DRC TE Davidson glad to be back in pads

OldTimer · August 12, 2006

Football: UNT's Davidson glad to be back in pads

Senior TE missed end of 2005 season, spring practice with injury

11:42 PM CDT on Friday, August 11, 2006

Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Friday morning’s practice was a big step on the road to recovery for North Texas tight end Beau Davidson.

The senior missed the last five games of the 2005 season and all of spring practice with an injured left shoulder, making the fifth day of fall practice the first time he had pulled on full pads in nearly a year.

UNT spent the first four days of fall workouts in partial pads and didn’t do near the hitting that took place Friday.

“My shoulder felt real good,” Davidson said. “It’s a lot better than last year and should be fine. I always look forward to getting back into pads.”

Davidson came into fall practice atop the depth chart along with fellow senior tight end Robert Harmon at a position that is critical to the Mean Green’s offense.

UNT has featured several standout blockers at tight end during head coach Darrell Dickey’s nine-year tenure with the team, including Jeff Muenchow and Randy Gardner. Andy Blount posted 842 receiving yards in his last two seasons at UNT from 2003-04 and gave the Mean Green another weapon at the position as a receiver.

Davidson’s pursuit of the starting job and the right to follow in those players’ footsteps was one of the key storylines of the first session of fall practice in full pads. Linebacker Shawn Early joined Davidson in working out in pads for the first time since coming back from a major knee injury that forced him to take a medical redshirt season in 2005.

The practice session also gave UNT’s coaching staff a chance to see its incoming recruits work out in a game-like situation for the first time.

“It went very well,” Dickey said. “We got a lot done and saw that some of our young guys enjoyed the hitting part of practice and were not intimidated by it. We continue to see that some of our freshmen will have a chance to help us this year.”

Freshman tight end Bryant Seidle is one of those players and is pushing Davidson and Harmon for playing tine.

UNT will need whoever starts at tight end to help bolster the Mean Green’s offensive front that struggled at times to clear the way for its running backs last season. The Mean Green averaged just 3.9 yards per rushing attempt in 2005 after averaging 4.6 yards per carry in 2004 and 4.1 per attempt in 2003.

The Mean Green also lacked punch from the tight end spot in terms of the passing game last season, when Harmon led the team’s tight ends with eight catches for 92 yards.

UNT continued to address that problem in its most physical practice so far this fall.

“We were looking forward to getting back out here in pads,” wide receiver Zach Muzzy said. “You need those first few days to get back into it and work through the soreness. The contact is what we enjoy. You can really let loose.”

Ross makes impression early

Freshman defensive end Draylen Ross didn’t waste any time in making an impression after his belated debut at UNT.

Ross sat out the first four days of practice while some of the paperwork he needed to join the team was filed. The former Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis standout started to settle in with the Mean Green on Friday.

“I was very impressed with Draylen his first time out of the box,” Dickey said. “He has a lot of ability.”

Davenport injures knee

Sophomore fullback Ryan Davenport left practice after twisting his knee in a one-on-one tackling drill.

Dickey said UNT’s training staff had yet to determine whether Davenport only sprained his knee or sustained ligament damage. Davenport played in all but three of UNT’s games last season on special teams and at linebacker before moving to fullback this fall.

Players sit out practice

The sideline was a crowded place on Friday when several players missed workouts with pulled muscles or other minor injuries.

Wide receiver Brandon Jackson, tight end Bryant Seidle, quarterback Matt Phillips, wide receiver Brock Stickler and defensive linemen Isaac Thomas and Esteban Santiago all missed UNT’s first workout in full pads of fall practice.

Briefly …

Dickey said he likes what he has seen from Brian Carlson at tackle. Carlson was recruited as a tight end, but is splitting time between tackle and tight end in fall practice.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

August 12, 2006

I was surprised that it was not mentioned that Davidson was also the deep snapper. Gilmore took his place last year when he went out and Gilmore is not back this year, so that skill would seem very important.