2021 player hopes...

hickoryhouse · January 17, 2021

There are two players above all others that have me holding my breath going into 2021. The Kentucky transfer qb Amani Gilmore and Dion Novil... assuming he decides to ply another year.

I can’t deal with another year of the Mean Green Bean and Gilmore looks like he could be a huge upgrade.

Novil has a chance to be a monster with a good coach and a chip on his shoulder.

hickoryhouse · January 17, 2021

Unless I’m an idiot and Novil has already made his section and I missed it....

then it’s Gilmore I am stoked about.

UNTLifer · January 17, 2021

Don’t hold your breath on Gilmore. Not sure what makes you believe he could be an upgrade. We have seen nothing from him.

Travis · January 17, 2021

I expect all quarterbacks to be improved for 21.

El Paso Eagle · January 17, 2021

1 hour ago, hickoryhouse said:

Unless I’m an idiot and Novil has already made his section and I missed it....

then it’s Gilmore I am stoked about.

Has Novil declared for the draft? With the extra eligibility this year all players have to declare. I believe the deadline is Monday.

bstnsportsfan3 · January 17, 2021

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Don’t hold your breath on Gilmore. Not sure what makes you believe he could be an upgrade. We have seen nothing from him.

What do you mean? He wasn’t eligible to play this last season so of course we haven’t seen anything from him

UNTLifer · January 17, 2021

The reports aren't good. I'll leave it at that.

greenminer · January 17, 2021

2 hours ago, hickoryhouse said:

Gilmore looks like he could be a huge upgrade.

What have you seen?

hickoryhouse · January 17, 2021

I saw the qbs play last year and combine we had one ok player... I don’t know anything specific about Gilmore but I know I was high on him as a transfer with a lot of eligibility left.

what we saw last year was not good, Gilmore looks to me like he could shake it up a bit!

Mean Green 93-98 · January 17, 2021

1 hour ago, Travis said:

I expect all quarterbacks to be improved for 21.

This. Neither Aune nor Bean had spring training and both looked decent for their first year seeing real PT. If either improves substantially, we'll have one of the better QBs in C-USA. And if Gilmore, Keuhne, Martin, or Drummond passes them up, that could be an even better sign.

hickoryhouse · January 17, 2021

1 hour ago, El Paso Eagle said:

Has Novil declared for the draft? With the extra eligibility this year all players have to declare. I believe the deadline is Monday.

Then Monday is the day... I hope he stays and gets some additional schooling and another year of mean green football...

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · January 17, 2021

Novil SHOULD be back considering next year should be very different on defense, and him being a senior would help tremendously.

Also, I highly doubt we see Gilmore. Hoping Bryce beats him out tbh

Wag Tag · January 17, 2021

A 4 man front should be very attractive to Norvil. Bennet should also be a plus. GMG

Side.Show.Joe · January 18, 2021

My 2021 player hope is that Shorter will have something close to Darden's 2020 campaign. I really thought he was due for a breakout year in 2020, before his season was cut short.

akriesman · January 18, 2021

10 hours ago, hickoryhouse said:

There are two players above all others that have me holding my breath going into 2021. The Kentucky transfer qb Amani Gilmore and Dion Novil... assuming he decides to ply another year.

Holding your breath on Gilmore might be a little extreme brother. Hopefully, he has a nice career here and I will certainly be rooting for him along with the others. But, he will have a lot of competition from Aune, Bean, Drummond and maybe even Martin. There is some talent, but no real standouts at QB here.

Gilmore has yet to see the field in college, except for some brief action against UT Martin. This puts him basically in the same boat as true freshman Bryce Drummond. They are both similar when it comes to their 3* rankings.

FWIW, Aune had a higher ranking than both Drummond and Gilmore coming out of HS/minors. Bean was a borderline 2/3*

Offense is/was the least of our problems. We may not have a true #1 QB yet. But, there is some QB talent on this roster no matter who starts. Somebody will rise to the top.

Getting Novil back would be a huge and unexpected bonus. I am certainly not counting on that. Hard to believe he was a 2* coming out of HS. Unlike the QB position, we are terribly thin on the DL (as is true with most G5 programs).

Edited January 18, 2021 by akriesman

Wag Tag · January 18, 2021

11 hours ago, akriesman said:

Holding your breath on Gilmore might be a little extreme brother. Hopefully, he has a nice career here and I will certainly be rooting for him along with the others. But, he will have a lot of competition from Aune, Bean, Drummond and maybe even Martin. There is some talent, but no real standouts at QB here.

Gilmore has yet to see the field in college, except for some brief action against UT Martin. This puts him basically in the same boat as true freshman Bryce Drummond. They are both similar when it comes to their 3* rankings.

FWIW, Aune had a higher ranking than both Drummond and Gilmore coming out of HS/minors. Bean was a borderline 2/3*

Offense is/was the least of our problems. We may not have a true #1 QB yet. But, there is some QB talent on this roster no matter who starts. Somebody will rise to the top.

Getting Novil back would be a huge and unexpected bonus. I am certainly not counting on that. Hard to believe he was a 2* coming out of HS. Unlike the QB position, we are terribly thin on the DL (as is true with most G5 programs).

You would like to think that the SEC is a good judge of talent at a higher standard. Gilmore was also offered out Tennessee. 247 had him rated 94 as national pro style passer. I’m hoping he can throw like Aune, we know he can run.

greenminer · January 18, 2021

3 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

You would like to think that the SEC is a good judge of talent at a higher standard. Gilmore was also offered out Tennessee. 247 had him rated 94 as national pro style passer. I’m hoping he can throw like Aune, we know he can run.

you would think, but then there are the Feldts of the world.

UNTLifer · January 18, 2021

3 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

You would like to think that the SEC is a good judge of talent at a higher standard. Gilmore was also offered out Tennessee. 247 had him rated 94 as national pro style passer. I’m hoping he can throw like Aune, we know he can run.

Not sure where the information is coming from or if that was a typo, but 247 had him rated .8464 (85) as a pro passer. Now, I would love to see this young man live up to or beyond that rating, but this is not what I have heard.