UNT Mean Green

Stephen and Stephen (and Troy Phillips and Vito) do a great job of keeping the fanbase up to speed on these practices and happenings.

I'm assuming that connection would be that Nathan Tune and Troy Franklin went to Celina and now play for North Texas? Or that Celina is close to Denton?

Yes North Texas should be recruiting this kid. He's a great football player who's won a lot. Similar to Ronnell Sims from Abilene.

Best of luck to Darius in his speedy recovery. He's a fantastic player and will be a vital part of this team's success.

Position by Position CENTER: looks good with Kelvin and JJ averaging 6'3" 290. OL: looks a lot better with the whole bunch (minus Kokjohn) averaging 6'4" 292 (Noble, Franklin, Gill, and Leppo bring it down). Intersting to note that Antonio Johnson reported at 292, apparently he's really worked to add weight. He could be a sleeper recruit. As someone mentioned earlier, Santiago at 320 was pleasantly surprising. QB: with the main two candidates at 6'4" 225 I'd say that looks better than in recent history (though I have a hard time believing Tune could weigh 226). RB: Dunbar measured well as did Byrd; glad to see Hamilton gain some weight. Mathis and Mosley could be short yardage guys. WR: As a group this bunch looks good. Surprised Jackson didn't gain more weight. Bynes looks like a beast, and Stradford gained some weight as well. Riley looked to measure well for an inside guy. TE: Draylen Ross and Hawkins (surprised he's not at OL) look to be the blockers, while Fitzpatrick and Olawale are the receivers. I'd imagine Greg Brown will fit into this mix as well. DE: They are all shapes and sizes, but AK and Obi obviously made great strides to be every-down players. Disappointed to see Gaines so small, but Weber's weight is down obviously to be more agile and McCoy has a freakish frame. Boutwell has worked hard and should contribute. Anyiam measures like he could be an anchor against a physical running team. DT: Don't like to see 357 and 336, but do like to see the couple of guys around 6'3" 300ish who can move a little bit in Atkinson, Jackson, and White. Anyiam could slide in this mix as well. LB: Much more impressive measurables this year. Guys starting to look like bona fide LB's. Obviously they've all worked hard, and hopefully are faster as well. Orr has a nice MLB build for an 18 year old. DB: Cook and Will Wright Jr. have great frames. Good to see Royce and Ira put on a little weight to have more lead in their pencil against the run. Downing has a nice frame for the newcomers. All in all it looks like the kids have really worked hard, and we will not look like a JV team on the field anymore. Charr has certainly paid for himself in player development, and let's hope it translates to some W's.

Cool deal. It's nice to have an ex-player with that type of experience in there helping out with the program in general. Best of luck to Kenyatta, and I hope this equates to more wins for North Texas this fall.

We definitley need to recruit Sims. I think hes a nice player who has won a bunch and should have a huge SR season. I doubt any run-ins with Abilene Cooper would put a damper on the recruitment of players from Abilene ISD period.

I definitely hope Wood makes it on campus. He provides a nice CB option (other than Royce Hill) at a position where we're thin with quality players. 10.5 100m guy in HS with nice ball skills would be great to have alongside Hill, Cook, and others in the secondary.

Speaking of WR's is Forrest Rucker gone?

Is it 6,250 for two seats or one?

UNT has a very nice group of Receivers back and the addition of Tyler Stradford, the position change for Riley Dodge, the emergence of Bennie Jones and Willie Taylor, and new recruits Chris Bynes and Brelan Chancellor should give fans a reason to be optimistic. It will also help to have the presence of Lance Dunbar, and a QB who can make all of the throws. Let's not forget that the TE position will have some catches as well in Canales' offense. Look for big offensive numbers to come out of Denton this fall.

You're absolutely correct. Let him come in, and develop physically while not burning a year of eligibility. You can always pull his shirt if abnormal cirumstances arise from a depth chart point of view.

The only one I can think of is UTEP that is a large public school in Texas which lacks baseball. The majority of people want baseball and North Texas must have baseball in order to continue advancing the athletics program (I would make a nice bet with someone that Chuck Nienas advised the chancellor, bor, president, and AD in his recent evaluations that NT must get baseball to move up). Baseball can quickly be the best sport at UNT, bar none. You do not have to be an overwhelming (monetary, big boy) power to win and compete on a national level in baseball like you do in football. Anyway, how'd the podcast go?

Bring on the Bulls!

See everyone there! Can't wait.

It will be by far the best stadium in the Sun Belt, and possibly the best stadium in the Sun Belt, MAC, WAC, or C-USA. It's HKS' first college stadium. To look at their portfolio gives you an idea of what to expect. This facility would put UNT way out front in the Sun Belt in terms of facilities with WKU second.

Those are certainly two of the top reasons why Troy would not be on the map.

What an absolute joke. That's embarrassing. It goes to show you how far North Texas has come in facilities since RV arrived in town, and with the completion of the new stadium (and adding a nice baseball facility/program) it won't even be close in the Sun Belt.

This deal on signing the bouncebacks with an off the field history is touch and go to say the least. I think at Troy with the academics the way they are, Coach Blakney has a shot at anyone and doesn't really care who they bring in. Now, when they get onto campus at Troy they seem to take care of their stuff, go to class, and obviously play good football. Someone made a good point about conference expansion. I'd guarantee you that Troy is not high on any radar screens. As for bouncebacks and UNT, it's a balancing act for Dodge and his program. The academics at NT are certainly better and more established than those at Troy. With the recent APR issues, the football staff is careful with who they select in the recruiting process. They can't take too big of risks; but at the same time you have to give kids opportunities. Everyone was so excited about William Cole being on UNT's campus. I was one of them. The bottom line with William was that his off the field record was very clean. His performance in the classroom was very poor, and that came back to bite us. But, in that instance did Dodge and them do the right thing in giving him a chance? Absolutely, no questions asked. Now look at DJ Jones out of Denison. Got in some trouble with the law. Academics are good enough for NCAA requirements. If you evaluate the situation and find out he was guilty by association, and seems sincere about everything; why not give him a shot? Dodge and his staff have worked hard to raise the efficacy of the football program in terms of academics and off the field issues; and have done a great job. There's no reason to sacrifice the fundamental principles that your program is built on and take a flyer on a super talented kid with a tainted past. Now, the Elder kid that Troy signed. Yeah, he may be an absolute force on the field. I would not take that risk personally if I were Dodge and them. You don't want a renegade program with kids getting in trouble all of the time in my opinion; and if you take too many Elder types you could end up being in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

You'd certainly like to know more details. I imagine Coach Dodge and Co. are evaluating what has happened. DJ will land somewhere for sure, and it could be in Denton. The kid(s) physical attributes are stout.

This is an older article form when Gaines was in HS, but if you glance over the list of players there are some absolute studs on those lists(s). 5 star recruits who are donning rosters as we speak at schools like USC, Oregon, UCLA, Oklahoma, and Utah to name a few.

I like them, though I would make some 'tweaks', it's a good look.

No question. UNT will be much better at QB, and be significantly more balanced (and to Riley's credit, we would be with him had he not injured the arm and retained the strength he had at Carroll), causing opponents to sit back and guess instead of tee off and be aggressive. I think we'll score 37 points per game this year under Canales, and with the experience in the OL, the quality of backs, and the explosiveness at WR. Not to mention opponents won't know what's coming.

It would be nice if the crowds were big enough and loud enough to the point where you could not hear the bass guitar.

Penn State Alabama Oklahoma Notre Dame USC Florida State