DRC: Newcomers who could make an impact No. 4 -- Duhon in position to play

Brett Vito · July 13, 2017

DRC: Wide receiver made an impact in spring, is one of UNT's dwindling options

http://beta.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2017/07/13/newcomers-make-impact-unt-2017-attrition-put-kam-duhon-spotlight

Harry · July 13, 2017

A key underlying story that no one want to talk about is how in the heck do you replace Willy Ivery, Tyler Wilson and Tee Goree? Those were some of the most dynamic offensive players we had on the roster. You hope that we could do better on the attrition but it continues to haunt this program.

MGNation92 · July 13, 2017

Our slot production will continue to be underutilized until our QB can figure out throwing lanes. Considering the mesh concept is massive in the air raid playbook, until we can hit guys like Duhon over the middle through crossers and slants, our offense will continue to be handcuffed to QB draws and swing passes

BTG_Fan1 · July 13, 2017

11 minutes ago, Harry said:

A key underlying story that no one want to talk about is how in the heck do you replace Willy Ivery, Tyler Wilson and Tee Goree? Those were some of the most dynamic offensive players we had on the roster. You hope that we could do better on the attrition but it continues to haunt this program.

Guyton replaces Goree, Yes Goree had talent but at his best, that should be the floor for Guyton. If Guyton is a big build WR and should have better hands as well than Goree.

Nic Smith replaces Ivery, we have all heard about what Smith could do, but again its unproven till he gets onto the field. The freshman additions could be guys to watch as well.

and a full year of Rico more than makes up for Wilson and Robinson. Rico with the flashes that he should in the HoD could be a big time play maker at WR. What is great about him is that he will go up and fight for the ball and get it at the highest point possible, the only question about Rico is can he be healthy. We don't know how often it was a problem in HS but he missed a lot of time his freshman year.

UNTLifer · July 13, 2017

4 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

Guyton replaces Goree, Yes Goree had talent but at his best, that should be the floor for Guyton. If Guyton is a big build WR and should have better hands as well than Goree.

Nic Smith replaces Ivery, we have all heard about what Smith could do, but again its unproven till he gets onto the field. The freshman additions could be guys to watch as well.

and a full year of Rico more than makes up for Wilson and Robinson. Rico with the flashes that he should in the HoD could be a big time play maker at WR. What is great about him is that he will go up and fight for the ball and get it at the highest point possible, the only question about Rico is can he be healthy. We don't know how often it was a problem in HS but he missed a lot of time his freshman year.

I agree, plus I think Rutherford will flourish now that he is out from under Goree's shadow. Throw in the potential of Hair-Griffen, Darden, White, McIntire, etc..., the leadership of Smiley and the addition of Chumley at TE and we should be better at catching the ball than last year.

Wag Tag · July 13, 2017

6 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Our slot production will continue to be underutilized until our QB can figure out throwing lanes. Considering the mesh concept is massive in the air raid playbook, until we can hit guys like Duhon over the middle through crossers and slants, our offense will continue to be handcuffed to QB draws and swing passes

This is the area in need of big time improvement. If you do not have a highly productive SR then you can't really run the spread. I hope Fine's ht is not the issue.

BTG_Fan1 · July 13, 2017

Just now, UNTLifer said:

I agree, plus I think Rutherford will flourish now that he is out from under Goree's shadow. Throw in the potential of Hair-Griffen, Darden, White, McIntire, etc..., the leadership of Smiley and the addition of Chumley at TE and we should be better at catching the ball than last year.

The big question at WR is what happens after the top 3. Guyton, Rico, Smiley are ahead of the rest of the pack for different reasons... Rutherford has been someone who I think has always been banged up, Griffen/Darden/ White are unknowns in terms of what they can do at the college level. McIntire/Lawerence got spot time last year but nothing major.

The spring game Duhon had a solid game, as did Rico and Griffen. If our top 3 can be healthy and produce that should lead to A LOT better results in terms of passing, which hopefully lead to some more successful drives. When this team was able to complete passes, it ran great, we just didn't seem to have great pass catchers most games.

To me, we RS Darden and White.. allow them to bulk up get down the offense and let the guys like Duhon, Griffen, Lawerence fill the slot role. But if Darden is so talented that he is ahead of those guys, put him out there and use him early and often.

While Buyers did not put up big #s at the WR spot, I think he will be missed greatly. He was someone who had a lot of experience and was a likely a calming influence to the younger guys... Can Smiley replace that?

Aldo · July 13, 2017

43 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Our slot production will continue to be underutilized until our QB can figure out throwing lanes. Considering the mesh concept is massive in the air raid playbook, until we can hit guys like Duhon over the middle through crossers and slants, our offense will continue to be handcuffed to QB draws and swing passes

Mesh with TD to the drag route https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=4m46s
Cross to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=56s
Slot curl to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=3m42s
To the slot, converts 3rd down vs Rice https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=8m24s
Thaddeous runs a Y-stick for afirst https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=3m56s
Levels, TD to Buyers https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=4m51s

It's in there, but duties were split by Thaddeous (Y) and Buyers (A) mostly.

Slot was our most productive position, though it could be more efficient. We need the explosive playmakers creating more plays *more often* like Buyers did in those first few videos.

Regardless, swing passes and designed QB runs will be a part of the playbook.

ETA: Thompson and Buyers accounted for nearly a third of all yards and receptions

Edited July 13, 2017 by Aldo

BTG_Fan1 · July 13, 2017

12 minutes ago, Aldo said:

It's in there, but duties were split by Thaddeous (Y) and Buyers (A) mostly.

Slot was our most productive position, though it could be more efficient. We need the explosive playmakers creating more plays *more often* like Buyers did in those first few videos.

We should get more production hopefully from the A spot in terms of having guys who have been in the system a full year. Also, it will be interesting to see how the TEs that we have now stack up vs TTs production as well.

Aldo · July 13, 2017

2 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

We should get more production hopefully from the A spot in terms of having guys who have been in the system a full year. Also, it will be interesting to see how the TEs that we have now stack up vs TTs production as well.

Hopefully a TE can match that production, and not be the most productive receiver. That would be a good thing.

MGNation92 · July 13, 2017

23 minutes ago, Aldo said:

Mesh with TD to the drag route https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=4m46s

Cross to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=56s

Slot curl to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=3m42s

To the slot, converts 3rd down vs Rice https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=8m24s

Thaddeous runs a Y-stick for afirst https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=3m56s

Levels, TD to Buyers https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=4m51s

It's in there, but duties were split by Thaddeous (Y) and Buyers (A) mostly.

Slot was our most productive position, though it could be more efficient. We need the explosive playmakers creating more plays *more often* like Buyers did in those first few videos.

Regardless, swing passes and designed QB runs will be a part of the playbook.

ETA: Thompson and Buyers accounted for nearly a third of all yards and receptions

I guess I'm more looking for consistency getting the ball to those positions. Like Wes Welker JR/SR season kinda stats. 80+ catches and a 10+ yard avg

Aldo · July 13, 2017

4 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

I guess I'm more looking for consistency getting the ball to those positions. Like Wes Welker JR/SR season kinda stats. 80+ catches and a 10+ yard avg

Right, and neither Thompson nor Buyers were those athletes. Hopefully the slot guys are fed as consistently as they were, but producing more.

I want to see Smiley do some damage in the Y and a guy like Hair-Griffin or even Darden to come out of nowhere and beat everyone out of the water for the A spot.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Aldo
double negative?

BTG_Fan1 · July 13, 2017

10 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

I guess I'm more looking for consistency getting the ball to those positions. Like Wes Welker JR/SR season kinda stats. 80+ catches and a 10+ yard avg

This years WR group is A LOT more talented than last years WR group. The question is now, do we have a QB that can get the ball to them enough. Fine wasn't accurate but the WRs didn't help either with a # of drops.

23 minutes ago, Aldo said:

Hopefully a TE can match that production, and not be the most productive receiver. That would be a good thing.

Agreed... Hopefully we can have 30-40 catches from that Y spot being more of a safety blanket/checkdown/ 1st down receiver.

Then the likes of Guyton/Rico/Smiley being the guys who work 10+ yards away.

Mean Green 93-98 · July 13, 2017

2 hours ago, Harry said:

A key underlying story that no one want to talk about is how in the heck do you replace Willy Ivery, Tyler Wilson and Tee Goree?

Isn't that what the first several paragraphs of the article are about?

1 hour ago, Aldo said:

Mesh with TD to the drag route https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=4m46s

Cross to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=56s

Slot curl to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=3m42s

To the slot, converts 3rd down vs Rice https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=8m24s

Thaddeous runs a Y-stick for afirst https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=3m56s

Levels, TD to Buyers https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=4m51s

It's in there, but duties were split by Thaddeous (Y) and Buyers (A) mostly.

Slot was our most productive position, though it could be more efficient. We need the explosive playmakers creating more plays *more often* like Buyers did in those first few videos.

Regardless, swing passes and designed QB runs will be a part of the playbook.

ETA: Thompson and Buyers accounted for nearly a third of all yards and receptions

Impressive research!

UNT Mean Green · July 14, 2017

18 hours ago, Harry said:

A key underlying story that no one want to talk about is how in the heck do you replace Willy Ivery, Tyler Wilson and Tee Goree? Those were some of the most dynamic offensive players we had on the roster. You hope that we could do better on the attrition but it continues to haunt this program.

With a greater quantity of quality players. The sum of the parts needs to be better, and it should.

Ben Gooding · July 15, 2017

On 7/13/2017 at 2:38 PM, MGNation92 said:

Our slot production will continue to be underutilized until our QB can figure out throwing lanes. Considering the mesh concept is massive in the air raid playbook, until we can hit guys like Duhon over the middle through crossers and slants, our offense will continue to be handcuffed to QB draws and swing passes

You are 100% accurate in regards to throwing lanes. We have a 5'10" QB that can in no way see crossing routes until they are over developed and by that time the clock has ran out. And he has to essentially turn slants into stick routes because he can't let the route get too deep and lose his target in the middle abyss, therefore never really giving his intended target a fair shot at separation. That's why coaches at all levels, when they are serious about throwing the rock, want taller QB's.

Edited July 15, 2017 by Ben Gooding

GMG24 · July 15, 2017

On 7/13/2017 at 3:18 PM, Aldo said:

Mesh with TD to the drag route https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=4m46s

Cross to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/eFVvNms7Now?t=56s

Slot curl to Buyers big gain https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=3m42s

To the slot, converts 3rd down vs Rice https://youtu.be/JZqdwtD81F4?t=8m24s

Thaddeous runs a Y-stick for afirst https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=3m56s

Levels, TD to Buyers https://youtu.be/CyH-WYHHAjc?t=4m51s

It's in there, but duties were split by Thaddeous (Y) and Buyers (A) mostly.

Slot was our most productive position, though it could be more efficient. We need the explosive playmakers creating more plays *more often* like Buyers did in those first few videos.

Regardless, swing passes and designed QB runs will be a part of the playbook.

ETA: Thompson and Buyers accounted for nearly a third of all yards and receptions

So the staff took a kid who had no offers, walked on, and moved him going into his senior year and he was one of two who accounted for 1/3 of our offense. Hmm.. 🤔🤔 maybe they do know what they're doing

Ben Gooding · July 15, 2017

22 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

So the staff took a kid who had no offers, walked on, and moved him going into his senior year and he was one of two who accounted for 1/3 of our offense. Hmm.. 🤔🤔 maybe they do know what they're doing

Not really. Your verbage infers that he was a part of some kind of dynamic duo. 30 rec for 300 yds over 13 games is not getting the job done from that position. His in game average per game was 2.4 catches per for 24.9 yds and 0.076 TD's. This is 1/2 of that dynamite duo you're pumping the staff up with.

It was a good position change. But that is all I would call it, at best. All I know is El Paso in the season finale...The living ghost of Dan McCarney was on UNT's sideline that afternoon. From 500 miles away, I was embarrassingly disgusted that day.