MGB: UNT to host WR Jason Pirtle on official visit

[Brett Vito]

MGB: Locust Grove standout considering following his teammate Mason Fine to UNT

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2016/01/unt-to-host-jason-pirtle-this-weekend.html/

[Tyler Maryak]

That could be interesting. People talked about Fine tossing it up for grabs. Might be nice to have one of the guys who always seems able to come down with it.

[foutsrouts]

He seems to shrink every time I see his measurements, but bring the guy on anyway. He looks like a football player and could turn out to be a good possession-type receiver for us. It's not like we're running out of seats on the bus at this point. 

[mgfan]

Does it worry anyone else that we are his ONLY D1  offer? 

[UNT90]

2 minutes ago, mgfan said:

Does it worry anyone else that we are his ONLY D1  offer? 

Yes, never has so much talk occurred over two recruits with zero other offers. 

Sadly where we find ourselves.

[EagleMBA]

Was it Yogi who said "Hit it where they ain't" ? Until proven otherwise, I'm inclined to accept the football judgment of Littrell and Harrell. If they think he can play for us and no other D1 coach does, or has bothered to evaluate him because he was only offered by D2, I will go with it. Fine and Pirtle look good to me.

Our coaches know what is on the line and what a rebuilding job they have on their hands. They would not waste time and effort on these guys if they didn't think they could contribute. JMHO.

[Mean_Green09]

40 minutes ago, mgfan said:

Does it worry anyone else that we are his ONLY D1  offer? 

No, bc we havent offered. And if we do offer its not going to be a full scholarship. Its simply an offer to play football like Fine.

[Cr1028]

It would be nice to have Mason Fine's version of Johnny Manziel's Mike Evans. Manziel was notorious for just throwing it up and letting Evans go get it.

[MeanGreenTexan]

19 minutes ago, EagleMBA said:

Was it Yogi who said "Hit it where they ain't" ? Until proven otherwise, I'm inclined to accept the football judgment of Littrell and Harrell. If they think he can play for us and no other D1 coach does, or has bothered to evaluate him because he was only offered by D2, I will go with it. Fine and Pirtle look good to me.

Our coaches know what is on the line and what a rebuilding job they have on their hands. They would not waste time and effort on these guys if they didn't think they could contribute. JMHO.

I'm kinda starting to worry that Littrell & crew buy into the same notions that alot of people who post here believe:  "<Player X> is too good to play here if he has P5 offers.  We need to find <Player Y>, who doesn't have as many offers, or is 'a diamond in the rough'."   I hope he's not surprised at the level of players in C-USA.  No, he's not going to be facing DeShaun Watson, but there are some ballers in this conference.  You take too many risks with FCS/D-II caliber players, and you eventually build an FCS/D-II roster.

[Mad Hatter]

We got beat by D2 talent.

[MeanGreen_MBA]

Fine to Pirtle could be our version of Colt to Shipley......at least that is what I am hoping for.......long term thinking here....

[MeanGreenTexan]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

Fine to Pirtle could be our version of Colt to Shipley......at least that is what I am hoping for.......long term thinking here....

Those are 2 NFL players.  That's some high hopes.

[Eagle-96]

His High School coach seems to think we will offer a PWO to him. No downside to that. If he gets here as a walk-on and turns out to be a G5 level player then great, we reward him with a scholarship in a couple of years. If he can't cut it then we don't ever waste a scholarship on him. 

Edited January 28, 2016 by Eagle-96

[EagleMBA]

42 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I'm kinda starting to worry that Littrell & crew buy into the same notions that alot of people who post here believe:  "<Player X> is too good to play here if he has P5 offers.  We need to find <Player Y>, who doesn't have as many offers, or is 'a diamond in the rough'."   I hope he's not surprised at the level of players in C-USA.  No, he's not going to be facing DeShaun Watson, but there are some ballers in this conference.  You take too many risks with FCS/D-II caliber players, and you eventually build an FCS/D-II roster.

I don't disagree with what you said. I give our coaches credit for having been around the block a time or two.  Definitely agree that you can't expect to win with a full roster of D2 talent; I do think that sometimes that is a fine line between D1 and D2. I think the "big boys" who have prospects just wetting their pants while waiting for a call from them are too hung up on "measurables". Your avatar is one of the best examples I can think of the kind of players we need.

Edited January 28, 2016 by EagleMBA

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

1 minute ago, Eagle-96 said:

His High School coach seems to think we will offer a PWO to him. No downside to that. If he gets here as a walk-on and turns out to be a G5 level player then great. If he can't cut it then we don't ever watse a scholarship on him. 

PWO to him, blueshirt to Mason is all fine and good, but what are we doing to fill these scholarship spots? Less than a week away and I don't expect us to completely fill them but I would expect us to have a lot more than we have at this point. Considering the amount of JuCos and the inevitable departure of certain recruits, I'm worried about a thin upperclassmen group down the line. 

[Green Crazy]

i like seeing the wr highlights of the qb's we've offered, because it gives you a better idea of what the qb looks like.  three things stuck out to me.  a, the talent in oklahoma's 3a ball seems quite a bit lower than our 3a football. 2,  fine was short on a lot of his passes and seemed to max out close to 45 yards, seems like arm strength will need to be worked on. and d, i see what fine's critics meant about him just throwing it up to pirtle.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Green Crazy

[p_phelps]

2 hours ago, mgfan said:

Does it worry anyone else that we are his ONLY D1  offer? 

Highly! would be one thing if he was a PWO but if it's OV then that's off the table

Edited January 28, 2016 by p_phelps

[HarringtonFishSmeller]

3 hours ago, mgfan said:

Does it worry anyone else that we are his ONLY D1  offer? 

Yes.

[HarringtonFishSmeller]

And, especially because he's not the only one.  Throw Fine, Baulkman, Muhammad, and Wheeler into that category as well.

Bussey, at least had some Sun Belt offers from Arkansas State, ULM, and New Mexico State, plus the service academies.  So, we've got that going for us with him.

Best recruit, thus far, has been TJ Henson.  And, even McCarney's holdover Deion Hair-Griffin, with offers from Army, ULM, and SMU, was at least thought of as FBS-worthy by other coaching staffs. 

The bottom line is, it's very thin so far.  The transfers are nice.  But, you have to build depth, ad quality depth at that.  We all know that.  And, it doesn't appear that we're getting much quality depth.

Even though many people pooh-poohed McCarney's recruiting, I think we will be okay on offense due to the QB from Allen/Alabama...for one season.  It's the defense that really needed an upgrade in talent and depth.  It does not really look like that is happening. 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2016 by HarringtonFishSmeller

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

was Seth supposed to have some secret recruits stashed away in a cellar in Oklahoma that he knew would commit to him as soon as he took the UNT job? 

The guy had what around a month not counting the dead period.  Who did we think he was going to get?  Honey Badger type players.  Good gosh the guys before him sat in their offices and pounded the grey goose knowing they had a cushy job and didnt have to recruit during the season.  Thanks McCarney! Thanks Cosh! (on a side note the best news is that the sad excuse of a DC Cosh is gone)  That alone is celebration!!  Cutting out the 'cancer' spots and replacing with younger more active coaches.  Give them time.  This class is going to suck just know that.  Hopefully these kids blossom into  G5 athletes but chances are they wont.  The big class will be next year when he gets the full amount of time to recruit.  Athletes get to see what type of offense he is running and how it will fit their style.

[Withers940]

4 hours ago, mgfan said:

Does it worry anyone else that we are his ONLY D1  offer? 

Worries me more so that He runs a 4.7 40

2 hours ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

Fine to Pirtle could be our version of Colt to Shipley......at least that is what I am hoping for.......long term thinking here....

Shipley runs like a scalded ape and with no disrespect to this kid, running a 4.7 40 in D1 is like he's running with parachutes behind him.

[SilverEagle]

24 minutes ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

was Seth supposed to have some secret recruits stashed away in a cellar in Oklahoma that he knew would commit to him as soon as he took the UNT job? 

The guy had what around a month not counting the dead period.  Who did we think he was going to get?  Honey Badger type players.  Good gosh the guys before him sat in their offices and pounded the grey goose knowing they had a cushy job and didnt have to recruit during the season.  Thanks McCarney! Thanks Cosh! (on a side note the best news is that the sad excuse of a DC Cosh is gone)  That alone is celebration!!  Cutting out the 'cancer' spots and replacing with younger more active coaches.  Give them time.  This class is going to suck just know that.  Hopefully these kids blossom into  G5 athletes but chances are they wont.  The big class will be next year when he gets the full amount of time to recruit.  Athletes get to see what type of offense he is running and how it will fit their style.

These same athletes need to see that his offense also wins games. And the best wins would be against opponents that we were not supposed to beat. THAT is how, as a coach/recruiter you gain (as they say in the political arena) some talking points. 

So what is going to be of most interest to me is how well the coaching staff evaluates/develops the players they've been given and how they convince the players that they can win with their system. 

Looking at last years results, that would be a tall order even for the turnaround kings that UNT90 has mentioned on various threads.

However, I do believe that SMU and Rice were possible wins with better coaching and a better system. And definitely UTEP.

But to really get the attention of future recruits, you need a signature win, and a follow up semi-signature win. 

Edited January 28, 2016 by SilverEagle

[Withers940]

3 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

And the best wins would be against opponents that we were not supposed to bea

To be Honest SilverEagle, after coming off a 1-11 season how do Recruits know what teams they are supposed to beat? Thats an honest question. Wins are Wins in CUSA and thats all that matters. Who people beat only really matter to 4-5* Athletes in my opinion. We compete for 2-3* and they just want to go to a school that wins consistently and I think thats what Littrell is going to do here. Provide us with 6 win seasons consistantly

[untjim1995]

17 minutes ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

was Seth supposed to have some secret recruits stashed away in a cellar in Oklahoma that he knew would commit to him as soon as he took the UNT job? 

The guy had what around a month not counting the dead period.  Who did we think he was going to get?  Honey Badger type players.  Good gosh the guys before him sat in their offices and pounded the grey goose knowing they had a cushy job and didnt have to recruit during the season.  Thanks McCarney! Thanks Cosh! (on a side note the best news is that the sad excuse of a DC Cosh is gone)  That alone is celebration!!  Cutting out the 'cancer' spots and replacing with younger more active coaches.  Give them time.  This class is going to suck just know that.  Hopefully these kids blossom into  G5 athletes but chances are they wont.  The big class will be next year when he gets the full amount of time to recruit.  Athletes get to see what type of offense he is running and how it will fit their style.

This.

This year ahead is all about building up relationships with TX HS coaches and winning some recruiting battles for actual FBS-offered players. We have one game on our schedule that we will be favored to win--at home against FCS Bethune-Cookman. Everyone else will be favored when we play them, wherever we play them. 2016 is Seth's retrenching year. We can go 1-11 and it will still be better than last season, just because of what we have to rebuild and recreate in the locker room and on the field. This current recruiting season that is coming to an end is all about finding bodies that can help you practice and to help implement Littrell's program in each facet--classroom, locker room, weight room, and practices. If anyone turns out to be a decent player in this class, its just gravy.

Don't get caught up in the w/l record this upcoming season. The focus needs to be on Littrell and staff recruit, as well as the attitude they bring to the team. A wide-open offensive game plan, even if it sees us getting pillaged during games, is still badly needed for experience for a roster built on a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust kind of offense. If we win 2 or more games this upcoming season, count our lucky stars---because that is how far down we are on this roster. We have absolutely no size or speed on defense. The QB situation may be improved with Alec Morris, but anyone from a FBS program would improve on the collection of FCS QBs we had on this roster at the end of 2015. Hopefully, the OL can adapt to this new scheme and actually provide time to throw for Morris, something they couldn't do for the spare QBs we ran out there last year. If the OL can block, the RBs and WRs we have might be able to help us score some points--something we haven't seen around these parts since Dodge.

[SilverEagle]

10 minutes ago, Withers940 said:

To be Honest SilverEagle, after coming off a 1-11 season how do Recruits know what teams they are supposed to beat? Thats an honest question. Wins are Wins in CUSA and thats all that matters. Who people beat only really matter to 4-5* Athletes in my opinion. We compete for 2-3* and they just want to go to a school that wins consistently and I think thats what Littrell is going to do here. Provide us with 6 win seasons consistantly

Well, based on your view of our football world, 6 wins would constitute 4 or 5 wins that we were not supposed to win, and therefore give the coaches the 'talking points" that I was mentioning earlier. In order for a 4-5 star athlete to come here in the next two or three years, they would either have to be non-qualifiers who went the the JUCO route and we stole them away from their original commit,  OR we beat Florida this year. But if we did that, then in order for it not to be a fluke, we would have to win the remainder of the games on our schedule.