Jaelon Darden Vs Carlos Harris

MGNation92 · October 12, 2020

Maybe a bit of a clickbait title but it seems to me that Darden might be this year's Carlos Harris....

Now obviously he doesn't have the attitude issues of Harris and is clearly a hard worker, but we aren't throwing it to anyone else. Is it trust? Is it lack of ability? We have all these stud WR that we've signed over the last couple years and they're not doing much/dropping passes.

I'm afraid that as bad as it is, if teams start to double Darden(which they will), it's gonna get even worse. Harris was the only quality receiver(even if he was a douche in the process) on some really bad teams and it feels like Darden is starting to get that way.

We seriously need somebody else to step up or I fear Darden is gonna set single season receiving records on a 1-10 team....

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · October 12, 2020

Except we have good WRs behind Darden unlike 2014 Carlos Harris who is all they had basically.

greeneagle1 · October 12, 2020

2 hours ago, MGNation92 said:

Maybe a bit of a clickbait title but it seems to me that Darden might be this year's Carlos Harris....

Now obviously he doesn't have the attitude issues of Harris and is clearly a hard worker, but we aren't throwing it to anyone else. Is it trust? Is it lack of ability? We have all these stud WR that we've signed over the last couple years and they're not doing much/dropping passes.

I'm afraid that as bad as it is, if teams start to double Darden(which they will), it's gonna get even worse. Harris was the only quality receiver(even if he was a douche in the process) on some really bad teams and it feels like Darden is starting to get that way.

We seriously need somebody else to step up or I fear Darden is gonna set single season receiving records on a 1-10 team....

Look at 2013 what Derek Thompson had in Sr Breelan Chancellor and Sr. Darnell Smith with So Carlos Harris as the slot 3rd option. Move forward to 2015 and he is the only option.

2017/2018 we had Guyon and Bussey with Darden as the slot option 3. Now in 2020, its just darden carrying the team as well. You are right that both of these slot options had to be "the guy" after their complementing wideouts left.

I do agree though that darden is the better player between the two and his work ethic is great.

MeanGreenTexan · October 12, 2020

I would actually argue that 2015 Carlos Harris had more to work with than 2020 Jaelon Darden.

In 2015 we had Turner Smiley and Darvin Kidsy was still here making plays. The young stud Tee Goree was starting to contribute as well.

Now that Shorter is out, we have Darden and Simpson... and the others are dropping passes left & right.

BillySee58 · October 12, 2020

21 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I would actually argue that 2015 Carlos Harris had more to work with than 2020 Jaelon Darden.

In 2015 we had Turner Smiley and Darvin Kidsy was still here making plays. The young stud Tee Goree was starting to contribute as well.

Now that Shorter is out, we have Darden and Simpson... and the others are dropping passes left & right.

All these very highly recruited receiver signees over the last two years and apparently Rod Burns, Greg White, and Austin Ogunmakin are our best options there. At least twice as many drops as catches from that group last week.

Edited October 12, 2020 by BillySee58

MeanGreenTexan · October 12, 2020

6 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

All these very highly recruited receiver signees over the last two years and apparently Rod Burns, Greg White, and Austin Ogunmakin are our best options there. At least twice as many drops as catches from that group last week.

Ogunmakin is only a RSSoph., like Shorter. He can (and should) get better, But yeah, I'd love to see more Kealon Jackson & Damon Ward too. And DeTraveon Brown's H.S. tape was electric. Surely he can provide a spark?

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · October 12, 2020

2 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

I would actually argue that 2015 Carlos Harris had more to work with than 2020 Jaelon Darden.

In 2015 we had Turner Smiley and Darvin Kidsy was still here making plays. The young stud Tee Goree was starting to contribute as well.

Now that Shorter is out, we have Darden and Simpson... and the others are dropping passes left & right.

I saw 3 times where they fell to the ground to catch it with their body instead of their hands.
Man oh man do I miss Joel Filani...

GrayEagle · October 12, 2020

Another problem with not playing the top recruits is that future high three stars will be reluctant to come here if they don't get to play until they're a redshirt junior. Nobody worth their salt would be content to not/seldom see the field. I would think that they would rather play at the FCS level than sit at the FBS level.

The fans also want to see these high-rated players and I, for one, don't think that it's worth the drive to see lesser talented players miss tackles, drop passes, and blow coverage while much of the talent stands on the sidelines. Some players get a lot more adrenaline pumping under game conditions.

BillySee58 · October 12, 2020

2 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Ogunmakin is only a RSSoph., like Shorter. He can (and should) get better, But yeah, I'd love to see more Kealon Jackson & Damon Ward too. And DeTraveon Brown's H.S. tape was electric. Surely he can provide a spark?

I’m not out on Ogunmakin at all. I think he’ll be a good receiver. But I also think he is not currently performing to the point that you feel certain that the guys behind him couldn’t improve on some of his performances. Especially with a season where eligibility is frozen.

UNTLifer · October 12, 2020

Simpson is coming on and looks to be something special. Shorter is on his way only to be sidelined by an injury. I would like to see Jackson, Ward and Brown as the others look a little lost right now.

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · October 12, 2020

12 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Simpson is coming on and looks to be something special. Shorter is on his way only to be sidelined by an injury. I would like to see Jackson, Ward and Brown as the others look a little lost right now.

Ward seemed so promising out of high school, I’m disappointed Seth isn’t utilizing him (unless there is an injury we don’t know about)

MeanGreenTexan · October 12, 2020

Just now, NorthTexasSportsNetwork said:

Ward seemed so promising out of high school, I’m disappointed Seth isn’t utilizing him (unless there is an injury we don’t know about)

He had a pretty devastating injury during his Sr. year of H.S. if I recall correctly. I would think he's OK now though.

BillySee58 · October 12, 2020

6 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

He had a pretty devastating injury during his Sr. year of H.S. if I recall correctly. I would think he's OK now though.

Torn ACL. So yeah, two years ago, would think that wouldn’t be an issue at this point.

Green Crazy · October 12, 2020

25 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Simpson is coming on and looks to be something special. Shorter is on his way only to be sidelined by an injury. I would like to see Jackson, Ward and Brown as the others look a little lost right now.

I was going to mention how well Simpson has been. Only think I would change from your post is that Shorter isn't on his way, but he is already there. Really bummed about his injury. Speaking of....any word on his leg?

DeepGreen · October 12, 2020

Attitude aside, I’d take Darden over Harris any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

El Paso Eagle · October 12, 2020

3 hours ago, GrayEagle said:

Another problem with not playing the top recruits is that future high three stars will be reluctant to come here if they don't get to play until they're a redshirt junior. Nobody worth their salt would be content to not/seldom see the field. I would think that they would rather play at the FCS level than sit at the FBS level.

The fans also want to see these high-rated players and I, for one, don't think that it's worth the drive to see lesser talented players miss tackles, drop passes, and blow coverage while much of the talent stands on the sidelines. Some players get a lot more adrenaline pumping under game conditions.

Watching different games I have seen a lot different teams playing younger players who honestly, are not ready to be on the field. Maybe not at UNT, but for several P5 teams I think the fear of players transferring is causing them to play highly recruited players, even if they are not ready. I hope we really start focusing on transfers as I think more and more will become available