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MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF

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Everything posted by MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF

  1. Yes, believe it or not when someone turns their back on the school I graduated from, I have some qualms with their motives. With Eli Howard, you're really stretching, though. He never played; SCW did play and likely would have started. Howard also didn't say he was giving up football, then resurface at Texas Tech. As for Dajon...still not on Texas A&M-Commerce's roster. So: University of Sitting at Home on the Couch in Dallas versus University of Sitting at Home on the Couch in Commerce. Not much a different other than the scenery outside the front door. It makes no difference to me. Dajon didn't want to put in the work here; and, apparently, doesn't want to put in the work at a D-II either. That's fine. You'd be hard pressed to find a coach at any level that puts up with their quarterbacks skipping the weight room, film room, and not studying the playbook. That is a surprise to no one who knows anything about college football.
  2. Question: The schools he listed all went to bowl games in 2015, so why would he consider coming here? I was more perplexed by the Texas Tech receiver transferring to an FCS.
  3. No one stole my backpack, thanks. Just pointing out facts. Kids who want to transfer are normally upfront about it to their current schools. The definition of quit is easy - you stop doing something. SCW stopped playing football for us. DaMarcus and Darrien may yet end up at other schools. We don't know. We'll find out. I suspect they'll end up at the same college as Dajon Williams - University of Sitting at Home on the Couch. Was still on campus this spring. No word in twitters about continuing football career anywhere. Maybe Vito will work up a more in depth thing on what happened to change his mind about football. Or, maybe not.
  4. Release examples: http://www.sj-r.com/article/20160427/SPORTS/160429531 http://www.alligator.org/sports/football/article_13883df6-a67f-11e5-a3f6-aba18b746ca7.html: “Will came to me about exploring his options to transfer. We will support him and help him in anyway we can,” UF coach Jim McElwain said in a statement. http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2016/02/quarterback_morgan_mahalak_wil.html http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/news/kyle-allen-transfer-houston-texas-am-tom-herman/174580lacqpxt1irjte181383m http://www.lex18.com/story/30836776/former-kentucky-qb-reese-phillips-weighing-options http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/04/16/wr-t-v-williams-opts-to-transfer-from-kentucky/ http://tamu.247sports.com/Bolt/With-the-Sooners-eliminated-Knight-to-make-a-decision-soon-42425684 You see the pattern: player asks for release, school grants, player transfer. SCW's story is: I'm quitting football, thanks for the memories; no wait...I'm going to play for South Alabama.
  5. Um...I'm not sure you understand the way these things work. If he asked for his release, that means he was actively seeking a transfer and the school knew about it - hence, their release. This was not the case with SCW. These thing happen with regularity every year - players who want to transfer ask for releases, or player who want to use their first post-graduate year at another school, publicly seek other schools. This, again, was not the case with SCW...unless you believe Brett Vito buried that part of the story. I doubt he would bury something so simple because there is no reason to do so. All in all, the best answer yet has been the one that pointed out that he only had a half tackle for loss, and less than 20 tackles all season long. That type of production isn't all-conference and could probably be surpassed in half a season.
  6. I haven't seen the Dateline special, however, I feel like human nature is, for better or worse, prone to greed. For decades, the tobacco/cigarette industry hid/downplayed medical studies about the adverse effects of its products on longtime users. I do feel like the NFL did the same. As I say, I didn't not see the Dateline special, but I did watch one on PBS a few months ago. It seemed to me like the doctors for the NFL were shills. It was disappointing to see that. They were ignoring the wives (or, at least one wife) of former players who did show CTE after their deaths. I just don't understand it. To me, it's like the circus and animals - why would you mistreat the beings that are making you money? Simply because a new batch is drafted every year? Of course, I think the PBS show - like all shows - was probably skewed to a certain degree; but, not so much to where I think it was akin to a Michael Moore-, Spike Lee-, or Oliver Stone-type skew. I think the PBS show did attempt to let the NFL tell their side; but, the NFL seemed to be to busy trying to prove CTE wasn't caused by football. There is something to this thing, and the NFL and NCAA are starting - albeit reluctantly - to react to it. Unfortunately, my feeling is that they are reacting not out of concern for the players, but concern for their bottom line. I also like the comment about the role of steroids and bigger players. One way or the other, it's still all a part of modern football. Yet, you can go back and read the biographies and autobiographies of former Oakland Raiders and see that the teams are just as guilty as the league as a whole in ignoring/downplaying/glossing over a wide range of player injuries.
  7. My guess is, insurance would be cheap when the premium is split among dozens of peeps. The way to get around multi-ownership shenanigans is to simply make everything transparent. Insurance bill, e-mail goes to all members of the LLC. Maintenance and fees, e-mail goes to all members of the LLC, etc.
  8. It's real...otherwise, the NFL wouldn't be fighting it, in and out of court. Didn't the NFL just make a settlement of almost $1 billion? Did the NFL also not promulgate new, in-game concussion protocol? NCAA as well? It's real. Like smoking increases the chances of different types of cancer, mainly lung, I think head hits in football that lead to concussions lead to CTE. But, like smoking, it doesn't mean everyone who does it is going to suffer from it. Some people smoke until the day they die and don't contract cancer. Many have played football and not suffered from CTE the way, say, a Junior Seau did. Everyone's body is going to react differently. So, like cigarettes, there should always be warnings about what football concussions can do, and proper precautions taken. The NFL and NCAA are admitting to it by their actions. Follow their actions, not their words.
  9. The situations aren't the same. Alec Morris told the Tide he was seeking a transfer; Wallace said he was giving up his final year of eligibility, and said nothing about transferring to another school. Different approaches.
  10. True, he'd be going from one poor defense to another, USA being ranked #83 in total defense in 2015. Perhaps he just wanted a different losing environment. Congratulations to him: he found it. But, why not just say, I want to graduate and play another year somewhere else? Instead of, hey, it was fun, but I'm going to graduate and go get a job. Just be honest, right? Many college football players do that.
  11. 15 pitching in $1,000 a piece 30 pitching in $500 a piece 60 pitching in $250 a piece 120 pitching in $125 a piece 250 pitching in $60 a piece Here's another angle, why wouldn't an on-campus organization be interested in this, like say a fraternity? Or, jointly, a fraternity and sorority? It would be a pretty awesome tailgating piece for a student group, I'd say. How about the alumni group? They could use it as a place to inspire people to join for the alumni organization during tailgates, and at local meetings and functions. Would also be a nice show piece for the athletic department, but.... These are all just ideas. Any student who might happen to read this message board? They should contact the student run newspaper to have an article written about it to, possibly, gin up interest from on-campus groups.
  12. It's a good flick. As to SCW...he really did a good job of selling us on the notion that he just wanted to graduate and get on with post-football life. At 5-7, USA was a ball hair away from bowl qualification last year...or, were they? A closer look shows that they were 5-4 going into their final three games. They lost those three in a row to Georgia State, Georgia Southern, and Appalachian State. One of their other wins was the season opener against FCS Gardner-Webb. Not sure SCW is upgrading that much here. At least he'll be accustomed to losing. This season USA plays Mississippi State and LSU. They also will face San Diego State, last season's Mountain West Conference champion, who went 11-3 in 2015.
  13. Do you keep it at home or at an RV storage place? I'd consider it, but our HOA would never let me keep it in the driveway.
  14. He was given a look. Littrell looked at his Instagram account and saw that he was back in Kentucky planning a birthday drunkfest and decided that wasn't that type of off-season preparation that a quarterback who couldn't complete 50% of his passes needed to be doing. Good riddance. My guess is Smith ends up at the same college Dajon Williams' attends - University of Sitting at Home on the Couch, Pretending To Be College Quarterback Who Doesn't Need To Practice. The USHC Potatoes.
  15. UIW's position coach was former UNT player and grad assistant, Mike Barela. So, at least there's some UNT tie-in to UIW's first NFL signee...right?
  16. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2016/4/30/11545610/undrafted-free-agent-signings-tracker-2016-nfl-draft-udfas Two or three from Liberty. One from University of Calgary. Even one from the new Incarnate Word program. This is the reality: we have a deep, deep talent level issue. Very deep. People talk about giving Littrell 2016 as a pass, no matter how much we lose. Do we really believe that will help with recruiting/talent upgrade? Liberty, a school created by Jerry Falwell, a Canadian Football university, and a small, private start-up here are having players signed at least to free agent deals. Does anyone else look back at 2015 and wonder whether we could have even been competitive at the DII level? On March 6, 1836, Texians and pals were hopelessly trapped in the Alamo and crushed by what we now believe were Mexicans. Then there was the Battle of San Jacinto where the self-proclaimed Napolean of the West was defeated by Texians and pals. What is Littrell? Is he the Alamo, and San Jacinto is our resurrection in FCS? Or, was McCarney the Alamo and Littrell our San Jacinto in remaining FBS? Only time will tell. Time, the Avenger.
  17. The best news of all is the switch to a three front defense. It is difficult enough for big schools to find enough big bodies to run a 4-3 these days. For a school like ours, it was virtually impossible to find enough big bodies even to stick in there to look the part. Many small schools long ago went with three man fronts to become successful on defense. I think mainly of the Utahs and TCUs, both former mid-majors who, due to the inability to recruit enough "big boys" on the D-line, turned to quirky defenses with three man fronts, with the chief weapons of their schemes being speed, fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and a near fanatical devotion to the Pope.
  18. Agree. Schools like ours have to find a coach who can install a system and continually find the right players for it. As examples, I use these three: TCU, Kansas State, and Texas Tech. TCU TCU was never going to get the best recruits. It stumbled into Coach Gary Patterson when Dennis Franchione brought him along. After Franchione left, Patterson doggedly pursued the best athletes to move onto the defensive side of the ball. His goal was "defense first" and he succeeded in getting playing, mostly under-recruited who bought into it. Kansas State Kansas State, while obviously helped by a multi-million dollar donation from a farmer who won the lottery, also cashed in by getting a coach in Bill Snyder whose stubborn willingness to the "run first" offense, "stop the run first" defense put perennial college joke Kansas State on the map for the better part of the last three decades. On Snyder's offense you can be sure on one thing - there will usually be a big-bodied quarterback, who has an average arm, but has the ability to run 20 times a game to wear out most opposing defenses. And, Snyder's defenses will always be hard-hitting and ball-hawking. They will gamble and lose because of this. But, they have won much more than they've lost with their gambling, hard-hitting defenses. Another thing Snyder always has is almost impeccable special teams. Great kickers, dangerous returners, swarming cover teams. And Snyder does it in the most unconventional way - unheralded Kansas school boys mixed with loads of JUCOs. Texas Tech It is well-known that Spike Dykes made Texas Tech consistently competitive with an annually stellar run game, and a hard-nosed defense lit by blue-collar overachievers like Zach Thomas. Dykes was to the SWC what Snyder was to the Big 8 - a constant thorn in the flesh to the traditional powers who used to clobber their respective schools. However, Mike Leach turned it up a notch by also winning consistently, but by passing...and passing and passing...and passing some more. Like Patterson finding the right guys on defense, and Snyder finding the big running QBs and hard hitting defenders, Leach found relatively unheralded QBs and WRs and built Tech's fortune upon them. Leach's only sin was virtually ignoring all other phases of the game - defense and special teams. Going to fourth down when it would leave the special teams on the sideline or leave the defense defending much less real estate was Leach's calling card. His ego also eventually got the better of him. What UNT Needs From Littrell Because he will never compete for the best, or even second or third best players, Littrell has got to do what Patterson and Snyder did - find hard hitting defenders from either side of the high school ball - and find QBs and WRs as effective as Leach found for his version of the spread. It is a tall order. Our talent may not bear much NFL fruit at first. However, eventually many of those outlier preps and JUCOs from Patterson, Snyder, and Leach's reigns did find their way into the NFL. The only variable now is time: will it be kind to us or will it use us like a kitty litter box?
  19. I think it's just a sentiment that really is hurtful to longtime North Texas supporters. North Texas State had a really good football tradition. Many conference championships. Many players sent to the NFL. Even coaches who eventually went to the NFL! So, for old timers, it's very hard to see what has happened over the past three to four decades. It's a 180 degree turnaround from the 50s, 60s, and 70s when North Texas State had an excellent program. UNT, on the other hand, had a great four year streak under Darrell Dickey and whisper of success for one year under Dan McCarney...and, that's been it in the 21 seasons after returning to I-A/FBS status. We have a beautiful stadium now, and that's about it. It is sad. Very sad. We used to have good teams in a poor stadium. Now we had bad teams in a great stadium. You are probably right, though, no matter how much it hurts to say it out loud. If Littrell does fail to "turn it around," our prospects of ever catching up to a college football world that is getting more and more expensive on the top end will be just about nil. Then, we will probably have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves whether continually propping the program up with University money is really money well spent. In short, it's a problem. A real problem. A real, sad problem. A very real, sad problem. And, we have it.
  20. New Mexico State should drop down as well. I applaud these schools for facing the music. The NCAA and bigger schools, really, upped the ante by marrying into television marketing. The bigger schools took advantage of it; others were slow to catch on. Some, like Baylor, got lucky by being able to freeload off the Big 12 for a decade before finally finding the right coach...who was willing to recruit the criminal element necessary to keep up with OU and Texas. Boise State caught lightning in a bottle by beating Oklahoma 10 years ago. But, that was long ago and never got them an invite to hang with the cool crowd schools. TCU fought like hell on and off the field to get an Big Boy invite. Gotta admire that. They are the true outlier from the beginning of the shake up that began in 1995/96. Idaho, New Mexico State, Eastern Michigan...at some point, you have to look around and ask yourself whether the millions of dollars the school is kicking in to keep the football program afloat at FBS-level is worth it. It really hasn't been for these schools. Keep the money for academics and quit tilting at the football windmills. No shame in having a competitive FCS program. One will have its QB drafted in the first round this year. Can't blame them for the drop down. If they win more games, it'll be better for their fan bases.
  21. Texas Tech redshirt freshman Jakari Dillard announced Monday that he was transferring from Texas Tech to Central Arkansas. https://twitter.com/JakariDillard?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author His dad played football at OU and is the head coach at Princeton High. Presumably, Littrell and Dillard's paths may have crossed with his at some point because both are former OU players. He was at Texas Tech for two, the school of new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. You look at this kid's twitter, look at his high school offers and rankings...what's not to like? So, how does he go from Texas Tech to Central Arkansas with his family living in the region and probably some ties to the new head coach and offensive coordinator? Rivals lists an offer from us a couple of years ago: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/131864 We need receivers. Unless the kid was just a total bust at Tech, hard to see how he wasn't on the radar of someone in our football office. If we are giving preferred walk-on status to kids from small Oklahoma towns who had no Division I offers, hard to see how much more of a flyer we'd have been taking on a kid like this.
  22. We schedule FCS schools anyway, right? This would put us ahead of schedule, so to speak.
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