MGB: Kevin Dillman to UNT

[Brett Vito]

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/breaking-kevin-dillman-to-unt.html/

[TheWestie]

Just got word: @DentonGuyerFB TE/H-back Kevin Dillman (@kevindillman10) committed to North Texas this evening. Big get for Mean Green. #GMG

— Adam Boedeker (@aboedeker)

January 16, 2015

[BillySee58]

A link to his recruiting thread. This is a huge commitment. I also have posts in his thread explaining his situation and his story.

[greenit]

Well, his comments seem to put to rest any ideas about the QB position. Hopefully that is a good thing based on the numbers of candidates we have at that position.

[Charlie NT 73]

Outstanding!

Welcome to the North Texas family Kevin!

[Mean Green 93-98]

Great get! Welcome to the Mean Green Family, Kevin!

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

Welcome to the family Kevin! #GMG

[Marty]

Awesome news for a change. Welcome aboard Kevin.

[Harry]

Great news!!

[UNTLifer]

I find it short sighted that he would not be given a shot at QB. He is the highest rated QB with real size that I ever remember committing to us.

Edited January 17, 2015 by UNTLifer

[MeanGreenZen]

Guyer coach John Walsh has coached Colby Freeman (A&M), Kirby Freeman (Miami), Jarrett Lee (LSU), JW Walsh (OSU) Jerrod Heard (Texas) and the No. 1 '17 QB in the country, Shawn Robinson. He knows what a D1 QB looks like and he is pretty adamant that Dillman is NOT a D1 QB.

I would hate to see such an athlete be wasted as a TE in our offense with 200 yards receiving on the year like our current TE's. Hope we move this dude to DE.

[MeanGreenZen]

I heard that Dillman can throw the ball a mile, which when you combine it with his size and speed, is why schools like Nebraska offered him before getting a real good look at him. But his slow delivery, poor mechanics and ugly footwork couldn't even be salvaged by a QB guru like Walsh. Not my opinion, but what I am hearing from sources close to the program. Nobody wants a Messiah-like QB for the Mean Green more than me, but it is not going to be Dillman.

[Cooley]

We were just another TE away from turning this program around. He surely redshirts behind 2 seniors. You would think a much faster Chumley also plays ahead of him. Where are the impact Defensive Linemen?

[FirefightnRick]

Question. So this kid hasn't played in over a year, or did he? And he was denied eligibility this past season when he move here from California with his legal guardian because his parents live overseas? But every kid in Everman and Crowley with 4.5 speed that wants to transfer to another nearby school can do so while their siblings remain back in Everman and Crowley?

The UIL is as £¥<%ed up as the NCAA.

And even more strange, one of the write ups said, even though he was ineligible to pay varsity he could still play JV? How are you able to play JV as a senior? Did the UIL change their rules?

Rick

[UNTLifer]

Nebraska dropped him due to a coaching change and his torn Achilles. I would still give him a look considering our difficulty in finding a solid QB.

[UNTLifer]

He did play JV last year. Wondered the same thing.

[FirefightnRick]

He did play JV last year. Wondered the same thing.

Maybe he's a year younger or something?

Rick

[TheWestie]

Question. So this kid hasn't played in over a year, or did he? And he was denied eligibility this past season when he move here from California with his legal guardian because his parents live overseas? But every kid in Everman and Crowley with 4.5 speed that wants to transfer to another nearby school can do so while their siblings remain back in Everman and Crowley?

The UIL is as £¥<%ed up as the NCAA.

And even more strange, one of the write ups said, even though he was ineligible to pay varsity he could still play JV? How are you able to play JV as a senior? Did the UIL change their rules?

Rick

He was denied eligibility to play Varsity sports by the UIL because of his move into the district. I think UIL thought it looked a little too much like a "moved here just to play football" thing. Like that kid at Southlake tried to do not long ago.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/sports-headlines/20140825-football-dillman-staying-at-guyer.ece

http://drchighschoolblog.dentonrc.com/2014/12/dillman-has-nebraska-offer-pulled.html/

[MeanGreenZen]

Nebraska dropped him due to a coaching change and his torn Achilles. I would still give him a look considering our difficulty in finding a solid QB.

I was told Nebraska dropped him because it turns out he is not a QB prospect and they weren't interested in Dillman as an athlete. I was also told that Dillman is an awesome kid, great worker and excellent student. I am just not getting excited about this commitment because when has UNT ever had a TE that made an impact on the program? Jeff Muncheuw (sp)? Andy Blount? You have to go WAY back.

[Mean Green 93-98]

I was told Nebraska dropped him because it turns out he is not a QB prospect and they weren't interested in Dillman as an athlete. I was also told that Dillman is an awesome kid, great worker and excellent student. I am just not getting excited about this commitment because when has UNT ever had a TE that made an impact on the program? Jeff Muncheuw (sp)? Andy Blount? You have to go WAY back.

I guess you'd need to define "impact." Andrew Power was a very good blocking tight end, and made an impact in our run game. If you are specifically talking about receiving, Drew Miller had far more receptions, yards, and TDs than Muenchow, as did Power per year.

[greenit]

He is an athlete with size that will allow him to play many positions. We can't have too many of these types of players. Eventually, they will make the program better. Congrats to Kevin and welcome to the Mean Green!

[MeanGreenZen]

I guess you'd need to define "impact." Andrew Power was a very good blocking tight end, and made an impact in our run game. If you are specifically talking about receiving, Drew Miller had far more receptions, yards, and TDs than Muenchow, as did Power per year.

I guess I wouldn't really define any of the players above as "impact" players. And I would define an impact player as the type of player that frequently makes positive plays that lead to wins. McCarney's recruiting classes have not had many impact players.

[BillySee58]

I heard that Dillman can throw the ball a mile, which when you combine it with his size and speed, is why schools like Nebraska offered him before getting a real good look at him. But his slow delivery, poor mechanics and ugly footwork couldn't even be salvaged by a QB guru like Walsh. Not my opinion, but what I am hearing from sources close to the program. Nobody wants a Messiah-like QB for the Mean Green more than me, but it is not going to be Dillman.

Guyer coach John Walsh has coached Colby Freeman (A&M), Kirby Freeman (Miami), Jarrett Lee (LSU), JW Walsh (OSU) Jerrod Heard (Texas) and the No. 1 '17 QB in the country, Shawn Robinson. He knows what a D1 QB looks like and he is pretty adamant that Dillman is NOT a D1 QB.

I would hate to see such an athlete be wasted as a TE in our offense with 200 yards receiving on the year like our current TE's. Hope we move this dude to DE.

No disrespect to you or your source, but a lot of this is incorrect. You don't take a qb commitment 10 months before national signing day if you haven't gotten a real good look at him, which is what Nebraska did. Dillman threw live or had scouts at his games for almost every school that offered, including Nebraska. Head coach Bo Pelini got fired, so they got a new head coach and staff. They didn't want Dillman. It's not that Nebraska the program decided "never mind". Pelini stopped recruiting quarterbacks and was set with Dillman as the qb of his class until the day he got fired.

Also, I don't know whose analysis that is, but Dillman has great feet and the west coast offense they ran at La Mirada showcased it, with all the 5-step drops and rollouts from under center. I was looking at Dillman's 247 profile last night after he committed and they agreed. They gave his feet a 9/10 rating. I understand a difference in opinion, but to say he has terrible feet is really a stretch. He also doesn't have a great release, but it really isn't that slow. One of the good things about him being from Sweden is that he didn't grow up playing baseball. It's not uncommon that qbs who grew up playing baseball will have longer, winding releases like a pitcher. Which many of them were, like Tim Tebow and Derek Thompson among others who did have this type of release. His problem is that he tends to short arm throws which can lead to under throwing, and it did on one play in particular in his highlights.

Mechanically I think he's better than any other high school qb we've signed under Mccarney. Not great, and he certainly needs reps like crazy. In his highlights he almost never checked down. Things like that which you need a lot of reps, some of which you need physical reps to get down. But that's an easy fix.

As for Walsh, I do wonder the same thing when I hear him talk. But at the same time many D1 coaches believed he could be a D1 qb, including Jimbo Fisher (head coach of 2013 Heisman trophy winner Jameis Winston) and Gus Malzahn (OC of 2010 Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton).

Dillman was recovering from a torn Achilles all spring semester so Walsh didn't have that much time to work with him, and Dillman couldn't fully participate in spring drills. Then he was ruled ineligible for the spring so he really didn't have any time to develop him then either. With the way everything happened I also read Walsh's comments as basically saying at this point his chances of anyone giving him a shot at qb are gone. So he's just going to have to be a tight end.

I wonder what Chico thinks about Dillman. Going off of the other high school qbs we've brought in I can't imagine he's not beggin for the coaches to give him a chance to develop Dillman. It'll be interesting to see how the logjam unfolds. If Chumley is moved to tight end after spring/before fall camp, and we see Greer and/or Dajon transfer then I wouldn't be surprised to see Dillman come in as a qb. But it does appear tight end is the plan. So we'll see.

[FirefightnRick]

He was denied eligibility to play Varsity sports by the UIL because of his move into the district. I think UIL thought it looked a little too much like a "moved here just to play football" thing. Like that kid at Southlake tried to do not long ago.

Hell, just about every top player for Aledo was allowed to do the very same thing and the UIL allowed it for them?

I don't get it?

Rick

[BillySee58]

For those who like to look at the ratings, Dillman is the highest-rated commitment we've ever received on ESPN (79 rating, 1 point shy of a 4-star) and 247 (86 rating, 4 points shy of a 4-star). He's our first 3-star high-school commitment for the class on Rivals and our highest rated commit on scout.

He's also, to my knowledge, the first player we've ever signed out of high school to be rated a 5-star at any point, as 247 had him rated a 98, which is considered a 5-star, last February. At least in the recruiting website era.

Hopefully we can finish strong with the other 3 uncommitted prospects at Guyer who we have offered.

Edited January 17, 2015 by BillySee58