BillySee58

I hear ya. But keep in mind last year we averaged 7 points more than the 2nd-highest scoring offense in CUSA and 96 more offensive yards/game than the 2nd highest yards/game team in CUSA. Our offense produced plenty. We were equally distanced from the 2nd worse defenses in CUSA in those categories last year. Right now I think that’s where the primary concern is.

Yeah that seems pretty assured. Aune technically has 3 years of eligibility left, 3 for Martin, 4 for Ruder, and 4 for Gilmore. Unless Drummond is your starter, it makes sense to redshirt him and give him some separation from the other guys, eligibility wise. Also, whoever wins the starting job, it’s not hard to envision the other guys deciding to look for opportunities elsewhere where they can play. Especially since a lot of our QBs are already graduated and engaged/married. Would not be shocking to see Drummond and the starting QB as the lone returners in the QB room come next season. Take this year to study and learn the offense.

Hard to imagine anyone other than Aune starting the 1st game. Feels like we probably see Aune and Ruder games 1 and 2 until one of the two separates themselves. Feel good either way honestly.

You can enter the portal any of the 365 days of the year. In order to be eligible to take advantage of the NCAA’s sit-out free transfer rule, an athlete would have needed to be in the portal by July 1st, unless they are grad transferring like Kuehne. Starting this upcoming school year, fall/winter athletes will need to be in the transfer portal by May 1st in order to be eligible to transfer without sitting out a year the next season. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ncaa-board-of-directors-ratifies-one-time-transfer-legislation-allowing-athletes-immediate-eligibility/

I wish all of the threads of players transferring were this positive. Attitude towards the student athlete and the transfer portal usually looks a lot different, and much less favorable. Just like a lot of those cases, it looks like a really sensible move and Kuehne represented us very well while here. Looked like we might get Chase Griffin in 2019 then he chose UCLA, we moved on to Kuehne and he committed and held firm. Wishing him the best.

Sounds like they have bulked up and looked great in the spring. They and the team have planned for them to be the DEs for a whole offseason, whereas last season they were sort of last-ditch efforts 5 games in to get some pass rush. Conditions are much more in their favor now but if they aren’t looking as good I hope Bennett is not above looking at how they were used last year. At the end of the day it just seems like they have the tools you can’t teach.

They played the last 6 games at DE and they had 3 and 4.5 sacks respectively. So doesn’t seem realistic to expect double those numbers for a full season. Then you throw in having their first full offseason at the position plus spring ball and fall camp, have to imagine it’s realistic for that type of production and being more complete 3-down players. I know it’s easy for the homerism and optimism to come in heavy this time of year, but I really feel like this is the best we have been in the trenches collectively between O-Line and D-Line since Littrell has been here. 1st team all conference DT and 2nd team all conference OT, bring back all D-Line starters and only lost one O-Line starter, plus adding an SEC D-Lineman and Abilene Christian’s 2018 and 2019 sack leader. I really feel like there is objective justification behind saying this is the best we’ve been in the trenches under Littrell.

I also think it’s funny how a lot of fans qualify his positive stats by saying that it was all because of Darden. No one ever qualifies Mason Fine’s success because he was throwing to Darden, or Guyton, or Steelers training camp standout Rico Bussey, or had Jeff Wilson in the backfield. PFF and at least one other independent evaluator gave him a really strong evaluation, and PFF had him 2nd in the nation in dropped TD passes with 5. Accuracy and ability to take check downs when these down field passes aren’t there are both big areas he can improve, but the consensus among stats and evaluations seems to indicate a pretty solid CUSA QB. If Ruder can beat that out, great. If not I would expect Aune to compete for all-CUSA honors.

For those who weren’t aware, camp is starting today.

Okay, I figured you were saying something along those lines but facing threw me off. I usually think of that word meaning in opposition, but that’s besides the point. Anyways, yes I always get these type of comments but as a hobby it has always been easier for me to analyze UNT in a vacuum rather than do all 13 other conference members or even the 6 other division members. Maybe I can do it for other teams once the two deeps start coming out but I can’t imagine 215 would be left of the national median. That’s basically two seasons of starting experience (~20 starts) at each of the 11 positions. But can’t say for sure.

Well Cole Brown was slated to get shifted to Left Guard so they could make way for Farrell at Left Tackle. Maybe they just stick with that shuffle for Brown and have Turpin play Left Tackle.

What do you mean by “what are other teams facing?”

Interesting. I missed that. Was it at guard or was he bumped in at guard?

What’s all this Turpin hype based on?

LT - Cole Brown LG - Gabe Blair/Chris Cassady co starters at beginning of season C - Manase Mose RG - Daizion Carroll RT - Jacob Brammer TE - Jake Roberts

I just counted all of our defensive players. That’s what I meant by defensive depth chart.

Yes

This is false. Brune said a new publisher for the site is already lined up. https://247sports.com/college/north-texas/Article/Letter-from-Brune-Meangreen247-isnt-going-anywhere-but-thank-you-168748313/Amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Nice

I went through and ran the numbers on career games started among our defensive players. Heading into the 2020 season our defensive depth chart had combined to start 59 games at the Division 1 level. This season, heading into the 2021 season our defensive depth chart has 215 career starts at the Division 1 level, unofficially by my count. If/when the defense improves this season a lot of the credit will go to Phil Bennett, but this team is just so much better from a roster construction and depth standpoint than they were a year ago. Littrell did a great job of keeping nearly all of our starters while also adding D1 starters from other schools. We now can couple our stellar recruiting with experience and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see this defense take a big step forward. How big of a step is on Bennett and the players executing, but the horses are here.

Officially announced

Jacob Farrell and Erik Williams left the team. Brammer is still the starting Right Tackle and was 2nd team all conference last year.

I haven’t watched the film but I know our tackle depth is not great right now. Jacob Farrell was supposed to be our starting left tackle this season and Erik Williams was looking like a potential heir apparent to Jacob Brammer at right tackle. Both left the team in January. We brought in one high school tackle in Rayvon Crum who looks very promising but it makes sense to bring in someone a little older to provide the immediate depth this season.

Commits! Looks like he will be joining the team for the fall so he’s a 2021 commit rather than 2022.