If You Were the Head Coach, Who Would be Your Starting UNT QB?

Aldo · April 21, 2015

Demarcus Smith hasn't shown he's reliable or that you can count on him at any point of his career!

In this context, everyone is on level playing field then. (also, it's a hypothetical question)

Dajon has got talent, Smith has got more. Way more. At this moment, neither is showing that they will start at Ford. Give me the guy with more talent.

Aldo · April 21, 2015

Someone posted some highlights of his when his named started getting thrown around. I tried to find them on here, can't seem to.

Seems like they got switched to private.

What I remember seeing was an accurate passer in the short and intermediate areas, with good arm strength and great delivery. Throws guys open, good anticipation, good vision. Good wheels. Oh and overall, fundamentally sound technique.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Aldo

MeanGreenTexan · April 21, 2015

Seems like they got switched to private.

What I remember seeing was an accurate passer in the short and intermediate areas, with good arm strength and great delivery. Throws guys open, good anticipation, good vision. Good wheels. Oh and overall, fundamentally sound technique.

Yep.

This is the best I could find for him. From UNT's signing day:

untjim1995 · April 21, 2015

So, if I were HC and considering where the team is regarding the QB position, here is exactly what I would do....
I would request that Mr. Williams report to my office for a little one on one chat. I would clearly explain to him how I felt that he was clearly the most athletically gifted QB currently on the roster and the QB with the most upside. I would then clearly and slowly explain how very disappointed I was in his commitment to getting better and being committed to being number one. I would outline what I expected him to accomplish between now and the start of fall practice including off season work outs, film study, playbook study, etc., etc. I would then explain that the starting job would be wide open if he accomplishes the established off-season goals.
Then...I would clearly explain to him that if he should decide not to do all he could to reach those goals that I would not be renewing his scholarship and that I would be happy to assist him in finding a new team and college for which to play. Because if he was not willing to do what it takes to be number one that there is no place on the roster for him or anyone with the same attitude/perspective. I would explain that having potential is worthless if it is not realized and that right now all he is is "potential".
I would offer any help that he feels he might need to develop that potential, but I would also make it perfectly clear that this was on him and that no other person was responsible for his attitude and "want to".
In closing I would explain that this was his last opportunity and it was his to either accept and succeed or continue on his same path and be playing elsewhere.
That's it. Very frustrating to have such wasted potential, but there is still time. So, if I am head coach, that is exactly what I would do. And, I would hope he accepts the challenge to be number one. If not UNT would have an open scholarship available to use on someone who does want to do all it takes to be successful. And, I wouldn't look back. Cannot waste time or scholarships on "potential" unrealized.
Unless, Dajon takes the hint or Mr. Smith is indeed the real deal come fall, I would be starting Little Mac with Connor Means waiting in the wings.

This is your best post, ever...spot on!!

Mean Green 93-98 · April 21, 2015

I find it funny that everyone on this board continues to rip Dajon, but then y'all want to support Demarcus Smith. Why do you support a guy who by most accounts hasn't passed a single semester of college? Why do you support a guy who wasn't even able to qualify academically out of high school? Why do you support a guy who hasn't played a down for UNT? (and there is a good chance he never will)

Demarcus Smith hasn't shown he's reliable or that you can count on him at any point of his career!

Dajon has made mistakes, but at least his mistakes still allow him to suit up on gameday.

You might want to specify to whom you want to direct this post, because as I look at this poll I see Williams as the runaway leader. So far more people on this board support Williams over Smith.

As for why one might vote for Demarcus Smith over Williams (as I did), Williams has had chances to win the starting job and has been unable for the most part to win it, and when he got it by default he was unable to hold it. IMO, he has significantly more talent than McNulty or Greer, but his gameday performance has not been all that impressive. And there have been some indications that his leadership abilities, work ethic, and willingness to be a team player are all lacking. And if the story someone posted in this thread is true, I wouldn't blame the coaches one bit for encouraging him to finish his college career elsewhere.

Smith has issues, but they are not the same issues that Williams has, at least not as far as I know. And my hope is that he can do something that Williams has been unable to do, to show a clear separation between himself and the other QBs to win and hold on to the starting job.

If Smith can't get eligible for fall, well, see ya. Really, I don't care who it is, I want someone to step up and help this team win games.

SSP · April 21, 2015

We have plenty of people to send in signals. There is no need for Mac to require a pissed off player to send in signals that may not even be sent in properly because that player is pissed off. It is just asking for problems. Let him go cool off, regroup, and then come give signals. You must not deal with hot-tempered or emotional people much.

Ummmm....

I take it that you did not play high school or college sports...

This is college football. Not peewee.

The university is forking out close to $60,000 for this guy to get an education and play football. This is A JOB. The coaches are the boss. That's how this whole coach and player thing works. You do what you're told and you don't whine or throw a temper tantrum because stuff didn't go your way. You do this or you get the hell out. If you aren't mentally tough enough to be able to take criticism or a knock to your ego then what makes you think that said person would be a candidate to lead a 100 other grown ass men? No one is going to hold your hand or stroke your ego. There are a lot of other athletes on that team that are not getting a lot of playing time but still show up to practices, film, tutoring, film, practice...and get their ass kicked every freaking day without a single negative word.

YOU ASK ANY COACH. The coachable player. ALWAYS. In a team sport- Who do you choose ? The coachable guy or the guy that is more interested in serving himself than his teammates. If this was track - I would say DW all the way. Being that there are 100 other guys on the team- coaches are going to pick a guy that does his job to the best of his ability and does everything he can to improve the team. Andrew McNulty May not be the most talented quarterback on the roster but he is most certainly the one who puts the team before himself. And any member of a team always chooses that guy to follow.

But in the spirit of this thread...

If maturity means absolutely nothing - I pick Connor Means. He has done just as well if not better in a lot of cases than any other quarterback that we've seen so far. We are probably not going to win conference this year. But look at the offensive players that we have coming up. Willy Ivery, Tee Goree, Jeff Wilson, Turner Smiley...... Put the freshman QB in there to develop and give him the experience that we need in order to develop a bad ass group in the next year or two. And if someone better comes along who meets all of the criteria in order to lead an offense better - then put him in.

Edited April 21, 2015 by SSP

Cr1028 · April 21, 2015

I have a strong feeling Damarcus Smith is going to give us the same on-the-field results that William Cole from Cedar Hill did when he was with the program.

MeanGreenTexan · April 21, 2015

Ummmm....
I take it that you did not play high school or college sports...
This is college football. Not peewee.
The university is forking out close to $60,000 for this guy to get an education and play football. This is A JOB. The coaches are the boss. That's how this whole coach and player thing works. You do what you're told and you don't whine or throw a temper tantrum because stuff didn't go your way. You do this or you get the hell out. If you aren't mentally tough enough to be able to take criticism or a knock to your ego then what makes you think that said person would be a candidate to lead a 100 other grown ass men? No one is going to hold your hand or stroke your ego. There are a lot of other athletes on that team that are not getting a lot of playing time but still show up to practices, film, tutoring, film, practice...and get their ass kicked every freaking day without a single negative word.
YOU ASK ANY COACH. The coachable player. ALWAYS. In a team sport- Who do you choose ? The coachable guy or the guy that is more interested in serving himself than his teammates. If this was track - I would say DW all the way. Being that there are 100 other guys on the team- coaches are going to pick a guy that does his job to the best of his ability and does everything he can to improve the team. Andrew McNulty May not be the most talented quarterback on the roster but he is most certainly the one who puts the team before himself. And any member of a team always chooses that guy to follow.
But in the spirit of this thread...
If maturity means absolutely nothing - I pick Connor Means. He has done just as well if not better in a lot of cases than any other quarterback that we've seen so far. We are probably not going to win conference this year. But look at the offensive players that we have coming up. Willy Ivery, Tee Goree, Jeff Wilson, Turner Smiley...... Put the freshman QB in there to develop and give him the experience that we need in order to develop a bad ass group in the next year or two. And if someone better comes along who meets all of the criteria in order to lead an offense better - then put him in.

How do _*ahem*"you" feel about DaMarcus Smith? Know anything about him since he's unable to attend practice?

Mean Green 93-98 · April 21, 2015

I have a strong feeling Damarcus Smith is going to give us the same on-the-field results that William Cole from Cedar Hill did when he was with the program.

A distinct possibility. But not what I *hope* happens. He is the wildcard. If he gets eligible and comes in and wins the starting job, I have something to look forward to in the fall. Otherwise, the ceiling for the season will probably be last year's results. Whoop-de-do.

Cr1028 · April 21, 2015

You gotta be freaking kidding me. Of course I played high school football as I bet the majority of the members on this board did. I remember many times my teammates or myself being pulled from a game, ripped by one of the coaches and sent to cool off on the sideline until the coach was ready to send usback in. Never once have I seen a coach pull someone, chew their ass, and they say, "ok, now I want you to play a pivotal role in our playcalling". That is just asinine. Maybe you were a football player or even a coach, but you sure didn't play with fire if you can't understand why a passionate guy trying to carry a team on his shoulders wouldn't want to do hand signals and hold posters after letting the team down.

GOMG2013 · April 21, 2015

the better question would be, Who would the team pick if they had a choice?

some would assume the players would pick dajon due to his athletic ability, but i would bet that vote would be a lot closer than fans think.

Cr1028 · April 21, 2015

I remember Vito interviewing players when Dajon took over but not when McNulty took over. Did this happen and what did the teammates say about McNulty taking over? I remember the Dajon comments were mostly positive.

SSP · April 21, 2015

How do _*ahem*"you" feel about DaMarcus Smith? Know anything about him since he's unable to attend practice?

Zero. You guys know way more about him than me . TBH- when I asked about him- didn't even know who he was....

Ben Gooding · April 21, 2015

You play to win the game.

BillySee58 · April 21, 2015

Seems like they got switched to private.

What I remember seeing was an accurate passer in the short and intermediate areas, with good arm strength and great delivery. Throws guys open, good anticipation, good vision. Good wheels. Oh and overall, fundamentally sound technique.

Yeah, they did get switched to private. But how much can you really tell about a QBs accuracy in highlights, when every pass is complete? Accuracy is a consistency stat, so I'd need to see a QB play live or see his completion percentage to call him accurate.

That being said, I don't think accuracy is a huge issue with Smith, but I don't think it's necessarily a strength either. His completion percentage hasn't been that high in high school or JUCO, but he also throws downfield a lot so that skews it a little. He would still be plenty accurate considering his abilities, to be our guy if he gets eligible and gets on board with the system.

Edited April 21, 2015 by BillySee58

Mean Green 93-98 · April 21, 2015

18/34 for 205 yards with 3 TDs and 40 yards on the ground is probably one of our best performances against a P5 school ever. It's not Dajon's fault that the defense was swiss cheese.

11/14 for 176 yards and 3 TDs with 68 yards on the ground and 2 TDs is probably one of our best QB performances ever, and I really don't care who it is against. Efficient and effective. As a redshirt freshman.

Throwing two picks against a defense that blitzed on every play doesn't warrant a benching. Much less considering Josh Greer went 2/11 for 8 yards and 2 INTs against a team about as good as Indiana and got a second and third chance. And sits ahead of Dajon on the chart. Greer had a QBR of 0.1 vs UT.

2 of those TDs came in garbage time, to clarify.

And no, it wasn't one of our best against a P5 ever. DT was 10 of 20 for 201 yards and 3 TDs and only 1 pick and 53 on the ground against Indiana. And I don't recall anyone calling that one of our best QB performances ever, although it was good. Better than Williams against Indiana, to be sure.

As for his benching, it ought to be obvious that Williams has a shorter leash than our other QBs. And after reading this thread, it ought to be obvious why.

SSP · April 21, 2015

You play to win the game.

That's why Sumlin stuck with Manziel. That's why Jimbo stuck with Jameis.

Period.

This is a fair comparison.... ?

We aren't really trying to compare a guy that lost his starting position to mini Mac to Johnny Football, are we? Or a quarterback that was on a FSU team with a reputation of being thug-ish and that were just as egotistical as him ?

Come on.

This isn't hard, guys.

They make movies about this kind of stuff.

You cannot win football games and you cannot get good recruits if players don't respect their leaders or coaches. That's asinine.

UNT90 · April 21, 2015

18/34 for 205 yards with 3 TDs and 40 yards on the ground is probably one of our best performances against a P5 school ever. It's not Dajon's fault that the defense was swiss cheese.
11/14 for 176 yards and 3 TDs with 68 yards on the ground and 2 TDs is probably one of our best QB performances ever, and I really don't care who it is against. Efficient and effective. As a redshirt freshman.

Throwing two picks against a defense that blitzed on every play doesn't warrant a benching. Much less considering Josh Greer went 2/11 for 8 yards and 2 INTs against a team about as good as Indiana and got a second and third chance. And sits ahead of Dajon on the chart. Greer had a QBR of 0.1 vs UT.

Lots of problems here.

UT was a bowl team (albeit with only 6 wins), Indiana won 4 games.

Please throw out the stats against the high school team that we scrimmaged in DW's 1st start.

Not applicable.

Terrible against Indiana. Bad against UAB.

All that said, I still wish he was the starter coming out of Spring.

And I really hope and pray that Smith makes it to campus, is the real deal, and... this variable has the biggest chance of not going Smith's way... he is actually given a FAIR chance to compete for the starting job at QB.

Mean Green 93-98 · April 21, 2015

So, you're going to compare Indiana in 2011 versus Indiana in 2014, which, until their QB went down, was probably a 7 or 8 win team?

Indiana in 2011 was a "P5" school in name only, and you know it.

They were a better team last year than they were in 2011, I'll agree to that. But (1) they still weren't good; and (2) their improvement had everything to do with their offense. Their defense was terrible last year.

Ben Gooding · April 21, 2015

D. Smith completed 59% of his passes in JUCO. He played poorly in 2 games (both being losses), and both still were winnable, close games. His play in those games were so poor that if he would have had a normal game such as the rest of his season he would have had 65+ completion %. He averaged 274 ypg along with 31 touchdowns and 8 ints. In 335 attempts he threw 8 interceptions. That's pretty accurate. He has a large sample size to analyze while playing in a pretty tough JUCO conference. D. Smith's JUCO team had 21 players sign with D1 programs and Butler CC went 8-3 last year.

The downfall with D. Smith is that he takes chances with the football. He throws his WR's open and that can lead to picks or incompletions. I'd rather have that than a QB sit back and only throw to wide open guys, if he even has time.

If D. Smith comes in here and goes 270 ypg 30 & 8 we'll make the CUSA championship game and won't host it because of our great scheduling on the behalf of RV.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Ben Gooding

MeanGreenTexan · April 21, 2015

18/34 for 205 yards with 3 TDs and 40 yards on the ground is probably one of our best performances against a P5 school ever. It's not Dajon's fault that the defense was swiss cheese.

11/14 for 176 yards and 3 TDs with 68 yards on the ground and 2 TDs is probably one of our best QB performances ever, and I really don't care who it is against. Efficient and effective. As a redshirt freshman.

Throwing two picks against a defense that blitzed on every play doesn't warrant a benching. Much less considering Josh Greer went 2/11 for 8 yards and 2 INTs against a team about as good as Indiana and got a second and third chance. And sits ahead of Dajon on the chart. Greer had a QBR of 0.1 vs UT.

Did you watch this game? The tone was set for this game on the very first drive.

As for Nicholls... He had a fantastic game! Cant argue that. So did friggin EVERYONE ELSE who played them. It means nothing. Good Day Sir!

MeanGreenTexan · April 21, 2015

SMU was marginally better than Nicholls and Greer's stats were...

Greer? We talkin' 'bout Greer?

GOMG2013 · April 21, 2015

my expectation for smith is that he will look similar to dajon on the field. he will make mistakes and try to use his athleticism to make plays. it will take time to adjust to the speed of the game.

i assume he will be more mature and more of a leader though, and that just might be enough to get him on the field.

MeanGreenTexan · April 21, 2015

Ahead of Dajon on the depth chart.

Coaches are going to do what they're going to do, but that doesn't mean Dajon is the guy to hang any hopes on... unless he's changed, and that does not appear to be true.

IMO, he should be #2, for now. But yeah, he's got a lot of work to do to turn that potential into wins for our beloved Mean Green.

UNT90 · April 21, 2015

So, you're going to compare Indiana in 2011 versus Indiana in 2014, which, until their QB went down, was probably a 7 or 8 win team?

Indiana in 2011 was a "P5" school in name only, and you know it.

25-28 for 208 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs

See if you can figure that out.