Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Mike Nelson'.
Found 5 results
-
UNT made the switch on its coaching staff official today, announcing that Mike Nelson has ridden off into the sunset and retirement on his motorcycle and will be replaced by Kevin Patrick, a former South Florida assistant coach. We have talked about both moves extensively, but have yet to delve into the departure of one of the more interesting figures in recent UNT history in terms of assistant coaches. Nelson was around for five seasons, which is a pretty long time in the world of college athletics. I don’t think we ever exchanged more than a passing hello in all that time. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2014/01/unt-makes-dl-coach-switch-official-now-for-some-thoughts.html/ -
In the heat of the summer, when the temperature soared into triple digits and times were at their toughest during workouts, Aaron Bellazin kept reminding his fellow North Texas defensive linemen about the perception of how they would impact the Mean Greens season. UNT had a veteran quarterback in Derek Thompson, a stable of good running backs, a veteran offensive line and potentially one of the best linebackers in Conference USA in Zach Orr. What it didnt have was a lot of certainty on its defensive front. Defensive end Brandon McCoy and defensive tackle Ryan Boutwell missed spring practice with injuries, while Richard Abbe, the anchor of UNTs defensive front, was suspended most of the summer after he was charged with DWI. Those players were part of a unit that lost its best player in end K.C. Obi to graduation following last season, when the Mean Greens line was considered average at best. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20131117-football-unt-making-big-noise-up-front-on-defense.ece
-
From the album: UNT vs. Rice 2013
© GoMeanGreen.com
-
UNT fans were pretty spoiled for years when it came to watching great defensive fronts. UNT had Brandon Kennedy, a two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year; Adrian Awasom, who went on to play for the Giants; Evan Cardwell, who played for the Dallas Desperadoes; Michael Pruitt, who passed on an offer from Kansas to play for the Mean Green. The list goes on and on. As UNT heads into the 2013 season, its defensive front is a huge question mark instead of the strength of the team it used to be. UNT lost its most productive player in defensive end K.C. Obi and a nose tackle with size in Tevinn Cantly to graduation at the end of last season. The situation has only become more dicey since. JUCO defensive end Quenton Brown looked like he would step in for Obi, who led UNT in sacks 5.5 and tackles for loss 10.5 last season, but tore his ACL late in spring practice, an injury that will likely put him out for at least the first few games of the season. UNT head coach Dan McCarney later indefinitely suspended Richard Abbe, one of the only guys the team had left with the size to play nose tackle, due to off-the-field issues. High school signee Dylan McDorman had to give up football due to shoulder injuries. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2013/06/post-spring-questions-series-no-5-is-unt-in-trouble-up-front-defensively.html/
-
After a brief hiatus to cover some news of the day over the last week or so, it’s time to resume my post spring series look at UNT’s roster position by position. Today, we move over to defensive tackles. A year ago at this time, UNT appeared to be in a world of hurt at the position. UNT leaned on Kelvin Jackson and Shavod Atkinson in 2010 and lost both to graduation. Head coach Dan McCarney vowed to play a lot of defensive linemen and rotate them, which was good idea in principle. The problem in 2010 and to a certain extent last year was UNT didn’t have enough guys who could play to rotate. UNT ended up leaning on Richard Abbe, Tevinn Cantly and Ryan Boutwell, a trio of guys who was far from proven. Boutwell came into the year as an undersized converted defensive end. Abbe needed to lose weight. Cantly looked the part then and still does now, but had struggled to put it together on the field, due partly to a series of injuries. The interesting part of the situation is that Dan McCarney is about as respected a defensive line guru as there is in college football. The hope was he could work some magic, along with defensive line coach Mike Nelson. Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2012/06/post-spring-football-series-part-7-defensive-tackles.html/