North Texas Official Visitors for 1/20/23

[TheReal_jayD]

As we inch closer and closer to National Signing Day there are 4 prospects in town this weekend taking official visits to North Texas. 
 

HS KIDS

Evan Jackson

6’0 170 DB North Shore

https://247sports.com/player/evan-jackson-46133196/
 

Brian Nelson

6’0 170 DB Shadow Creek

https://247sports.com/player/brian-nelson-46132014/

The combo of Nelson and Jackson could be a very talented DB duo in the American. 
 

Transfers

Noah Rauschenberg 

K Baylor Transfer. Could fill the void left by Ethan Mooney. Noah holds an Oklahoma State offer and visited there last week

We also have one transfer OL on campus. Sworn to secrecy on that one (sorry). There are couple more that were possibilities. I am not sure if they were coming this week or next. Check back on GMG I will add to list if I can get confirmation. 

 

[Brett Vito]

 

[NorthTexan95]

Why didn't Brian Nelson play at Byron Nelson high school?  Lost opportunity for confusion. 

[UNTLifer]

The full list of visitors is on the double top secret member's board.  Log in over there to see the list of players.

[p_phelps]

I'll say I'm disappointed in the visitors offer list.    

Evan Jackson is even more confusing.  He has like 2 defense highlights and they're ok tackles. Mostly him returning punts and playing QB.

Edited January 21, 2023 by p_phelps

[UNTLifer]

Thought we had a young kicker on the roster.

Want those two DB's.

[jtm0097]

53 minutes ago, p_phelps said:

I'll say I'm disappointed in the visitors offer list.    

Evan Jackson is even more confusing.  He has like 2 defense highlights and they're ok tackles. Mostly him returning punts and playing QB.

He had 62 tackles, 7 pass break ups and returned 3 punts for TDs. The athleticism is there. The highlight tape needs some work.

[Jdawg48]

[untcampbell]

49 minutes ago, jtm0097 said:

He had 62 tackles, 7 pass break ups and returned 3 punts for TDs. The athleticism is there. The highlight tape needs some work.

Facts suck.

 

GMG

[TheReal_jayD]

3 hours ago, p_phelps said:

I'll say I'm disappointed in the visitors offer list.    

Evan Jackson is even more confusing.  He has like 2 defense highlights and they're ok tackles. Mostly him returning punts and playing QB.

I remember we recruited a player one time for wr and all his highlights were of him playing qb. His name was Jaelan Darden. He worked out alright. 

[untlynchka1]

8 hours ago, TheReal_jayD said:

I remember we recruited a player one time for wr and all his highlights were of him playing qb. His name was Jaelan Darden. He worked out alright. 

Love it. As you know, that’s the story of many hs qb’s. They are put at qb because they are the best athlete on the team. 
 

if I remember correctly, UT missed out on Robert Griffen and Johnny football because Mac would only recruit them as db’s because he didn’t think they could play qb. I only use them as examples because UT was recruiting these guys strictly based on their athletic talents. Not because either had tape of them playing db. 

[p_phelps]

8 hours ago, TheReal_jayD said:

I remember we recruited a player one time for wr and all his highlights were of him playing qb. His name was Jaelan Darden. He worked out alright. 

Darden had muliple fbs offers and a few p5 if I remember correctly.  I thought with limited spots available we wouldn't gamble as much to get Dimond in the roughs. Utsa isn't doing this as my only comparison. Not saying he can't or won't be good. Not sure I get the strategy with 10 spots left

[jtm0097]

Alright I just watched Brian Nelson's highlight video. He had 7 interceptions on the year. I was impressed with his coverage skills and how he would jump routes for INTs. Now at the FBS level, if you jump a route like that you sometimes can get burned. However, 7 interceptions is very impressive. There were a few plays where he fought off WR blocks and made tackles. That is a skill he definitely will need at this level. So many offenses will line up 2 WRs and have just one guy blocking while the other runs free. It's good to see that he is not afraid of contact. He didn't have a ton of tackles on the year, but that could be due to QBs not throwing his way (7 INTs). We do have a lot of competition for him, as he has 27 offers right now. Hopefully he wants to stay in Texas, and has a great visit. As JD said, this could be a talented duo in the American.

Stats:

14 Tackles 7 INT 4 Passed Defended (I assume this is similar to pass break ups)

 

Offers:

Akron, Coastal Carolina, Miami (OH), New Mexico, New Mexico St, North Texas, Old Dominion, Texas St, ACU, Air Force, Navy and 16 FCS offers (Yes 16, I am not going to list them all).

https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Brian-Nelson-155044/RecruitInterests/

[El Paso Eagle]

Did we get another piece to the puzzle?

 

 

[TheReal_jayD]

10 hours ago, p_phelps said:

Darden had muliple fbs offers and a few p5 if I remember correctly.  I thought with limited spots available we wouldn't gamble as much to get Dimond in the roughs. Utsa isn't doing this as my only comparison. Not saying he can't or won't be good. Not sure I get the strategy with 10 spots left

Darden did. But all offers had dried up when we came in late. Believe he was committed to grambling when we offered two days before NSD. 
 

I don’t put as much stock into offer list these days as years past. Between transfer portal and covid years hs kids are getting overlooked on record pace. 

Edited January 21, 2023 by TheReal_jayD

[GrayEagle]

21 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Thought we had a young kicker on the roster.

Want those two DB's.

We do have a young kicker on the roster.  His name is Chris Clayton from Fort Myers FL.  He was signed by last year's Special Teams Coordinator Chris Petrilli.  I believe that he graduated from some kicking school last year and was recommended by the owner of the kicking school.

[Cr1028]

On 1/21/2023 at 6:19 AM, p_phelps said:

Darden had muliple fbs offers and a few p5 if I remember correctly.  I thought with limited spots available we wouldn't gamble as much to get Dimond in the roughs. Utsa isn't doing this as my only comparison. Not saying he can't or won't be good. Not sure I get the strategy with 10 spots left

You remember incorrectly. We offered Darden at the last minute after one of our other commits flipped to Houston. He was a diamond in the rough in his own rite.
 

 

Edited January 22, 2023 by Cr1028

[Green Crazy]

On 1/20/2023 at 7:35 PM, jtm0097 said:

He had 62 tackles, 7 pass break ups and returned 3 punts for TDs. The athleticism is there. The highlight tape needs some work.

They must be banking on his athleticism because those stats aren't very impressive, except for the punt returns.  I'm assuming those numbers are for the 16 games they played. 

[jtm0097]

11 minutes ago, Green Crazy said:

They must be banking on his athleticism because those stats aren't very impressive, except for the punt returns.  I'm assuming those numbers are for the 16 games they played. 

He was 1st team all-district safety and started on one of the best high school teams in the country. Even if it was over 16 games, that's 4 tackles a game. If your safety is the leading tackler, your defense is not very good. That means your guys deep are constantly making tackles and not the front seven. Our secondary needs help. Let's refrain from bashing the kid.

 

[Green Crazy]

19 minutes ago, jtm0097 said:

He was 1st team all-district safety and started on one of the best high school teams in the country. Even if it was over 16 games, that's 4 tackles a game. If your safety is the leading tackler, your defense is not very good. That means your guys deep are constantly making tackles and not the front seven. Our secondary needs help. Let's refrain from bashing the kid.

 

How is that bashing him? Tackles can be misleading one way or another, I was talking about the pbu's. 7 over 16 is low.  That district is really tough, so he's playing good talent, and like you said he's on a really good team.  We'll see.  Nelson had better tape.

[jtm0097]

1 hour ago, Green Crazy said:

How is that bashing him? Tackles can be misleading one way or another, I was talking about the pbu's. 7 over 16 is low.  That district is really tough, so he's playing good talent, and like you said he's on a really good team.  We'll see.  Nelson had better tape.

You said his stats are not impressive. I'm not sure how to perceive that as a positive comment. Yeah, his tape seemed to be geared more to his return game and random plays on offense. We are behind in recruiting due to the timing of the Morris hire. The staff is trying to addresses the secondary which struggled last year. Even if Jackson is returning kicks and a rotational DB, his experience should help our defense. Nelson has great tape. I hope he can't continue getting INTs on our defense.

Edited January 24, 2023 by jtm0097

[Green Crazy]

10 minutes ago, jtm0097 said:

You said his stats are not impressive. I'm not sure how to perceive that as a positive comment. Yeah, his tape seemed to be geared more to his return game and random plays on offense. We are behind in recruiting due to the timing of the Morris hire. The staff is trying to addresses the secondary which struggled last year. Even if Jackson is returning kicks and a rotational DB, his experience should help our defense. Nelson has great tape. He didn't have a ton of tackles but he had 7 INTs.

It's not positive, but it's not bashing him either. 

I like Nelson, he looks really solid.  As far as tackles for a corner, I'd prefer they tackled well, but if they can lock someone down then they could hit like Deion or Diggs.

[jtm0097]

6 minutes ago, Green Crazy said:

It's not positive, but it's not bashing him either. 

I like Nelson, he looks really solid.  As far as tackles for a corner, I'd prefer they tackled well, but if they can lock someone down then they could hit like Deion or Diggs.

Fair enough. I'm just glad they are addressing the defense.