BillySee58

I understand baseball is different, but it just goes back to the idea that smart people recognize other smart people. It's not a coincidence JD picked quite possibly two of the best three managers in Rangers' history with his two hires. He's a great mind and he can pick out the managers who have what it takes and siphon out the ones who don't. If you have an AD who can recognize someone good then get them. We just can't afford to be picky, and have to look outside the conventions that many FBS programs might use. It bit us in the butt before but that's because the hire itself (himself) was not the right one, and then the whole hiring his high school staff thing. I'm sure there are others who could do well, Smiley's just my guy. I just don't want a whole bunch of parameters set, excluding a lot of good candidates just so we can make the "safest" pick based primarily on resume. Then again, Mccarney still hasn't proven do be a failure. He just has to step it up, especially at producing QBs.

I think if we look too much into what the coach is instead of who he is then we take a lot of good candidates out of the mix. That's why Smiley is still there. You get a good AD who can successfully identify who has what it takes (i.e. Jon Daniels with Ron Washington and Jeff Bannister) and not just who has the ideal resume, or the resume most like your pre-set parameters. Smiley is from Louisiana, went to Baylor, was the recruiting coordinator at Tulane, and is at TVCC now. He leads or is in the top 5 every year of all JUCOs for most D1 signees. He gets great talent in, and HS coaches trust him with their non-qualifiers. I'm sure they would trust him with their qualifiers as well. Very familiar with DFW and East Texas, which is where we need to live in recruiting. At the very least he would leave the next coach with good players like Dodge did for Mac.

And Chumley didn't make the travel squad. Neither did Dillman, so if we're redshirting him anyways... Yeah, it's probably Smith or you're looking at this coaching staff going after a JUCO QB for the 5th time in its 6th recruiting class. IF we get a new coach I want coach Brad Smiley at TVCC. Great recruiter, winning a lot of games at TVCC, unproven as an FBS head coach but you limit your options here if that's what you want, and you will have to get a coach who was fired or let go at his last job because we can't really hire away a currently winning FBS coach. If we got Smiley it would be convenient to get his QB Jerod Evans, formerly of Mansfield. He could be a target even if we keep Mccarney.

Committed to Tennessee

I think it reminded me even more of the La Tech game than the Texas game. Although the defense's bad quarter against La Tech was in the third, not the fourth. We, including myself, we're all thinking "okay, Dajon is in now so he'll put up points and take pressure off the defense." Then our defense got torched by both Indiana and UAB, after the Nicholls State game, of course. Defense did play pretty well overall but they showed some susceptibilities.

Can we get over this Mcnulty fascination? If we end up bad this year it's not going to be because of this stuff. It's not his fault our QB recruiting has been awful. And that's not the only position we haven't recruited well under Mccarney.

He hasn't, and I would be surprised at that too, but the last time we faced a team in Apogee that finished with a winning record was Louisiana Tech, and they were up on us by 35 points going into the 4th against us. We don't know what Rice's record will be, but I'm interested to see how we do at home against a seemingly decent team that we could beat. 5 of the 6 teams we brought in to Apogee last year were not good teams. This is a big opportunity for us.

I was not expecting Murray to come in at such good shape. He really did a great job of cutting out bad weight and getting his footwork where it needs to be. That's cool to see.

Is it still so absurd to think a kid who could get offered to play QB at schools like Nebraska, Florida State, Auburn, Tennessee, etc could never hope to play QB for us? I don't think Dillman would be this staff's savior, or that he could contribute anytime soon, but we have the entirety of his eligibility to develop him. I see no reason he couldn't be better by his redshirt junior and senior year than what we have right now. And I didn't see Chumley. I'm guessing he didn't make the travel squad. And Means is 4th-string right now, and we haven't offered a 2016 high school QB.

I don't know about fire, but I wouldn't have extended him. Let's look at that 2013 season and look into reasons there were to be critical, at the time, of the extension. 1. Hadn't developed his own QB at the time of the extension.* 2. All 4 d-line starters from the bowl team were inherited from the Dodge regime.* *Let this be a lesson. Two most important position units in football. 3. 7 offensive starters, and 6 defensive starters (6 of our front 7) were inherited from the Dodge regime. 4. 5 of our 6 conference wins and 6 of our total 9 wins came against freshman QBs, most of which were not the team's starting QB by choice going into the year. We feasted on those guys. 5. Our 3 road wins (he has won 5 total here and 0 since the extension) were against, you guessed it, 3 freshman QBs who were not the teams' starting QBs at the beginning of the year. Higgins at La Tech, Mullens at Southern Miss (redshirt was burned that game to start against us), and Dane Evans at Tulsa. Those teams had a combined record of 8-28 that year. Make no mistake about it, I am not belittling the 2013 bowl run or what Mccarney and co. did that year. I just think these factors were not considered at all before giving Mccarney a hefty extension, and they definitely should've been. I think he does still deserve to coach out the entirety of his initial contract and this season. It's just not looking good, and we have two commits in recruiting.

For those curious about a potential Buyers 6th year next year, let's look at it. To get a 6th year you have to be able to prove that 2 out of your first 5 years were lost due to injury. This year clearly qualifies as one. Buyers first 4 years were from 2011-2014. He played 11 games as a backup in 2012, played the whole year in 2013, and started the whole year in 2014. 2011 is where that possibility comes into play. I don't know much about that season, but I believe that's the year he started off at Air Force and transferred here. If this season's turns south quick I think we'll go with Smith. Let's say we were winning with Mcnulty and had to not blow that, then we'd get with Greer to try and preserve that. If we're just straight-up losing then there's really no incentive to go with Greer over Smith. Kind've like how we went with Dajon before our actual #2 (at the time) Mcnulty last year. Really doubt that change alone can solve our problem here.

I don't think you've ever said Mcnulty is the end.

BV really looking like a homer now

He's actually really good. He also knows Texas High School Football better than anyone. He could tell you were the majority of the players in tomorrow's game went to high school without looking it up (at least the majority of the Texas kids).

Greg Tepper picks and discusses the FBS games in the state this week.

Exactly. I think they had Brelan Chancellor around a 74 going into his senior year, and a speed rating at least a couple notches below 90, if I recall correctly. And that was after he had already dusted LSU's secondary. Such is life as a fan of a G5 school.

According to this we have run the ball 3 out of 4 times to open the year under Mccarney. Last year was the first time we threw the ball first play under Mccarney.

Thanks Greg! Good stuff! I really liked the player ratings. Man do I miss that game. Did our players deserve such high ratings? I hope so. Would EA have given us near such high ratings? Of course not. In the last installment of the game Zach Orr was our highest rated player, at 82. Ryan Boutwell was our only other player in the 80s, at 80 even. Either way I wish I could do updated rosters with these ratings. Bring it back EA!

Willis Mcgahee, Munchie Legaux, Napolean Mccallum, Shaun Livingston all were right up there but damn. That still might be number 1 for me. Really hope Allen will be okay. I know head injuries are the hot topic in football, and they are usually more serious long-term, but man leg injuries have always been my worst nightmare in football. Hate how much it happens (comparatively), but it's kind of the nature of the game with tackling.

I broke down the depth chart by which signing class the players were a part of. Coach Mccarney's first class was 2011, and they are now redshirt seniors, meaning all five of his classes make up the two-deep. I also included grayshirts with the class they committed in, not the class they technically signed with since that's when they were recruited. Signing class of 2011 (redshirt seniors): Starters: 4 Total in two-deep: 7 (4 starters, 3 backups) - 14.6% of two-deep 2012 (redshirt juniors and true seniors):Starters: 4Total in two-deep: 7 (4 starters, 3 backups) - 14.6% of two-deep 2013 (redshirt sophomores, true juniors, and one transfer still on roster)High school signee starters: 4 (2 co-starters)High school signee backups: 2Transfer signees in two-deep: 1 (Chris Loving)Total in two-deep: 7 (2 starters, 2 co-starters, 3 backups) - 14.6% of two-deep 2014 (redshirt freshman, true sophomores, and four transfers still on roster)High school signee starters: 5High school signee backups: 2Transfer signees in two-deep: 3Total in two-deep: 10 (5 starters, 5 backups) - 20.8% of two-deep 2015 (true freshman and 6 transfers still on roster)High school signee starters: 0High school signees in two-deep: 4Transfer signee starters: 2 (1 co-starter)Transfer signee backups: 2Total in two-deep: 8 (1 starter, 1 co-starter, 6 backups) - 16.7% of two-deep Former walkonsStarters: 5Total in two-deep: 9 (5 starters, 4 backups) - 18.8% of two-deep

That was Cooley. I really liked Garner's ability on third down in coverage and as a rusher (10 sacks as a senior) but it was concerning that he didn't take on/shed a whole lot of blocks in his highlights, which you want to see out of an LB's film. Glad to see he's putting it together so soon.

Brandon Garner, Tee, Chris Miles, Kishawn Mcclain, Jeffery Wilson all starting from the 2014 class that keeps on giving. Nice!

Great point. I'm all for leaving spots for guys at the end like Dillman, Roderick Young, Caleb Chumley, and Darrien McNair, but that doesn't mean just don't recruit at all. Nothing wrong with getting good players realistically within reach early. It'll be interesting to see how this experiment turns out.

6'2" 265 lb defensive tackle from Denton Ryan. We have offered. Also holds offers from Boise State, Texas State, Illinois, and Iowa State among others. highlights: http://247sports.com/tu/ODM0MjU3dGlueTI0Nw==?utm_source=Player&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Ken+McLaurin&utm_content=Image http://247sports.com/Player/Ken-McLaurin-50368 http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Ken-McLaurin-148484

5'9" 190 lb running back from Arlington Bowie. We offered last month. Also holds offers from Houston, Kansas, and Colorado State. Had 1386 yards and 11 scores rushing last year. highlights: http://247sports.com/tu/ODI2NDQ5dGlueTI0Nw==?utm_source=Player&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=DeAndre+Cook&utm_content=Image http://247sports.com/Player/DeAndre-Cook-79228 http://sports.yahoo.com/ccc/football/recruiting/player-DeAndre-Cook-170525