Cooley

https://www.hudl.com/profile/11295452/Zach-Evans https://youtu.be/GltugK3HHcU?si=gozFdUkEPsOORfDC

It's never my intent to beat up on a kid publicly. I'd rather read both the pro's and con's of a kid; instead of the usual "superlatives" only of a recruit. (Funny how we never see a bad Hudl) In fact, I generally discount about 25% of what I read about our recruit(s); depending on source. I'm a little more familiar with Giles having followed his HS career at SOC. Purdue came by the school last year and offered damn near the whole defense when Ricky was a soph. (About 10 mid-high majors came by this week) As you may be aware, schools are reneging more and more on high school kids that they may have offered early. Not saying that they may have pulled their offer but I would not be surprised. Purdue has brought in 3 safeties during this portal period. (lost 2) with a total 31 transferring in. Many of the top P4 programs generally don't lose this many. The movement of kids up and/down in the portal just proves to me that there isn't much difference (P4 vs P5) in talent outside of the top 20-30% of the roster. I'm ok with Giles but like to see more urgency to win now with portal kids than high school kids. (Unless they are "Elite)

Don't understand this offer. Giles is an average/slightly above average high school safety. I think the focus should continue to be on portal kids unless a high schooler is elite. Giles is not elite. Also not a standout basketball player as mentioned above. If he signs and sticks, he'd be a career reserve and special team contributor. We need to attract higher profiled kids from the HS ranks. Seems to be a high character kid though.

Why question his attitude?

Same types of things were said about Chandler Rogers the year before. Although the negativity was greater after he left. This is one reason folks can lose me with talk about the kids aren't loyal to the program anymore.

Jumped over Mike Peterson from Stephens to Benford when he was the worst??

January 3, 2025 DJ Thomas #15 Blue (UNT signee/Allen HS) vs DJ Hall #0 (Texas State/Plano East).

No disrespect intended but what have they done? They've had a few good years but they have not become Boise State. And yes, I know we are currently beneath them.

No I don't. But who does these day?

I don't agree that he has a "better" arm than Jimerson. Have you seen him play? 4-year starter (6A ball) 9,239 Career Passing Yards 130 Passing TD’s 2,281 Rushing Yards 22 Rushing TD’s State Champion Like everyone, I was pleasantly surprised with Mestemaker. Looks like we will be covered at the QB position next year. May the competition begin. Jimerson, however, will not take the field as a "Trick Play" QB.

How much time was actually spent talking transfer portal rather than the game just a few days ago during this press conference? Morris was obviously more excited talking about next year than this game.

50th time, Jason Bean did not backup Rogers. The coach alternated series with Rogers. I attended 3 games and followed Lake Ridge on TV during the playoffs. In fact, I don't remember Rogers playing deep in the playoffs. High School: • Rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports composite rankings and 247Sports. • Received offers from Colorado State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech and SMU. • Passed for 1,682 yards and 20 touchdowns, and rushed for 694 yards and three touchdowns for a Class 5A Division I state quarterfinalist as a senior. • Passed for 2,956 yards and 29 touchdowns, and rushed for 530 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior. • Second-team all-district 10-5A selection as a junior. https://www.maxpreps.com/tx/mansfield/lake-ridge-eagles/athletes/jason-bean/football/stats/?careerid=khdn945e2bv33

How will Andrew feel when he learns that a kid hit the portal? "We should disconnect from him. He simply ran away. We need to stop normalizing selfishness. It’s destroying college sports. I will never change my mind on this. Ever. I don’t care who it is or what team it happens to. It needs to stop. One transfer and no NIL. Needs to be fixed ASAP."

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. The kid was 4th string on a .500 team. So you feel we shouldn't try to upgrade the roster, including running back? Why are you so defensive about this particular player? As though the majority of the kids on the team don't bust their ass? "most fiercely competitive, overachieving, players that ever put on a NT uniform". Really? If he felt that way and/or the coaches, he may not have hit the portal. Kudos to him though, he followed his parents and a sibling to KState; where he mostly played on special. We had a need at RB and he moved over. Good story. I stand by my opinion that we need to always try to upgrade the roster at all positions. As for as other NT RB's that brought notoriety to the program with their impact: Patrick Cobb, Lance Dunbar, JaQuan Wilburn, Jeffrey Wilson, DeAundre Torrey, Kevin Galbreath, Antoine Jimmerson, Eric Pegram, Malcolm Jones, Bernard Jackson and Adeyi to name a few.

I think effective immediately, Juco will become the attractive route to take for many kids and college recruiters. Why go straight out of high school to a 4 (or 5) year university only to sit and redshirt. Go to Juco for 2 years of development, start from day 1 then take advantage of 4 additional years of eligibility at the U? College recruiters can pickup up "ready to play" juco kids that now have 4 years of eligibility left. Obviously, the current 4-5 star high school recruit will continue to go directly to the U to take advantage of the largest NIL deals. Anyway, just a thought

Overall depth and size should be much better. Would like to see more explosive (All-Conference) guys on offense. More to come

Sounds like it may be time to take smaller projected attendance games to the Snake Pit.

Nothing new here. When I was in high school, the only school that advanced to the playoffs was the district champion. For whatever reason, the UIL allows 4 teams today. Majority of lower seeds almost always get blown out in the first round. Same with the NCAA basketball tournament that expanded from around 12 back in the 70's to 65 or 66. Most result in blowouts. I agreed with a modest expansion but not the current 65. They are now talking about over 70. Everything is 100% about money and the quality of the product left some time ago.

Seems like a lot of coaches take new jobs right before bowl games. https://gobearkats.com/news/2024/12/1/football-keeler-to-step-down-as-bearkat-head-coach.aspx

Similarities Very similar: Products of winning programs. DeSoto should have won at least one State Championship under White and Jimerson did. Both are/were pass first quarterbacks though dual threats to take it to the house from the pocket or roll outs. Both are/were high IQ quarterbacks that rarely make mistakes. Huge passing/rushing yardage throughout their career. Both are/were undersized by P4 standards Both were surrounded by exceptional P4 talent with explosive offenses Both ran/run 4.4 40's. Neither received serious offers to play QB Differences Jimerson is about 5-11, 165 to White's 5-7, 155. White was the starter for 2 years and Jimerson since his freshman year. Jimerson may be better passing out of the pocket. Both are/were equally accurate passers, White may have been a tad better. White committed to UNT as his lone offer before committing to TCU. Jimerson committed to TCU first before signing with UNT. Though White decommitted from UNT, I still feel he was the better overall HS quarterback; with less weapons. RB Dontre Wilson was a national recruit that committed to Oregon but signed with Ohio St. Just some thoughts