North Texas Football 2015 Spring Game Thoughts

[Harry]

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 1^st half of the game got pretty hot. I saw some older fans leave prior to 2^nd 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.

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PS thanks to UNT 90 Grad for the pic!

[NTEdgex2]

We actually left 105 to go up to the club because of the sun. I burn too easy. It was nice up there, caught a breeze. Not too many people up there surprisingly.

GMG!

[edcollopy]

great stuff Harry. Much appreciated down here in Houston.

[GOMG2013]

the secondary will be good. from a pass coverage and speed standpoint, we have improved. gray and Davis do not bring the support in the run game like james jones and our previous safeties.

they will need more work on that.

read some comments about the secondary and its obvious we were running a basic defense. come on fellas...during the season we will be going nickel against a spread passing offense.

ced fernandes is most likely the nickel back. this will probably give UNT the strongest coverage secondary in the past few years. if the front 7 cant stop the run though, some changes may need to be made.

mcnulty was also running a scaled back offense. there were several times he could have ripped off some huge runs like dajon did. it was obvious he was just working on his passing...come on fellas. mcnulty is going to run in this offense.

mcnulty waits until the wr is wide open before he throws it. he has no anticipation or timing. he's late. his arm strength is not horrible, but his lack of timing and ability to throw wrs open makes his average arm strength look even worse.

dajon has more trust in his wrs and puts it in there for his wrs to make a play. he isnt worried about mistakes. he throws the tight passes that mcnulty is scared to throw.

another thing that unt did not show at all was the rbs in the passing game. i am sure they will be a big part of the passing offense. especially when we run hurry up and catch a lb in coverage.

[MeanGreenTexan]

the secondary will be good. from a pass coverage and speed standpoint, we have improved. gray and Davis do not bring the support in the run game like james jones and our previous safeties.

they will need more work on that.

read some comments about the secondary and its obvious we were running a basic defense. come on fellas...during the season we will be going nickel against a spread passing offense.

ced fernandes is most likely the nickel back. this will probably give UNT the strongest coverage secondary in the past few years. if the front 7 cant stop the run though, some changes may need to be made.

mcnulty was also running a scaled back offense. there were several times he could have ripped off some huge runs like dajon did. it was obvious he was just working on his passing...come on fellas. mcnulty is going to run in this offense.

mcnulty waits until the wr is wide open before he throws it. he has no anticipation or timing. he's late. his arm strength is not horrible, but his lack of timing and ability to throw wrs open makes his average arm strength look even worse.

dajon has more trust in his wrs and puts it in there for his wrs to make a play. he isnt worried about mistakes. he throws the tight passes that mcnulty is scared to throw.

another thing that unt did not show at all was the rbs in the passing game. i am sure they will be a big part of the passing offense. especially when we run hurry up and catch a lb in coverage.

Why wouldn't we put Marshall at Nickel? With his athleticism and experience at LB last season, he would be ideal to play there to help protect against the run while still able to cover slot WR or TE.

[Dr. Seuss]

Buyers should be our nickel back.

[GOMG2013]

Why wouldn't we put Marshall at Nickel? With his athleticism and experience at LB last season, he would be ideal to play there to help protect against the run while still able to cover slot WR or TE.

i had marshall at nickel at the start of the year if he didnt get the corner spot. i am thinking like you. he would be a perfect hybrid.

ced fernandes stock has risen high though, and he has been working at nickel, and has been playing safety. and since they didnt waste any time putting him on scholarship, they think he is the real deal.

[GOMG2013]

Buyers should be our nickel back.

well, technically, he was our nickel back last year.

davis played corner in nickel defense.

not sure how they will do it this year. i have been hearing ced working at nickel. they have several options now. marshall at nickel. marshall can possibly take a corner and buyers move to nickel.

we also have grindle coming in the fall, but he may not get any reps since he wasnt here for the spring. i highly doubt mac rolls a player out there over guys who have experience. i thought he may have been able to work his way on the field at nickel, but he has several options ahead of him now. grindle will have to come in and be super impressive while others fall off.

[Ben Gooding]

This whole experience thing to me is garbage. Though I understand experience is indeed important, but we have to start rolling out our best 11 on offense and defense regardless of experience. Let the best 22 be on the field as much as possible. Let the opposition week to week dictate who our best 22 are, but nevertheless put the best we have on the field even if we have to throw true freshmen out there. If they're better, they're better regardless of experience.

[That_Guy_Arlo]

I sat up under the club level to get some shade and eventually moved further down as the game went along. Definitely a good experience overall as it was the first spring game I've been to. Now counting down the days until SMU...

[UNT90]

Someone needs to tell Mac that 2 of the last 3 Heisman winners have been redshirt freshmen...

And they played QB...

[DeepGreen]

This whole experience thing to me is garbage. Though I understand experience is indeed important, but we have to start rolling out our best 11 on offense and defense regardless of experience. Let the best 22 be on the field as much as possible. Let the opposition week to week dictate who our best 22 are, but nevertheless put the best we have on the field even if we have to throw true freshmen out there. If they're better, they're better regardless of experience.

Agree 100%.

[Dr. Seuss]

This whole experience thing to me is garbage. Though I understand experience is indeed important, but we have to start rolling out our best 11 on offense and defense regardless of experience. Let the best 22 be on the field as much as possible. Let the opposition week to week dictate who our best 22 are, but nevertheless put the best we have on the field even if we have to throw true freshmen out there. If they're better, they're better regardless of experience.

[GOMG2013]

Let the opposition week to week dictate who our best 22 are,.

this sounds good until a UAB happens. then we come back home against So Miss and our best talent doesnt get a shot at home vs an easier opponent. that week to week stuff blew up in our face.

[Tyler Maryak]

the secondary will be good. from a pass coverage and speed standpoint, we have improved. gray and Davis do not bring the support in the run game like james jones and our previous safeties.

they will need more work on that.

read some comments about the secondary and its obvious we were running a basic defense. come on fellas...during the season we will be going nickel against a spread passing offense.

ced fernandes is most likely the nickel back. this will probably give UNT the strongest coverage secondary in the past few years. if the front 7 cant stop the run though, some changes may need to be made.

mcnulty was also running a scaled back offense. there were several times he could have ripped off some huge runs like dajon did. it was obvious he was just working on his passing...come on fellas. mcnulty is going to run in this offense.

mcnulty waits until the wr is wide open before he throws it. he has no anticipation or timing. he's late. his arm strength is not horrible, but his lack of timing and ability to throw wrs open makes his average arm strength look even worse.

dajon has more trust in his wrs and puts it in there for his wrs to make a play. he isnt worried about mistakes. he throws the tight passes that mcnulty is scared to throw.

another thing that unt did not show at all was the rbs in the passing game. i am sure they will be a big part of the passing offense. especially when we run hurry up and catch a lb in coverage.

Just a question - I seem to remember pretty much every QB throwing into double coverage in situations that they REEAALLY shouldn't have on Saturday. Am I wrong?

[GMG24]

Yeah I don't have any idea what you are referring to Tyler. There were probably 8-10 throws from the top 2 QBs (DAJON and Mcnulty) where I literally started shaking my head. Asking LBs to play the run then turn and cover a receiver is ignorant, if they can help awesome but don't expect it. That's what your corners and safeties are for. Dline job, eat blocks, and get pressure on QB, LB fit the run and make tackles in run game, get under neath routes when they can, Safeties provide run support on edges if appropriate, let nothing get behind them in passing game, corners, don't get beat deep, PERIOD.

[Ben Gooding]

this sounds good until a UAB happens. then we come back home against So Miss and our best talent doesnt get a shot at home vs an easier opponent. that week to week stuff blew up in our face.

Didn't blow up in our face. It blew up in the coaching staffs face. DW starts vs Southern Miss we win that game and are playing utsa for bowl eligibility with a more confident and more in tune QB. Mac pulled the plug on DW too early and rode the season out to 4-8 which COULD have been 6-6 with DW getting better week to week. Of course all that is woulda, coulda and shoulda but 6-6 with DW at the helm was a real possibility during a bad season. And I can hang my hat on going 6-6 all while calling that a relatively bad season in terms of production, offensively and defensively. We will be handcuffing ourselves by starting AM and we will be at BEST a 4-8 team. How our own highly paid coaching staff can't see that is well beyond me. It's unfathomable, really.