DRC: Fine's late touchdown drive adds to excitement surrounding freshman

Brett Vito · September 9, 2016

DRC:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/colleges-headlines/20160908-fines-td-drive-fuels-buzz.ece

untcampbell · September 9, 2016

Nice read. Telling.

Managing expectations, but it appears Mason is a special player. It will be fun to see how his story plays out.

GMG

UNTLifer · September 9, 2016

Quote

“There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to go down and score a touchdown,” Littrell said. “There was no doubt in his mind. That’s just him.”

Quote

The smile that spread across Fine’s face in the huddle is what UNT running back Jeffrey Wilson remembers most.

“He had jitters and was excited,” Wilson said. “I was on top of the world when I first played. I know he was close to that. I told him to calm down and go to work. He was smiling and was happy.

“That smile showed that he was ready and that he loved being on the field.”

“We have talked a lot about Mason, but he still has a long way to come and a lot of growing to do,” Littrell said. “What I love about him is that he is highly competitive and wants to be great. Because of that and his attitude, there is no doubt in my mind he will be special.”

“I am trying to learn and get better every day,” Fine said. “The next time an opportunity comes, I will be mentally ready and will attack the opportunity.”

The portions of the article I pulled above, tell me a lot about this young man and how different he is from many that have played his position since the graduation of Scott Hall.

Edited September 9, 2016 by UNTLifer

Withers940 · September 9, 2016

Quote

Fine’s late touchdown drive came against SMU’s backups in a game that was all but over. The Mustangs responded when Fine came out for one final drive, sacking him twice and forcing the Mean Green to punt

Littrell said during his show that he was playing against starters. Whos right? Vito or Littrell?

Or did I misunderstand SL?

MeanGreenTexan · September 9, 2016

19 minutes ago, Withers940 said:

Littrell said during his show that he was playing against starters. Whos right? Vito or Littrell?

Or did I misunderstand SL?

The 1st series he was in, the SMU backups were in and they were playing conservative/prevent defense.
The 2nd series he was in (the last one) SMU had their starters in, but still did not blitz. He threw 2 incompletions and took 2 sacks.

UNT 90 Grad · September 9, 2016

20 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

The 1st series he was in, the SMU backups were in and they were playing conservative/prevent defense.
The 2nd series he was in (the last one) SMU had their starters in, but still did not blitz. He threw 2 incompletions and took 2 sacks.

Yeah, I just watched the 1st series, wrote down the player numbers I could see, and compared to their depth chart. I was only able to make out 9 of the player numbers. Of those, 1 was a 1st stringer, 4 were backups, and the other 4 didn't crack the two deep.

MeanGreenTexan · September 9, 2016

6 minutes ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

Yeah, I just watched the 1st series, wrote down the player numbers I could see, and compared to their depth chart. I was only able to make out 9 of the player numbers. Of those, 1 was a 1st stringer, 4 were backups, and the other 4 didn't crack the two deep.

It was very apparent with those backups because Fine just shredded them. It was easy for him.
Once Chad Morris figured out that his backups suck and Fine can score quickly, he took no chances, put his 1's back in, and our O-line had problems with the rush and Fine had problems getting the ball where it needed to be leading to a quick 3-out (actually 4 snaps, because there was a penalty).

Withers940 · September 9, 2016

19 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

It was very apparent with those backups because Fine just shredded them. It was easy for him.
Once Chad Morris figured out that his backups suck and Fine can score quickly, he took no chances, put his 1's back in, and our O-line had problems with the rush and Fine had problems getting the ball where it needed to be leading to a quick 3-out (actually 4 snaps, because there was a penalty).

I fear this is going to rear its ugly head a bunch this season, Like too much

Tyler Maryak · September 9, 2016

I like the answer from Morris as well. That's a really mature answer and I imagine it was genuine. I hope he gets better the next coming weeks.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Tyler Maryak

greenminer · September 9, 2016

He seems like a bright one.

Edited September 9, 2016 by greenminer

Ben Gooding · September 9, 2016

I want to hug this dude. Fail or succeed he deserves a hug. His attitude is contagious and I haven't ever exchanged words with him. The staff really, really needs to dumb this offense down with very high percentage throws. We can't just throw him in the fire with multi progression throws every pass attempt. The staff needs to protect this kids psyche. Again, I still would like to see Morris start all season with a good dose of Fine all throughout. Fine gets a significant injury this year it's all but another excuse for this fan base to feast on but this time for next season.

Good article Brett.

MGNation92 · September 9, 2016

1 hour ago, Ben Gooding said:

I want to hug this dude. Fail or succeed he deserves a hug. His attitude is contagious and I haven't ever exchanged words with him. The staff really, really needs to dumb this offense down with very high percentage throws. We can't just throw him in the fire with multi progression throws every pass attempt. The staff needs to protect this kids psyche. Again, I still would like to see Morris start all season with a good dose of Fine all throughout. Fine gets a significant injury this year it's all but another excuse for this fan base to feast on but this time for next season.

Good article Brett.

Why? It's been noted several times by the staff about how comfortable he is in the system and all the throws he's making in practice. I think if you dumb down the offense for him it'll only hurt his psyche because he is confident in his ability to run the current system. He might see it as the coaches not believing in his abilities

MeanGreenTexan · September 9, 2016

7 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Why? It's been noted several times by the staff about how comfortable he is in the system and all the throws he's making in practice. I think if you dumb down the offense for him it'll only hurt his psyche because he is confident in his ability to run the current system. He might see it as the coaches not believing in his abilities

I don't know how much "dumbing-down" this offense has available. Apparently there's no playbook to learn, it's alot of repetition and precise route-running. If it needs to be "dumbed down" for Fine, a guy who threw for a million yards in a similar offense in high school, then we shouldn't have burned his redshirt period.

Ben Gooding · September 9, 2016

14 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Why? It's been noted several times by the staff about how comfortable he is in the system and all the throws he's making in practice. I think if you dumb down the offense for him it'll only hurt his psyche because he is confident in his ability to run the current system. He might see it as the coaches not believing in his abilities

I more so mean to give this guy a lot more high percentage throws than Littrell or GH would typically want to do. Now dn't go full Todd Dodge on play calling, but give the guy some confidence boosting throws early on until we can get him in a rythm.

NewNTfan · September 9, 2016

when he gets outside the pocket he will make the plays. no need to dumb down. just give him a couple seconds to do something.

PlummMeanGreen · September 9, 2016

Mason Fine has the "IT" factor. We've had other pretenders, but #6 has the skins on the wall that suggests that he has "it."

He needs a supporting cast full of "they've got it" talent just as well.

Obvious to see he has good parenting, good character and humility. You can't get all that in college.

I watched an Oklahoma produced documentary on Mason & his HS team that gave good insight on his content of character.

Look forward to watching him play tomorrow evening.

UNTLifer · September 9, 2016

8 minutes ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Mason Fine has the "IT" factor.    We've had other pretenders, but #6 has the skins on the wall that suggests that he has "it."

He needs a supporting cast full of "they've got it" talent just as well.

Obvious to see he has good parenting, good character and humility.   You can't get all that in college.

I watched an Oklahoma produced documentary on Mason & his HS team that gave good insight on his content of character.

Look forward to watching him play tomorrow evening.

Good to see you back on the board. Curious, what was the documentary? Is it available for public viewing?

MGNation92 · September 9, 2016

11 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Good to see you back on the board. Curious, what was the documentary? Is it available for public viewing?

This is one is a great watch, also has a lot to do with Jason Pirtle

Aldo · September 9, 2016

30 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

I more so mean to give this guy a lot more high percentage throws than Littrell or GH would typically want to do. Now dn't go full Todd Dodge on play calling, but give the guy some confidence boosting throws early on until we can get him in a rythm.

The offense/playbook is fine. Morris just made consecutive mental mistakes in the 2nd half and it got to him.

For example, Morris really started clicking after a slow/bad first quarter:

2nd Quarter: 10/13 (77%) 118 yards 2 TD 1 INT. A rock solid 9.07 yards/PA and accounted for 7 first downs.

He was efficient (and so was Wilson) and made plays. Then it went poopoo.

So we have a flash of what we may be able to expect from Morris if he is able to build on the positives, and other coachspeak.

Ben Gooding · September 9, 2016

6 minutes ago, Aldo said:

The offense/playbook is fine. Morris just made consecutive mental mistakes in the 2nd half and it got to him.

For example, Morris really started clicking after a slow/bad first quarter:

2nd Quarter: 10/13 (77%) 118 yards 2 TD 1 INT. A rock solid 9.07 yards/PA and accounted for 7 first downs.

He was efficient (and so was Wilson) and made plays. Then it went poopoo.

So we have a flash of what we may be able to expect from Morris if he is able to build on the positives, and other coachspeak.

I was referring when Fine gets in the game. I think if Morris improves on his accuracy the offense will be in good hands.