31_Spring Quaterbacks

Skipper · March 31, 2016

Reece Waddell | Senior Staff Writer

Featured Image: Junior quarterback Damarcus Smith left the program giving other quarterbacks a chance to compete for the spot with fifth year senior Alec Morris. Colin Mitchell | Senior Staff Photographer

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Cr1028 · March 31, 2016

Quote

But no matter who lines up under center opening day, the Mean Green have something they lacked in 2015.

“[The quarterbacks] have a lot more leadership than what the quarterbacks last year had,” Goree said. “Alec, if you don’t know what you’re doing, he’s going to get on you. He’s got a bunch of leadership. I like Alec.”

I find this very telling.

Mac quote on Mini prior to SMUg game last year.

Quote

“Our team believes in him. Our players do, our coaches do,” McCarney said. “He has been much more consistent, taken care of the football and made more plays. He understands what we are doing and isn’t afraid to straighten out something that is wrong. He has emerged as a leader.”

Edited March 31, 2016 by Cr1028

UNT90 · March 31, 2016

27 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

I find this very telling.

Mac quote on Mini prior to SMUg game last year.

Everyone use saying what they are supposed to say. Neither Mac's statement or Goree's statement really mean anything.

Although it is good to see Goree knows the general statements to give to the media. He's learning to be media savvy, which means he can learn, and that's a good thing.

UNTLifer · March 31, 2016

3 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Everyone use saying what they are supposed to say. Neither Mac's statement or Goree's statement really mean anything.

Although it is good to see Goree knows the general statements to give to the media. He's learning to be media savvy, which means he can learn, and that's a good thing.

I will kindly disagree. I think Mac's quote was nothing but coach speak. Goree's, on the other hand, is from a teammate and is much more apt to be the truth than a bunch of "coach speak."

Mean_Green09 · March 31, 2016

It took 5 years for McNulty to emerge as a leader.

It took Morris 1 spring to be a leader.

Players respect talent and winners.

UNT90 · March 31, 2016

2 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

I will kindly disagree. I think Mac's quote was nothing but coach speak. Goree's, on the other hand, is from a teammate and is much more apt to be the truth than a bunch of "coach speak."

I bet if you go back and look at player quotes about McNulty before last season, you would see the same types of quotes about McNulty.

And I am in no way saying Morris is McNulty, let me make that clear.

But what else are players supposed to say when asked about the QB? You are never going to get "Well, Brett, we really don't have a FBS QB on this roster right now. McNulty tries real hard, but the talent just isn't there." That will never happen.

Ben Gooding · March 31, 2016

1 minute ago, Mean_Green09 said:

It took 5 years for McNulty to emerge as a leader.

It took Morris 1 spring to be a leader.

Players respect talent and winners.

kapow

UNT90 · March 31, 2016

2 minutes ago, Mean_Green09 said:

It took 5 years for McNulty to emerge as a leader.

It took Morris 1 spring to be a leader.

Players respect talent and winners.

Except he hasn't won anything since high school.

I get that players respect talent, I just don't think anything they say to the media really means a lot.

Ben Gooding · March 31, 2016

2 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

I bet if you go back and look at player quotes about McNulty before last season, you would see the same types of quotes about McNulty.

And I am in no way saying Morris is McNulty, let me make that clear.

But what else are players supposed to say when asked about the QB? You are never going to get "Well, Brett, we really don't have a FBS QB on this roster right now. McNulty tries real hard, but the talent just isn't there." That will never happen.

But it should happen. If coaches are shitting the bed in recruiting no reason why players shouldn't say so in a semi respectful way.

UNT90 · March 31, 2016

3 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

But it should happen. If coaches are shitting the bed in recruiting no reason why players shouldn't say so in a semi respectful way.

Never will happen. Players want to play. And it would also kill the team chemistry.

McNulty was elected captain last year by the players, and that means a whole lot more than a forced quote to the media. That is a private vote, so...:

http://m.meangreensports.com/m/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090315aaa.html

Edited March 31, 2016 by UNT90

UNTLifer · March 31, 2016

I think the players respected McNulty, and rightfully so, because he was the ultimate team player, worked hard and had leadership qualities. Unfortunately, he didn't have the physical skills to succeed.

GOMG2013 · March 31, 2016

Goree's statement says a lot. He just didn't come out and say a generic statement that Morris was a leader, he did a comparison.

He pretty much said Morris showed more leadership than the QBs from last year. He didn't have to mention last years QBs, but he did.

Ben Gooding · March 31, 2016

1 minute ago, GOMG2013 said:

Goree's statement says a lot. He just didn't come out and say a generic statement that Morris was a leader, he did a comparison.

He pretty much said Morris showed more leadership than the QBs from last year. He didn't have to mention last years QBs, but he did.

This is very true.

I am glad he is being vocal. He needs to be even more vocal as far as I'm concerned. He's a 3rd year player in the program, it's time for him to start speaking up on a consistent basis. It's OK to be critical of the people around you if it is done in a professional, good intent way. It will bring the best out of everyone.

GOMG2013 · March 31, 2016

1 minute ago, Ben Gooding said:

I am glad he is being vocal. He needs to be even more vocal as far as I'm concerned. He's a 3rd year player in the program, it's time for him to start speaking up on a consistent basis.

It seems as if this coaching staff is looking at the talent and identifying the leaders on the team...even before the pads have come on and a down of football has been played. Bryce English has been very vocal and was immediately identified as a leader. Morris came in a started working with the first team, so Smith left.

Some will say this can be a bad thing, and in a way, it can if the player cannot perform.

But this coaching staff look like it approaches things differently. If you have talent, it's up to us as a coaching staff to develop what you have. The whole "Tee it up" thing has already put Goree out there as a leader. He has the physical skills. Litrell and Co has a lot more confidence in their ability to coach players up. Ekeler even made a comment about recruiting being overrated or something. I like the confidence. We will see...

Cr1028 · March 31, 2016

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

I bet if you go back and look at player quotes about McNulty before last season, you would see the same types of quotes about McNulty.

And I am in no way saying Morris is McNulty, let me make that clear.

But what else are players supposed to say when asked about the QB? You are never going to get "Well, Brett, we really don't have a FBS QB on this roster right now. McNulty tries real hard, but the talent just isn't there." That will never happen.

I guess to be fair I will include the article and the quote from Marcus Smith about Mini. Although it doesn't say anything about leadership, just that he knows the offense and they love/trust the guy. I'd take this quote from a greyshirt/redshirt senior talking about a fellow redshirt senior who he has known for nearly 5 years as a "media statement" more than Goree's statement about a guy he has known for 2 or 3 months tops. I'm sure Mac handpicked Smith to give a positive review about his boy whereas Goree is only a redshirt sophomore and likely wouldn't be the player to give coached answers.

Tight end Marcus Smith is convinced McNulty will be just what UNT needs this season.

Quote

“McNulty did a phenomenal job in winter workouts to spring to fall camp,” Smith said. “He knows the offense in and out. “He went from third team to starter. That built up his confidence. We trust the guy and love him.”

1 hour ago, UNT90 said:

Never will happen. Players want to play. And it would also kill the team chemistry.

McNulty was elected captain last year by the players, and that means a whole lot more than a forced quote to the media. That is a private vote, so...:

http://m.meangreensports.com/m/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090315aaa.html

Probably coincidental that both the favorite of the head coach and the first year DC are elected captains.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Cr1028

untjim1995 · March 31, 2016

McNulty was shoved down the throats of everyone by his coach. It isn't surprising that he players publically backed him--they knew that insulting his play meant that they were not going to see the field under McCarney.

Dan McCarney thought Andrew McNulty was the best QB on the roster for a year--from mid October of 2014 thru his firing in October of 2015. Thought he was the best bus driver for his offense. There is simply no better way to illustrate that Dan McCarney lost his football-coaching mind than to have watched him sell McNulty over and over to anyone who would listen. There wasn't one other FBS program that Andrew McNulty would have seen real playing time as a QB, yet he started or played in most of his time here.

It was yet another example of embarrassment that the football program levied upon the fans that follow the team.

Cr1028 · March 31, 2016

2 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

McNulty was shoved down the throats of everyone by his coach. It isn't surprising that he players publically backed him--they knew that insulting his play meant that they were not going to see the field under McCarney.

Dan McCarney thought Andrew McNulty was the best QB on the roster for a year--from mid October of 2014 thru his firing in October of 2015. Thought he was the best bus driver for his offense. There is simply no better way to illustrate that Dan McCarney lost his football-coaching mind than to have watched him sell McNulty over and over to anyone who would listen. There wasn't one other FBS program that Andrew McNulty would have seen real playing time as a QB, yet he started or played in most of his time here.

It was yet another example of embarrassment that the football program levied upon the fans that follow the team.

Don't forget that he scored the first touchdown in the history of Apogee stadium as a true freshman after Derek Thompson and Lance Dunbar led the team to the red zone, The true freshman was called off the bench to score the first TD. Also, when DT went down that season, rather than using the 3-star JUCO transfer in Brent Osborn, he used the true freshman zero star from Iowa because, well, Iowa.

untjim1995 · March 31, 2016

1 minute ago, Cr1028 said:

Don't forget that he scored the first touchdown in the history of Apogee stadium as a true freshman after Derek Thompson and Lance Dunbar led the team to the red zone, The true freshman was called off the bench to score the first TD. Also, when DT went down that season, rather than using the 3-star JUCO transfer in Brent Osborn, he used the true freshman zero star from Iowa because, well, Iowa.

My all-time favorite McNulty game that showed his value to the team was in 2014 in our last home game against FIU. We were both terrible and we had a 3-7 record going into the game. In the 4th quarter, we found ourselves up by a FG or so, but in the 3rd quarter, McNulty had thrown some absolutely brutal interceptions. Literally, in the 4th quarter of a conference game at home, with nothing on the line, McCarney chose to keep McNulty in the game, but never ran one pass play again. Literally every down in the 4th quarter that we had the ball produced an offensive playcall that involved a run. McNulty was so bad that the coach wouldn't even let him attempt a pass with the game on the line--and it was a game we won, only because FIU was terrible and couldn't take advantage of it. Afterwards, McCarney told the media how much he likes McNulty as his QB and trusts him--every single player on the team and every single fan who watched the game knew then that we were dealing with a situation far worse than we could have veer imagined. The head coach felt that a guy from Iowa with no offers for playing QB was better for his offensive gameplan by simply being a busdriver than anyone else on the roster. It was then that I knew we were fooked for 2015. Never imagined we would only win one game and would suffer the worst loss in modern college football history, but I knew that if we didn't beat a terrible SMU team in our opener that there were no more than two games we could conceivably win left on the schedule with the QB we had.

Dan McCarney brought us Andrew McNulty, Josh Greer, Brett Osborn, Brock Berglund, Dajon Williams, Damarcus Smith, and Caleb Chumley as scholarship QBs. Think about that for a minute when you try and figure out how bad our talent level has gotten. Then ask yourself how that coach deserved a five-year extension after one good year...

Mean Green 93-98 · March 31, 2016

44 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Don't forget that he scored the first touchdown in the history of Apogee stadium as a true freshman after Derek Thompson and Lance Dunbar led the team to the red zone, The true freshman was called off the bench to score the first TD. Also, when DT went down that season, rather than using the 3-star JUCO transfer in Brent Osborn, he used the true freshman zero star from Iowa because, well, Iowa.

Everyone keeps bringing up that play as if it were a given that we'd score a TD. We were at the 11. If Chico had plays in his back pocket that were guaranteed to score every time from the 11, we wouldn't have lost very many games the past 6 years.

Now choosing McNulty over Osborn I've never been able to understand.

Ben Gooding · March 31, 2016

38 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

My all-time favorite McNulty game that showed his value to the team was in 2014 in our last home game against FIU. We were both terrible and we had a 3-7 record going into the game. In the 4th quarter, we found ourselves up by a FG or so, but in the 3rd quarter, McNulty had thrown some absolutely brutal interceptions. Literally, in the 4th quarter of a conference game at home, with nothing on the line, McCarney chose to keep McNulty in the game, but never ran one pass play again. Literally every down in the 4th quarter that we had the ball produced an offensive playcall that involved a run. McNulty was so bad that the coach wouldn't even let him attempt a pass with the game on the line--and it was a game we won, only because FIU was terrible and couldn't take advantage of it. Afterwards, McCarney told the media how much he likes McNulty as his QB and trusts him--every single player on the team and every single fan who watched the game knew then that we were dealing with a situation far worse than we could have veer imagined. The head coach felt that a guy from Iowa with no offers for playing QB was better for his offensive gameplan by simply being a busdriver than anyone else on the roster. It was then that I knew we were fooked for 2015. Never imagined we would only win one game and would suffer the worst loss in modern college football history, but I knew that if we didn't beat a terrible SMU team in our opener that there were no more than two games we could conceivably win left on the schedule with the QB we had.

Dan McCarney brought us Andrew McNulty, Josh Greer, Brett Osborn, Brock Berglund, Dajon Williams, Damarcus Smith, and Caleb Chumley as scholarship QBs. Think about that for a minute when you try and figure out how bad our talent level has gotten. Then ask yourself how that coach deserved a five-year extension after one good year...

I don't do this often. Well, I never do but in Mccarney's defense, that day vs FIU in Apogee was a brutal day for football specifically throwing the football. It was cold, wet, and windy.

40 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

My all-time favorite McNulty game that showed his value to the team was in 2014 in our last home game against FIU. We were both terrible and we had a 3-7 record going into the game. In the 4th quarter, we found ourselves up by a FG or so, but in the 3rd quarter, McNulty had thrown some absolutely brutal interceptions. Literally, in the 4th quarter of a conference game at home, with nothing on the line, McCarney chose to keep McNulty in the game, but never ran one pass play again. Literally every down in the 4th quarter that we had the ball produced an offensive playcall that involved a run. McNulty was so bad that the coach wouldn't even let him attempt a pass with the game on the line--and it was a game we won, only because FIU was terrible and couldn't take advantage of it. Afterwards, McCarney told the media how much he likes McNulty as his QB and trusts him--every single player on the team and every single fan who watched the game knew then that we were dealing with a situation far worse than we could have veer imagined. The head coach felt that a guy from Iowa with no offers for playing QB was better for his offensive gameplan by simply being a busdriver than anyone else on the roster. It was then that I knew we were fooked for 2015. Never imagined we would only win one game and would suffer the worst loss in modern college football history, but I knew that if we didn't beat a terrible SMU team in our opener that there were no more than two games we could conceivably win left on the schedule with the QB we had.

Dan McCarney brought us Andrew McNulty, Josh Greer, Brett Osborn, Brock Berglund, Dajon Williams, Damarcus Smith, and Caleb Chumley as scholarship QBs. Think about that for a minute when you try and figure out how bad our talent level has gotten. Then ask yourself how that coach deserved a five-year extension after one good year...

Simple, that coach didn't deserve an extension. I said it then and there that it was highly premature.

Cr1028 · March 31, 2016

2 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Everyone keeps bringing up that play as if it were a given that we'd score a TD. We were at the 11. If Chico had plays in his back pocket that were guaranteed to score every time from the 11, we wouldn't have lost very many games the past 6 years.

2nd and 7 from the 10 after 4 straight touches by Lance. Let's not make it out to be some Barry Sanders or Earl Campbell type run. I was in that corner of the endz one for the game and if I recall correctly he was untouched to the end zone. I think it was a fake to Lance and everyone followed him while Mini was free to trot into the end zone. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I can't find any photo or video evidence of the play. Canales had tricks in his pocket but would only use them when Mac cared (see Iowa).

or after Chico took over, if Chico cared. See UTSA.

Mean Green 93-98 · March 31, 2016

4 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

2nd and 7 from the 10 after 4 straight touches by Lance. Let's not make it out to be some Barry Sanders or Earl Campbell type run. I was in that corner of the endz one for the game and if I recall correctly he was untouched to the end zone. I think it was a fake to Lance and everyone followed him while Mini was free to trot into the end zone.

Obviously it was a well-designed and well-executed play. But defenses often sniff out and snuff out well-designed and well-executed offensive plays. There are never any guarantees, especially from the 11. As far as inserting McNulty for the play, keep in mind that he was our "athletic QB" at the time. We had a better chance of scoring with McNulty running the play than with DT. So I have no problem with that decision, in and of itself.

Was nepotism involved? Not necessarily. I do think that Coach Mac's handling of the QB situation later in the season reeked of nepotism; for example, when McNulty was started in the Tulsa game ahead of Osborn. And in the postgame interview, Coach Mac defended McNulty's pathetic performance, while diminishing Osborn's quality showing (admittedly in garbage time). Some of those later actions may suggest that nepotism also led Coach Mac to put in McNulty for a play against Houston, but there's no proof for it as far as I can see.

NTAlum09 · March 31, 2016

3 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

My all-time favorite McNulty game that showed his value to the team was in 2014 in our last home game against FIU. We were both terrible and we had a 3-7 record going into the game. In the 4th quarter, we found ourselves up by a FG or so, but in the 3rd quarter, McNulty had thrown some absolutely brutal interceptions. Literally, in the 4th quarter of a conference game at home, with nothing on the line, McCarney chose to keep McNulty in the game, but never ran one pass play again. Literally every down in the 4th quarter that we had the ball produced an offensive playcall that involved a run. McNulty was so bad that the coach wouldn't even let him attempt a pass with the game on the line--and it was a game we won, only because FIU was terrible and couldn't take advantage of it. Afterwards, McCarney told the media how much he likes McNulty as his QB and trusts him--every single player on the team and every single fan who watched the game knew then that we were dealing with a situation far worse than we could have veer imagined. The head coach felt that a guy from Iowa with no offers for playing QB was better for his offensive gameplan by simply being a busdriver than anyone else on the roster. It was then that I knew we were fooked for 2015. Never imagined we would only win one game and would suffer the worst loss in modern college football history, but I knew that if we didn't beat a terrible SMU team in our opener that there were no more than two games we could conceivably win left on the schedule with the QB we had.

Dan McCarney brought us Andrew McNulty, Josh Greer, Brett Osborn, Brock Berglund, Dajon Williams, Damarcus Smith, and Caleb Chumley as scholarship QBs. Think about that for a minute when you try and figure out how bad our talent level has gotten. Then ask yourself how that coach deserved a five-year extension after one good year...

North Texas Mean Green (Sun Belt Conference) (2011–2012)
2011	North Texas	5–7	4–4	5th
2012	North Texas	4–8	3–5	T–6th
North Texas Mean Green (Conference USA) (2013–present)
2013	North Texas	9–4	6–2	T–2nd (West)	W Heart of Dallas
2014	North Texas	4–8	2–6	5th (West)
2015	North Texas	0–5	0–2	T–5th (West)
North Texas:		22–32	15–19

Till this day I never understood why a 5 year extension was given to a guy who had a better record his first year than his second year. Did Darrell Dickey ever get a 5 year extension?

Cr1028 · March 31, 2016

13 minutes ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Obviously it was a well-designed and well-executed play. But defenses often sniff out and snuff out well-designed and well-executed offensive plays. There are never any guarantees, especially from the 11. As far as inserting McNulty for the play, keep in mind that he was our "athletic QB" at the time. We had a better chance of scoring with McNulty running the play than with DT. So I have no problem with that decision, in and of itself.

I'd say you have a point except that our "athletic qb" had a shorter longest rush and worse yards per carry than DT for that same game. DT ran a 4.7 coming out of HS. I doubt very seriously that McNulty was any faster. R

RUSHING	No.	Gain	Loss	Net	TD	Lg	Avg.
Dunbar, Lance	18	74	12	62	1	16	3.4
Thompson, Derek	9	45	4	41	0	11	4.6
McNulty, Andrew	3	11	3	8	1	10	2.7
Hamilton, James	2	6	0	6	0	6	3.0
Byrd, Brandin	1	3	0	3	0	3	3.0
TEAM	1	0	2	-2	0	0	-2.0
Totals...	34	139	21	118	2	16	3.5

. Gain

Edited March 31, 2016 by Cr1028

untjim1995 · March 31, 2016

1 minute ago, NTAlum09 said:

North Texas Mean Green (Sun Belt Conference) (2011–2012)
2011 North Texas 5–7 4–4 5th
2012 North Texas 4–8 3–5 T–6th
North Texas Mean Green (Conference USA) (2013–present)
2013 North Texas 9–4 6–2 T–2nd (West) W Heart of Dallas
2014 North Texas 4–8 2–6 5th (West)
2015 North Texas 0–5 0–2 T–5th (West)
North Texas: 22–32 15–19
Till this day I never understood why a 5 year extension was given to a guy who had a better record his first year than his second year. Did Darrell Dickey ever get a 5 year extension?

We probably couldn't afford to pay Dickey for that long back then...

What's even worse about that 5-year extension is that nobody was knocking down McCarney's door for a job. I think every sensible fan recognized that Mac deserved something like an extra year or two on his deal, plus a raise, after that great 2013 season, but it didn't take long to see that recruiting had been putrid under him and wasn't improving. I truly believe with all of my heart that McCarney thought this was going to be the Texas version of USF, a large public school, surrounded by great high school talent, and with a large enrollment of students and alumni that wanted football to be a big deal here. He believed recruiting here was going to be like shooting fish in a barrel, like it was when he went to USF. What USF had that UNT didn't have, though, was a reputation for building up a winner. Those recruits and their coaches and parents didn't consider USF a safety net school or as a loser in football. He could never get over this and, in the end, that lack of developed talent, especially at QB, ended his coaching career.

Hopefully, Littrell can change this mindset with these recruits and their coaches and parents--because that's the only chance he has of building this back up to a winner. Dodge got talented offensive players here, but his ability to lead them at this level was below awful. Dickey got a few great recruits here, but his attitude and gameplan just screamed gve-up and the recruiting really dropped off. If Littrell can emulate the best things Dickey and Dodge were able to do with recruiting, and then actually coach the team with an attitude of excitement and positivity, he will have accomplished some great things here by the time he is done.