MGB: Kevin Dillman to UNT

MeanGreenTexan · January 18, 2015

Yeah, that's kind of how I'm looking at the situation on our team.
We have a former 5-star qb who his high school coached in California raved about and Jimbo Fisher, Gus Malzahn, Butch Jones, and 15 other FBS head coaches believed could play QB for them. But Coach Walsh at Guyer says no, so disregard all of their opinions. Mark Richt didn't think Nick Marshall could be a QB, but Malzahn took him at Auburn and made it to the national championship game with him. Even if they didn't have a traditional offense. Malzahn also believed Dillman could play QB for him.
Meanwhile, even if we hit a homerun on JUCO QB Damarcus Smith, we still have nothing but question marks for our long-term QB options. RS Sophomore Dajon Williams has had commitment and work ethic issues, and has really struggled to capitize on his talent. He also only had one other offer, from an FCS school (Montana). RS Freshman Connor Means was here last spring but wasn't able to throw his name in the mix for a weak and open QB competition. And he was a below average high school QB, completing under 50% of his passes and throwing 10 TDs to 9 interceptions as a high school senior. And incoming Caleb Chumley just does not have the film that suggests he'll stick at QB. Which is why, of his 12 offers, us and ULM were the only ones to offer him a chance at QB.
Maybe a young QB steps up and Dillman makes a great tight end. But Mccarney's evaluation of QB recruits since he's been here is not nearly enough for me to feel ease and not question his decision if he truly doesn't give Dillman a shot at QB. And, as someone has mentioned, Coach Walsh's QBs actual production once they got to college doesn't necessarily make me feel like he should be the end all, be all when it comes to predicting whether or not a player will be or won't be a good D1 QB. Especially when their opinion differs from the other coaches I previously mentioned.

Seems like maybe all McCarney/Chico's eggs are in the Smith/McNulty basket & they want Dillman on the field ASAP... If, indeed, he's coming in at TE without sniffing any QB snaps.

BillySee58 · January 18, 2015

Seems like maybe all McCarney/Chico's eggs are in the Smith/McNulty basket & they want Dillman on the field ASAP... If, indeed, he's coming in at TE without sniffing any QB snaps.

Hm, hadn't thought of that. Good theory. I just don't think anyone is expecting Dillman to be much of an impact early on at tight end. Maybe more of a work in progress there than at QB. But maybe they feel they can flex him out on passing downs and keep the blocking to a minimal early on. But if he is a tight end I'd be expecting a redshirt year, unless the case you presented is true.

NT03 · January 18, 2015

Seems like maybe all McCarney/Chico's eggs are in the Smith/McNulty basket & they want Dillman on the field ASAP... If, indeed, he's coming in at TE without sniffing any QB snaps.

I'm kinda hoping there are no eggs in the McNulty basket...

greenminer · January 18, 2015

UTEP brought in a kid years ago that had an offer from USC to play DE, but he insisted on the QB position and UTEP promised him a shot. After 2+ years of never cracking the rotation (can't recall if he was a transfer), he agreed to move to DE and he was a star. Great senior year. I can't remember his name. Seems like he finished 4 - 5 years ago.

BillySee58 · January 18, 2015

UTEP brought in a kid years ago that had an offer from USC to play DE, but he insisted on the QB position and UTEP promised him a shot. After 2+ years of never cracking the rotation (can't recall if he was a transfer), he agreed to move to DE and he was a star. Great senior year. I can't remember his name. Seems like he finished 4 - 5 years ago.

Yeah, that's pretty common. And it may very well be what we're doing with Chumley.

Dillman was offered by the big schools to play QB. He wasn't looked at as a tight end until very recently. His 17 other offers were at QB.

UNTLifer · January 19, 2015

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 echo what Billy stated earlier, so I will not rehash that, but I question your opinion when you are not excited about him at QB where he was once a 5 star recruit, but gush over him being a TE, a position he has played one year on the JV level.

Edited January 19, 2015 by UNTLifer

tmjerm · January 19, 2015

Happy to have Kevin! When he makes a big play, I'd like the stadium sound guy to play the Corby drop "Uh, DILL!"

SilverEagle · January 19, 2015

I echo what Billy stated earlier, so I will not rehash that, but I question your opinion when you are not excited about him at QB where he was once a 5 star recruit, but gush over him being a TE, a position he has played one year on the JV level.

I guess you never know when a team needs a TE more than a good QB. I remember Josh Gully (from South Grand Prairie) who had a pretty impressive performance against UNLV (29 completions, 422 yrds) back in 95. He really looked like our QB of the future. At the end of the season he transferred to So Miss, where he spent the rest of his playing career at TE.

Another example is Kyle Clifton who played LB for TCU and 13 years for the Jets. He played QB in High School (Bridgeport Tx). And he wasn't an option QB either. He set all kinds of passing records but never played QB again after going to TCU. Obviously moving to LB helped him in the long run, but to the casual observer (and many Bridgeport fans) that move was a real head scratcher at the time.

Brett Vito · January 19, 2015

MGB: Defending the point on Thompson and the UNT Hall of Fame

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/the-case-for-thompson-as-a-hall-of-famer.html/

meangreen15 · January 19, 2015

MGB: Defending the point on Thompson and the UNT Hall of Fame

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/the-case-for-thompson-as-a-hall-of-famer.html/

Vito just ruined the board for the next 2 weeks...

Censored by Laurie · January 19, 2015

HOF worthy thread?

emmitt01 · January 19, 2015

Thompson was never an all-conference selection. When people say that he was average, they have a point.

Could have started and ended here.

MeanGreenTexan · January 19, 2015

MGB: Defending the point on Thompson and the UNT Hall of Fame

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/the-case-for-thompson-as-a-hall-of-famer.html/

We don't really need to derail the Dillman thread with this opinion.

Either way, I don't care.

If he makes it in, you cant really argue with the numbers. He's top 5 in virtually every single passer stat at UNT, plus he has the bowl win/MVP.

If he doesn't make it in, you cant really argue with the win/loss record, TD/INT ratio & other stats that are mediocre.

Has nothing to do with Kevin Dillman's commitment.

emmitt01 · January 19, 2015

We don't really need to derail the Dillman thread with this opinion.
Either way, I don't care.

If he makes it in, you cant really argue with the numbers. He's top 5 in virtually every single passer stat at UNT, plus he has the bowl win/MVP.
If he doesn't make it in, you cant really argue with the win/loss record, TD/INT ratio & other stats that are mediocre.

Has nothing to do with Kevin Dillman's commitment.

For some on this board every thread is like playing 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon...except it's normally 2 degrees of Derek Thompson

MeanGreenTexan · January 19, 2015

For some on this board every thread is like playing 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon...except it's normally 2 degrees of Derek Thompson

lol.

Peyton Manning. Go.

UNTLifer · January 19, 2015

Silver, I don't recall Gulley or Clifton being 5-star rated QB's with offers from all the big name schools to play QB.

I just find it amazing, I shouldn't after following this board and this program forever, that so many complain about our QB situation after every game, practice, newspaper article, McNulty fart, website feature, etc... and are just ready to move a young man to TE when this young man was a 5 star QB recruit with offers from most big time schools from coast to coast. Why would we not give him a shot at QB? Because Guyer Coach Walsh's opinion? Sure, he's coached some kids that got D1 scholarships at QB. How many of those kids have set the world on fire? The best so far has been his son, and JW can't stay healthy long enough to stay on the field.

All I am saying is give him a shot and see what happens. I like our current depth at TE much better than our depth at QB.

SilverEagle · January 19, 2015

Silver, I don't recall Gulley or Clifton being 5-star rated QB's with offers from all the big name schools to play QB.

I just find it amazing, I shouldn't after following this board and this program forever, that so many complain about our QB situation after every game, practice, newspaper article, McNulty fart, website feature, etc... and are just ready to move a young man to TE when this young man was a 5 star QB recruit with offers from most big time schools from coast to coast. Why would we not give him a shot at QB? Because Guyer Coach Walsh's opinion? Sure, he's coached some kids that got D1 scholarships at QB. How many of those kids have set the world on fire? The best so far has been his son, and JW can't stay healthy long enough to stay on the field.
All I am saying is give him a shot and see what happens. I like our current depth at TE much better than our depth at QB.

Well, when both of those guys were playing I don't think there was a star system. But if there was one like todays, Gulley would have been somewhere around 3 or 4 and Clifton (just based on his stats) would have probably been a 5.

My point is that coaches obviously, for whatever reason, don't look at these players based on their positional star system rating. In the case of Josh Gulley, the coaches at So Miss. totally ignored what he actually did as a D-1 QB.

And, as I've pointed out several times, Greer was a real head scratcher for me. I don't know why he got as many "reps" as he did, because by the end of spring practice, not only did Means look better, but so did Cousins.

Harry · January 19, 2015

His performance in the bowl game was just about as clutch as you can ask for. To me his bowl game performance makes him at minimum a HOF candidate.

GreenMachine · January 19, 2015

His performance in the bowl game was just about as clutch as you can ask for. To me his bowl game performance makes him at minimum a HOF candidate.

Al Bundy scored 4 touchdowns in one game but all he got after that one glory game was a job selling shoes.

THOR · January 19, 2015

Al Bundy scored 4 touchdowns in one game but all he got after that one glory game was a job selling shoes.

But he did run the annexation of Puerto Rico and won the oshea bowl...

BillySee58 · January 20, 2015

Well, when both of those guys were playing I don't think there was a star system. But if there was one like todays, Gulley would have been somewhere around 3 or 4 and Clifton (just based on his stats) would have probably been a 5.

My point is that coaches obviously, for whatever reason, don't look at these players based on their positional star system rating. In the case of Josh Gulley, the coaches at So Miss. totally ignored what he actually did as a D-1 QB.

And, as I've pointed out several times, Greer was a real head scratcher for me. I don't know why he got as many "reps" as he did, because by the end of spring practice, not only did Means look better, but so did Cousins.

I'm having trouble buying that those players were that highly rated, or would've been. Here's a frame of reference. There are two 5-star QBs in the state. Both have offers from basically every regional power school and some of the top programs nationwide. The equivalent back then for what would've been a 5-star QB would've been having offers to play QB from every school in the Southwest conference. Here are the offer lists of the two 5-star QBs in Texas.

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Jarrett-Stidham-32336/RecruitInterests

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Kyler-Murray-25110/RecruitInterests

I have a hard time believing Clifton was a 5-star type QB prospect, given that he would've had to have passed up offers to play QB from every Southwest Conference school, to play linebacker from day 1 at TCU.

And here's the offer list of a high 3-star/low 4-star QB (depending on the recruiting service) in Texas. Chason Virgil.

http://247sports.com/Recruitment/Chason-Virgil-20460/RecruitInterests

Offers from schools like Clemson, Nebraska, Florida, and Oklahoma. If Gully truly would've been a high 3-star/low 4-star then that means he would've had to have picked North Texas over most Southwest Conference schools, including a big-time offer here or there like an Oklahoma or Arkansas. I obviously wasn't following recruiting back then, but I have some trouble believing that we pulled a QB prospect of that caliber over those types of schools. At least without seeing proof that he really did have those type of offers and chose us over them.

Cerebus · January 20, 2015

Al Bundy scored 4 touchdowns in one game but all he got after that one glory game was a job selling shoes.

golfingomez · January 20, 2015

lol.
Peyton Manning. Go.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/high-schools/high-schools-headlines/20140617-derek-thompson-to-coach-football-basketball-at-denton.ece

'Thompson spent a short time with the Denver Broncos before turning his focus to beginning a coaching career.'

one degree of seperation...

MeanGreenZen · January 20, 2015

I echo what Billy stated earlier, so I will not rehash that, but I question your opinion when you are not excited about him at QB where he was once a 5 star recruit, but gush over him being a TE, a position he has played one year on the JV level.

You are misquoting me. I DON'T want him at TE because we don't use our TE. I stated in this thread that if he is such a great athlete he needs to be moved to DE, a position he can actually make an impact here. I understand why we offered him (strengthen the Guyer connection, great athlete with size) but not as excited as when we got commitments from Lance Dunbar, Riley Dodge or Tee Goree. Dillman had no other offers on the table when he committed to us. And you can't blame it all on being ineligible, when Dax Garman was ruled ineligible at Southlake he still had multiple P5 schools offering him a ship. If Mac was recruiting to expectations this kid would be just another kid in this recruiting class instead of the freaking jewel! Darrell Dickey won a bowl game too then he stopped caring about recruiting and got himself fired.

MeanGreenZen · January 20, 2015

Signing Josh Gulley was a pretty big deal for Matt Simon. Gulley was in The Dallas Morning News AREA Top 100 recruits. I don't think he had offers from the Big 12 or SEC, but certainly from schools more prestigious than UNT, which was just then returning to D1. Gulley was probably the equivalent of a 3 Star Recruit on par with Giovanni Vizza. Certainly better than anything Mac has signed at the position.