MGB: Devin O'Hara talks about decision to sign with UNT

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 7, 2016

2 hours ago, UNT90 said:

What if Morris isn't "the best" QB on the roster? What happens if he gets hit in the mouth against SMU and promptly throws 3 picks a la Chad?

Then what?

I can't tell whether or not this is a joke. "Hit in the mouth against SMU?"

It has to be a joke. SMU isn't capable of hitting anyone in the mouth.

Morris was challenging for the starting spot at Alabama last summer. I'm not sure what sin he's committed in your book - not being good enough to start at Alabama? Couldn't beat out A.J. McCarron, now a Cincinnati Bengal, Blake Sims, who went to NFL training camps, and Jake Coker, who is currently with the Arizona Cardinal?

That's worlds different than not being able to compete at Kansas (Berglund), Western Kentucky (Smith), Oklahoma State (Shanbour) or Western Illinois (O'Hara). I'd say the bar was pretty high at Alabama, far higher than it is here. Like so high as to not even be visible from the ground here.

Morris is by far and away the most talented quarterback on the roster. I know the coaches can't publicly say it because they want the players to think there's a "competition" for the position. Although, Harrell already blew that cover with the interview with AL.com last week.

Morris is the best QB on the roster. In fact, I'll go so far as to say, he's the only FBS-level QB on the roster. The rest barely garnered any interested out of high school, even from FCS schools.

The thing Morris will lack here is a Bama-level OL and playmakers at WR. It's on the players in those units to step up and play at FBS-level - that is where the coaches' attention should be.

Aldo · June 7, 2016

3 hours ago, UNT90 said:

So far Littrell has signed a HS QB with no other FBS offers and a JUCO that couldn't cut it at an FCS and also had zero other offers from FBS schools. At a need position where playing time was available immediately.

I'm not going to knock this staff for having a month to sign a whole class (where you could argue nearly every position had an immediately available spot). They had 1 2016 commit, and zero 2017 commits. The dreadful recruiting situation we were left with is a multi-year hole we are having to climb out of.

I fully expect another QB transfer to come in 2017 in addition to a HS QB. I do expect the 2017 class to be better than 2016, though.

Back to O'Hara, I agree it's a depth move. He needs to work on his precision and velocity.

Cr1028 · June 7, 2016

2 hours ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

I can't tell whether or not this is a joke. "Hit in the mouth against SMU?"

It has to be a joke. SMU isn't capable of hitting anyone in the mouth.

Morris was challenging for the starting spot at Alabama last summer. I'm not sure what sin he's committed in your book - not being good enough to start at Alabama? Couldn't beat out A.J. McCarron, now a Cincinnati Bengal, Blake Sims, who went to NFL training camps, and Jake Coker, who is currently with the Arizona Cardinal?

That's worlds different than not being able to compete at Kansas (Berglund), Western Kentucky (Smith), Oklahoma State (Shanbour) or Western Illinois (O'Hara). I'd say the bar was pretty high at Alabama, far higher than it is here. Like so high as to not even be visible from the ground here.

Morris is by far and away the most talented quarterback on the roster. I know the coaches can't publicly say it because they want the players to think there's a "competition" for the position. Although, Harrell already blew that cover with the interview with AL.com last week.

Morris is the best QB on the roster. In fact, I'll go so far as to say, he's the only FBS-level QB on the roster. The rest barely garnered any interested out of high school, even from FCS schools.

The thing Morris will lack here is a Bama-level OL and playmakers at WR. It's on the players in those units to step up and play at FBS-level - that is where the coaches' attention should be.

I guess, you're right, coming from a power program guarantees you'll be the best player at your position at NT.

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UNT-player_1464799998391_2628652_ver1.0.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Cr1028

UNT90 · June 7, 2016

4 hours ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

I can't tell whether or not this is a joke. "Hit in the mouth against SMU?"

It has to be a joke. SMU isn't capable of hitting anyone in the mouth.

Morris was challenging for the starting spot at Alabama last summer. I'm not sure what sin he's committed in your book - not being good enough to start at Alabama? Couldn't beat out A.J. McCarron, now a Cincinnati Bengal, Blake Sims, who went to NFL training camps, and Jake Coker, who is currently with the Arizona Cardinal?

That's worlds different than not being able to compete at Kansas (Berglund), Western Kentucky (Smith), Oklahoma State (Shanbour) or Western Illinois (O'Hara). I'd say the bar was pretty high at Alabama, far higher than it is here. Like so high as to not even be visible from the ground here.

Morris is by far and away the most talented quarterback on the roster. I know the coaches can't publicly say it because they want the players to think there's a "competition" for the position. Although, Harrell already blew that cover with the interview with AL.com last week.

Morris is the best QB on the roster. In fact, I'll go so far as to say, he's the only FBS-level QB on the roster. The rest barely garnered any interested out of high school, even from FCS schools.

The thing Morris will lack here is a Bama-level OL and playmakers at WR. It's on the players in those units to step up and play at FBS-level - that is where the coaches' attention should be.

He hasn't been hit in live game action or practice for 4 years. It's great that all those other guys are in the NFL. Morris isn't all those other guys and didn't beat any of them out for the job.

I have nothing against Morris, I'm just not jumping on the happy train of a guy who has thrown ONE collegiate pass.

We don't know what any of these QBs will do in live action. Remember the great practice player that was Chad?

Anyone who thinks any of these guys is an all conference player is just a homer homering.

The QB situation here is not good. Littrell needs to sign 2 HS QBs this class. QBs that have other FBS offers.

7 hours ago, MGNation92 said:

You're only saying that because you're part of the Quinn Shanbour fan club. Get over it 90, even if he is better suited for this offense he's still only 6'0". We should just give up hope.

Ironically enough everyone used to talk about how McCarney would recruit guys that were 6'4" 240 but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a football. Morris is much more accurate than Mac recruits, but the size thing seems to be the only thing Vito knocks Shanbour for. Give me a legitimate reason as to why he wouldn't be as good or better in this offense. I'd be willing to bet there are few and far between that could

Dumbest post in a long time. I'm not pro anybody because I have no idea what any of these guys have. Neither do you.

The ONLY reason I'd like to see Shanbour win the job is so I can watch Vito eat crow. And that's about #984 on my list for what I want out of this QB position.

It would be funny as hell, though.

Edited June 7, 2016 by UNT90

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 7, 2016

4 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

He hasn't been hit in kive game action or practice for 4 years. It's great that all those other guys are in the NFL. Morris isn't all those other guys and didn't beat any of them out for the job.

I have nothing against Morris, I'm just not jumping on the happy train of a guy who has thrown ONE collegiate pass.

We don't know what any of these QBs will do in live action. Remember the great practice player that was Chad?

Anyone who thinks any of these guys is small conference player is just a homer homering.

The QB situation here is not good. Littrell needs to sign 2 HS QBs this class. QBs that have other FBS offers.

We all know the QB situation is not good behind Morris. I don't care because we're not playing the 2017 season yet; we're only going to play the 2016 season this year.

And, again, the SMU and "hitting in the mouth," you'd have to have me believe the guy was a Bama for four years and never saw talent equal to SMU on the practice field year after year?

Crazy.

I'm on the happy train because we have, at minimum, a real college QB who was recruited and signed by a real college football coaching staff. Our hope is that Littrell and Harrell know how to arrange the talent - such as it is on this squad - around him properly enough to wins a few games this season.

Absent Morris, I'd be predicting that we go 0-12 because there is no other FBS-level QB on the roster.

MGNation92 · June 7, 2016

11 minutes ago, UNT90 said:

Dumbest post in a long time. I'm not pro anybody because I have no idea what any of these guys have. Neither do you.

The ONLY reason I'd like to see Shanbour win the job is so I canwatch Vito eat crow. And that's about #984 on my list for want I want out of this QB position.

It would be funny as hell, though.

Do you even sarcasm

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 7, 2016

16 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

I guess, you're right, coming from a power program guarantees you'll be the best player at your position at NT.

Sorry. You'll have to connect the dots for me. What does Anthony Wallace, who started and contributed on the field here after he transferred in, have to do with Brock Berglund, Damarcus Smith, Quinn Shanbour, and Devin O'Hara?

Unlike those, Wallace did beat out the guys in front of him here. Same as Morris.

Edited June 7, 2016 by MeanGreenMailbox

foutsrouts · June 7, 2016

5 hours ago, MGNation92 said:

You're only saying that because you're part of the Quinn Shanbour fan club. Get over it 90, even if he is better suited for this offense he's still only 6'0". We should just give up hope.

Ironically enough everyone used to talk about how McCarney would recruit guys that were 6'4" 240 but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a football. Morris is much more accurate than Mac recruits, but the size thing seems to be the only thing Vito knocks Shanbour for. Give me a legitimate reason as to why he wouldn't be as good or better in this offense. I'd be willing to bet there are few and far between that could

If he really is 6 feet I very much doubt that we would even be talking about his height.

MeanGreenTexan · June 7, 2016

5 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

Sorry. You'll have to connect the dots for me. What does Anthony Wallace, who started and contributed on the field here after he transferred in, have to do with Brock Berglund, Damarcus Smith, Quinn Shanbour, and Devin O'Hara?

Unlike those, Wallace did beat out the guys in front of him here. Same as Morris.

Need to stop lumping this guy in with the rest of those. Brock Berglund & Quinn Shanbour have never sniffed Apogee turf during a game before.
Damarcus at least won the only game we won last year.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 7, 2016

1 hour ago, Aldo said:

I'm not going to knock this staff for having a month to sign a whole class (where you could argue nearly every position had an immediately available spot). They had 1 2016 commit, and zero 2017 commits. The dreadful recruiting situation we were left with is a multi-year hole we are having to climb out of.

I fully expect another QB transfer to come in 2017 in addition to a HS QB. I do expect the 2017 class to be better than 2016, though.

Back to O'Hara, I agree it's a depth move. He needs to work on his precision and velocity.

That's where I am. Thinking transfers Cody Sokol and Jeff Driskil in 2014 and 2015. In the aftermath of Sokol's successful 2014, La Tech has been able to sign 3-star QBs in both the 2015 and 2016 classes and redshirt them both. Hoping the same happens here, starting with Morris.

Just now, MeanGreenTexan said:

Need to stop lumping this guy in with the rest of those. Brock Berglund & Quinn Shanbour have never sniffed Apogee turf during a game before.
Damarcus at least won the only game we won last year.

I think I can safely lump him in. He didn't beat out the guy he had to beat out in the fall...because he was too busy instagraming to learn the playbook. He was thrown in because there were no other warm bodies left once the Iowa Kid joke had run out its string.

Once Littrelll & Co. hit the town and demanded a little offseason work, you saw pretty quickly what Damarcus Smith was made of...as if we didn't already know.

I'd also tip my cap to UTSA for being down to their fourth string QB having more to do with our win than anything else - and, even then we had to rally in the fourth quarter to get over on them.

So, yeah...I'll keep lumping Instagram Smith in with the rest of them.

Cr1028 · June 7, 2016

31 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

Sorry. You'll have to connect the dots for me. What does Anthony Wallace, who started and contributed on the field here after he transferred in, have to do with Brock Berglund, Damarcus Smith, Quinn Shanbour, and Devin O'Hara?

Unlike those, Wallace did beat out the guys in front of him here. Same as Morris.

Wallace didn't beat out anyone, he backed up Bean until Bean got hurt in '15 and in '14 he backed up Scott the entire year.

24 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Need to stop lumping this guy in with the rest of those. Brock Berglund & Quinn Shanbour have never sniffed Apogee turf during a game before.
Damarcus at least won the only game we won last year.

Thanks only to his legs, he was no better quarterback than Darius Carey or Patrick Cobbs.

MeanGreenTexan · June 7, 2016

7 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

I think I can safely lump him in. He didn't beat out the guy he had to beat out in the fall...because he was too busy instagraming to learn the playbook. He was thrown in because there were no other warm bodies left once the Iowa Kid joke had run out its string.

Once Littrelll & Co. hit the town and demanded a little offseason work, you saw pretty quickly what Damarcus Smith was made of...as if we didn't already know.

I'd also tip my cap to UTSA for being down to their fourth string QB having more to do with our win than anything else - and, even then we had to rally in the fourth quarter to get over on them.

So, yeah...I'll keep lumping Instagram Smith in with the rest of them.

It's becoming pretty safe to say Jared Goff wouldn't have started here as long as McNulty was here with McCarney.
The argument of not being able to beat out McNulty doesn't work under the previous regime like it would under someone else.

We actually don't know if Smith was gone before he even said a word to Littrell & Co. We do know he likes to put parties in Louisville together. Apparently football doesn't float his boat quite as high as party planning.

I don't give 2 flips who was playing QB for UTSA when we beat them. We beat them. Just like it didn't matter when we were trotting Chase Baine out there to lose... we still lost.

6 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Wallace didn't beat out anyone, he backed up Bean until Bean got hurt in '15 and in '14 he backed up Scott the entire year.

Thanks only to his legs, he was no better quarterback than Darius Carey or Patrick Cobbs.

Wallace played better than Bean.

We'll have to agree to disagree regarding Smith. If anything, he's on the same level with DaJon. All I'm trying to say in reply to the original post is that he's much better than Brock Burglund or Shanbour. Wish he would have stuck around and had good work ethic.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 7, 2016

Okay, but all I'm sayin' is...pie is never free!

UNT90 · June 7, 2016

2 hours ago, MGNation92 said:

Do you even sarcasm

I did the first time. Lol.

MeanGreen01 · June 9, 2016

Wallace was awful and only started due to lack of talent, and injuries, at that position.

Coach Littrell, and This coaching staff, has done more in recruiting in the first couple of months than Mac did in several years..Remember, not only did Littrell have to get a recruiting class together in a couple months, he also had to put a coaching staff together! He has done, along with the rest of this coaching staff, a tremendous job so far. They're the reason I have renewed my season tickets. If we don't give them our full support now then we are to blame as well if this doesn't workout.

IMO, I don't care how big the recruits are. Obviously if they are equal, I'll take the bigger guy, but I would rather have the best athlete. If they're athletes then sign them and plug them in where they are needed. I think this new younger coaching staff gets this new style/era of football and will get it right. It's not going to happen over night, especially since the hole was so deep, but this coaching staff will turn it around. We just need to be a little patient with the whole new coaching staff and new AD!

Russell Wilson is only 5'11" 215 pounds and I'd take him all day in the run and shoot offense that's being installed.

Edited June 9, 2016 by MeanGreen01

MEANGREENCOACH2 · June 9, 2016

No way in a very hot place would Mac and company have recruited Raveon. NO WAY. Let alone land him. entirely to much work.

These coaches are killing it out there on the recruiting trail.

Mean Green 93-98 · June 9, 2016

55 minutes ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

No way in a very hot place would Mac and company have recruited Raveon. NO WAY. Let alone land him. entirely to much work.

These coaches are killing it out there on the recruiting trail.

Mac had some pickups we were very excited about at the time. Anthony Wallace, Demarcus Smith, Darrien McNair, etc. Some thought landing Josh Greer was a coup. And he actually did have some pretty solid pickups as well, like Jareid Combs and Cyril Lemon. Overall, their recruiting was a failure, but Mac and staff had some hits here and there. They were willing to turn over some rocks to find recruits. We might want to see how Littrell's guys actually perform on the field before getting carried away.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 9, 2016

1 hour ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

No way in a very hot place would Mac and company have recruited Raveon. NO WAY. Let alone land him. entirely to much work.

These coaches are killing it out there on the recruiting trail.

So, this is what?
http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/malik_dilonga_847242.html
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/137911/malik-dilonga

http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/jareid_combs_970187.html
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/7905

http://www.meangreensports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/jarrian_roberts_847349.html

Criticism of defensive tackle recruiting, I believe, is fair game. Not so much criticism of defensive ends. We have good defensive ends for 2016. Raveon joins a group that is already pretty good.

In 2016, Reveon will join fellow upperclassmen at DE: Seniors Malike Dilonga, Jaried Combs, and Jarrian Roberts, and Redshirt Junior Andy Flusche and Junior Tillman Johnson.

DE is hardly the unit we should be concerned about in 2016. The only question regarding the DEs is whether Tillman Johnson has recovered from injuries enough to put together in 2016 they type of season he had in 2014.

Many of us have long wonder why the same type of recruiting wasn't matched at defensive tackle.

28 minutes ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Mac had some pickups we were very excited about at the time. Anthony Wallace, Demarcus Smith, Darrien McNair, etc. Some thought landing Josh Greer was a coup. And he actually did have some pretty solid pickups as well, like Jareid Combs and Cyril Lemon. Overall, their recruiting was a failure, but Mac and staff had some hits here and there. They were willing to turn over some rocks to find recruits. We might want to see how Littrell's guys actually perform on the field before getting carried away.

Mac's problem was not finding an FBS-level QB, first and foremost.

Second, he couldn't get enough FBS-level DTs.

I think that is the main story of his failure. After Derek Thompson left, we really had nothing at QB, so we gamble on some guys and lost. And, teams were able to just crush our 4-3 defense that hadn't developed enough DTs for this level of play.

Hard to win when you can't move the ball on offense, or stop the run on defense.

MEANGREENCOACH2 · June 9, 2016

So.. I guess I missed the announcement of those other defensive ends being offered by Alabama and Nebraska.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 9, 2016

4 hours ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

So.. I guess I missed the announcement of those other defensive ends being offered by Alabama and Nebraska.

And, so, let's move back out of Fantasyland where a recruit held offers from Alabama and Nebraska, but chose us: http://www.scout.com/player/198732-raveon-hoston/recruiting

And, here again, Rivals' take on it...no offers from either Alabama or Nebraska: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/158793

Alabama and Nebraska and may have sniffed around Hoston, but there was no offer.

But, here...let me go to Fantasyland with you: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/153185/darrien-mcnair

Looks like McCarney's staff's summer snag last year had actual offers from Florida, Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Louisville; Hoston's highest official offers appears to be Kansas and West Virginia.

So, again...nice to have picked up both of them. Reality is, both coaching staffs made summer hauls of players we don't normally get. We have taken on these (often) academic casualties of the recruiting process no matter who the coach has been.

Hope Hoston sticks around longer than McNair did.

Edited June 9, 2016 by MeanGreenMailbox

UNTLifer · June 9, 2016

Just because Rivals and Scout did not update last minute offers doesn't mean they weren't extended. I understand that it doesn't fit your narrative, @MeanGreenMailbox, but it was reported by multiple sources that followed Hoston's recruiting.

I have an issue with people stating DT is the most difficult position to recruit. Maybe it is, but Dickey got it done, Cardwell, Pruitt, Kennedy, with far worse facilities and conference affiliations than Mac. Hell, even Dodge brought in a few serviceable DT's during his tenure. It takes effort, something Mac didn't have.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 10, 2016

16 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Just because Rivals and Scout did not update last minute offers doesn't mean they weren't extended. I understand that it doesn't fit your narrative, @MeanGreenMailbox, but it was reported by multiple sources that followed Hoston's recruiting.

I have an issue with people stating DT is the most difficult position to recruit. Maybe it is, but Dickey got it done, Cardwell, Pruitt, Kennedy, with far worse facilities and conference affiliations than Mac. Hell, even Dodge brought in a few serviceable DT's during his tenure. It takes effort, something Mac didn't have.

Look, I can dream big, really big for my alma mater; but, I don't let it cloud my grasp on reality. If the kid had been offered a scholarship by either Alabama or Nebraska, he'd have taken it.

Coaches say all kinds of things to kids. Or, to be more realistic about it, kids sometimes think coaches say things to them.

That aside, the point was that Mac's staff also brought in highly regarded, summer recruits who were late chosing because of academics. The contention was that we'd never seen anything like this before when, in fact, we did see something like it less than a calendar year ago.

Again, hope the kid sticks it out longer than McNair. McNair was the more highly regarded of the two, but I hope Hoston stays nonetheless.

MGNation92 · June 10, 2016

13 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

Look, I can dream big, really big for my alma mater; but, I don't let it cloud my grasp on reality. If the kid had been offered a scholarship by either Alabama or Nebraska, he'd have taken it.

Coaches say all kinds of things to kids. Or, to be more realistic about it, kids sometimes think coaches say things to them.

That aside, the point was that Mac's staff also brought in highly regarded, summer recruits who were late chosing because of academics. The contention was that we'd never seen anything like this before when, in fact, we did see something like it less than a calendar year ago.

Again, hope the kid sticks it out longer than McNair. McNair was the more highly regarded of the two, but I hope Hoston stays nonetheless.

On 6/3/2016 at 2:37 PM, TheReal_jayD said:

Raveon said Alabama and Nebraska both offered within the last 2 weeks. West Virginia recruited him hard but never offered. He also said Texas came in real hard the last week. But never offered either

I'm gonna trust our resident recruiting Guru. Not a sock puppet account

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 10, 2016

No sign of an offer from Alabama anywhere, research it. Alabama A&M, yes. The Crimson Tide, no.

Nebraska didn't offer. They had a coach meet with his academic advisor at his junior college. They gathered transcripts for him from three different community colleges and found that he didn't qualify academically to get into Nebraska even though he was set to graduate from the third community college. No offer extended.

Can only assume the other legitimate offers - Memphis, UCF, and Syracuse - were the same story. Everyone else was pretty much FCS or Sun Belt.

Congrats to the new coaching staff for doing what the other coaching staffs before it did - recruit year round. Glad he's getting an opportunity here; hope he can hack it better than McNair.

UNTLifer · June 10, 2016

20 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

No sign of an offer from Alabama anywhere, research it. Alabama A&M, yes. The Crimson Tide, no.

Nebraska didn't offer. They had a coach meet with his academic advisor at his junior college. They gathered transcripts for him from three different community colleges and found that he didn't qualify academically to get into Nebraska even though he was set to graduate from the third community college. No offer extended.

Can only assume the other legitimate offers - Memphis, UCF, and Syracuse - were the same story. Everyone else was pretty much FCS or Sun Belt.

Congrats to the new coaching staff for doing what the other coaching staffs before it did - recruit year round. Glad he's getting an opportunity here; hope he can hack it better than McNair.

Care to share where you gathered your information? I simple link will do.