Spring Football Daily Outlook - Wide Receivers

[MeanGreen61]

Spring Football Daily Outlook

Courtesy: University of North Texas

Release: 04/17/2007

DENTON (4/11/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team’s outlook by position. The updates will continue over the next seven days, leading up to the annual Green and White Game that will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m.

Wide Receivers

This position might be the most interesting battle leading up to the beginning of the 2007 season. North Texas lost three key contributors among its receiving corps with the departure of Johnny Quinn, Zach Muzzy and Joel Nwigwe. Quinn left as the school’s all-time leading receiver while Muzzy and Nwigwe were both part-time starters during their four years with the Mean Green. The shining star among the returnees is Brandon Jackson, who has finished second only to Quinn in catches and receiving yards during the past two years. Jackson is perhaps the most talented receiver to wear the Mean Green in recent years and is expected to have a stellar year as a senior in the new offense. Jackson is one of only four scholarship wide receivers who will be on the roster for spring practice along with Brock Stickler, Arthur Stubblefield and Korey Washington.

There are a handful of tight ends who are trying to find their niche in the new system and Dodge invites the ability to use them in certain packages. Charlie Brown, Ryan Davenport and Victor Gill all played tight end prior to this season and all are expected to be used to help diversify the passing attack under Dodge. Walk-on Casey Fitzgerald showed tremendous improvement during the fall season and should work his way into the multiple-receiver rotation during spring practice. Isiah Smith is another walk-on who has been on the team for over two years and has provided quality depth. Dodge and his staff focused heavily on this position during recruiting and signed six high school wide receivers who will all challenge for playing time immediately.

Top Returning Wide Receivers:

Brandon Jackson - 17 rec., 188 yards, 1 TD

Ryan Davenport - 6 rec., 78 yards, 1 TD

Casey Fitzgerald - 4 rec. 83 yards, 2 TD

Head Coach Todd Dodge on Wide Receivers:

" The highlight of the offense this spring has been the wide receivers from the standpoint of what we expected and what we have ended up getting. I didn’t expect for this group to be this far along during spring practice. We knew that Brandon Jackson was very good and we are expecting great things from him. Casey Fitzgerald has probably been the biggest surprise. He has everything we are looking for to be a valuable part of this offense. Brock Stickler, Korey Washington and Arthur Stubblefield have fit in with Brandon and Casey as a good first five. They have really begun to start painting a picture as to how they will fit into this offense during the fall. With the young receivers that we have coming in this fall, I’m excited about the competition that we will have with this group.”

[Charlie NT 73]

4 scholarship WR's: Jackson, Stickler,Stubblefield, and Special K Korey Washington

Add: Brian Nelson, a scholarship DB, converted to WR = 5 true scholarship WR's

3 TE's moved to WR: Brown, Davenport, Gill

Walk ons- 5: Brandon Dixon, Roderick Johnson, Eric Lichty, and our old QB, 6-5 Jonathan Ieans,

and 5-11, 174lbs, Casey Fitzgerald, the suprise of spring training.

Evan Frentriss, transfer from Rice cannot play until 2008, I assume he will play Sunday.

Looks like 14 WR's will be available for the spring game (counting the TE's too), so, will the

coaches give the Green team and the White team 7 WR's each?

With the new 6 WR recruits coming into the fall, there could be 19 WR's on the roster for 2007.

Top 8 play, so I can see real competition within this WR group. Best thing is, all of these

players have specific skills. Coach Dodge can create plays that can use these skills, instead

of letting the tallent sit on the bench.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

4 scholarship WR's: Jackson, Stickler,Stubblefield, and Special K Korey Washington

Add: Brian Nelson, a scholarship DB, converted to WR = 5 true scholarship WR's

3 TE's moved to WR: Brown, Davenport, Gill

Walk ons- 5: Brandon Dixon, Roderick Johnson, Eric Lichty, and our old QB, 6-5 Jonathan Ieans,

and 5-11, 174lbs, Casey Fitzgerald, the suprise of spring training.

Evan Frentriss, transfer from Rice cannot play until 2008, I assume he will play Sunday.

Looks like 14 WR's will be available for the spring game (counting the TE's too), so, will the

coaches give the Green team and the White team 7 WR's each?

With the new 6 WR recruits coming into the fall, there could be 19 WR's on the roster for 2007.

Top 8 play, so I can see real competition within this WR group. Best thing is, all of these

players have specific skills. Coach Dodge can create plays that can use these skills, instead

of letting the tallent sit on the bench.

For the Spring Game, all should be wearing white since it's offense vs. defense.

I think that Fentriss plays in this game; it would be unfair for him to go through spring training and not be able to play in the finale. Brandon Jackson, Korey Washington and either Brock Stickler or Casey Fitzgerald are likely the other starters. Those five plus Stubblefield, Nelson and Smith could see a majority of the sanps in this game. I doubt that you'll see much from the tight end/fullback transfers because there are probably limited plays drawn for them at this time. I have doubts that the walkons will be in more than one or two plays, if that.

[KBJ]

I feel it will be like the 2 scrimmages that they have had. Start with 1O vs 1D 15 plays Then 2O vs 2D 5 plays change QB 5 more plays change QB 5 plays change QB 5 plays. Then 3O vs 3D total 10 plays. Then we start over.

[NT80]

I feel it will be like the 2 scrimmages that they have had. Start with 1O vs 1D 15 plays Then 2O vs 2D 5 plays change QB 5 more plays change QB 5 plays change QB 5 plays. Then 3O vs 3D total 10 plays. Then we start over.

The format also mentioned only 80 plays in this scrimmage; probably 60 passes and 20 rushing. Each QB only about 15 passes?