UNT Mean Green

Well put @BillySee58. Would you suspect that the high majority of 5-6% referenced are the "once in a lifetime or can't miss" talents coming out of high school?

Thoroughly agree with this principle. Would keeping McCarney versus firing McCarney until November 30 have changed the value of the Littrell hire and the 2016 season? Aren't those folks (and thank goodness that we do have them) going to attend no matter what?

So your simple answer is in order to pacify fans like you who don't attend games anyway, and if Benford is not fired before the end of the year, you claim the new athletic director will never make winning in basketball a priority?

Football visits here do not currently involve attending basketball games likely by design (remember Littrell has coached at Arizona, Indiana, UNC which I imagine include hoops in the visitor itinerary).

True, he had no choice. As far as the timing of a firing, in the end, what tangible difference was there in firing McCarney in October versus the end of the year? Littrell was still named head coach after the season and did not fully assemble a staff until January. What is there to gain by firing Benford at this point? Are coaches who are currently in their conference runs going to speak with Wren Baker about the job? In all likelihood, probably not. If it's merely to pacify the fans, that's pretty awful reasoning at this point. The new coach is going to have to earn the confidence of those fans by winning regardless.

Agreed that closing with McNeal, Jackson, and McDonald would be extremely strong. @BillySee58 nice overview! Where would signing the 3 listed above (plus two of Terrell Cooper, Trey Siggers, Tavares Thomas, Kyre Richardson, Deion Novil) put us?

Interesting. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/hssports/2014/05/almost-half-of-top-50-nfl-draft-prospects-were-3-star-high-school-recruits-or-worse.html

Good post. This is a nice pickup for certain. Good athlete who can be developed into a productive player here.

Yeah that would sure be nice, unfortunately we don't have the coaching pool budget of Baylor or TCU when those schools are getting $20+ million in TV revenue.

Nice pickup. Another Blueshirt? Replacement for Lutz?

This has PWO or Blueshirt written all over it.

Does it seem like we are battling UH and Tulsa for more recruits this year?

Every college coach who recruits works hard, that's not exclusive to UTSA or anyone else. Honestly, who cares about how Frank Wilson reportedly eats during recruiting trips?

Good post FFR. Hopefully a lot of people can see this and it provides a sense of optimism heading into 2017 spring ball and the season. The future is definitely bright, and regardless of how people want to harp on recruiting rankings, the fact is that 13 signees from last year's class made substantial positive contributions and 11 of those return. Couple that with a year of experience in the system, understanding expectations, how to practice, etc. Add in another crop of recruits and the kids who redshirted last year, and it should only improve. The key to the future for me is going to be the ability to improve up front offensively. Things were so bad up front this year on offense (I'm not certain if people truly recognize how poor that situation was) it was a massive hindrance on that side. It should be much improved in 2017. We also must improve overall team speed, particularly on defense.

Good gosh yes.

Love this tape. Hope we get him over Middle Tennessee.

Great pickup!

You still haven't given any basis for your accusation. What is your definition of getting "killed"? Not offering kids, based on the staff's collective evaluation, that sign with other programs? OR Offering national recruits who sign at Top 25 programs? Are you expecting us to beat Alabama, aTm, Texas, Miami, Northwestern, Colorado, Oklahoma State, and TCU head to head on recruits currently? If so, is that truly realistic at this stage in our program?

The Lake Dallas kid signed with UTSA in 2015, and according to the recruiting websites that everyone bases off of, had zero other offers. He's turned into a heck of a player for UTSA and kudos to Coker and his staff for finding a diamond in the rough. That was 2015. For relevance in evaluating the current staff's performance against your claim that "we are getting killed by every program in Denton County": How many FBS signees were there in Denton County in the class of 2016? Where did they end up signing and did we recruit and/or offer them (according to recruiting websites)? 2016 can easily be debated whether this was a result of McCarneys staff or Littrell's doing with timing. Kaden Smith, TE (Flower Mound Marcus) signed at Stanford and we did not offer Brandon Bowen, DE (Trophy Club Byron Nelson) signed at TCU and we offered Kellen Diesch, OT (Trophy Club Byron Nelson) signed at aTm and we offered Denzel Okafor, OL (Lewisville) signed at Texas and we did not offer J.C. Chalk, TE (Argyle) signed at Clemson and we did not offer Nick Starkel, QB (Argyle Liberty Christian) signed at aTm and we did offer (Littrell) Andrew Fitzgerald, DE (Flower Mound Marcus) signed with Texas and we did not offer Ken McLaurin, DT (Denton Ryan) signed with SMU and we did offer Dacoven Bailey, WR (Pilot Point) signed with Rutgers and we did not offer Justin Self, OL (Trophy Club Byron Nelson) signed with Navy and we did not offer Chandler Claterbaugh, DB (Flower Mound) signed with Air Force and we did not offer Troy Elliott, OL (Flower Mound Marcus) signed with Arkansas State and we did not offer Daegan Haehn, QB (Lake Dallas) signed with Kansas and we did not offer Keegan Brewer, WR (Lake Dallas) signed with Kansas and we did not offer According to the 2016 list of Denton County signees we lost head to head battles with TCU, aTm (X2), and SMU. Several of the FBS signees in the area we did not offer, based on the recruiting website's accounting. Looking at this same data in 2017, which is all Littrell's staff here's where we sit in Denton County: Tyrell Shavers, WR (Lewisville) committed to Alabama and we offered Grant Polley, OL (Denton High) committed to Colorado and we offered Javaris Steward, LB (Denton Ryan) committed to UTSA and we have not offered (off the field troubles) Earnest Brown, DE (Denton Ryan) committed to Northwestern and we have offered Brian Polendey, TE (Denton Guyer) committed to Miami and we have not offered Kobe Boyce, DB (Lake Dallas) committed to Texas and we have not offered Gavin Holmes, WR (Justin Northwest) uncommitted and we have offered Matt Hankins, DB (Flower Mound Marcus) committed to Iowa and we have not offered Caden McDonald, LB (Justin Northwest) committed to San Diego State and we have offered Bryce Jackson, DB (Denton Guyer) committed to Northwestern and we have not offered Chris Miller, DB (Denton High) committed to Colorado and we have offered Thabo Mwaniki, ATH (Denton Guyer) committed to Oklahoma State and we have offered Dane Ledford, QB (Argyle) committed to Tulane and we have not offered Delano Robinson, DB (Denton Ryan) committed to SMU and we have not offered According to the 2017 list of Denton County commitments we are currently losing head to head battles with Alabama, Colorado, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, and San Diego State. Pretty good company, showing that this staff is recruiting the 'right kids'. We have the reigning 2016 Area MVP in Tyreke Davis committed. Several of the FBS signees in the area we have not offered based on the recruiting website's accounting. Does that define "getting killed by everyone"?

Examples?

Nice find Billy. Does Parish profile as an OT in your opinion?

It would be awesome to see Patrick on staff in some capacity. Getting killed by what program(s) in Denton County?

Smatresk is such a good president for athletics.

Absolutely. The small details do matter for sure. But our issue is that overall our facility is tiny and needs significant expansions and renovations to be competitive with the schools we recruit against. We also need that Indoor Practice facility badly!

Exactly. Fans should never believe they have the full story based on recruiting websites.