UNT QB Situation post spring

[AustinFromUNT]

After seeing 2 reps from each QB, I feel pretty confident in saying Mason is the best QB on the roster. Thoughts?

[Cerebus]

Pearson has had the best game imho.

[THOR]

fine seemed to be throwing it much harder and on a straight line...guess the shoulder is fine

[El Paso Eagle]

I think Cade has the most upside and with experience could be really good

Mason can make the "wow" plays but I think he still throws too many passes into areas where they will get intercepted. 

Quinn is a capable backup, however not too sure if Mason went down with an injury and he had to play several games

The JC transfer (blanking on his name) ?? If he comes through and has a good fall would not be surprised to see Cade redshirt

Overall at this point, I would say it's Mason's to lose.  

 

[Ben Gooding]

Mason Fine wasn't even the 2nd best quarterback on the field. I do not feel like that position is in a good place with him at the wheel. He gets his ball batted every 4th or 5th attempt, still holds the ball too long, still tries to fit the ball in narrow windows, etc. Though it has only been 3 or 4 months since football season ended, he has not developed at all, at least from what I saw today. We really need Isladore to come in and wow in Fall camp, badly. Pearson has a lot of upside...Throws a good ball, stands in there tall and confident, threw most of his throws in rhythm today (unless there was a blitz), etc. Shanbour was equally as good as Pearson, if not better. I can't see how Littrell and/or GH are going to go into the Summer feeling comfortable about where they are at that position with Fine as the foreseeable starter. 

Andrew Tucker (at this current time) is better than Nic Smith. 

We have 3 very capable WR's in Guyton, Smiley, and Bussey. And 2 or 3 very good complimentary quick twitch inside guys to boot. 

OL still had trouble recognizing blitzes and picking them up, and were inconsistent in run blocking as well (though better than last Spring game and season). 

[GreenFlag]

Bussey is a stud.

Cade Pearson is super young and looked the best to me out there today. Fine was good/bad. He is the best runner of the bunch  

The "x" factor was the wind. It was terrible. 

English is a load in the middle. He is very disruptive  

Where is Tyler Wilson?

Overall, we are much better than we were at this point last year.

i would love to hear people's thought on LB play.  

[MGNation92]

Pearson and Shanbour easily looked better than Fine and it wasn't close. 

D-Line looked really good. Minor was flying around as well.

Hopinng Guyton makes a bigger impact in the fall, Hair-Griffin has some serious speed. Lawrence and Duhon look like some good possession guys

[El Paso Eagle]

I think Fine would be really good in a "Wildcat" role

[Ben Gooding]

39 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

I think Fine would be really good in a "Wildcat" role

Not at all, imo. I think Shanbour would actually fit that mold much better if in fact Shanbour doesn't end up being the starter. I can't seem to be able to rally around Fine. He did his part. He came in on scholarship and helped bridge an absolute horrible team to a formidable team. The expectation should be to have better recruits in to play QB in year 2, and I think we do. If Fine starts it will be because of a comfort level the coaching staff has with him. And it will be a short term thing until Isladore/Pearson/Shanbour takes over. 

[Cerebus]

Alright now that I am back to a keyboard let me type out something longer.  First, this disclaimer:  WE ARE A LONG WAY FROM THE FIRST GAME.  There is still a lot of workouts, team meetings, and practices until Lamar, so any of these players might improve before then.

I mainly concentrated on how the QBs and WRs were working out. 

QB

• Fine is the best runner and the most likely to go with the R on the RPO.  Passing was suspect today. Even my wife asked if something was wrong with his arm.  He seemed to make good reads but then the ball was short multiple times.  
• Pearson seemed to be the most consistent.  All conference performer?  No.  Steady hand who would prosper when back by a salty D? Possibly.  I am sure the staff would love to RS him.  
• Shanbour had a bad first half, and then a very good second half.    Did something click? Was it just inconsistency?  No idea.  He would need more reps to make a push and with Izzy taking up snaps come fall ball don't think he will get them.
• Mitch Cason.  Looked like a (RS) freshman, but one with some promise.  A few times he had good pocket presence, he listened to the clock in head, seemed to make the right read... and then threw it too high.  Hopefully that is nerves and he can get more comfortable in the coming years.

WR

• Bussey probably had the the most impressive game.  He had an early fumble, but then ran routes well and tuend several short gains into medium ones.  He had the most impressive play from a WR when he used a spin move to break a tackle and then outran everyone. 
• Smiley made plays on deep balls twice. This is his senior year and if he can make a splash he will help the offense out a lot.
• Chumley looked good in the... whatever they call that position.  He was physical and went and got the ball in traffic... but also had a drop.  If we can find a qb who can get the ball accurately to him in traffic he will make some highlight plays. 
• Guyton looked good, but didn't show anything spectacular yet.  This offense needs him to be special.  Like I said it's early and I expect him to be a very good player.  
• Duhon was probably the best surprise in the WR corp.  This offense also needs possession guys and he seems to want the job.

OTHER

• Really need to mention Bryce English.  He was impressive.  He got a sack, but he can be very successful in this defense without racking up big sack numbers.  He soaked up the middle, and freed up a lot of other defenders to wreck havoc, because they weren't getting man handled by the big uglies.  On passing downs he collapsed the pocket single handedly several times.   On the last TD of the game Fine made a great throw.  It was great because English bull rushed a couple of OL directly into Fine.  However sometimes he just got lost in the wash.  This happens to all interior DL.  What made Booger special is that the percentage of plays lost in the wash was very low.  I think English can be a all conference player this year, if he lowers that percentage he might have a chance to be an MVP like Brandon Kennedy.  
• Special teams had me worried.  We really miss Eric Keena right now.  Hopefully we can develop there.  We also had a lot of problems handling punts.  No kickoffs so we didn't see those.  
• Turnout at the spring game was probably double of last year.
• I really loved the idea of handing out framed jersies to the players who graduated last year.  
• Defense was much more aggressive.  Brought much more pressure from different angles than last year.  Will this carry over to the real games? 
• Overall I think we looked a lot better than we did last year at the spring game.  If we can get some one to be a average CUSA level QB then this team can challenge in the west.  If not we'll struggle for six.

[El Paso Eagle]

 

27 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

Special teams had me worried.  We really miss Eric Keena right now.

Understatement. Hopefully, the new Special Teams coach can make something special or our punters spend the summer at kicking camp

27 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

Overall I think we looked a lot better than we did last year at the spring game.  If we can get some one to be a average CUSA level QB then this team can challenge in the west.  If not we'll struggle for six.

 

2

 

 

 

I agree it would be great the Redshirt Cade, but if a kid who should still be in High School looks as good, or better than what we have maybe we should go with him.

Edited April 8, 2017 by El Paso Eagle

[El Paso Eagle]

Mason - 14 of 25 = 56%   8.3 Yards Per Catch

Quinn  - 13 of 22 = 59%    19.5 YPC

Cade  - 13 of 18 =  72%    11.4 YPC

[GMG24]

I didn't keep track, but how many drives did Fine have to lead into the wind?  Also, Fine and Shanbour went mostly with 1s vs 1 defense.  Barr struggled mightily with TJ and English, Murray and (I think) Thomas also struggled big time with our edge rushers.  We're going to continue struggle offensively if we can't run the Ball consistently and today we couldn't move the LOS vs our Defense.  To me Defense OWNED the day.  

[Side Show Joe]

Fine didn't have as good of a game as I expected. How much of that was a result of a salty defense? I don't know. Overall, I think our O-line gave up too many sacks.

The starting D looked better then I expected today. Overall the D seemed to be hitting harder then they did last spring.

I know it was windy today, but I'm not very confident in our punting.

[GrayEagle]

Cade definitely had the play of the day.  A 40 yard pass into the 30 mph wind that Bussey didn't have to break stride for.  He has a lot to learn but boy does he have some tools.  

Another beautiful play was about a 40 yard pass that Chumley caught with a defender hanging all over him.  (I believe that Quinn threw that one but it was downwind).  He's making great improvement.  Add Bussey, Guyton, Smiley and Lawrence and the receivers look much better than last year.

[ttunt1970]

I agree with Cerebus' analysis, but thought Pearson & Shanbour the  top 2 also punting horrble 

[BTG_Fan1]

1 hour ago, Ben Gooding said:

Not at all, imo. I think Shanbour would actually fit that mold much better if in fact Shanbour doesn't end up being the starter. I can't seem to be able to rally around Fine. He did his part. He came in on scholarship and helped bridge an absolute horrible team to a formidable team. The expectation should be to have better recruits in to play QB in year 2, and I think we do. If Fine starts it will be because of a comfort level the coaching staff has with him. And it will be a short term thing until Isladore/Pearson/Shanbour takes over. 

I do agree, we all have to hope that Fine is the lowest rated/ worst QB SL and the staff bring in because that means they are improving the talent. The QB spot should be used just like last year. If Fine slips up, they should turn to Izzy or Pearson. The only thing that hurts Quinn is that he has just this season left. Pearson I would love to RS and I think he should be unless Fine is out for an extended amount of time and Izzy or Quinn are not up for the job.

With that being said, I do get the whole use fine as a wildcat QB/ Read Option QB but that can't happen nor would it happen till we someone who will make Fine the back up.

1 hour ago, Cerebus said:

QB

• Fine is the best runner and the most likely to go with the R on the RPO.  Passing was suspect today. Even my wife asked if something was wrong with his arm.  He seemed to make good reads but then the ball was short multiple times.  
• Pearson seemed to be the most consistent.  All conference performer?  No.  Steady hand who would prosper when back by a salty D? Possibly.  I am sure the staff would love to RS him.  

WR

• Bussey probably had the the most impressive game.  He had an early fumble, but then ran routes well and tuend several short gains into medium ones.  He had the most impressive play from a WR when he used a spin move to break a tackle and then outran everyone. 
• Smiley made plays on deep balls twice. This is his senior year and if he can make a splash he will help the offense out a lot.
• Chumley looked good in the... whatever they call that position.  He was physical and went and got the ball in traffic... but also had a drop.  If we can find a qb who can get the ball accurately to him in traffic he will make some highlight plays. 
• Guyton looked good, but didn't show anything spectacular yet.  This offense needs him to be special.  Like I said it's early and I expect him to be a very good player.  
• Duhon was probably the best surprise in the WR corp.  This offense also needs possession guys and he seems to want the job.

OTHER

• Really need to mention Bryce English.  He was impressive.  He got a sack, but he can be very successful in this defense without racking up big sack numbers.  He soaked up the middle, and freed up a lot of other defenders to wreck havoc, because they weren't getting man handled by the big uglies.  On passing downs he collapsed the pocket single handedly several times.   On the last TD of the game Fine made a great throw.  It was great because English bull rushed a couple of OL directly into Fine.  However sometimes he just got lost in the wash.  This happens to all interior DL.  What made Booger special is that the percentage of plays lost in the wash was very low.  I think English can be a all conference player this year, if he lowers that percentage he might have a chance to be an MVP like Brandon Kennedy.  
• Special teams had me worried.  We really miss Eric Keena right now.  Hopefully we can develop there.  We also had a lot of problems handling punts.  No kickoffs so we didn't see those.  
• Turnout at the spring game was probably double of last year.
• I really loved the idea of handing out framed jersies to the players who graduated last year.  
• Defense was much more aggressive.  Brought much more pressure from different angles than last year.  Will this carry over to the real games? 
• Overall I think we looked a lot better than we did last year at the spring game.  If we can get some one to be a average CUSA level QB then this team can challenge in the west.  If not we'll struggle for six.

I do agree english looked good, and bull-rushed through the OL at times as well. I did like the English/ Hambone combo but  I would like to see see Ham/English/Young

Special teams and punting, I think would improve. The punter we had today was a walk on and the punter from signing day will be here in the summer for fall practices right?

The pressure I'm hoping stays like this, but the real question is was it legit or was it because of poor OL play like last year?

Guyton I was shocked at just how big he was. Rico was solid and kept the up going upward after the bowl game. Was Tyler Wilson out? Duhon and Lawerence I think are guys to watch and could play a big role being that 2nd group of WRs behind Rico, Smiley, Wilson and Guyton.

Chumley looked the part can could be a mismatch just because of his size, so I hope he can trans

The QBs I'm going say Fine did not look like someone who should be just given the job no questions asked, Quinn seemed quick like Vito has said to run. Pearson looked good and his completion % was outstanding. That is something that I'm shocked with Fine, is that his % remained the same as last year. I did like that Pearson would throw the ball away, did Fine throw it away? Also, Izzy I'm assuming was out because of his ACL? Wish we could have gotten to see him play. 

The OL was very worrisome to me, and now the question is do we roll with the OL we have or can the incoming guys like Parish, W-Spoon, Newman, Morse, Brummer come in and play. 

35 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

I didn't keep track, but how many drives did Fine have to lead into the wind?  Also, Fine and Shanbour went mostly with 1s vs 1 defense.  Barr struggled mightily with TJ and English, Murray and (I think) Thomas also struggled big time with our edge rushers.  We're going to continue struggle offensively if we can't run the Ball consistently and today we couldn't move the LOS vs our Defense.  To me Defense OWNED the day.  

So here a question because I do think the defense owned the day as well..

But with that being said, was the defense that much better? or is the OLine as worrisome as last year?

[SilverEagle]

Pearson has a lot more to learn, but I think he looks more and more like the QB of the future. I agree that Fine hasn't improved noticeably since last fall.....but Shanbour has. Big plays ("wow" plays as someone said in another thread) are a combination of QB/WR interaction. Johnny Football made a lot of his WOW plays with the help of his very outstanding receiver #25, Our QB's are finally getting some help from our WR's (#9 being the latest). Chumly is adding to the weaponry that our QB's will have this fall.......along with all the hungry slot receivers I've been talking about this spring.

And what did I tell all of you about that defense.......very aggressive and noticeably better than last year.

 

Quote

 

I do agree, we all have to hope that Fine is the lowest rated/ worst QB SL and the staff bring in because that means they are improving the talent. The QB spot should be used just like last year. If Fine slips up, they should turn to Izzy or Pearson. The only thing that hurts Quinn is that he has just this season left. Pearson I would love to RS and I think he should be unless Fine is out for an extended amount of time and Izzy or Quinn are not up for the job.

With that being said, I do get the whole use fine as a wildcat QB/ Read Option QB but that can't happen nor would it happen till we someone who will make Fine the back up.

 

Shanbour was recently granted an extra year of eligibility because of his turf toe injury. He has two more years here.

Edited April 9, 2017 by SilverEagle

[El Paso Eagle]

Here's something to question/hope - was the O-line that bad or the D-Line really good

[BTG_Fan1]

1 minute ago, SilverEagle said:

Pearson has a lot more to learn, but I think he looks more and more like the QB of the future. I agree that Fine hasn't improved noticeably since last fall.....but Shanbour has. Big plays ("wow" plays as someone said in another thread) are a combination of QB/WR interaction. Johnny Football made a lot of his WOW plays with the help of his very outstanding receiver #25, Our QB's are finally getting some help from our WR's (#9 being the latest). Chumly is adding to the weaponry that our QB's will have this fall.......along with all the hungry slot receivers I've been talking about this spring.

And what did I tell all of you about that defense.......very aggressive and noticeably better than last year.

 

Quinn did improve, but the only worry with him is that he is a 1 and done player. Fine, Izzy, and Pearson are here for multiple years.

 

2 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

Here's something to question/hope - was the O-line that bad or the D-Line really good

This is a legit and important question for the staff... 

[Marty]

4 hours ago, GreenFlag said:

Bussey is a stud.

Cade Pearson is super young and looked the best to me out there today. Fine was good/bad. He is the best runner of the bunch  

The "x" factor was the wind. It was terrible. 

English is a load in the middle. He is very disruptive  

Where is Tyler Wilson?

Overall, we are much better than we were at this point last year.

i would love to hear people's thought on LB play.  

Agree on Bussey. He, Smiley, and Guyton are going to be a formidable receiving corp, 

I thought #43 Zack Bishop had a nice game at LB.

Where was Anthony Wyche and Okee Rutherford?

Why didn't Trey Keenan get a framed jersey at halftime?

Edited April 9, 2017 by Marty

[GMG24]

1 hour ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

I do agree, we all have to hope that Fine is the lowest rated/ worst QB SL and the staff bring in because that means they are improving the talent. The QB spot should be used just like last year. If Fine slips up, they should turn to Izzy or Pearson. The only thing that hurts Quinn is that he has just this season left. Pearson I would love to RS and I think he should be unless Fine is out for an extended amount of time and Izzy or Quinn are not up for the job.

With that being said, I do get the whole use fine as a wildcat QB/ Read Option QB but that can't happen nor would it happen till we someone who will make Fine the back up.

I do agree english looked good, and bull-rushed through the OL at times as well. I did like the English/ Hambone combo but  I would like to see see Ham/English/Young

Special teams and punting, I think would improve. The punter we had today was a walk on and the punter from signing day will be here in the summer for fall practices right?

The pressure I'm hoping stays like this, but the real question is was it legit or was it because of poor OL play like last year?

Guyton I was shocked at just how big he was. Rico was solid and kept the up going upward after the bowl game. Was Tyler Wilson out? Duhon and Lawerence I think are guys to watch and could play a big role being that 2nd group of WRs behind Rico, Smiley, Wilson and Guyton.

Chumley looked the part can could be a mismatch just because of his size, so I hope he can trans

The QBs I'm going say Fine did not look like someone who should be just given the job no questions asked, Quinn seemed quick like Vito has said to run. Pearson looked good and his completion % was outstanding. That is something that I'm shocked with Fine, is that his % remained the same as last year. I did like that Pearson would throw the ball away, did Fine throw it away? Also, Izzy I'm assuming was out because of his ACL? Wish we could have gotten to see him play. 

The OL was very worrisome to me, and now the question is do we roll with the OL we have or can the incoming guys like Parish, W-Spoon, Newman, Morse, Brummer come in and play. 

So here a question because I do think the defense owned the day as well..

But with that being said, was the defense that much better? or is the OLine as worrisome as last year?

50/50 I felt a majority of defenses "pressures" or QB sacks came on stunts and blitzes.  At the same time you HAVE to be able to pick those up as an OL/RB pass pro.  Must communicate and get quicker feet/better hand placement.  It looked like our DL/LB pass rushing technique was superior to our OL's. 

[cjones]

Eric Jenkins looked really good at corner.  He has really been special since coming in last year.  He keeps it up and McClain might not be the only one the the pro scouts are looking at!

Garner is a favorite of mine(after McClain)  This kid is all over the place getting sacks, deflecting passes in coverage dancing on the sideline pumping up the defense.  I thought he should have started over Scott last year.  He is fun to watch out there.

This OL is going to get the quarterback killed, the running backs killed, Littrell killed even the waterboy killed!  Pretty pathetic effort by all of them.  I pray the newcomers coming in the Fall help immediately!

Don't know what to make out of Chumley.  Looks like a big stiff out there but on shear height he might be able to make plays.  I really like K. Smith I don't know why he isn't used more?

Didn't we recruit a JUCO Punter?  Patterson WITH the big wind was only hitting it 40 yards with not much hang time.

 

[Marty]

17 minutes ago, cjones said:

Didn't we recruit a JUCO Punter?  Patterson WITH the big wind was only hitting it 40 yards with not much hang time.

 

Where is this kid?

[North Texas Shep]

Dang good synopsis! Our QB upside is the best it has been in years. I love that. Can't recall us being that deep at that position... Ever. Fine did not do well, but he proved last year he is the guy. If he sucks game one... Pull him. I trust in Littrell.

6 hours ago, Cerebus said:

Alright now that I am back to a keyboard let me type out something longer.  First, this disclaimer:  WE ARE A LONG WAY FROM THE FIRST GAME.  There is still a lot of workouts, team meetings, and practices until Lamar, so any of these players might improve before then.

I mainly concentrated on how the QBs and WRs were working out. 

QB

• Fine is the best runner and the most likely to go with the R on the RPO.  Passing was suspect today. Even my wife asked if something was wrong with his arm.  He seemed to make good reads but then the ball was short multiple times.  
• Pearson seemed to be the most consistent.  All conference performer?  No.  Steady hand who would prosper when back by a salty D? Possibly.  I am sure the staff would love to RS him.  
• Shanbour had a bad first half, and then a very good second half.    Did something click? Was it just inconsistency?  No idea.  He would need more reps to make a push and with Izzy taking up snaps come fall ball don't think he will get them.
• Mitch Cason.  Looked like a (RS) freshman, but one with some promise.  A few times he had good pocket presence, he listened to the clock in head, seemed to make the right read... and then threw it too high.  Hopefully that is nerves and he can get more comfortable in the coming years.

WR

• Bussey probably had the the most impressive game.  He had an early fumble, but then ran routes well and tuend several short gains into medium ones.  He had the most impressive play from a WR when he used a spin move to break a tackle and then outran everyone. 
• Smiley made plays on deep balls twice. This is his senior year and if he can make a splash he will help the offense out a lot.
• Chumley looked good in the... whatever they call that position.  He was physical and went and got the ball in traffic... but also had a drop.  If we can find a qb who can get the ball accurately to him in traffic he will make some highlight plays. 
• Guyton looked good, but didn't show anything spectacular yet.  This offense needs him to be special.  Like I said it's early and I expect him to be a very good player.  
• Duhon was probably the best surprise in the WR corp.  This offense also needs possession guys and he seems to want the job.

OTHER

• Really need to mention Bryce English.  He was impressive.  He got a sack, but he can be very successful in this defense without racking up big sack numbers.  He soaked up the middle, and freed up a lot of other defenders to wreck havoc, because they weren't getting man handled by the big uglies.  On passing downs he collapsed the pocket single handedly several times.   On the last TD of the game Fine made a great throw.  It was great because English bull rushed a couple of OL directly into Fine.  However sometimes he just got lost in the wash.  This happens to all interior DL.  What made Booger special is that the percentage of plays lost in the wash was very low.  I think English can be a all conference player this year, if he lowers that percentage he might have a chance to be an MVP like Brandon Kennedy.  
• Special teams had me worried.  We really miss Eric Keena right now.  Hopefully we can develop there.  We also had a lot of problems handling punts.  No kickoffs so we didn't see those.  
• Turnout at the spring game was probably double of last year.
• I really loved the idea of handing out framed jersies to the players who graduated last year.  
• Defense was much more aggressive.  Brought much more pressure from different angles than last year.  Will this carry over to the real games? 
• Overall I think we looked a lot better than we did last year at the spring game.  If we can get some one to be a average CUSA level QB then this team can challenge in the west.  If not we'll struggle for six.