LongJim

That is pretty awesome. Congrats!!

Yeah, but what does HE know?

Yeah. That's pretty much what I thought you'd say. Enjoy your sackcloth and ashes.

So was mine. In the 70's though. And sometimes we'd eat at the McDonald's across from "Gibson's", and near "Buddies". When it had the "flying worm" helmet light fixtures. I always wondered what it would be like to play football there. He won 3 NC's in an 8 year span. He introduced the Wishbone. He never had a losing season in 20 years. He was not a "pretty average" coach by anyone's standards--even Texas' I find that comment ridiculous, but to each his own. Again: If UNT and donors spend the money for upgraded facilities, coaches salaries, etc., and begin to win and be competitive at a BCS level--will you still support them, or will they no longer be competing for the "love of the game", in your opinion? All teams have their share of nutjobs, but go ahead and insult Texas again. Yes. I'm sure ALL UNT fans are REAL FANS. I grew up in Denton County, and spent most of my high school hangout days in Denton. And lived there. And was born at Flow back when it was a hospital. But I am an alum of Texas. Am I a REAL Texas fan? Can I be a UNT fan too? A REAL one?? Anyway, my apologies for taking this thread OT.

Keep an eye on this guy, too...(dated 7/05) ***************************************** Matt Stepp TexasPrepXtra.com Jerry Hughes the RB/DE from Austin High in Sugar Land is getting closer to making a decision on where he will land. "I attended the mini-camp at the University of North Texas this past weekend, and I was really impressed with the campus and the program. They are an up and coming program and their facilities impressed me," said Hughes. Could Coach Darrell Dickey's Mean Green be moving into the picture? On Sunday Hughes impressed scouts at the mini-camp at Texas A&M. The last week of June Jerry was also making waves at the mini-camp at Baylor University in Waco. The 6'2 215 pound senior to be says this weekend he plans on attending mini-camps at TCU, which still appears to be the favorite in the Hughes sweepstakes. "Besides TCU on Friday I will go up to Tulsa and attend their camp Saturday," says the Bulldogs star player. Missouri, Arkansas, Northwestern and Wisconsin and Texas Tech are also in the mix to land Hughes.

I guess you don't watch much D-1 football, then. Nothing wrong w/cheering for the underdog. I'm sure you're using UT as a representative of all big-school, big-donor, big-time athletics, right? Hopefully, when UNT gets to that level of success--and it will take big-donor, big-time support, with big money--you will still feel the same way.

Pyle Field? As in Gomer?

You could have said: "I'm not sure. I'll ask your mom tonight, though."

Sorry for the confusion: Rivals has him at 4.88 from the Manhattan KS combine 5/05. Down from 5.09 run at Iowa City 5/04. He's also bulked up from the 171 during his jr. year.

Another point of interest: the positions being recruited that have highest rated (by Rivals) athletes are QB and WR.

I think they probably start looking closely during the junior year. Rivals has 33 athletes on their board for UNT as of right now. Six have verbally committed to other schools. Some of the schools? Tulsa, Kansas St., TCU, NC, aTm, and Prairie View. 13 are considered 2-star recruits by Rivals. 2 are considered 3-star, one of whom has verbally committed to TCU. As an aside, one recruit is playing at Northwest, and another at St. Jo.

That last info was from May of this year. Below is an article from 9/15/05. The kid has added 10 lbs. of muscle, and shaved almost .2 off his 40 time. From his film, he appears to have nice touch on the long ball, and good arm strength. ***************************************************** More from www.rivals.com With his older brother, Chase, already making an impact for the Missouri Tigers, Peculiar (Mo.) Ray-Pec two-star quarterback Carson Coffman hopes to do the same thing when he makes it to the next level. So far the results of his senior season seem to indicate that he's a got a shot at that happening. "We're 2-0," Coffman, who is 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds, said. "We've beaten Kearney and Raytown. My first game I was 6 for 11 for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Then last week I was 8 for 8 with around 100 yards." It definitely seems like Coffman is much improved over his junior season. "I'm more confident and better at reading coverages," he said. "Last year it just all seemed a lot faster, but this year, I'm more settled and things come more naturally to me." Coffman still has a lone scholarship offer from North Texas. He said he is still being personally recruited by North Texas head coach Darrell Dickey. "I like them," he said. "They've been on me for quite some time and they say I'm important to them." Coffman said he also received a call from Utah State earlier this week. "I don't know much about them," he said. "But I'll have to see what they have to offer now that they're calling me."

Info from Brian Gates at www.rivals.com: Peculiar (Mo.) Raymore-Peculiar quarterback Carson Coffman picked up his first scholarship offer earlier this spring. Now, the son of former NFL tight end Paul Coffman is preparing for a series of summer camps. "I am getting regular letters from some of the Big 12 schools and Iowa and Colorado State," the 6-foot-2, 171-pound Coffman said. "I got my offer from North Texas when I was down there for the Elite 11 camp at TCU. "We stopped by the North Texas campus while we were there. We talked to Coach (Darrell) Dickey and watched my film with him. He was really impressed. He said I would probably get some offers from bigger schools but if I wanted to come there he had a spot for me and offered me when we were there." While several schools are talking to Coffman, nobody has emerged as the favorite at this point. "I'm just watching these schools," he said. "I'm trying to take in all of them and learn about them. I don't have a favorite at this point. I'm going to go to the several camps this summer. I'm planning on going to Missouri, K-State and Kansas one-day camps in Kansas City. Then I might go to the Kansas and Iowa camps at the schools." A workout program is keeping Coffman busy this spring. "I'm lifting after school. Then, my dad, brother and I with some friends do some speed training on Tuesday and Thursdays. All of that will help me."

Hammer. Nail. Etc.

Good point. Kind of easy to overlook amid the severed limbs and general bloodletting out there...

To me, it doesn't make sense to basically hand the game over to a Frosh QB with 3 games of experience against a pretty good Big 12 team and tell him to go wing it, either--particularly when your O-Line looks like a chicken-wire fence...

Boy, I don't disagree. It's frustrating. I'm just not sure if that kind of gametime adjustment would do anything but make it worse at this point.

"Your bread and butter" plays to your offensive strengths--which is the running game. You DO NOT ask your freshman quarterback to throw on every down, since your young, misfiring offensive line is a sieve in both run and pass blocking, and you run the very real risk of having passes picked and taken to the house, or getting your freshman quarterback killed, or his probably already fragile psyche demolished. Why would you do this against a BCS team without playing a game in your own conference--which you have a very real chance of winning? By "outgunned", you're really saying that your athletes are not quite the caliber of the "pretty good BCS team". Another reason that you do not ask your freshman QB to try to throw to "outgunned" wide receivers, or stand in the pocket behind outgunned linemen. Hypothetically they've done this by stacking the box and daring the quarterback to beat them with the pass, probably. What I would do is continue with the running game, while drilling my linemen during the week on their assignments, and possibly using more trap-type plays with my offense. I would also use play-action and rollout the QB more on passes, to help the offensive line, possibly even letting him keep on some occasions if he made that judgement. Hit the slant on a hot read. Might even try the middle or rolling screen pass a few times. Being outgunned means that the offense does not have the speed to run outside effectively--they will be caught and dropped for no gain out there. The lineman are not quite fast enough to pull and block effectively against a defense of this caliber, so they will have to rely more on leverage and technique rather than strength at the point of attack. This plays right into the defense's hands because these linemen have not played together much, and most are the equivalent of sophomores as far as playing time. At some point, though, the offensive and defensive lines will have to jell and show up--or neither the run OR pass is going to work. Currently, this hypothetical team doesn't have the personnel or experience to throw on every down.

No.

No doubt about it. I didn't either, but it may be obvious when the season ends. They're going to win some games this year.

That's a good question. I think that winning increases the quality of the recruits from year to year, but it is a gradual thing, especially for a mid-major. According to Rivals: Boise State's ranking within their conference was: 2004--#1, with 1 4-star and five 3-star commits. 2003--#3, (behind Tulsa and SMU) Two 3-star commits. 2002--#6, (behind Tulsa @ #5, who had five 3-star commits) Total commits: 72 Compared to UNT's ranking within the Sun Belt: 2004:--#2, (behind Utah State) Two 3-star commits. 2003:--#4, (behind ULALA, MUTS, Ark St.) Two 3-star commits. 2002:--#7, Tied with NM State. One 3-star commit. Total commits: 45 Something to keep in mind: the total commits represent athletes who are ranked nationally by Rivals, so they don't include a lot of the JUCO players that DD has brought to UNT. Even so, it's easy to see that Boise has had over 1.5 times more nationally-ranked athletes sign with their program--although UNT is improving every year. They are (right now) recruiting better athletes--and more of them. As is Tulsa. According to Rivals. I agree. But the same applies for the passing game. If the quarterback and receivers aren't as talented or experienced as the secondary and DL they face, they're going to get creamed too. If a team has been able to recruit well at the RB position, relative to the other athletes they have, doesn't it make sense to have a run-oriented attack? Conversely, if you're recruiting has been great at QB and WR for the last couple of years, you'd be passing a lot more. I think UNT's backs are BCS level backs. It remains to be seen if the QB and WR positions will be/are. I personally believe that if UNT keeps winning, their recruiting will continue to improve--no matter what style of offense they run.

You're welcome. A pretty limited list, and with only one year, but it gives a very small indication of where UNT's at vs. other schools that we're playing, and the talent level of the players facing each other. Maybe also helps w/expectations regarding how we should compete in a game against those teams--especially when 2-3 years are factored in.

Just as food for thought...An idea of where UNT fell in recruiting for the year 2004, according to Rivals.com. I took some teams at random, based on teams UNT has played recently, or will play. (Jamario's class, btw.) ***************************************** Unless noted, all other recruits in totals are 2-star athletes, according to Rivals. Texas--#10 Nationally 20 commits. One 5-star recruit. Nine 4-star. Eight 3-star. Average of 3.5. Kansas State--#18 26 commits. Five 4-star recruits. 11 3-star recruits. Average of 2.81. Tulsa--#67 26 commits. Five 3-star recruits. Average of 2.19. UNT--#72 18 commits. Two 3-star recruits. Average of 2.11. MUTS--#82 30 commits. 1 4-star, three 3-stars. Average of 2.17. Baylor--#87 20 commits. 1 3-star. Average of 2.05.

Speaking as somone looking in over here from time to time, I agree. QB development can't be rushed. Period. It's the most important position on the field, and it's most apparent when someone inexperienced is back there. Heck, look at Vince Young from his So. year to now. Big improvement...I think that position is going to get better as the year goes on. Frankly, I'm not real surprised. Offensive line is a position that demands not only physical ability and preparation, but attitude. They have to have an attitude of "you WILL NOT beat me, or touch my quarterback. I WILL put you either on your back, or out of my RB's path" We'll see more downfield and (successful) play action passing when the O line gets this attitude and starts making things happen in the running game, and they learn to pick up the blitz and hit the hot routes. That's just the way it works. Tulsa sort of knew the level they needed to play at based on their game at OU. UNT as a whole, didn't, IMO. Once they got down, things snowballed, and then you have 54-2. That's just my take. I think UNT will play much better this weekend--although the scoreboard may not show it. Regarding Dickey: He is a winner. He is trying to build a power-running team that can throw to keep the D honest--which is IMO a very sound approach, considering the skill level of the athletes he is recruiting. He's a good coach. Also, a poster mentioned that the level of OOC competition hasn't changed. That's right, and the talent level of their recruits hasn't either. The talent level of UNT's recruits has risen, and that's the reason they're winning the SBC right now. Having said that, they are still not recruiting athletes anywhere near as good as their OOC opponents--and I'll include Tulsa in there as well. At any rate, Go MG--my home county team!

Good luck to the Mean Green tomorrow! Destroy Tulsa!! NT-23 TU-20