SilverEagle

UNT FOOTBALL NOTES Media shut out at UNT scrimmage By TROY PHILLIPS Star-Telegram staff writer DENTON -- Had North Texas coach Todd Dodge been able to lock the gates at Fouts Field on Saturday, he would have. Gate areas at Fouts are temporarily down because of renovations, so Dodge had a few staffers make sure no media got into Saturday's first fall scrimmage -- which a day earlier Dodge played down as a routine practice. Around 30 fans were admitted, but director of football operations Mark Barrow turned away reporters who tried to enter. A young woman who said she knew a player was let in. After Friday's practice at the UNT Athletic Center, Dodge said 11-on-11 drills and live kicking would be the focus of Saturday's practice, but he was never clear that media members weren't welcome. Told that his schedule had Saturday's session marked "scrimmage," Dodge said: "It's just another practice that will be more team-oriented." Dodge has closed the regular practice fields to fans and media, except for television and still photographers during the first 30 minutes of workouts. The view from outside a fence around the fields is unobstructed. At Fouts, most fenced areas are obstructed by wind screens, and the field is below ground level. "I've always closed all of my practices after spring ball," Dodge said. "Anybody who was in the stands was just family. That's what I instructed our people to make sure." UNT has another practice/scrimmage scheduled at Fouts on Saturday and a "mock game" on Aug. 24. Spring and fall workouts and scrimmages were open to all fans and media under previous coach Darrell Dickey. Photographers were limited to 45 minutes per workout. "I always leave those decisions up to our coaches," UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. Kicking notes Freshmen Trent Deans, Clayton Teasdale and Thomas Moreland took four turns each on kickoffs, extra points and field goals in the scrimmage. Dodge said the four combined to miss only one field goal. Punter Truman Spencer is the leading candidate to kick off. Special teams coach Robert Drake said Truman's been best from the NCAA's new kickoff spot, the 30-yard line. He had two touchbacks Saturday and put one kickoff from the 25 at the 5-yard line, Drake said. "These guys all know they have a shot," Drake said. "If you have a veteran [kicker], sometimes younger guys don't see themselves in that role." Briefly UNT officials said the heat index on Fouts Field's turf reached 115 degrees. Quarterbacks Daniel Meager and Giovanni Vizza had 25 plays each against the first- and second-team defenses. UNT threw on about 75 percent of the 120 plays, Todd Dodge said. Defensive tackle Joseph Miller and safety Aaron Weathers returned Saturday after being tossed from Friday's practice for arguing with defensive coordinator Ron Mendoza. tphillips@star-telegram.com Troy Phillips, 817-390-7760 Just a guess, but I think the media is not pleased.

.......so you think we need to put Fouts on someone's doorstep and set it on fire? Now there is an image.

* I assume that this was Carl Lockhart's number in college. It was what he wore in the pros. If this is incorrect, someone please list his college jersey number.

Personally I don't think that a school should retire any of their numbers. If anything, they should honor their legendary players by giving their numbered jersey to the outstanding player that plays the same position. For instance, Patrick Cobbs, because of his outstanding accomplishments might have been given #28 to wear. Booger Kennedy might have been given #75 to wear. Brad Kassel or Cody Spencer might have been given #55 to wear. Having a ceremony to award these numbers every year would do more to honor the original "legendary player", than having his name and number hanging from the press box. Right now, we have the DL, LB, and RB and/or WR position covered. We could decide on a legendary player at the other positions and designate their college numbers to be worn by the outstanding player at the same position. I would nominate the following players and numbers to be so honored. QB, Steve Ramsey #17 DB, Carl (Spider) Lockhart #43 WR, Ronnie Shanklin, #31, or Ray Renfro #33 OL, Bill Carrico, Glenn Holloway, Willie Parker, Greg Davidson,Scott Bowles. I don't know any of these guys numbers.

Happy Birthday Jack! Try not to get too drunk, and stay in the shade as much as you can.

Oh man! This is sweet!

Mr. Alexander hasn't been with the team since 05, so calling it a loss would not be very accurate. And even if he was able to get back out there and play, he would be spending about half of the season getting back into "football shape". I'm very glad that Coach Dodge is going to find a way for this incredibly brave young man to continue to contribute to the program.

According to the ST this morning (Tuesday), Roy Loren is gone.

Please do.

Wrong shade. GreyEagle is far too much of a gentleman to do something like that. However, anyone sporting a tatoo of Texas on his arm would certainly have the capability.

....OR my personal favorite. At the alumni gathering the night before the Texas game last year, our coach was asked to make some comments..." When Dr. B looks up at the scoreboard at the end of the game tomorrow, I just want her to remember that we are getting about a 1/2 million for playing this game". It's my sincerest hope that we NEVER hear anything like that from any NT athletic personnel. I know that we will never hear it from our current coach or our AD.

I'm in the same seats that I've had for the last 3+ years or so, and I assume that Rick is also in his usual place. Where are your seats in relation to ours?

IHMO it the only thing that matters is that you have the type/size of lineman that you need for your offense. Under the "type", I always prefer linemen in the Andy Brewster mold. Andy was tenacious, smart, and I've heard on more than one occasion that he had a pretty big streak of mean in him as well. Now, having said that you aren't going to successfully run a DD type offense with a group of "sveltish" o-linemen. And you're not going to be able to run a successful spread offense with a bunch of bulldozers. So what is the ideal size for our offense? I don't know for sure, but here are some of the previous weights and current weights of the O-Linemen. Tyler Bailey, 6-2 X 275....no change Chris Eidd, 6-3 X 306.......no change Jeff Moehrig, 6 X 293.......no change Chad Rose, 6-3 X 274.......this year 285 Kelvin Drake, 6-2 X 300....this year 310 Robert Peachey, 6-5 X 279....no change Robert Carlson, 6-5 X268.... this year 280 Matthew Menard, 6-5 X 275...no change Bryan Glass, 6- X 277....this year 280 Adam Venegas, 6-3 X 293....no change Jack Crumes, 6-4 X 266 .......no change Esteban Santiago, 6-5 X275....this year 302 Nick Foster, 6-3 X 340........no change The only new O-Lineman listed (currently) on the official roster is Matt Tomlinson, 6-5 X 270. It's hard to tell anything from looking at the raw stats. I would tend to assume that the coaching staff is pretty satisfied with the previous sizes of the o-line. I do wonder however if the O-linemen that have gained some weight represent the positions where most of the running plays will go.

Section D, Rows 14 & 15, seats 29 & 30 (on each row). If you're not sure where that is, I think Ramone Flannagan can show you where the seats are...........

Christian Davidson (86) and Arthur Stubblefield (3)? If that's Christian Davidson, he looks bigger than 6'3" X 220 lbs. "For those of you that don't like the lighter green --- to bad. It does, look much lighter on the white jersey than the green, but both still look sharp. Let the debate begin!!!" It looks like the same shade of green as the Hayden Fry era jerseys. Why don't they just go ahead and put the flying worm on the helmet? And before anyone has a spasm about it, keep in mind that this quote "I don't know what it is like to be on or to coach an Underdog team. This is not a $$ game. This is an opportunity for us as a team and a University. I will never approach ANY game as though we are underdogs, we have just as much chance to win as the other team and that is our mindset going into every game." is pure Hayden Fry Folks! welcome back to the land of positive attitudes.

When they still had "the wall" I always called the restroom the whizatorium.

I think it will take more than just more development and more people. Our student population was about 17K when I was attending North Texas (mid- 70's) and the average home attendance was about 12K per game. Our current student population is now approaching twice that number and are we now averaging 24K per game?

I just wish they would have sinks that automatically dispense water and actual towel holders. I don't want too much spent on structural changes. Especially if Fouts is not long for this world.......or is it.

CLC and the University say NO to a NT-exes hat (sans exes) but they say YES to this?

Totally agree Jack.

“The groundwork from the administration to the athletic department is part of the strength we have now,” Kalk said. “Rick is a tremendous fundraiser and coach Dodge is there now. We have not had the right administration, athletic director and coach there in the 35 years I have been around the program, until now.” That would be my assessment as well. The last time we were even close to this situation was with Hayden Fry. The President during that time was Jitter Nolan (whom GreyEagleone said was responsible for bringing Hayden to North Texas), but he was probably the only one at the school that backed what Hayden was doing. Everyone else at the University wanted things to be just like they were in the "old days". Of course, all the "old nesters" hated Jitter Nolan as well. So it wasn't surprising that Hayden eventually left to go work for a more appreciative group (U of I) and Jitter Nolan was eventually run-off. Hayden might have stayed. But when his two most bowl worthy teams (77 and 78) were not invited because of the "perception" of the North Texas alumnus/fans, AND he was always running into barriers put up by the "old nester" crowd, why fight it any longer?

I was working that Saturday, but I listened to a little bit of it on the radio. That was one hell of a game. Steve Ramsey vs Greg Cook, the future rookie of the year in the NFL. And most of the second half was played in the pouring rain. A former Decatur Eagle, Billy Anderson, was the punter for North Texas that year. He was also the back-up for Ramsey.

OR, like me, everyone is too depressed.

Arkstfan has already come up with the perfect replacement......the Red Wolf......which is/was native to Arkansas. Of course, if you presented something like that (a logical solution) to a North Texas committee, they would ignore you and then go out and spend 20K+ to come up with something unimaginative.

When Hayden Fry was coaching at North Texas, you could by some North Texas gear (at least t-shirts) at the J.C. Penneys at NE Mall. How much NT gear do they sell at the Albertsons on University?