Vizza In Fight For Unt Qb Position

[NT03]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/...2.2641ff05.html

Freshman quarterback Giovanni Vizza continued his rapid rise through North Texas' depth chart on Saturday during the first scrimmage of the Mean Green's fall workouts.

Vizza led UNT to consecutive touchdowns in goal-line drills while splitting time with the first-team offense with junior Daniel Meager.

Meager was the first quarterback on the field during the workout. Head coach Todd Dodge said the practice was not a scrimmage on Friday, but a crew of officials worked the practice that saw the Mean Green's first-team offense and first-team defense face off.

Dodge closed the practice to all media members and fans, but it was open to members of players' families.

"The thing Giovanni is doing is showing why we recruited him," Dodge said. "He will become more accurate as he goes along and he can run the ball. He has a knack for it. I have been pleased with his six days of work. The thing about Giovanni is that it is very important to him to get better. When you have that attitude, you have a chance to be good."

Meager and Vizza each spent 20 snaps with the first- and second-team offenses in an 11-on-11 situation and then also split time evenly in red zone drills.

Dodge said he was impressed with the poise Meager showed during the workout. Meager connected on a 24-yard pass with senior wide receiver Brandon Jackson during his opening drive of the afternoon and threw two touchdown passes, including a 28-yard strike to freshman Sam Roberson.

Vizza rushed for a touchdown and threw for another.

"We did all right offensively, but we still have room for improvement," Meager said. "We had our moments, we just have to be more consistent."

Dodge said both Meager and Vizza excelled in the short passing game, but struggled to get the ball down the field at times.

UNT worked on its passing game for most of the workout, which gave Vizza a chance to continue adapting to the college game.

"Giovanni will chart out pretty well," Dodge said. "I can't say until we look at it, but we threw the ball a bunch, about 75 percent of the day."

The extra time UNT spent working on the passing game allowed the Mean Green's quarterbacks and receivers to continue getting used to working together.

"We are starting to get to know each other and click," junior wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald said. "We are starring to know where we will fit in."

Kickers still all even after workout

Dodge said none of UNT's three freshman walk-on kickers has an advantage in the race for the starting job after Saturday's workout.

Clayton Teasdale of Carrollton Newman Smith, Trent Deans of Sherman and Thomas Moreland of Forney all had an opportunity to kick during practice and combined to miss just one attempt.

"All our kickers did a nice job," Dodge said. "They all got quite a few kicks in. There is no front-runner right now."

Freshmen get an opportunity

Saturday's workout represented a key opportunity for several of UNT's freshmen to show that they can make an impact this season.

Dodge said he wanted to get all of his young players on film during the scrimmage and evaluate their performance. UNT's six freshman wide receivers were among those who received a positive initial evaluation.

Dodge singled out Evan Walker, Breece Johnson and Marcus King for playing particularly well. Dodge said Johnson has been the most consistent freshman receiver in practice, while King (6-3, 200) has started to take advantage of the size and speed that made him a top recruit.

"All six of our young wide receivers caught the ball today," Dodge said. "That is a huge confidence booster to go out against a real college defense and catch the ball. You can't put a price on that and what it will do for their confidence level on Monday. They will feel like they belong."

Dodge also said he was impressed by the performance of freshman linebackers A.J. Penson and Marquese Davis.

"You want them prepared so that if something happens from an injury standpoint, they will be ready," Dodge said. "I am proud that our young ones are not taking the attitude that they are going to red shirt."

UNT handles heat well

UNT dealt with another hot day of practice, despite working out in the morning.

The challenge was one Dodge thought the Mean Green handled well during a 112-play session.

"We had minimal cramping," Dodge said. "That was the first thing I was pleased about was the way we handled the heat. We have worked on our conditioning at 3:30 at Fouts. That was a big plus for us today."

Briefly …

Running back Deavin Cox and defensive back Latif Nurudeen did not work out Saturday.

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

• 

Edited August 12, 2007 by NT03

[BIG DAWG]

Man I sure wish someone coud have been at that scrimmage to give a little better insight into the QB battle.

Sometimes I think it is going to be Meager, and then sometimes I think it is going to be Vizza.

This is absolutley killing me...lets just play some football...PLEASE!

[NT03]

Thomas Moreland of Forney

Did you know ??? Cousin of the late Green Bay Packer , Hank Gremminger. A DB for Baylor and 11 years in the NFL played for Vince Lombardi and had 29 career int's , inducted into Green Bay Hall of Fame.

[NT80]

Dodge closed the practice to all media members and fans, but it was open to members of players' families.

Grrrrr...... I heard a major donor got chased away. Hope it wasn't the $1.5 million guy. The bouncer might need a PR-skills class.

Edited August 12, 2007 by NT80

[Green Crazy]

Did you know ??? Cousin of the late Green Bay Packer , Hank Gremminger. A DB for Baylor and 11 years in the NFL played for Vince Lombardi and had 29 career int's , inducted into Green Bay Hall of Fame.

I'm curious how an 18 year old can be the cousin of someone who played for Lombardi?

[NT03]

I'm curious how an 18 year old can be the cousin of someone who played for Lombardi?

I was thinking the same thing , I thought it meant to say uncle, but I found the same info on 2 different sites.

Kid even has his own website : http://www.thomasmoreland.com/

[Green to the Bone]

Kid even has his own website : http://www.thomasmoreland.com/

Pretty impressive kid, both athletically and academically.

And check out that stadium behind him. Where do we order one of those?

[greenminer]

Pretty impressive kid, both athletically and academically.

And check out that stadium behind him. Where do we order one of those?

I checked Ebay. no luck

[SouthBendGreen]

I don't know. They way I read this is that Vizza has already moved up to at least backup right? He ran this kind of offense in HS. I think DM starts OU just because he has college experience and shouldn't get flustered, but I feel Vizza is the starter well before the halfway point of the season.

Am I way off base on this? I have no clue since I haven't seen a practice, but just reading that story, that's the impression I get.

[Mad Hatter]

I got there yesterday at 10am and went up on the Alumni side to watch. The first thing I noticed was that it was just Meager and Vizza out there alternating. After about 20 minutes I was asked who I was with.......not knowing then what I know now I said "Oh, I'm here to watch them all", to which I was promptly told, "Sorry but the practice is closed to the public. Family only." So like any self respecting GMG poster, I went down got into my car and drove over to the Student side and went up and stood in one of the tunnel/ramps for the next hour before I had to get home.

Unfortunately, I don't really have anything to add that wasn't in the paper. The short passing game looks to be getting a lot better. It seems like in the Green/White game the short game really wasn't working and there were a lot of 3rd and long passing plays.....this time there were a lot more 3rd and a couples because they were getting the short routes. I noticed that both QB's were releasing the ball before the receivers were even looking for it......they just knew where it needed to be, and the receivers would be there.....timing looks to be getting a lot better.

I thought both QB's looked good, but there's a reason that I'm not a coach...I'm sure they can tell.

[JayDub]

Kid even has his own website : http://www.thomasmoreland.com/

Kind of a douchebag if he made that site himself.

[UNTflyer]

I'm curious how an 18 year old can be the cousin of someone who played for Lombardi?

My dad is the oldest of eight kids. I'm 35 and just got a new first cousin last week.

[UNTflyer]

And check out that stadium behind him. Where do we order one of those?

The name of the picture is "Notre_Dame_Trip". Here is a pic of Forney High's stadium.

Edited August 12, 2007 by UNTflyer

[EagleD]

Judging solely on what's been posted I suspect Meager will start against OU, but Vizza will finish the season as the starter. Just my opinion.

GO MEAN GREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!

[BleedGreen]

I just hope the inexperienced offensive line doesn't have our QB's going down one by one on the injury "unable to perform" list. I haven't heard anything negative about the OL in the articles or talks about the scrimmage, so that's good.

I am thinking Meager against OU. Meager against SMU and we see Vizza briefly against SMU and possibly starting game 3.

[UNTflyer]

Dodge has said he will NOT run QB by committee. Whoever gets that job is THE quarterback. If Meager starts, the only way Vizza will get playing time is if we have a 35 point lead.

[GreenBat]

I expect the 2nd team QB to play the third series of the game. I would be stunned if Dodge did not do this.

[UNTflyer]

I expect the 2nd team QB to play the third series of the game. I would be stunned if Dodge did not do this.

Why would you be stunned? Dodge has said he would not do this.

[GreenBat]

That's how he get the backup QB on the field without having the starter looking over his shoulder. That what he did with Chase Daniel when he was a back up. He also did this with Riley when he was the backup.

[meangreen2018]

Overall, It sounds like UNT had a great day. But from what Meager said, It sounded like they still need to improve a bit.

[pollock]

I think the main thing we can take from this is that QB is now a 2-horse race.

Hopefully Woody can run a route. We need him on the field.

[NT80]

I expect the 2nd team QB to play the third series of the game. I would be stunned if Dodge did not do this.

Yes, I expect Meager to be the starter, mainly because he has previous experience in big venues and won't get rattled as easy being starter, but Vizza will see time. You want to get your backups some experience asap. If Meager were to go down, neither Vizza or Tune have taken a snap in a real college game yet. All three may play vs OU and SMUt but the starter won't change for 4-5 weeks minimum.

[adman]

Yes, I expect Meager to be the starter, mainly because he has previous experience in big venues and won't get rattled as easy being starter,

You're operating on the presumption Vizza will get rattled. Who is to say? Perhaps his blood flows like an arctic tide. Some people thrive under pressure. And as Ramon Archie mentioned in an earlier thread some players relish the crowd noise of the larger programs venues.

Edited August 12, 2007 by adman

[LittleMeanGreenMan]

Kind of a douchebag if he made that site himself.

big time db. cut him.