North Texas football confident and ready to begin Seth Littrell era

[Skipper]

Clay Massey

A revamp in personnel has meant a revamp in confidence.

Despite a 1-11 record last season, the Mean Green football team appeared eager to get back on the field at media day on Monday and do something they didn’t do much of in 2015.

“We’re about to win this year,” sophomore wide receiver Terian Goree said. “Our team has some swag. The atmosphere is way different. We believe in what the coaches are doing.”

.@_teegoree said the team has swag about them this year: pic.twitter.com/qe9JPr0PwO

— Clay Massey (@Clay_FC) August 22, 2016

Goree will be the leading receiver going into the season opener on Sept. 3 against Southern Methodist University. Fifth-year senior and University of Alabama transfer Alec Morris is expected to get the nod at quarterback.

After running a pro-style offense at Alabama, Morris has settled back into the spread-style Littrell has introduced to the Mean Green. Morris ran a similar offense at Allen High School, which has helped ease the transition.

“We’re taking a lot of strides from spring ball and moving forward,” Morris said. “When you get that many practices in a short period of time things start clicking. It’s the little things between linemen, quarterbacks and receivers.”

While Morris appears to be the starter, the back-up quarterback picture has become murky.

Freshman Mason Fine and junior Devin O’Hara are the two quarterbacks duking it out for the No. 2 slot, with neither knowing who will ultimately win the job.

“All the quarterbacks are out here competing well,” Fine said. “We’re controlling what we can control, and at the end of the day let the coaches decide.”

Still, there are depth issues on the offensive line to deal with. When senior center Kaydon Kirby left the program after the death of his father, Littrell filled the hole with senior Sam Rice, who played guard last year.

“[The offensive line is] coming along,” Littrell said. “There’s just not a ton of depth. We still have to get guys reps and some of those guys are having to swing and play a couple of positions. In the next couple of weeks we need to really wire them in and get them comfortable at one spot.”

With the new atmosphere surrounding the North Texas football program, Littrell and his squad are ready to hit the ground running and put last season behind them.

“We’re very excited,” Littrell said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s SMU, Bethune Cookman or Florida, you should be excited to play every game.”

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