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The players were in shorts/jerseys and helmets. No Pads. The following is only based on 1 practice, so take it with a grain of salt, but this is what I saw: The first 1/4 of practice was primarily stretching/warmup, 2nd 1/4 was individual positional drils, 3rd 1/4 was team/group drills (QB/WR vs DBs, Linemen together, ST), and the last 1/4 was 11 on 11 touch with 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and 3 vs 3 (although there were 5 QBs that saw action). Not surprisingly, I spent a lot of time focused on the QBs, so I will just summarize them in this post. The good news is that I don't think there will be as much of a logjam as people thing. The bad news is that some of the people that are expected to be part of that log jam did not look like they were close to competing (at least for today). In terms of who was getting the most reps, it seemed pretty clear that McNulty was getting the most, then Greer, then I would say DW, then Means, then the rest (although Cousins did get a series during 11 on 11 and the rest of the rest did not). McNulty - Looked pretty much like the end of last year. He did not get an arm transplant over the winter. Greer - Seemed to get reps as the #2 most of the day. I hope he was just having a bad day, because IMO he looked bad. Really bad. Even in individual drills he took way too long getting rid of the ball and accuracy was not there. It did not get any better for him in the skill position drills or the 11 on 11. I would not even have him in the top 4 based on what I saw today. I am sure Greer will continue to get opportunity since he is starting out at 2 on the depth chart, but would not surprise me to see him drop down before end of spring if any of the guys below can push him. DW - Looked similar to last year. Not much extra bulk from what I could tell. Some positive moments, but then would follow it up with mental mistakes, fumbled snaps, etc... Means - Maybe just a bad day, but I did not think he looked good at all. His accuracy was off most of the day. Release was slightly quicker than Greer. Did not seem to have a lot of zip on the ball to me. I was disappointed by what I saw today. Chumley - Man is he athletic, but raw/raw/raw. His mechanics make Jameis Winston look like Tom Brady. He was clearly lost during most of the early drills, could not throw a spiral, and was throwing everything high, real high. Maybe some of it was nerves. He settled down a bit, but not before setting a first impression. It would be hard for me to envision him making the top 3 or 4 of the depth chart by the start of the season, but not sure that is the plan anyway. I expect him to work his tail off during a redshirt season if he wants to play QB. Wells - Lefty. Reasonably strong arm with decent speed. Not tall. Actually got in a series during the 11 on 11 drill. It would surprise me if he is ready to make the jump into the top 3 on the depth chart, but if he keeps working, he has some potential/ability down the road. Cousins - Makes McNulty's arm look strong. Not sure the story here, but will need to continue working hard and increase arm strength to see time as a QB. Shanbour - Did not participate in 11 on 11 so did not get to evaluate with active linemen rushing him. Of the drills he participated in, I would say he looked the most impressive. He seemed to be the smallest of the QBs. Maybe the same height as Wells, but not the girth. Strong, accurate arm. Kept the ball down. Looked very good in the WR vs DB drills where there were 3 or 4 WR in the pattern. Picked apart the defense in the drill. Quickest release of the QBs I saw today. Canales had him (only him) signalling plays during the 11 on 11. He was coaching up some of the new guys (Chumley for example) during the drills when they didn't know what to do. Showing leadership. Grimm - Seemed to have a decent arm. Speed did not stand out to me. Did not get in 11 on 11 and I am not sure if he got in the WR vs DB drill. Kind of gets an incomplete since I did not see him enough to form a strong opinion. I say it was Grimm that I was watching. The payer had a red jersey with #16 on it. Grimm is listed on the roster as a WR. There was also a WR wearing #16 white jersey. I was not watching close enough to see if it was the same player and just removing the red jersey, but the WR #16 seemed to have a little something and definitely had some size on the outside. Would like to know who it was playing WR if it was not Grimm. If I had to knee jerk rate the QBs after day 1, mine would be (I am sure others would see it differently): McNulty Williams Shanbour Wells/Means Greer Chumley/Cousins/Grimm

The 2015 version of UNT’s Spring Game did not offer any major surprises. The chance for that set sail when it was announced talented junior college transfer quarterback DaMarcus Smith would not be eligible to participate in Spring Ball due to academics. There was however some interesting footnotes which are worth mentioning. I will preface this by restating a recurrent theme of my close to 20-years of following UNT football. In the bigger scheme of things, the Spring game doesn’t matter that much. Sure, it matters to the team and certainly the players who are vying for playing time at their respective positions. But it’s one day out of 20+, which is a small subset of the total evaluation. Too often, players who make the biggest impact in the game end up not returning in the Fall or drop back down the depth chart once a bevy of scholarship and preferred walk-ons enter the picture in late August [see Erick Evans last year who barely played on Saturday]. Junior college guys who just arrived are still learning the plays and the schemes. Injuries keep some of the better players off of the field [Tillman Johnson]. With that disclaimer out of the way, it is still exciting to be in beautiful Apogee stadium one last time before the dreaded UNT 5-month off hibernation period begins. The weather Saturday was nice, almost too nice as the 1st half of the game got pretty hot. I saw some older fans leave prior to 2nd quarter due to the heat. Cloud cover saved the day at around half time and by the second half things started cooling off and actually perfect game day weather as the sun set in the west. Read more: This post has been promoted to an article PS thanks to UNT 90 Grad for the pic!