Big E

And Wheeler's tackle on Matt Davis (SMU QB) while he was running downfield was a textbook tackle at the waist...not at the knee. That is why there were no issues or complaints after Davis went out...everyone knew it was a clean hit, but unfortunately, his knee was hurt. It's a tough reality, but knees get injured in football, at every level of football, every single day around the country. The nature of the sport puts knees, and other joints and bones, at risk. I have a couple of orthopedic surgeon friends and they get very busy this time of year! Wheeler came out of Tyler JC regarded as a sack specialist. He is going to get to the QB and hit him cleanly, but he will indeed hit him hard, like his nickname, "18-wheeler", suggests.

Watch the video frame by frame. The blocker's bottom of his right foot trips Wheeler's bottom of his left foot and he immediately moves from a running position to a diving position. The bottom of their cleats touched...cleat on cleat. You can clearly see Wheeler's left leg extend in a disrupted fashion after being tripped. Was the trip intentional by the blocker or incidental? I'm not sure on that. The blocker knows the answer to that question. The Florida fans, for some sensationalistic reason, may feel better trying to make this into something it's not, but the reality is our D played good, clean football and Wheeler gave tremendous effort, but the video clearly shows he was tripped and it altered his pass rush into a low dive. The reality is the officials could have called tripping on Florida and roughing the passer, as they did, on UNT. At the end of the day, football is a violent sport and accidents do happen. I'm convinced nobody wanted to see Del Rio hurt. He's a tough competitor, just like his dad. I grew up cheering for his dad when he was with the Dallas Cowboys. I pray that Luke has a swift recovery.

I watched the replay over and over on my DVR and it is clear to me that Wheeler got tripped up coming off of the tight end's block. The tight end was beat and the tight end's leg flared out and Wheeler clearly stumbles and falls forward while trying to make a sack. And Wheeler's head hits Del Rio's leg awkwardly and bends back, which makes sense, considering he was stumbling as he went in for the sack and lost some of his ability to make a form tackle.

The defense played with toughness and tenacity all game long. Great job of coaching by Ekeler and crew and a great effort from the players. I was impressed by the conditioning of the players as they were left on the field a lot and did not wear down like we've seen so often in years past. As far as special teams, they were pretty solid. The rugby punts were very effective. Now time to get the offense clicking now that we won't face another defense like Florida has.

I'm a 6' 5" 265 lb. man, but thanks for the encouragement! ☺️

"Mighty Fine"

Yep, McNulty came in at QB as a true freshman and scored the very first touchdown at Apogee vs. Houston in 2011.

Absolutely better than last year! This team never quit and kept fighting! They will get better throughout the year and the program will rise again! It was a very good crowd last night! Me, my wife, 3 kids, my brother and nephew did our part in cheering the Mean Green on and look forward to doing it again!

This is great news! I was so impressed by how professionally well-done this program was produced! It is truly world class! Great job! I'm looking forward to another great year of the show and anticipate we will see a much better year of football that you can cover!

I imagine there will be lots of walk-up ticket sales and the student section should be packed.

Thanks for passing that along. I knew he had one more year of eligibility remaining, but had forgotten he already received his undergrad degree. Well, I'm happy for him and the investment he will make in young people.

I was very sorry to hear of Kaydon's dad passing away this past year and completely understood his stepping away to be with his family. However, I really expected him to make a return to the team this fall. Especially with the need for experienced offensive lineman and the fact that he has pro potential (if he was interested in pursuing a pro career). And after having some time to spend with his family, it seemed to make sense, at least to me, that getting back on the field with his team could help him heal and honor his dad's legacy. I don't know Kaydon or his family, so there may be other factors in this situation, but I just thought for sure (and really hoped) he would decide to come back. Regardless, I pray he can find peace and comfort as he and his family move forward. Anyone have any additional insight about this?

I thought Eli Howard left to join Kevin Patrick at Texas Tech and be a preferred walk-on.

I appreciate you responding and filling in the gaps. I'm sorry to hear you felt disrespected. It sounds like you have positive feelings about Coach Littrell, so I'm assuming the feelings of disrespect were from someone else. Thank you for your contributions to the Mean Green family and welcome to the proud alumni family! I hope your time at USA is a great one and blessings to you as you pursue your graduate degree and future career pursuits! Go Mean Green!

If memory serves me correctly, we played at Missouri in 1995 and it was broadcast live on channel 27 in DFW, as a part of our local TV coverage package that year.

Alec was set to be a third string QB again and was open about his desire to compete for a starting job and do it closer to home. SCW was set to be a starter and news reports led us, as fans, to believe he had his degree and was moving on to career pursuits outside of football. I sure would like to hear his explanation. Perhaps he wasn't jiving with the new staff, players, other issues? Anyway, surprising move, but a good reminder we don't know what is going on behind the scenes.

Traveling last night on business and happened to be staying at the same hotel as the men's golf team...Hilton Garden Inn in Texarkana! Nice Mercedes van to travel in with a nice big eagle on it! Took a pic, but can't seem to be able to post it. Saw folks from UTSA and UTEP there also.

And other than Derek Thompson, our prototypical size QBs haven't worked out...at all. Looks like the kid can flat play and is smart and of good character. I'm willing to trust Coach Littrell on this one. And being from Oklahoma, it wouldn't surprise me if Coach has even greater knowledge of this kid and a number of "eyes" that have been watching him play the past few years.

Really disappointed...McNulty regressed right back where he started last year. Poor throw after poor throw. I really thought things would be better this year. And then the turnovers in the second half and giving up the big runs to Davis were killer. We better make the big first game to second game improvement or we may be in for another disappointing season. Such a shame in front of a big UNT road crowd.

I used to work with Blake's dad and he just told me last week that Canales spent a lot of time recruiting Blake, but eventually, they felt he concluded the lack of height was a concern and didn't offer. It is what it is. Canales could have had him, but decided otherwise. I hope Blake has a great career, of course, but just not at our expense. His dad wished Goree and Rutherford ended up at UTSA. He said that with Goree, especially, that Blake and Tee had an amazing chemistry when it came to connecting on passes. Blake could throw the ball to the perfect spot before Tee would turn his head to look and then the ball would be there just as Tee turned to catch it. He said they did that all the time. He said Tee runs like a gazelle and is a great player! I'm looking forward to seeing him be a playmaker for the Mean Green! I'm very optimistic that McNulty will have a great senior season and pick up where he left off in a very solid and mature performance against UTSA last year! Go Mean Green!

Lake Highlands: Merton Hanks - long-time SF 49er Matt Stover - long-time NFL kicker Phil Dawson (teammate of mine) - current NFL kicker Matt Dunigan - CFL Hall of Famer (played catch with him one time during the off-season) Frank Okam - NFL Andre Tillman - NFL (1970s) Marshall Newhouse - NFL John Walters (teammate of mine) - won National Title at Alabama while a freshman special teams player and back-up linebacker...went on to start in subsequent years) Detron Smith (teammate of mine) - multiple years in the NFL Marcus Coleman (teammate of mine) - multiple years in the NFL Rodderick Newhouse (teammate of mine) - son of Cowboy great, Robert, played at Rice. Multiple years in NFL front-offices. Brother, Reggie, played at Baylor and for the Arizona Cardinals. Pretty remarkable run of talent coming from the Wildcats!

There may be a few exceptions, but as a general rule, 6' 10" doesn't translate well to football. If this kid pans out, then more power to him and shame on us for losing him. Otherwise, I'll be more excited about a 6' 3" - 6' 5", 290 - 310 lb. offensive lineman.

There is a reason there aren't 6' 10" offensive lineman in the NFL and at the best college programs. They get blown off the line by the shorter d-lineman because no matter how hard they try they can never get low enough. If the recent high school coach Morris and his high school coach Mathis have a strategy of trying to focus on our recruits to bring to their winless program then that copycat mentality may actually benefit us. It feels like SMU has decided to take their own Dodge-like risk because Morris has had a few good years as an assistant in college. The reality is he has a very short track record at the college level and was substantially overpaid at Clemson and is now an unproven and overpaid head coach at SMU. I'm sure they think he is the next Art Briles. And if he is, he'll be gone in a few years and they'll be searching again. The fact they aren't showing any originality in recruiting says a lot about their collective inexperience at the college level. It also shows our coaches know what they are doing and actually have skins on the wall at the college level. SMU is trying to follow our lead. It's a compliment, but it also shows the SMU staff may be in over their heads. Dodge made a critical mistake hiring his high school coaching buddies. Morris is behaving similarly with the Mathis hire. They will get some good recruits because of their connections, but at the end of the day, our coaching staff is way more experienced. RV wouldn't have hired Morris because it would be like Dodge 2.0. If I'm wrong and he is great there, then he won't be there long anyway. I'm surprised they didn't try for a more proven college coach. But that's fine by me...just more uncertainty for the ponies.

This president may have just eliminated any chance of a bowl for UAB with the timing of this announcement. Does a bowl selection committee even look at a lame duck team? Probably not.

I've seen him in person around town in Longview. Big, tall, strong frame, but not overly muscular, yet still solid. Built kind of like a power forward in basketball. Get Coach Wintrich after him and he could be a specimen at TE or even DE. With that said, it's intriguing to consider the possibilities at QB.