New Direction & Recruiting

Matt Turney · November 6, 2015

I once read that back in Bear Bryants hay day, one reason he was so successful was because he recruited all high school qbs. Knowing in that time that the best athlete on the team played Qb it made sense. He would then use these kids to play all the skill positions on his teams.

Well ill that's happening again to a degree at Mississippi State and I think we should strongly consider going after one of their coaches. I'd say coordinator but I am not sure either would jump ship to come to UNT. Take a look at:

Manny Diaz - likely too high profile

Tony Hughes - establish & excellent recruiter

Greg Knox - Sp Tm Coord Texas ties also (rosebud)

All

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/mississippi-state/2014/10/22/mississippi-state-recruiting-philosophy-pays/17703623/

All in all a long shot but their recruiting philosophy is one we should lean to

MeanGreen13 · November 6, 2015

I recall Patterson at TCU using a similar philosophy... always recruit guys that are around the ball... even for defensive positions! I think we should look at any and every person who is willing to apply!

DeepGreen · November 6, 2015

That has been the philosophy with a lot of successful programs, TCU for sure. QB's can turn into good receivers and DB's. In fact, I remember a certain 2nd team all-state high school QB that turned into quite a linebacker right here at North Texas. Brad Kassell.

Edited November 6, 2015 by DeepGreen

Graddean · November 6, 2015

Royal used this approach a lot at Texas.

SilverEagle · November 6, 2015

This philosophy has been around for some time. Especially in Texas, where the coach usually put the best athlete at QB so that his best athlete handled the ball 100 percent of the time. It also turned out that the QB (especially in smaller schools) was the most versatile athlete on the team and the most savvy. One of the most famous examples of this was "Super" Bill Bradley from Palestine Texas......https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bradley_(American_football)

In my High School (Decatur), it was Billy Mike Anderson (#10 on your program). Billy Mike was not the fastest athlete on the football team but he was fast enough and his passing ability was phenomenal. In addition to QB, he was the punter and he played defensive end his senior year. His punting was not particularly impressive in it's distance but the hang time was often jaw dropping. In our games against the hated Jacksboro Tigers he made one of their best weapons, Glenn King (who later played for Oklahoma) one dimensional by never allowing him to return any punts. King (#27 on your program) always had to fair catch. Billy Mike was also the leading scorer on the basketball team and if we had had a baseball team, he would have been all-district at pitcher. He played one varsity season at North Texas as Steve Ramsey's back-up and the teams punter.

At our signing event in 2014 I listened to Chuck Mills talking with some alumni about the same philosophy of recruiting the best athlete without regard to the position they played in HS.

MeanGreenTexan · November 6, 2015

I believe Hair'Griffin is playing QB at FW Arlington Heights right now, but we recruited him elsewhere.

buff64 · November 6, 2015

I once read that back in Bear Bryants hay day, one reason he was so successful was because he recruited all high school qbs. Knowing in that time that the best athlete on the team played Qb it made sense. He would then use these kids to play all the skill positions on his teams.

Well ill that's happening again to a degree at Mississippi State and I think we should strongly consider going after one of their coaches. I'd say coordinator but I am not sure either would jump ship to come to UNT. Take a look at:
Manny Diaz - likely too high profile
Tony Hughes - establish & excellent recruiter
Greg Knox - Sp Tm Coord Texas ties also (rosebud)
All
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/mississippi-state/2014/10/22/mississippi-state-recruiting-philosophy-pays/17703623/
All in all a long shot but their recruiting philosophy is one we should lean to

The way remember it ,after UT put a whupping on Alabama, Bear ask Royal how he recruited such good players, Royal told him that he only recruited QB's to play the skill positions and FB's to play in the line.