stadium. And Roadruner is right. GO MEAN GREEN

1. Already posted, but Cooper Jones seems to have impressed, and will stay at QB 2. Marcus Smith, from last year's class, will be playing TE. He has put on 20 lbs and Canalas is very excited about him and Power in 2-TE sets, and their ability to make plays in the middle of the field 3. Canales said he is projecting Power to a have 40+ receptions next season 4. Looks like the three grey shirts Vito named are definitely greyshirting because they did not sign a LOI today 5. Rollins is moving to safety 6. Harris is moving to the slot 7. Jarvis is moving from RB to Corner...Canales said he would really like to keep him at HB, but said sometimes you have to help the defense Pretty excited about this class

I think the turnout will be pretty big. im headed down for the game, driving six hours but its well worth it. i think others will make the trip to the pit too. GMG

A whistleblower goes above his or her bosses head. Did he go to the university president? The board? I'm still so confused about the inaction of McQueary it makes me sick. As little as I understand Joe Paterno's inaction in following up, I understand McQueary's even less. He saw the event! Then, year after year after year, he's in the same building as the guy! Whistleblower. Some whistleblower.

yeah, but there was no way that Meyer would have gone to PSU...

I think Tony is arguably the best player in America. He was rated ahead of Perry Jones III in Texas, who is having a big year at Baylor. he has to stay out of foul trouble, but until someone actually stops him on defense they shouldnt under estimate the ability of the "one man show" to lead North Texas to a Win. should be a great atmosphere. Hope it is packed. I am taking 5 others and all are non-UNT people who are on the bandwagon.

HAPPY SIGNING DAY EVERYONE!!!!! I hope 8 pound 6 ounce baby football Jesus brings us all that we have asked for this holiday.

But I thought deficits don't matter? Have we been lied to all these years?

A lot of us have wondered how Troy and them got away with this, maybe we'll get the chance to see how it's done close up.

Good stuff. Looks like the Wildcat replacement for James Hamilton.

looking forward to coming to the games this season. my son is the new OL, Connor Trussell, from Arlington Martin. We had a great visit this weekend touring the school, athletic village and meeting some of the players and coaches. Coach Mac has it going on...BOWL BOUND.

Plum – I think you nailed it – number 5 is the best of all You forgot to mention the outstanding wind turbines See you at the Feb. 1st signing party PS – you still need a shave and a hair cut

I think this brings us up to 34 now. What is going on?!?!!? Handy

Very eager for the McCarney vs. SMU series to begin anew. I'd say McCarney vs. Jones, but I doubt Jones stays that long. He seems very interested in every job that opens up in the Pac-12.

Scanned and emailed??? Come out of the dark ages, already.

Thanks for sharing insight into the process, proud Dad. Enjoy this day. We are thrilled to have Connor with us, Mr Trussel. GMG

Wow, that's not just any college degree. You don't hear too often of kids weathering the rigors of FBS football and coming out with engineering degrees. Both of those take a LOT of time and determination.

Proud to have you guys on board

Welp, after the flurry of 3, I figured we were done.... I guess I am underestimating what we now have to sell or the coaching staff or both. This is gonna be fun at Apogee palace tonight to see the final tally. Hopefully the last push is to add rather than replace more falloff. Go mean green.

...we may be able to redshirt more than most of this class again. That bodes well for the future. Looks like we'll get four full years out of Lemon, Johnson, and Y'Barbo. Throw in the Feldt brothers along the way, and we should be able to redshirt every OL that comes through for a couple more signing periods. Our 2013 and 2014 OLs should be among the best we've field in our lifetimes. On the other side, four full out of McCoy, Akunne, Sotjkovic, and Orr isn't too bad a start either. I think we've really got something in depth buildings. Got to hit the WRs and DTs really hard, though. And, get two QBs next time around, maybe one a JUCO. My hope is that we can keep the coaching staff together for a couple more seasons as this thing grows. I loved Bowen, but he was so interconnected to KU. Mangino really screwed things up for him. He was always bound to go back. I'd love to see Chico's work for a full season with ONE QB starting every game. I mean, think about it. Since Dodge was cut loose, we're 7-10. Chico's been a big part of that. But, he's had to go some of the way with injured QBs (and centers). What will his offense really look like if a QB can stay healthy for 12 games running his offense? Also, if we can have two or three receivers start every game as well. Chico really has had to patch this thing together with moving parts - and, he never complains about it. The guy is a trooper, a real team-first coach. I'd love for him to get a season with a fully healthy set of players, from Game one all the way into the bowl game.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2011-12-15/news/college-football-s-fleecing-of-american-universities/ This article is a bit biased for my taste, it does explain how you can lose money on bowls. The big issue for most schools are the ticket minimums and travel costs. The other problem is 3rd party ticket brokers. Fans can by better seats for cheaper than the schools are selling them for and the school gets left holding a lot of empty seats.

Always nice to get a Handy.

Anyone consider that they may have medical reasons to grayshirt? Need of surgery or rehabbing from surgery?

UNT90 I am confused. The UNT athletic department web site says that they will have a live chat starting at 8:00 AM but also gives the opportunity to purchase a National Signing Day package for $9.95. I have no idea what you get for that amount. Maybe someone else can help........

So we have 2 more people on board that we are unaware of?? Just saw that we got the DE and add in the CB from Fort Bend and that makes 28. So who are the other 2 that will greyshirt?

Does this mean there will be no running blog as the LOIs come in tomorrow? Are they waiting to announce them all at the event?

Lest we all forget and as of now having no idea how many star'ed recruits from Rivals we will end up with tomorrow; but the one thing that always impressed me about Boise State's recruiting classes as they were building to becoming a BCS bowl buster kind of football program was just how their recruiting classes were highly, most notably and largely....unheralded or noticed by the national college sports media. (Anyone else think Boise State had football coaches who knew how to evaluate the very talent that Rivals Recruiting Service totally ignored)? GMG!

My thoughts exactly!!

Argh! It turns out I have to work late tomorrow. I hope to still make it, but may be late.

Because as a CB you're running in a backpedal, and it's more important for you to have quick hips and quick backwards sprint and turn ability. These are simply harder to achieve with longer leg length (though not impossible). For a lot of taller guys, in order to accomplish this sort of running, they have to bend too much to keep the backpadal compact, which will slow it down. Also, if you're tall and fast and have decent hands, your coach is putting you at wide receiver. If you're short and fast, you're put at defensive back. And I'm talking peewee, Jr High level... early on. So partly, it's just development. If two athletes are exactly the same, but one is 6'3" and one is 5'10", they're putting the 6'3" guy at WR, and the 5'10" guy at DB. But it's a combination of these things. The backpedal has to be compact, and you have to be developed there.

At least we aren't doing what a bunch of the SEC teams do (LSU in particular). They take away a scholorship from a senior to give to a freshman hoping the senior will just go away.

UNTFlyer - I just don't see how schools lose money going to bowl games...especially BCS games where they pay $10M+. The bad part of all of this is that the university presidents are the ones running the show (specifically the BCS university presidents). The inmates are running the asylum. They are the ones who decide on the life or death of the bowl system and the life or death of a playoff system. As long as they have that power, I just don’t see a playoff system ever happening. And as long as the last place team in the BCS conferences make more money than the Sunbelt Champion makes at the New Orleans Bowl (you can insert any number of mid major conference champions and their automatic bid to a lower tier bowl), there is no reason for even the loseingest football schools to change their minds.

Don't we have a small Senior class this year ? If so, it makes sense to bump some from this class back into next year's. That's probably why we had so many redshirting from 2011 back into this year, to give that flexibility.

Getting a little off topic above. Seal Team 6 - rescue, assassinate a bad guy, and assassinate Somali pirates for a rescue. That is what they do. And these are just the “stories” we hear about. I am sure there are a lot more things they do that do not make the papers.

At least one of our recruits has not even tested high enough on entrance exams to be eligible. Perhaps others are also risks to never even make an appearance on UNT's campus. Remember the LB now playing for Houston that everyone got so excited about? Signed a letter, couldn't get eligible, and had to go the Juco route. I think there is a chance that 3 of the recruits never make it to UNT (Alonzo Horton, anybody??). If so, this allows the coaches an insurance policy and the ability to take a risk on a talented kid that other, bigger programs don't need to take. Don't forget, scholarships are renewable on a year to year basis. Smart recruiting.

Les Miles, Nick Saban, and Larry Blakeney approve of this message! We're doing it like the big boys now. Got a coaching staff that knows how to do it. KA-POW!

BOWL BOUND INDEED! Got to know that Coach Mac, his staff and these players will definitely get it done....congratulations and welcome to the great Mean Green Nation. Very excited to have Connor wearing the Mean Green green! Thanks so much for placing your trust and faith in both Coach Mac and UNT as the place for Connor to not only play but receive a wonderful education. I can tell you that Connor and you have made a great decision. Welcome to the Mean Green nation!

I will be there with a friend. I have always wanted to go to this event, but I haven't been able to make it. "This year is different."<-- I'd like to submit this for the theme of the coming season... Go Mean Green!

Plumm, Exactly why we love ya!

When most universities lose money going to a bowl game, change may come sooner than you think. A 64-team playoff? Not, that's kind of ridiculous. But I can see that a 16-team playoff is possible.

Seems like Harris has been at Berkner forever! Starter with Jordan Mickey as freshman. Equal to Chris Jones as players. Coach was fired earlier because of some concerns by the UIL. Mickey, currently at Arlington Grace Prep, has Tony Mitchell ability. I thought he was going to fly under the radar but he's being exposed. Anyway, Harris makes sense here as I don't think he is a national recruit but a very good Texas guard. Harris and Mickey would rival this years newcomers.

Well, not like you support one that is one of the best we've ever had. A coach who has by far the best win percentage in SBC tournament games the last six years. But I guess Coach Jones really is just a "paper tiger" who just "chokes when the chips are down" or something like that. Maybe he should be more of a hack and take up tennis.

I am the new user.Please talk with me.

Do you not know how to read. Some one on the board said so!!! Idiot!!! (please note this is sarcasm and I too would like to know)