MeanGreenTexan

If he can be an effective TE, then by all means, put him there. I'll bet he can block well! I'm just worried about DT depth though. Beyond Atkinson and Jackson, we are a little inexperienced. Brian Waters was a little before my time, but if Ross can be as good as Waters, that would be great!

I really don't recall hearing much AT ALL from coach Ford. With the limited time and venue in which he was talking, coach Canales came across as a guy very much like Todd Dodge in respect to his care for the guys as men and not just players. I hope to hear more from him soon. I'd like to hear what some of the guys have to say about him. I don't recall hearing lots of guys praising coach Ford (not that they were bashing him or anything either). Hopefully, we'll hear them speak highly of coach Canales. You can accomplish more if you believe in what's coming down from leadership.

I thought he was one of our more effective DT's...

Well, at least we've beefed up the DE spots with last year's and this year's classes. With Jackson and Atkinson gone next year, we'll have immediate playing time to offer Juco DT's.

Glad to have him back for next year, I hope we see a little more improvement from Alzee in the coming weeks. I just hope that Josh doesn't run out of gas come tournament time. I think we've really missed Dom this year.

Do we know if Dominique will be available for the SBC tourney (or possibly before)?? If not, do we know if coach Jones plans to/is able to use a redshirt for him?

I hope Olen turns into a real difference maker this year. The stats are impressive. Having a kicker you can trust is something that Dodge has not yet experienced in his 3 years here. We didn't know what we lost when Baz graduated...

Hope to be at the Pourhouse for Dodge's show... Do we know if the NT Athletics website will be blogging with all of the LOI's that come in like they did last year?

Yeah, this is a fairly common practice. Some H.S. coaches just don't have the grades to make it in division 1 football... so sad.

We picked up a kicker in Olen, and I thought Atteberry was pretty good last year as a true freshman. Let's hope that Olen is better than Knott...

For real? That's awful... I would expect Tune to have better discipline than Riley did last year as a RS freshman. I think Riley should only improve over this offseason, and the results should be fewer INT's and fumbles. Tune is a nice backup. No question that Riley has the better wheels though, and in Dodge's system, and Canales' system, that is a huge part of the QB position. I'm lookinig forward to seeing Riley's improvements, and in the horrible case that he goes down, I'll be confident in Tune's abilities.

Whoa! Finally, someone that Josh can tower over! How is Taylor's defense? Maybe having a short guy guarding Josh will allow him to really light up the scoreboard ,as if he doesn't do that enough already... maybe get to 40pts?

I think Dodge will still be involved in gameplanning, especially offensively. I'm not sure what his role was with Ford here, but if Dodge was calling plays, then what the heck was Ford doing?? Your O.C. calls plays! Your O.C. picks the guys that he wants on the field when he calls the plays! It's no surprise that Dodge is saying these things... We'll really get to see the changes on the first 4th & 1 play. Dodge will have to make the call to go for it or not, and Canales should have the play ready. No more 2 timeouts then kick a field goal nonsense... Before coach Canales is done here, y'all are going to be wearing gold-plated diapers!

Doesn't coach Canales rely on dual-threat QB's? I would hardly call Tune a dual-threat... Nice in the pocket, but he's not going to pick up large chunks of yards with his legs. Also, coach Canales mentioned Riley, comparing him to his own QB's at USF. I think the job is Riley's to lose, as it should be. IMO, it would take a terrible spring for Riley to lose the starting job.

While I certainly loved the glory days of those defenses, I don't think DeLoach's past successes let him off the hook for the past 2 years. Now we're hearing (albeit from a recurit who is not even on campus) that DeLoach could not blitz and do things he wanted to do because he didn't have the horses in the defensive backfield. Well, over this offseason, they picked up some quality juco DB's. I think this is a make-or-break season for DeLoach, just like it is for Dodge. And while there is an arguement for turnovers and special teams leaving the defense with a short field to protect, I think it's only a fraction of the points the D surrendered. Other than the Ball State and Army games, I saw teams moving the ball against us at will for the past 2 years no matter where they started on the field. We know coach DeLoach has it in him as FFR pointed out... I just hope to see the fruits this year.

I suppose this will depend on many factors: Kicking game improvement? Riley's improvement? Coach Dodge's game management skills? etc... If coach Dodge can effectively run the team, then of course you keep him around! You prefer to use the term "prop him up", but I would say Dodge is surrounding himself with good people. If Dodge truly has a good football mind (and I believe he does), then it should manifest itself this year in the Win column provided the factors listed above come together. If he just doesn't have it, then that will manifest itself as well. This is rightly the make-or-break year for coach Dodge. I hope he succeeds because I like the guy. But I love my University and if he can't get it together this year, it's time to move on.

This team seems to be enigmatic: The UAB tourney saw us lose to Samford, only to pick up a nice win against UAB. Then, we knock off USA, only to drop the next two horrifically. I just wish we could see some consistency from the ladies... Coach Stephens seemed like a great hire in the beginning. We should give her the same leeway we provided Todd Dodge to try and make it work!

Many have stated thier frustration with Dodge is in keeping the best QB off the field, or being stretched too thin with calling plays and being the CEO of the team at the same time, and just plain not understanding the game at the BCS level. While I don't think Dodge himself is in over his head, I do believe he brought in some assistants who were. The hiring of coach Canales is reflective of a long line of excellent replacement hires by Dodge: He re-hired DeLoach after finding that Mendoza was utterly outcoached in every game. He pushed for a dedicated FB strength & conditioning position, then brought in one of the best in Ausmus, and a guy most of us are very happy with in Gahagan. He shifted Gandy over to Special teams where we saw many improvements last year (hope to see better kicking this season). He brought in coach Nelson to take over the D-Line. Then, he gets coach Canales... and here we are. Optimism in the form of Green KoolAid. Everyone he hired so far has the much desired skins-on-the-wall. With this hire, many of coach Dodge's fiercest critics are easing off (even praising him), and seem to think this will free him up to focus on game management. The "cupboard is bare" and "young team" arguements are no longer valid. I don't think anyone here is too concerned over the talent of the players (other than D-Line, and I think there are 100's of other schools in our boat). My question is: Do we trust Todd Dodge to drive this machine he's built to a 7-5 or better year in 2010?

Looks like among the other experiences Coach Canales gained, he also studied under Dickey in the "playsheet in my pants" formation. Ah, the memories! Dickey-esque

If I were Dodge, this would be one of my first assignments for Coach Canales.

Any idea of when the press conference will be? I'd love to hear what Coach Canales has to say about coming here.

Wow, those are some pretty respected names to be praising Canales... looking forward to seeing him deliver for the Mean Green!

I was beginning to wonder if this was going to happen. This looks like a great hire! Though there have been some head-scratching moments, I like Dodge's offense overall... I think having Coach Canales on board, will help keep those head-scratching moments to a minimum. Gotta love the guy's spread knowledge/experience. And, being a receivers coach on the NFL level should help Coach George and the WRs. Hopefully, Dodge will loosen the reigns on the offense and trust his hire to run it. Now, about the defense...

What are these ties? I agree, if we had to lose one of the two DeSoto players, Eddie would be my first choice.

Not that he had much political clout anyway, but I'm pretty sure Craig James has shot his political career in Texas in the foot with this situation. It's certainly not helping...