gangrene

Hey Charlie, that comment about Vizza "throwing passes to a group of five or six receivers" was written by Brett Vito. His blog entry on that story was the subject of three separate threads here on GMG.

Can you please make the next 55 days go by faster???? I'm ready for some football....NOW!!! I'm more than a little sick of all the new stadium talk, how we can create traditions and how we can get the drunkards into the stadium posts. I want to get back to some real football talk and analyses. I'm very anxious to see our new offense and I expect to see early contributions from about 5 true freshmen. I want to whoop some SMU ass, I want to drive up to Hawg country and I want to spend a chilly November morning tailgating before watching us defeat Navy. I don't want to see any more 3rd down and 30 draws and I don't want to see an offense that averages 11.3 points a game and has to go 7 OTs to score 25 points and beat a winless program.

My most trusted and favorite college football preview magazine is published by The Sporting News. If I want to read coverage limited to the geographical confinements of Texas, I'll pick up DCTF (which I also like). However, if I want national coverage and previews, I turn to The Sporting News College Football annual. It has very little coverage of the Sunbelt but, back in our 4-peat SBC championship days, we got pretty favorable coverage by TSN. Those days are long gone. It's no big surprise that Troy is picked to repeat. What's disappointing is that UNT is picked to finish 7th, just ahead of FIU, which is projected to repeat another winless season. TSN has UNT ranked 113 out 119 teams and projects us to go 3-9 this year (they do not predict game-by-game wins/losses). I'll spare everyone wanting only the UNT coverage from shelling out the $7 by recapping everything that was published here: From TSN College Football 2007: Projected SBC finish: 7. North Texas SN projection: 3-9 National rank: 113 Strengths: All but one starter returns to a defense that will have to adjust from last year's 3-4 to new coordinator Ron Mendoza's 4-3 scheme. Experience should ease that transition, especially with playmakers at every position. Weaknesses: The Mean Green will switch to a spread offense, but there probably aren't enough pieces to pull it off. Only three receivers in spring drills were on scholarship, and quarterbacks who guided the league's worst pass offense are being asked to throw, throw, throw. Bottom line: The defense will have to stiffen while a run-first, play-action offense transitions into a passing attack. The scheme worked for new coach Todd Dodge in the Texas high school ranks, but North Texas will need more time. Starters back: Offense 5, Defense 10 Best players: DE Jeremiah Chapman, LB Maurice Holman, WR Brandon Jackson, P Truman Spencer, S Aaron Weathers Impact newcomers: QB Giovanni Vizza, WR Breece Johnson According to TSN, our toughest game is against OU, our must-win game is against FAU and our best chance to pull an upset is against La-Monroe. Other tidbits - SBC pre-season all-conference teams: UNT has zero players on offense, Maurice Holman is the only UNT player on defense and Truman Spencer made all-conference for punter. SBC's 'On the Hot Seat': Todd Dodge, North Texas. Job security is not an issue, but skeptics will be watching to see if the Texas high school coaching legend can restore the magic that recently eluded his predecessor, Darrell Dickey. Dodge, a former North Texas assistant, will use a spread offense that helped him post a 79-1 record in a five-season stretch at Southlake Carroll High. There will be a learning curve--for both him and the players. TSN ranks UNT's 2007 recruiting class as 6th best in the SBC with our "biggest prize" being Marquese Davis and our "instant impact" being Cam Montgomery. North Texas unit rankings within the SBC: Offense Backfield: 6 Receivers: 8 O-line: 3 Overall: 7 Defense D-line: 7 LBs: 4 DBs: 4 Overall: 5 Special teams: 4 Coaching: 8 And, last but not least, in the 'Scouting the Nation' section, they grade all of the D-1A coaching changes: The hiring of Todd Dodge gets a C-. Here's what they have to say, "Todd Dodge, North Texas. A highly successful Texas prep coach at powerhouse Carroll High, Dodge will connect with recruits as he implements a pass-heavy attack." It's interesting to note that Stanford received a D+ for hiring Jim Harbaugh and Tulane got an F for hiring Bob Toledo. The top 5 coordinator hires were: 1. Jimbo Fisher FSU, 2. Jay Norvell UCLA, 3. Sonny Dykes Arizona, 4. Gary Crowton LSU, 5. Larry Mac Texas. I'm just a little bummed because, deep down, I think this analysis of UNT could be pretty accurate. While DCTF's prediction of a 7-5 season is nice to think about, I think we may be in store for a much rougher ride this year. I certainly hope I'm wrong.

Thanks Old Timer, MG61 and Vito. Who's Joe Hubbard? I asked the question earlier and got somewhat of a reply...it certainly doesn't seem like these "voluntary" workouts have the same structure and organization as UTs, but I guess it is encouraging nonetheless to know that the team isn't sitting around eating donuts and watching TV. I'm very glad to hear that Vizza is already on campus and getting formally acquainted with the receivers. The timing between a QB and WR is very crucial to the success of the passing game.

That's my hope, but I haven't seen anything posted on GMG or Vito's blog. The U of Texas certainly isn't trying to hide the fact that they held their voluntary workouts and I doubt that TD would want to keep that information secret from UNT fans either. I'm just hoping we didn't drop the ball on the "voluntary" workouts because this team will need every last second to learn the schemes and timing of the offense. We won't have a lot of time to get back into "football shape" this fall. Speaking of learning the offense...the fact that SLC has been executing the same offense from grade school to high school means that they should (and do) know how to execute the offense flawlessly by the time they are varsity starters. I have to admit, that does have me a little worried. How long do you think it will take the Mean Green to get comfortable with the new offense and learn to execute it the way SLC does?? I read somewhere that the team had 15 total spring practices prior to the Green/White game. If we start fall practice on August 2, that will give us exactly 30 days before we take the field against OU in Norman. Maybe someone that has the ability to create a poll can start a new thread about this...I'd love to put my fears at ease by hearing reassurances from my Mean Green brethren that our offense will be well-oiled and running on all cylinders by September 1, 2007.

I know it's an error, but Max Emfinger National Top 250 shows Blake Cantu as the 18th best WR in the nation and shows that he committed to UNT. Tre' Newton is ranked as the 8th best tailback in the nation and I couldn't find Riley anywhere on the list.

I know UT held "voluntary" summer practices in mid-June on the roof of Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Complex. At the very minimum, strength and conditioning coach, Jeff "Mad Dog" Madden was coaching. I'll post the entire article from the Austin American-Statesman because they require readers to sign up Hazy days of summer don't make for lazy Longhorns: LONGHORNS FOOTBALL Hazy days of summer don't make for lazy Longhorns Football team is in high preparation for this fall, although it's all unsupervised. By Suzanne Halliburton AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, June 21, 2007 Summer's hot and hazy days are dead time for the Longhorns football team — technically. Coaches can't coach or force a player to practice or work in the weight room. But the days between now and the start of fall camp Aug. 5 are anything but inactive. Many Longhorns are putting in almost as much time now as they will in fall drills. Quarterback Colt McCoy, right, and other members of the Texas football team do resistance training on the roof of Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Complex at Royal-Memorial Stadium. McCoy says he is up to 210 pounds and expects to be more durable this season. Texas football players improve their conditioning during a workout on campus. Coaches have limited contact with players, who have reported more participation in the voluntary practices than ever. Take Nate Jones' schedule. The senior receiver is enrolled in 15 hours of summer school, which sets him up to graduate in December. He needs to be in Round Rock every morning by 8:30 for an internship at a middle school. He rushes back to campus by 11:30 a.m. to run with his teammates. He grabs a quick lunch, then it's off to 90 minutes of class and 90 minutes of weight lifting. It's much the same for defensive end Brian Orakpo. He arrives at campus by 6:45 a.m. His day of classes, running and workouts ends at 2:30 p.m. There isn't one game this fall that's driving the players this summer. Rather, it's the collective distaste of what happened in 2006 — a 10-3 season that ended with a victorious trip to the Alamo Bowl — that allows for a sunrise wake-up call. "You've got to move on ... but those three losses were big losses," Jones said. "We never want that to happen again. We're moving on, but we just can't wait to play the teams we lost to. We're really looking forward to those games." Like they started doing in the summer of 2005, the Longhorns are conducting twice-a-week scrimmages, although no tackling is allowed. Quarterback Vince Young organized the 11-on-11 scrimmages in 2005. His successor, sophomore Colt McCoy, is now in charge. Texas quarterbacks always have used summer to bond with their receivers. Back in 2002, Chris Simms took his guys home with him to New Jersey. Young paid special attention to his receivers in 2005, knowing that the season before, the passing game hadn't been an offensive strength. But he also changed the format, inviting the linemen to join and beef up the 7-on-7 drills. In past years, the big guys had stayed inside the weight room, McCoy looked like everyone's kid brother a year ago as he tried to take Young's lead. After McCoy's 29 touchdown passes last fall earned him national freshman of the year honors, his teammates are paying attention this summer when he text messages them or scrawls notes on the bulletin board. "It was hard last (summer) to earn respect, because you had to do it on the field," McCoy said. "We've made lots of progress this year." The greatest change for McCoy this summer is his diet. He's added 15 pounds by eating six mini-meals a day while dropping sweets and fried foods. McCoy concedes that he misses his usual snacks of milk and Oreos but knows that he's more durable at 210 pounds. Players report more participation in summer drills than ever. For the first time in Mack Brown's decade at Texas, all players, including the incoming freshmen, are enrolled in at least one session of summer school at UT. So there is much activity around the football offices, even though NCAA rules mandate that coaches have little contact with players in the summer. Coaches can make small talk but can say nothing about a zone read or blitz. There also can be no organized, X-and-O-type meetings. No coach can watch the 90-minute scrimmages. Nor can they keep track of who is attending the voluntary workouts. Members of the Longhorns strength and conditioning staff and the team trainers can be on hand, though, to make sure no one gets hurt. Players can talk to their academic advisers. And Cleve Bryant and George Wynn, who are in charge of football operations, can meet with players on procedural issues. Coaches also are limited in recruiting. They can write, e-mail and text message recruits, but there is no off-campus visiting. They can initiate recruiting calls with high school seniors starting Sept. 1. Brown will take off most of July on vacation, heading to the North Carolina mountains. There's a skeleton crew working in the coaching offices, with one coordinator and one assistant assigned to be on campus each week. The players, meanwhile, are enjoying whatever down time they can find — such as the weekends, when the workouts and classes cease. "I can just kick up my feet," Jones said, "and sit on the sofa." More on this story - photo slide shalliburton@statesman.com; 445-3954 Click on the photo slide link. If you are able to view the photos, you'll notice Coach Mad Dog in several photos...does that look like supervision to you??? Coach Urban Meyer did the same thing at the University of Utah: Meyer: voluntary workouts I pulled a few highlights from the article. He expects 100 percent participation by his players in the voluntary summer workout program that he says is the key to whether Utah starts his coaching tenure with the kind of bang he produced in his two years at Bowling Green, where he took over a 2-9 program with six straight losing seasons and went 17-6 with a No. 20 national ranking in two seasons. Through his years as an assistant at places like Ohio State, Notre Dame and Colorado State, Meyer, 38, observed the things that made those teams respected winners, and he fully expects Utah to reach that class. "What's the difference between Arizona State, Texas, Notre Dame, USC, Washington, Ohio State and Utah?" Meyer asks. "In my mind, nothing. "That's the mentality that we've got to have. We're going to train the same way they are. We're going to work the same way they are because that's our goal, to reach the upper echelon of college football." That's the attitude and mentality we have to have as well.

I'd like to nominate a new tradition. Why don't we have a streaker, preferably a 21 Y/O female co-ed, run across the field when the opposing team's band is performing??? Or maybe she should streak before the opening kick-off....that'd be sure-fire way to get the parking lot drinkers in the stadium on time.

ESPN: Circle these intriguing games on the calendar North Texas at Oklahoma, Sept. 1 Sooners fans probably haven't forgotten the interception new Mean Green coach Todd Dodge threw against Oklahoma as Texas' quarterback in 1984. With time winding down in the Red River Shootout, Oklahoma's Keith Stanberry appeared to intercept Dodge's pass in the end zone with five seconds to play. But Southwest Conference officials ruled Stanberry was out of bounds, and then Texas' Jeff Ward kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired for a 15-15 tie. Dodge probably won't forget his first trip to Norman, Okla., as a college coach, either.

Also, here's a list of our current Mean Green traditions. And, while I'm thinking about it...does anyone else have a problem with our Fight Song lyrics appearing on our souvenir cups?? It seems a bit high schoolish to me.

I've been to many, many different college venues to watch football games and I'd say most P/A announcers implement some sort of a catch phrase for 1st downs. I know A & M's ("And that's good for another Fightin' Aggie Fiiiiirrrrst Doooowwwwnn") is almost identical to ours. I really don't have a problem with it, regardless of how many times it occurs in a single game. To me, the more annoying thing is the eagle caw but I'm not going to criticize that or anything else the P/A announcer does to try to get the crowd more involved. Penn State has a lion roar that sounds pretty bad too. Our Noooorrrrrth....Teeeeexxas chant is also identical to UT's Teeeexxxxas.....Fiiiiggght. There's nothing wrong with that either. While UT also utilizes a canon, our canon is a little more unique in that it seems so much louder than others. Maybe it's because we have a louder canon or maybe the smaller crowds don't drown the sound out as well. At any rate, those that I have taken to UNT games always jump out of their shoes when our canon is fired. I hope that the canon team can get better by the time the season starts because that was a piss-poor performance they had at the spring game. I do think the band could be a little more vocal and play more frequently. Also, I'd like to incorporate some other things into the games that are specific to Dodge and our new offense. An air raid siren might be an option for every passing touchdown we score. Now that the bald eagle is no longer on the endangered species list, would it be possible to get an eagle as a live mascot?? I think it would be cool if the eagle could be trained to fly down from the press box prior to the opening coin toss. Auburn has an eagle mascot that does a similar stunt. I really think that an exciting, high-scoring offense will be all that's needed to get fans excited and into the games. That grind-it-out, run, run, run offense we've endured could even bore the (Oakland) Raider Nation to tears.

I've checked several bookstores and grocery stores (including Target and Walmart) and I can't find this publication on the shelves anywhere. Has anyone seen this year's college preview magazine from The Sporting News?? This is my favorite college football preview publication. I know it's available online from TSN but I was wanting it today and I'd really rather not pay the $14 next day shipping fee for a $7 magazine.

Those were my exact thoughts. However, I went to the source which is "The Official Site of Wildcat Athletics" and, lo and behold, there it is on the Future Schedule for 2010: Sat, Sep 25 K-State vs. North Texas at Denton, Texas Time TBA

Rivals doesn't show that these 3-star guys signed with anyone (of course the Rivals info may have never been updated): Jake Johnson Offensive tackle Brenham (TX) Blinn C.C. Ht: 6-foot-7 Wt: 370 lbs Forty: 5.3 secs Class: 2007 (Junior College) Courtney Abbott Offensive tackle Mayhew (MS) East Mississippi CC Ht: 6-foot-9 Wt: 335 lbs Forty: 5.15 secs Bench max: 400 pounds Squat max: 600 pounds Class: 2007 (Junior College)

I'd love to schedule a home and home with Houston too. Perhaps they could replace SMU since they'll be afraid to reschedule us after we beat them two years in a row. Based on the coogfans.com thread about our stadium plans, their fans seem to be much more realistic, humble and respectful than those brats over at SMU, who insist on living in the past. Aside from that, Houston is a better team than SMU and it would be good for UNT recruiting in the Houston area.

Well, sir, if you didn't expect Riley would follow his dad to UNT then I'd say you were definitely in the minority. Riley always had UNT in his list of consideration and I think it would be an insult to Vizza's intellegence to state that he was totally oblivious to the idea that Riley would go to UNT.

I agree that we are very fortunate to get Riley and, if he develops as Colt McCoy has, then we could have the best class of '07 QB in the state of Texas coming to UNT. However, I still don't think he would have been given a legitimate to play QB at Texas. I don't think the coaching staff would have told him he'd have to switch positions if there was even the slightest possibility in their minds that he'd be able to play QB at UT. Fortunately for us, all we can do is speculate about that possibility now because he'll be wearing green instead of burnt orange!

Sorry, but what are we supposed to be comparing?? Given his stature, Riley wasn't going to be given a shot at playing QB at Texas and the coaching staff told him that before he committed. With that in mind, the most significant information I found from your links was the measurement listed for Colt McCoy. In 2005, Colt was listed at 6'1", 180 lbs and now he's 6'3", 205. Wow!! If only Riley can grow that much in the next year or two...imagine the potential.

I trust Dodge's judgement of talent, but does it not worry some of you that this kid, as big as he is, hasn't received an offer until now?? I can't find any video of him but I do see that his 40 time is 5.78. That's pretty slow, even for an offensive lineman. Let's hope he has quick feet and can pass block really well, because I don't see him executing a lot of pull blocks. Nevertheless, he is BIG and that's exactly what a lot of us have been clamoring for (myself included). I just hope he doesn't turn out to be that big guy standing on the sidelines that makes you look up size in the program and wonder why in the hell he's not playing.

Let's not forget that Vizza signed his LOI to attend UNT on February 7, 2007. At that time, just about EVERYONE expected Riley to follow his dad to North Texas. It wasn't until later that month (February 27, I think) that Riley committed to UT. So, Vizza very likely committed to North Texas with the expectation Riley would follow his dad the next year.

I just love how everyone thought that we were stupid to hire a HS coach but yet he hasn't even coached one down as a D-1A HC and everyone is hoping he'll be their next coach. I've seen similar comments on the TCU, TTech and UT boards.

I keep seeing nine as the number of early commitments we have for next year, but I only count eight. Who is this ninth person?? Are they counting Evan Roman?? If so, he's not an "early commitment". He's already signed an LOI and will be on the field this football season.

I would think TXDOT would be required to compensate any and every one for any land it acquires by eminent domain. Thanks to Jerry Jones, there are a lot of attorneys in the area with vast expertise in the field of eminent domain. Perhaps we should hire them (pro bono of course) to negotiate the price with TXDOT? The only x-factor is that both TXDOT and UNT are government-funded entities so I don't how that affects the compensation negotiation.

No, in fact, most UT fans had only positive things to say about both Riley and Todd because Todd is one of them. Most wished Riley their best wishes and some were even sad to see him go. But a few bozos not only trashed Riley but they trashed a current commit in Tre' Newton as well. Personally, I feel that Tre' has/had a better shot at seeing the football field than Riley, but the competition at RB will be just as fierce as any other position at UT. On the other hand, Tre' could come to North Texas and figure into the mix pretty quickly. I am honestly shocked that you would say that. Tre' Newton is ranked #37 in the state and we are not in the position to turn down any state top 100 player at any position. I agree that we need some top-rated OL but that's the hardest position to recruit IMO. " Some guys on defense"??? It sounds like you're preparing for a pick-up game.

I've found threads of the artist's rendition (3D animation from creative animation) of our "new stadium" floating around on two different forums. There's a thread on Houston's coogfans.com and another one on baylorfans.com. There's going to be a LOT of envy going around the state of Texas if we can ever get this stadium built.