GrayEagle

I don't know about starters but I count 23 on the roster who were not there last year. Most of those have played this year. Here is the list: Abercrombie DT Rice Banks TE UMass Bryant OL Riverside CC Buechele QB Texas Callaway CB Arkansas Choate DE Utah Fitz LB Drake Flores OL Columbia Granson TE Rice Hogan K West Virginia Holloway LB Kilgore James TE Alabama Jones, Cam'ryn DB Nebraska Jones, Will DT Baylor McBryde LB Auburn McIntyre TE Cornell Moore LB Texas A&M Nelson S Illinois Pugh DT Tulsa Roberts K MTSU Sanders WR Notre Dame Stephens DB UCLA

I don't believe that they were recruits. I believe that they were redshirts and scout team. I have previously seen recruits near the south end of the second level (section 209-210?). I'm not sure if that is/was a permanent or temporary location. I've yet to notice prospects on the sideline but it's possible that commitments might have been included since it appeared that a fairly large number was dressed in black and white.

Oklahoma Christian lists it as an exhibition.

Kansas did beat Boston College which totally baffled me. They had barely beaten FCS Indiana State in their opening game then lost to G5 newbie Coastal Carolina by five the following week at home. So to beat BC at their place borders on the unbelievable. Les Miles is a good coach and may very well make them a factor but having a statement game this early was shocking. What's more, they scored 17 more points against Boston College than they scored in the first two games combined.

Jim, I had varied reasons for calling for detente with SMU. My oldest daughter's late father-in-law was an SMU graduate and financial supporter and one of the finest men that I've known. Cindy is now on the staff at SMU and it's hard to be too critical of the institution who will support her retirement in a few years. I don't hate anyone. Intense dislike...yeah, but to me that's healthy. On the other hand hate is consuming and unhealthy. It's with you 24/7. Like you, I was an early fan of SMU. I especially liked Doak Walker and later Don Meredith. I'm now looking at Mason Fine in the same light as I saw the Doaker, who was credited with building the (enlarged) Cotton Bowl. I also intensely disliked the cheating of SMU that resulted in the death penalty. However, I attributed that to the head of the Mustang Club and the former governor of Texas (both of whose names escape me at the moment). The average SMU fan was not a participant and did not condone the school's actions. The real reason that I called for detente was that I hoped that we could work together to gain admittance to the WAC for North Texas (or whatever conference SMU was in.) Instead, they chose La Tech. I would still like to see North Texas, SMU, Houston (and maybe Rice) in the same conference. Good competition, cheap travel, and natural rivalry for all. Hell, throw in johnny-come-lately UTSA for all I care. My hope is that Wren Baker and Smatresk have enough diplomancy to make it happen.

Mean Green 42 Beaten Red and Blue 31

And/or throw in Darden and running backs, I don't believe that SMU can cover them all. I think that we can win in a shootout.

No, he redshirted last year but he still has four years of eligibility. (Referring to Jaire Shorter)

In the scrimmage at Mean Green Mania he scored on about a 50-yard bomb.

Ding! Ding! Ding! You win the homer award hands down. Well, Patrick Cobbs could tie you on our record but having Mason win the Heisman put you over the top.

Question for TheReal_jayD In your comments on Dane Jackson you stated that the staff is hoping that he can replace the graduating Sosaia Mose. My question is what position does Daizion Carroll play? I see his senior video and he was the starting center on Midway's state championship runnerup. His blind snaps looked flawless and his running back had many carries up the middle behind his blocks (a number of them pancakes). It would seem to me that he would be the #1 replacement candidate. However, I've also seen him listed as a guard or just offensive lineman. He is about 3" taller and about 35 lbs. heavier than Jackson. Are we considering him as a guard or center?

If #5 doesn't see the field we may go undefeated. He played in all 13 games last year; starting 10. He was sixth in total tackles with 50. He is very good in pursuit and tackling technique. His problem may be that he is still a little awkward at linebacker since he played nickel last year. I believe that he will adapt and he's a pretty good fit for Reffit's defense.

Johnson's composite has now risen to .8167.

#26 is DB Alex Morris #10 is Makyle Sanders (tackling Torrey)

I believe that you are right on both counts. You have five years eligibility from the beginning of your freshman year. Since Aune opted for baseball and did not enroll in college until last year at Arkansas, the clock did not start until then. Although he did not attempt to play there he still lost a year of eligibility. That became his redshirt year. That makes him a redshirt freshman this year. He has four years to complete his last four years of eligibility. The last year that he should be eligible to play is 2022, barring a medical or hardship redshirt.

I understand that we lost two all-conference corners but if graduate transfers Nick Harvey (.9708) and Dominique Harrison (.8731) can't handle the corners 247 composite isn't worth the paper that it's written on. Those are the two highest rated players we've ever had.

I was going by their high school numbers. Williams was a tackle with the number of 71 in high school. I have never known of a tackle with the number 11 which is why I thought it was Burke (the number he wore in high school. I did wonder why Burke looked so tall when he is only 6'0". Renfro did wear #1 and Roberts #87 in high school but neither number is visible in the picture so I believe that you're right about the two in back.

My educated guess of the four that are missing are TE Jake Roberts, C Dane Jackson, RB Isaiah Johnson, and CB Tavorice Weaver. The ones that I believe that I can identify are OL Jett Duncan (64), DL Ta'Shoyn Johnson (96), OL Kade Bond (70), DB Jordan Nichols (7), DL Jamal Ligon (88), DB Jason Kerl (24), WR Loronzo Thompson (3), TE Christian Lee (6), LB Jacobi Johnson (15) and DB Garnett Burke (11). The numbers of the two on the back row are not visible but I believe that they are QB Cade Renfro and OL Erik Williams. Renfro is 6'4" and Williams is 6'5"; two of our tallest committments.

I feel good about the offensive line this year. Manase Mose was all-conference and he, along with his brother Sosaia and D'Andre Plantin were given all-conference mention by Phil Steele. Woodworth has been reliable for his career regardless of position. We'll also use tight ends more so that Fine will have better protection. In the Utah State game don't forget that Fine was without our top receiver as well. Utah State was also highly underrated.

I believe that adding ODU was likely the right call. They already were selling out a 20,000 seat stadium and had promised to upgrade. The improvements that they are making seem first class. What is not first class is the capacity. They are increasing their capacity by only about a thousand seats which does not smack of FBS stature. The original requirement for Division 1A (FBS) status was a stadium of 30,000 and an attendance of 17,000. It's what tumbled us into Division 1AA because Chancellor Hurley was not willing to spend the money to upgrade Fouts to 30,000; choosing instead to spend the money on academics. To his credit, he did an excellent job of raising the academic stature of UNT but acknowledging that he did athletics no favor. At least, ODU did meet the attendance requirement, unlike Charlotte and FIU (both with small stadiums). Florida Atlantic didn't meet the stadium size or attendance requirement either but they did expand their stadium to 30,000 and, I believe, met the attendance requirement in at least one year. What if CUSA had the foresight to get Troy and Appalachian State instead of the two Floridas where would CUSA be today? Even Arkansas State and Louisiana would have been an improvement. I will say that FAU has improved to a satisfactory level since the hiring of Lane Kiffin and FIU could break through this year after hiring Butch Davis (but they still have a rinkydink stadium and poor attendance).

I don't know but since we pick up our tickets on August 3 would it be possible that that could be the first practice? Did something similar happen last year?

I like everything I see and hear about Brandon Brown. I believe that he is truly exceptional and that Coach Yellock could make him a high draft choice. He has all of the tools. Hope that Lee and others can convince him to come here with them. Go UNTamed 20!

While this would be my fifth choice (behind B12, AAC, MWC and taking the top teams from the SBC) I believe that this would be the most fair. Let me qualify this by saying I prefer 12 team conferences so I would make CUSA and Sun Belt each 12 team conferences, taking five from the SBC and giving them seven in return. My revised CUSA would be UTEP, North Texas, UTSA, Rice, LaTech, and Texas State, in the west and ULM, Louisiana, Arkansas State, Southern Miss, UAB, and South Alabama in the east. That would give the Sun Belt Troy, Florida Atlantic, FIU, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina in the south and Charlotte, Appalachian State, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion and Marshall in the north. Regional conferences, at the lower G5 level, would save a lot of travel expenses and most could drive to any conference foe. We would gain somewhat on attendance average and the SBC would gain in total attendance with two more members. Incidently, that would make all G5s 12 member conferences with five independents.

He currently has no 247 rating. He had only three other offers...Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Illinois State, and Liberty. But in Walerius and Littrell I trust. They don't seem to miss on many. He seems to have very good closing speed. I remember that Khairi Muhammed wasn't highly rated by 247 and he is our best defensive back now, at least until the two graduate transfers get on board.

There is no question that the Mountain West is a better conference than CUSA. But where is the opening? The MWC has twelve members now, which to me is the perfect amount. If they were to consider adding us I do not know of any 13 member conferences so I would assume that someone would be leaving or that another would be added along with us. The weakest university attendance-wise is San Jose State and I don't really see them leaving. I know that they would like to be in a large Texas market but only if we could get Rice or UTSA to go along with us would targeting us make any sense. Then there is travel expenses in football, basketball, and softball that would seem to make the move prohibitive. Without a Texas companion the nearest conference school would be New Mexico, a 9 1/2 hour drive. The next closest would be Air Force, two hours further away. Colorado State, Wyoming and Utah State would be the likely other division members so we're talking about nearly everyone being in the 1,000 mile plus range distance from Denton. Every other conference with Texas teams has members east...not west. The only conference that makes sense at the present time is the AAC. If we replaced Connecticut then our division would likely be SMU, Houston, Tulsa, Tulane, and Memphis. Also, we've been in a conference with all of those teams except SMU (some briefly I know) and with Cincinnati from the other division. I don't know of any great conflicts with the administrations of any of those universities, save SMU, and we were far less solid then than we are now. That includes our administration, facilities, strength in all sports, academics and budget and fund raising. I believe that both SMU and us realize that when we play we draw near capacity crowds at each venue. I believe that the AAC has a great commissioner with very good members and that division alliance would make even more sense than it does currently.