Spring Football Daily Outlook - Quarterbacks

[MeanGreen61]

Spring Football Daily Outlook

Courtesy: University of North Texas

Release: 04/17/2007

DENTON (4/17/07) - MeanGreenSports.com is previewing the 2007 North Texas football team with daily updates that will break down the team's outlook by position. The annual Green and White Game will be played at Fouts Field on Sunday, April 22 at 3 p.m.

Quarterback

Much of the struggles from the quarterback position over the past two years has come from the instability in settling on a starter. Three different quarterbacks have had their shot at being the starter last year and all three saw significant action throughout the season. Junior Matt Phillips began the season as the starter, but was replaced after two games by junior college transfer Woody Wilson. Wilson started the next four games before giving way to Daniel Meager who started the final six games. Phillips came in to replace Meager in each of the four games and had his best numbers in those games.

All three quarterbacks had comparable numbers for the entire season with Wilson having a slight edge in passing efficiency (98.8) and passing yards (528) while Meager led the team with four passing touchdowns. All three are back in 2007 and are expected to benefit from the teaching of Dodge who has extensive knowledge of the quarterback position both as a player and coach.

Nathan Tune redshirted as a freshman in 2006 and he will also be in the mix as the coaching staff attempts to sort out the depth chart during spring practice. Giovanni Vizza, who is a highly-touted recruit that ran an offense very similar to what Dodge is installing at North Texas, will join the team in the fall. Dodge believes he will have five capable quarterbacks heading into fall camp and will use that time to sort out a depth chart.

Top Returning Quarterbacks:

Daniel Meager - 53/100 passing., 517 yards, 4 TD

Matt Phillips - 29/60 passing, 337 yards, 3 TD

Woody Wilson - 54/90 passing, 528 yards, 2 TD

Head Coach Todd Dodge on Quarterbacks:

"The competition has been good during the spring and we have a much better idea what we have at the quarterback position. Daniel Meager has really improved at distributing the ball to different receivers and he has picked up the offense very quickly. Nathan Tune has a natural understanding of the passing game and that helps, but there are a few small mechanical things we need to work on with him. Matt Phillips has a very strong arm but needs to improve his consistency. Woody Wilson does a lot of nice things as both a runner and a passer and provides an added dimension to the offense. It will be an on-going competition through the first couple weeks of fall practice and we hope that Giovanni Vizza can come in and add to that competition. The thing that we will look for during fall camp is accuracy and no-huddle efficiency. We will definitely have an efficient quarterback."

[Mean Green 93-98]

We will definitely have an efficient quarterback."

What exactly does he mean by that? A quarterback who will get the offense lined up and the play off quickly?

[SilverEagle]

What exactly does he mean by that? A quarterback who will get the offense lined up and the play off quickly?

That would be a good beginning. From there I would consider a QB "efficient" if he was able to consider at least two or three options before he threw it away. I consider it "efficient" when a QB isn't responsible for lost yardage.

[greenjoe]

Coach Dodge said Wed. that due to the "no-huddle" offense, we should snap the ball with about 20 seconds left on the 25 second clock.

[mad dog]

One thing that stood out to me when I watched practice last week was that not only did the play get set up and the ball snapped on the fly, but the ball came out very quickly, too. The three step drop was the rule. In running that kind of offense, you are able to mitigate, to an extent, the amount of pre-snap reads the defense can do. Might be easier to teach your QB to get to the line and get the play off quickly than to teach him how to read the defense and make calls accordingly. And, either way, you limit defensive adjustments.

[NT80]

One thing that stood out to me when I watched practice last week was that not only did the play get set up and the ball snapped on the fly, but the ball came out very quickly, too. The three step drop was the rule. In running that kind of offense, you are able to mitigate, to an extent, the amount of pre-snap reads the defense can do. Might be easier to teach your QB to get to the line and get the play off quickly than to teach him how to read the defense and make calls accordingly. And, either way, you limit defensive adjustments.

I saw SLC play Plano in the 2005 playoffs. BTW, Plano was winning into the 4th quarter when SLC coaches made some key adjustments and SLC won the game. A couple things I noticed was occasionally Dodge would call for a quick snap when the defense appeared to be tired and not set. Also, and you'll see this at NT practices too sometimes, the players get set for a play, then suddenly they will all relax and all look to their sidelines coaches for a change of play. I think perhaps the pressbox coaches see the defensive alignment then changes the offensive play to take advantage of what it is giving them. You can do that with a no-huddle offense since you have the extra time.

[SilverEagle]

I saw SLC play Plano in the 2005 playoffs. BTW, Plano was winning into the 4th quarter when SLC coaches made some key adjustments and SLC won the game. A couple things I noticed was occasionally Dodge would call for a quick snap when the defense appeared to be tired and not set. Also, and you'll see this at NT practices too sometimes, the players get set for a play, then suddenly they will all relax and all look to their sidelines coaches for a change of play. I think perhaps the pressbox coaches see the defensive alignment then changes the offensive play to take advantage of what it is giving them. You can do that with a no-huddle offense since you have the extra time.

When we played ULL the year that they installed their spead offense, they did that to us on every play.

[mad dog]

When we played ULL the year that they installed their spead offense, they did that to us on every play.

Uh huh... and, if memory serves, they rather ate us alive with it.

[Danish42]

There was another quarterback that came from Kilgore J.C. last year and GMG even had a picture and stats. Is he still on the roster

[mad dog]

That would be Steven Prince. The last I saw of him was last spring. Best I can tell, he's still here at North Texas, but I haven't seen him on the field.

Can't imagine why you wouldn't want to at least give it a shot with a wide-open QB race and Todd Dodge as the guy who is running it...

[FirefightnRick]

I saw SLC play Plano in the 2005 playoffs. BTW, Plano was winning into the 4th quarter when SLC coaches made some key adjustments and SLC won the game. A couple things I noticed was occasionally Dodge would call for a quick snap when the defense appeared to be tired and not set. Also, and you'll see this at NT practices too sometimes, the players get set for a play, then suddenly they will all relax and all look to their sidelines coaches for a change of play. I think perhaps the pressbox coaches see the defensive alignment then changes the offensive play to take advantage of what it is giving them. You can do that with a no-huddle offense since you have the extra time.

It was either that summer or the one before in which the SLC staff attended Andy McColumn's coaching clinic at MTSU. Mac's teams always got their play in from the sidelines in this manner. I'm not sure what part of MTSU's system they used but SLC did install a new part of their offense that was learned from that clinic?

Rick

[DeepGreen]

It was either that summer or the one before in which the SLC staff attended Andy McColumn's coaching clinic at MTSU. Mac's teams always got their play in from the sidelines in this manner. I'm not sure what part of MTSU's system they used but SLC did install a new part of their offense that was learned from that clinic?

Rick

And this is a good thing? Anyone remember how many times we beat MUTS prior to last year? We beat the MUTS spread through some hardnose football and better players.