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When North Texas hired Mike Canales to be its offensive coordinator, Canales stated his desire to find a quarterback who could be a threat both running and passing. Four years into Canales tenure, UNT has had better luck finding Nathan Tunes dog than finding a dual threat quarterback. The Derek Thompson era (otherwise known as the Stone-foot Age) will end at UNT after this season. Can Deer Parks Connor Means develop into the type of offensive threat Canales wants in a quarterback? If I had a stock broker, I imagine he would tell me that past performance does not guarantee future results. I may not have an eTrade account, but I do have a Rivals account. And after a disappointing senior season of high school, North Texas is hoping past performance does not indicate how Means college career will play out. Without being able to account for variables such as the quality of opponents/teammates/coaching, lets look at how Means, our only QB commitment, compared as a high school senior with the high school senior stats of his future teammates and the starting QBs of each of UNTs opponents. College Player Comp Passing YDS Pass TD INT UNT Connor Means 49% 1,323 yds 10 TD 9 INT UNT Dajon Williams 58% 1,618 yds 15 TD 3 INT UNT Andrew McNulty 55% 1,438 yds 12 TD 5 INT UNT Brock Berglund 61% 2,150 yds 23 TD 5 INT Idaho Chad Chalich 73% 3,641 yds 42 TD 2 INT Ohio Tyler Tettleton 57% 1,947 yds 21 TD 11 INT Ball State Keith Wenning, 69% 3,629 yds 40 TD 12 INT Georgia Aaron Murray 61% 2,285 yds 33 TD 5 INT Tulane Nick Montana 58% 2,636 yds 34 TD 10 INT MTSU Austin Grammer 74% 3,007 yds 30 TD 4 INT La Tech Ryan Higgins 60% 1,804 yds 11 TD 4 INT S Miss Nick Mullens 64% 3,649 yds 40 TD 7 INT Rice Taylor McHargue 47% 1,309 yds 13 TD 11 INT UTEP Mack Leftwich 66% 3,331 yds 45 TD 4 INT UTSA Eric Soza 55% 1,523 yds 15 TD 6 INT Tulsa Dane Evans 64% 3,265 yds 36 TD 13 INT Now before we go jumping headfirst off the top of the Apogee tail because Means ranks near the bottom in completion percentage and passing yards with the worst touchdown to interception ratio, lets consider that Means stats are not HORRIBLE. In fact, they are average. Means was an average high school quarterback. Hey, as a 2013 North Texas football fan, I am an expert at watching average quarterback play. Of the guys above, Means stats most closely resemble Rices Taylor McHargue and UTSAs Eric Soza. If Means could go on to have a college career like those two, I would be happier than Darrell Dickey at 3 a.m. on Bourbon Street. But McHargue and Soza derive most of their value from their legs (Curse your legs, Soza! Your beautiful, pocket-escaping, playmaking legs. Oh how we long for a UNT quarterback with legs. Not Joe Namath wearing pantyhose legs. But its 3rd and 7 and all the receivers are covered and you can scramble for a first down legs.) What kind of legs does Means have? His 40 time is listed on recruiting sites as 4.65. But high school 40 times are less reliable than a Ron Mendoza defensive game plan. As a runner, Means averaged six yards a carry and scored 10 touchdowns. That seemed kinda impressive until I noticed that Derek Thompson ran for 6.5 yards a carry and scored 13 rushing touchdowns in his final year of high school. I also heard that Means runs the 300 hurdles in track. (Hey, so did RG3!) But cant find any results that indicate how good he is at it. It has also been reported that Means is a basketball player (his dad is the varsity basketball coach). But as far as I can tell, Means averaged 2.7 points a game before permanently disappearing from the Deer Park basketball box scores halfway through his junior season. Means football highlight film shows a long run where he weaves his way through a defense to score a touchdown and has other runs where he demonstrates decent straight line speed. Means played Class 5A Texas football in a good district. Its not like the guys hes playing are a bunch of suburban Colorado hippies wearing hemp shoulder pads. But Means elusiveness will not remind anyone of Riley Dodge. He is not a future 1,000 yard rusher. So why would North Texas give a scholarship to a high school quarterback with average passing stats, a sub .500 record as a varsity starter (he did lead his JV team to a 10-0 record as a sophomore!) who does not possess elite running ability? Well, UNT wasnt the only school to offer Means a scholarship. Recruiting sites list other offers from Boise State, Texas State, La-Lafayette and La-Monroe. Going back to the mid-90s, I cant think of an incoming UNT freshman, who was recruited as a quarterback, with that many FBS offers. If Means cant play quarterback at the next level, UNT isnt the only program he fooled. While Means has yet to prove he is a college quarterback, his picture could certainly be used to catfish an unsuspecting Internet user to believe he was one. Means is a full 6-3 and 205 with the frame to get heavier. He looks comfortable in the pocket and can take a hit. While his arm is not anything to tweet about, it looks like he can make all the throws necessary to spread the field and keep a defense honest. So why wasnt he a better high school player? The scouting reports mention a small mechanical flaw in his delivery (his elbow is too low when he throws) which impacts his accuracy (thus the low completion percentage and high interceptions). This will be the key to Means success in Denton. Means attended the UNT satellite camp and has thrown in front of Canales and Dan McCarney a couple of times. They must think they can fix him! UNT is hoping that Means can be the new car you buy on deep discount because the dealer left it outside during a bad hail storm. Just give it a new paint job and a little body work and your friends will never know! The truth is, if Means already had a perfect delivery and impressive stats, hed probably be heading to the Big 12. For a FBS QB, Means moves well, possesses ideal size and has acceptable arm strength. Those are assets you cant coach. It is smart football to include a quarterback in every recruiting class and this is the time in the life cycle of the UNT football program to invest in one with raw upside. If Andrew McNulty, Brock Berglund and Dajon Williams are who we hope they are, then Means doesnt have to be anything more than a 4th string QB for at least two years. That gives Canales time in the laboratory to work through his flaws and improve his accuracy. If Canales can do that, Means past performance will have no bearing on his future results.

This is my formal request to have the Mean Green Basketball Forum pic here on GMG switched from a Tony Benford pic to a Tony Denton pic.

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You're all thinking too small. Who do we know at NASA? Let's get a laser and etch the SOW into the Moon.

With the way fouls are called now...I want to slash to the basket as much as possible this year.

If Mac is annoyed then he needs to GTFO.

If we do indeed end up in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, would it not be appropriate for Reunion Tower to have UNT in it's light show like it does for SMU? How great would that be??!!

68 catches, 1421 receiving yards, 16 receiving touchdowns. Edit: so in other words, we have the leading receiver in East Texas and the leading receiver in the DFW

I think harassing the players gets them fired up more than anything else. Yell and talk to the players if you must, but keep it in the realm of good sportsmanship.

Vegas is a cesspool of all that's wrong with America so I take the Denton slam with a grain of salt.

Word on the street is, the Bank of America Building will be lit green that night . . .

A few points here. 1. In my opinion, a highlight tape is no way to judge which player is better. 2. Yes, Texas HS football is better than Colorado. And yes, I agree, our state cultivates as many great players as any state if not more. 3. However, in addition to more quality players, is it also possible there are more TX QBs in college/NFL than CO because of the sheer number of kids playing football in TX compared to CO? % breakdown would be very telling. 4. I do respect the opinion of everyone on the board whether I disagree or not My overall point is I think it is a bit short-sighted to say that most all players tend to be better because they are from Texas as opposed to another state.

Great!!! now we just need Willy Ivery to round out the receiver class and we'll be sitting pretty!!!!

This is what the AD failed miserably to realize: What Benord did last year will cause many of us to stop attending and stop really caring about UNT basketball. If destroying the program is fine with the AD, why should we care? I don't think he is capable of recovering from last year. I simply don't think he has the coaching ability. But, even if he did, the capital he wasted with fans of this program last year could only be replaced by an NCAA birth THIS SEASON! We all know that just isn't feasable. For his good and the good of the program, he should have been dismissed after the terrible showing in Hot Springs, but he wasn't because we are too cheap to pay out a contract. So our basketball program lingers and suffers. Hopefully only to the end of the year.

So you are saying it is a school from the city of San Antonio that no one cares about, that is moving up to the top level of competition, where we have played for decades? I LOVE OUR CHANCES!

I feel compelled to offer an apology to the board and to the university for comments I made earlier this year. Back before the season started, I picked us to go 5-7, with 4-8 as a real possibility. I felt that DT was not the QB to lead us forward. ANd I felt like the UTSA matchup was a perfect game for fans to really gauge if we are moving in the right direction. I voiced the opinion that rarely do fans get an opportunity to see clearly if we are wasting our time with the program or if there is something really to build on. I figured that if we lost to UTSA, it would be calamitous, because it was one of 2 games I had down as sure wins, along with Idaho. Losing to a 3rd year program at home would be the end of the line for me. But I never foresaw us being 7-3 and then losing to them, which would also give them 6 wins on the year. I expected UTSA to go 0-12 this year, I really did. Losing to UTSA, to me, would have meant we were 1-11 or 2-10, at best. Obviously, that was all wrong. I feel kind of hypocritical for making those posts--the progress we have shown this year as a program is EXACTLY what I wanted to see. When McCarney originaly got hired, I believed that his third year would be the breakout year. But then when this year rolled around, I lost that confidence in the program being ready to move upward in his third year, thinking next year was his best chance to move us upward and get an extension. Now, I firmly believe Coach Mac deserves that extension, even if it just a year or two. In the end, losing to UTSA was understandable, while losing at Southern Miss would have been inexcusable--who saw that at the beginning of the year? I give major props to Larry Coker and the Roadrunners of UTSA. They are going to be a power in this conference--I truly believe this. I actually always have, just didn't think it would be that way until about 2015 or later. Now, I'm not sure they aren't going to be the favorite next year to win CUSA West, with Rice. That is incredible and it really does speak to UTSA's vision for creating a football program that would be ready to run immediately. From hiring an experienced AQ coach to start the program, to connecting with the civic leaders in San Antonio to build a huge amount of momentum around the team, and to the amazing promotions that have introduced UTSA Football to so many SA residents, they are going to reap what they have sowed for several years ahead. I am now firmly in the camp of them being the next South Florida--taking advantage of a huge market without a college team. I look forward to seeing us play them in the years to come, but I firmly expect them to be very tough to beat as the years move forward.

It's a bit slow between the sadness of losing to University of Phoenix and preparing to take on Tulsa, so let's talk recruiting. With Tee Goree and his Carthage compatriot on board who is left on your wish list? What player(s) would round out a class that makes you happy? For me it would be JT Williams the DT from Denton Ryan just because he's a Denton boy, Xavier Washington, DJ Williams from Lufkin, Caleb Chumley, and Payton Hendrix. If we could flip Nick Orr and bring back Desmond White on top of the above listed guys I'd be ready to give Mac a 10 year extension because he's the best recruiter I've seen.

I'm on the fence about one. While I do agree they would be good to benefit the health of our athletes and the band could use it, having our players acclimated to the heat no doubt helped us in the Ball State game. I personally loved to practice on a muddy field back in the days. If there is a storm, and/or ligthing, it would be great because they could still practice during the weather. But I think having the players acclimated to the heat is a MJAOR thing.

Wait, we're gonna backhandedly criticize Thompson's mobility as the stone-footed era then compare everyoe else's high school passing stats? Rick

UNTJim, As a Roadrunner, thanks for the props. I would just say that a lot of what's happened at UTSA rests on the AD, Lynn Hickey. This is pretty much her vision come to fruition. As for UNT, I see nothing but upward and onward as well. I think both McCarney and Coker have their teams moving in the right direction. Yeah, UTSA lead the entire way in this game, but UNT was charging in the end. Who knows, if they score at the end, a lot of the pain could be down in S.A. right now. But, I would love to see both of my schools' football programs grow together. And I would like to see this game be scheduled regulary late in November/Thanksgiving. You gotta love a late-season game with heavy post-season implications riding on it. Why not make it all about the birds on Thanksgiving: Turkeys, Eagles, and Roadrunners. LOL

I'll give you a shout when we get there. GO MEAN GREEN!!!

I hope everyone doesn't get caught up in your analysis work and miss this great line. Bravo.

Classic example of blocking dummies.

The other day, I had to walk around a pesky tornado to get to my mailbox. Tore up my yard pretty good, and all I got were bills.

What. They keep them on continuously, so that they don't have to bother turning them on during storms.

Actually last week was the "must win" game,and we lost. A win against Tulsa pads our record and might effect which bowl we go to, but basically we have nothing much to play for. No Division title, no CUSA Championship,and no Liberty Bowl.While I certainly hope we beat Tulsa for the 1st time since 1969,we need to play better with nothing on the line than we did last week with everything on the line. Hard to do.

I work in One Arts Plaza downtown. I know that green is one of the colors they can choose to light the big square. Maybe I could talk to the building people.

Why not get layups? Why not cause foul problems for the opposition?

If the heckling almost prompted an opposing player to start a fight, sounds like job well done.

Agreed, our students are an embarrassment IMO, especially after the last home game where one of them made a complete ass of themselves at the end of the game.

The bench is rattled. I thought 32 was going to start a fight with a student. The heckling is much to be desired. Pretty lame stuff IMO.

That guy needs to get his facts straight. We test our tornado sirens weekly.

Not spooning wth me, big boy. Check with Victor.

One thing I have noticed with DT is that he is a much better QB the more he throws. He needs to get into a rhthym. Can't just go out there and start nailing receivers from the 1st throw. His good games are where we have thrown the ball early and often. His bad games are where we pound our head against a 9 man front and only throw late. He wasn't successful against Ball St. early. It took some time to find that rhthym.

I'm sorry but if SMU's political connections can do what you are "maintaining", we might as well just quit playing football. If a school that has 36k students and over 200k alumni cannot overcome a non-AQ private school's influence within its own market, then we might as well just give up. SMU left the conference that has a tie-in to this bowl, which should be enough for the CUSA leadership to easily overcome with anyone on the HoD board that thinks Rice would be a more "appropriate" team to host. That would be complete 100% Bullshit if it worked out that way. I firmly believe ECU goes to the Liberty, Marshall goes to the Military, UNT goes to the HoD, Tulane goes to the NO Bowl, MUTS goes to the BBVA Compass Bowl, and Rice goes to the Hawaii Bowl. If the HoD bowl passes on us for their bowl game, that bowl will be passing up its easiest money that it could ever make. And if they did, RV and Lee Jackson should go off as much as possible in every media form on the HoD bowl and let them clearly know that we will never accept an invite to their bowl game in the future. If we cannot get any respect in this market with our best team in 10 years and one that is 45 minutes up the road with this big of a fanbase to appeal to, again, we might as well just accept that we will never get overthe hump in the college football world if our own market won't even give us a chance to play a 3rd tier bowl game in our backyard basically. Look, in the history of this bowl, Tech vs Northwestern brought about 25k, UH vs Penn State brough about 30k, and OSU vs Purdue probably brought about the same. If they can get UNT versus Iowa, they will get at least 40k. The only thing that kills us with potential HoD attendance is if they are forced to pick an at-large team from the MAC or the SBC, as in Buffalo or Texas State.

That's good to hear about Rutherford. And Goree committing really isn't that surprising. He named us our leader and said he'd commit today. Also, on his twitter page he often retweets UNT players. Not to mention the Colorado insider of 247 predicted he would commit to us, and Colorado was one of the schools going after him the hardest. I can't help but read your posts in a John goodman voice, haha

it is a must win. no one wants to practice for three weeks after losing to play into a bowl.

I think that with all the wrs signings, that McCarney is definitely going for a more pass friendly offense.

tall WRs nice get

Funny that he was in OKC at the same time we were. I think I had a beer with the dude.

What a great class of WRs! Welcome! Now let's go get some beef for the trenches!

I live in Austin and deal with condescending UT a-holes on a daily basis. I remember our game at Ford Stadium against SMU and what a bunch of d-bags they were (especially the talk on mylittleponyfans.com). I thought we were a fanbase that wished the other teams good luck and didn't belittle them or their university. I guess we can only be humble when we are getting are asses whipped year in and year out.

I was hoping our fanbase could be a little classier. I don't want us to be viewed as an SMU or UT type of fanbase.

It's almost as if the team looked at this game the same way as many in our fanbase did. I guess there is no such thing as a guaranteed victory (ask the Florida Gators). Hopefully the team and some of our more notorious s**t talkers learned a lesson that the games aren't played on paper.