Drc: Unt Adds Two For '08 Class

[NT80]

Football: UNT adds two for '08 class

NEO safety commits after weekend visit

11:02 PM CST on Sunday, December 9, 2007

By Brett VIto / Staff Writer

North Texas returned to one of its old recruiting hotbeds to land a player it hopes will anchor its defensive backfield next season.

Safety Kylee Hill spent last season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M junior college and developed into a top player for the Golden Norsemen. Hill orally committed to continue his career at UNT next season after an official visit over the weekend.

Oral commitments are non-binding. The first day a recruit in the Class of 2008 can sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 6.

"I liked the environment at North Texas and it's close to home," said Hill, who played at Bristow High School northeast of Oklahoma City.

UNT also picked up a commitment from Austin Anderson offensive tackle Coleman Feeley, who could help fill the void left when Los Fresnos guard Eloy Atkinson backed out of a commitment to UNT to play for UTEP.

James Hamilton, an athlete from Cedar Hill who is projected as a safety in college, also visited UNT over the weekend. He decided to take a few days to make a final decision on whether to commit to UNT or Kentucky.

Hill (5-10, 190) is one of the highest rated of the 14 players who have committed to UNT thus far and could be the next in a long line of NEO recruits who have played key roles for the Mean Green. Kevin Galbreath, UNT's fourth all-time leading rusher with 2,417 yards, and former All-Sun Belt Conference defensive lineman Michael Pruitt both played for NEO before finishing out their careers at UNT.

Galbreath and Pruitt helped the Mean Green win four straight Sun Belt Conference titles from 2001-04 before the program fell on hard times. UNT hasn't won more than three games in a season since 2004 and is coming off a 2-10 campaign under first-year head coach Todd Dodge.

"The team will get better," Hill said. "I want to be part of a new era at North Texas."

UNT is hoping Hill can help the Mean Green make that era one in which it features a tougher defense. The Mean Green ranked last nationally in scoring defense last season with an average of 45.1 points allowed a game.

Hill, who had one other scholarship offer from Northern Iowa, will have two seasons of eligibility remaining at UNT and will join the Mean Green at the semester break.

Feeley (6-5, 285) came to a game at UNT earlier this season and finalized his decision to play for the Mean Green on Friday during his official visit.

"I had gotten a lot of recruiting interest, but [uNT offensive line coach] Spencer Leftwich and Dodge made their offer real early and stayed with it," Feeley said. "I had a good relationship with coach Leftwich and everyone I talked to thinks UNT is going to be a big-time program in a few years. I felt like it was the place for me to play."

Stephen F. Austin offered a scholarship to Feeley, a second-team All-District 25-5A pick, while New Mexico, Sam Houston and VMI also showed interest.

UNT strengthened its position with Hamilton during his official visit.

"I am not sure when I am going to make my decision yet," Hamilton said. "It might be tomorrow or next week. I am leaning toward North Texas right now."

Hamilton is No. 53 on The Dallas Morning News' Area Top 100 list. Five of the players on the list have committed to UNT thus far.

While most of the news was positive for UNT on Sunday, it was dealt a blow with the loss of Atkinson, who will join his former high school teammate Jeremy Springer, a freshman quarterback, at UTEP.

"There were a lot of factors," Atkinson said. "I liked the area, the coaching staff and the school. It was hard because I really liked the coaches at North Texas, but UTEP plays in a better conference. It really didn't have anything to do with how UNT did this year. I understood why it happened."

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

North Texas 2008 commitments

The following is a list of players who have orally committed to play for UNT beginning in the 2008 season:

LB Brandon Akpunku Cedar Hill

WR Kenny Barrett Mart

WR Desmond Brigham Caddo Mills

QB Riley Dodge Southlake Carroll

RB Lance Dunbar Haltom

OL Coleman Feeley Austin Anderson

OL Troy Franklin Celina

S Kylee Hill Northeastern Oklahoma A&M

OL Nick Leppo Southlake Carroll

DB Jeremy Phillips Waller

WR Forrest Rucker Hearne

WR Willie Taylor Dallas Hillcrest

LB Derek Tomlin Southlake Carroll

S Darien Williams Vernon

[good_ken]

Ok, so its down to us and Kentucky for Hamilton. And he is leaning towards UNT!

Recruiting season is gonna get pretty exciting.

[NT03]

I don't know what to think about this right now... One kid is a 3* recruit ( per rivals) and only had one other offer....Northern Iowa ??

The other verbal , is from a kid who was a 2nd team all district and who's only other offer was from SFA.

Let's all be honest here .... If this were DD recruiting everyone would be pissing and moaning about Northern Iowa and SFA,etc.

Now if we beat out Kentucky.... that's saying something

[GreenEddieNT]

CUSA has 6 bowl games and the Sun Belt has one.

Counting bowl games and championship games CUSA appears on national tv(ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, FSN, CSTV, Versus, ABC, CBS, and NBC would count as national) 40-45 times a year whereas the Sun Belt can count on maybe 10 in a good year.

That along with facilities, coaching, and fan support are what matters to recruits. CUSA has the Sun Belt by the balls on all those categories and they have more money to boot.

Maybe moving to the WAC is not a bad idea. It is not CUSA but it is still an upgrade over the Sun Belt. You are judged by the company you keep and it is obvious that being in the Sun Belt makes us less attractive in the eyes of players, coaches, and fans.

Edited December 10, 2007 by GreenEddieNT

[NM Green]

whatever

UNT will rock in the coming years whether they were in cusa, big 12, sbc or wac.

it's all about the green. its all about the future!

GMG

[Cooley]

I think the Metroplex, Houston & East Texas produces the better HS athletes in which to build a winning program.

Nothing personal against kids from other areas of the state.

Edited December 10, 2007 by Cooley

[good_ken]

I think the Metroplex, Houston & East Texas produces the better HS athletes in which to build a winning program.

Nothing personal against kids from other areas of the state.

Well, if you use Rivals as gospel; we lost a 5.2 and gained a 5.4.

Which got me to looking. Of the 2-star recruits; most of them are rated at a 5.4. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of this recruiting season pans out.

[OldTimer]

I don't know what to think about this right now... One kid is a 3* recruit ( per rivals) and only had one other offer....Northern Iowa ??

The other verbal , is from a kid who was a 2nd team all district and who's only other offer was from SFA.

Let's all be honest here .... If this were DD recruiting everyone would be pissing and moaning about Northern Iowa and SFA,etc.

Now if we beat out Kentucky.... that's saying something

Of course if I remember the committment of Jeremy Phillips it was NT over OFFERS from Rice, Army, Duke, Baylor.

If my records are correct and Coleman Feeley had an offer from Baylor. I could go on and on with the schools we beat out on the others if anyone is interested.

[Got5onIt]

I don't know what to think about this right now... One kid is a 3* recruit ( per rivals) and only had one other offer....Northern Iowa ??

The other verbal , is from a kid who was a 2nd team all district and who's only other offer was from SFA.

Let's all be honest here .... If this were DD recruiting everyone would be pissing and moaning about Northern Iowa and SFA,etc.

Now if we beat out Kentucky.... that's saying something

Funny how that works.

It's part of the "honeymoon" for any new coach. If next season becomes a continuation of '07, the DD haters will find new meat, quickly.

[UNT Mean Green]

Football: UNT adds two for '08 class

"I liked the environment at North Texas and it's close to home," said Hill, who played at Bristow High School northeast of Oklahoma City.

UNT also picked up a commitment from Austin Anderson offensive tackle Coleman Feeley, who could help fill the void left when Los Fresnos guard Eloy Atkinson backed out of a commitment to UNT to play for UTEP.

James Hamilton, an athlete from Cedar Hill who is projected as a safety in college, also visited UNT over the weekend. He decided to take a few days to make a final decision on whether to commit to UNT or Kentucky.

UNT strengthened its position with Hamilton during his official visit.

"I am not sure when I am going to make my decision yet," Hamilton said. "It might be tomorrow or next week. I am leaning toward North Texas right now."

Hamilton is No. 53 on The Dallas Morning News' Area Top 100 list. Five of the players on the list have committed to UNT thus far.

I sure like the sound of having 5 of our 15 commits be Area Top 100 players! Especially when you consider that there are others who would fall on that list, but their schools are not located in the area that the DMN ranks like: Darrien Williams, Forest Rucker, Kenny Barrett, Coleman Feeley, Kylee Hill, and Jeremy Phillips. James Hamilton is a great football player from CH. Ask Coach McGuire what he thinks about him. He said, and I quote, "James Hamilton is a better overall football player than William Cole was last year."

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

I think the Metroplex, Houston & East Texas produces the better HS athletes in which to build a winning program.

Nothing personal against kids from other areas of the state.

---Obviously you have not heard of West Texas... Permian, Abilene, Midland Lee, Brownwood, etc. which includes Ced Benson, Roy Williams, and many more. Other than SouthLake, only Abilene and Lee have won three consecutive state championship and Mojo and Brownwood both have SEVEN state champions. Midland High is the only team is the district that has not won state at least once and they lost in the state finals about 5 years ago. Mojo (Permian) has a well known book, movie and thinly vailed TV series based on their history. Mojo defeated Todd Dodge in the state Finals when he was a HS quarterback at Port Arthur. NT has had many Midland/Odessa players lately , including Brewster, the Pertiles, a tight end and the starting RB prior to Galbreath.

--Abilene is in the AAAAA semifinals this year.... Their last two victims were from the Metroplex...three of the last four if you consider Weatherford a metroplex team. They defeated Mesquite, Denton Ryan and Tyler, earlier in the year. that makes it 0-6 for East-Texas/Metroplex teams against them.

--Hayden Fry was a graduate of Odessa High and was their quarterback when they won state duirng the forties... You may have heard of him. Ut's current QB is from a small town near Abilene. (maybe 10 miles away). Highland Park's coach is from Abilene. The Ennis coach is from Brownwood and his son lived there for many years until they moved to Ennis, he is now the TxTech QB. A Brownwood kid was the QB at Miami (Fla) for several games this year. . Spike Dykes (coached at TT) is a West Texas native and was a head coach in Midland.. This just a few I can think of quickly. When I was in HS in Brownwood I was walking the halls with several (about 5) future NFL players. We only had 150 in my class.

Edited December 10, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[Travis]

I am happy picking up these guys. Great additions. I am hoping we start getting some D-linemen soon.

[Cooley]

---Obviously you have not heard of West Texas... Permian, Abilene, Midland Lee, Brownwood, etc. which includes Ced Benson, Roy Williams, and many more. Other than SouthLake, only Abilene and Lee have won three consecutive state championship and Mojo and Brownwood both have SEVEN state champions. Midland High is the only team is the district that has not won state at least once and they lost in the state finals about 5 years ago. Mojo (Permian) has a well known book, movie and thinly vailed TV series based on their history. Mojo defeated Todd Dodge in the state Finals when he was a HS quarterback at Port Arthur. NT has had many Midland/Odessa players lately , including Brewster, the Pertiles, a tight end and the starting RB prior to Galbreath.

--Abilene is in the AAAAA semifinals this year.... Their last two victims were from the Metroplex...three of the last four if you consider Weatherford a metroplex team. They defeated Mesquite, Denton Ryan and Tyler, earlier in the year. that makes it 0-6 for East-Texas/Metroplex teams against them.

--Hayden Fry was a graduate of Odessa High and was their quarterback when they won state duirng the forties... You may have heard of him. Ut's current QB is from a small town near Abilene. (maybe 10 miles away). Highland Park's coach is from Abilene. The Ennis coach is from Brownwood and his son lived there for many years until they moved to Ennis, he is now the TxTech QB. A Brownwood kid was the QB at Miami (Fla) for several games this year. . Spike Dykes (coached at TT) is a West Texas native and was a head coach in Midland.. This just a few I can think of quickly. When I was in HS in Brownwood I was walking the halls with several (about 5) future NFL players. We only had 150 in my class.

You spent a lot of time talking about teams and programs. The better athletes are in DFW, Houston & East Texas (period)

[Eagle1855]

You spent a lot of time talking about teams and programs. The better athletes are in DFW, Houston & East Texas (period)

no doubt, if for no other reason that population density.

[Cooley]

James Hamilton is a great football player from CH. Ask Coach McGuire what he thinks about him. He said, and I quote, "James Hamilton is a better overall football player than William Cole was last year."

Coaches have been known to lie! (especially in building up their current kids) James Hamilton is not on the radar with William Cole. (i.e., Cole had offers from most major D1's while Hamilton is trying to decide between us and Kentucky) In each case, to play a different position. Just this time last year, McGuire was so upset that Cole was not recognized as the Player of the Year in 5-A and second team to Riley Dodge as 1st Team All-State QB.

I'd gladly take Hamilton but Cole would have been the biggest recruit ever for UNT.

[UNTLifer]

CUSA has 6 bowl games and the Sun Belt has one.

Counting bowl games and championship games CUSA appears on national tv(ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, FSN, CSTV, Versus, ABC, CBS, and NBC would count as national) 40-45 times a year whereas the Sun Belt can count on maybe 10 in a good year.

That along with facilities, coaching, and fan support are what matters to recruits. CUSA has the Sun Belt by the balls on all those categories and they have more money to boot.

Maybe moving to the WAC is not a bad idea. It is not CUSA but it is still an upgrade over the Sun Belt. You are judged by the company you keep and it is obvious that being in the Sun Belt makes us less attractive in the eyes of players, coaches, and fans.

True and the SBC has had a winning record against CUSA for the last two years.

[hickoryhouse]

If perception is reality, at least in the eys of the recruit, then we reallly need to be cognicent of the perception that the SBC holds among the top recruits that we are targeting.

Winning is what it is all about but we need the horses to win. Lets not lose great recruits simply because their perception of our conference is negative. that is rediculous

[DeepGreen]

I think the Metroplex, Houston & East Texas produces the better HS athletes in which to build a winning program.

Nothing personal against kids from other areas of the state.

Thank you Cooley. I wish we recruited East Texas and Houston harder. Too many excellent players make their way to Houston, College Station, Lake Charles, Ruston, and Lafayette rather than Denton, Texas.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

You spent a lot of time talking about teams and programs. The better athletes are in DFW, Houston & East Texas (period)

The big city versus "the sticks" argument is stupid. There are excellent player in both areas. You can't abandon one totally for the other. This coaching staff has chosen to concentrate on DFW. It's a stupid strategy, because the best in the big cities are snapped up by schools in bigger conferences, but they're committed to it.

Also, newsflash to the DRC "journalist"...Bristow, Oklahoma is a bout 30 miles from Tulsa and 60 from OKC. Mentioning how the distance between Bristow and OKC is like saying Granbury is about an hour outside of Dallas, when it's just 30 miles from Fort Worth. Seriously.

[Stan R]

The big city versus "the sticks" argument is stupid. There are excellent player in both areas. You can't abandon one totally for the other. This coaching staff has chosen to concentrate on DFW. It's a stupid strategy, because the best in the big cities are snapped up by schools in bigger conferences, but they're committed to it.

I'll reserve judgment on that until after I see this year's recruiting class.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

You'll have to reserve judgement for four years to see how the recruits' actual careers turn out.

[Stan R]

You'll have to reserve judgement for four years to see how the recruits' actual careers turn out.

Nope. I reserve my right to make rash judgments, way too early predictions based on insufficient data, and the laughable rivals star ranking systems as my compass. Just like all the other crazy internet fans on message boards across the country.

[scotty474]

You'll have to reserve judgement for four years to see how the recruits' actual careers turn out.

What fun is that?

I am really excited about seeing how this class comes together. I would love to see some more on the D side of the ball.

I know I have been guilty of posting Rivals star system on this board, but for some reason I get excited when I see more than 2 stars. We all know there are plenty of 2 star recruits who can play and many 4 and 5 star recruits that can't... But I do like my odds with guys with more stars. If I could ask for one thing in our recruits... (wait for it)... SPEED. I realize it is easier said than done considering every program is recruiting speed too.

[UNT Mean Green]

---Obviously you have not heard of West Texas... Permian, Abilene, Midland Lee, Brownwood, etc. which includes Ced Benson, Roy Williams, and many more. Other than SouthLake, only Abilene and Lee have won three consecutive state championship and Mojo and Brownwood both have SEVEN state champions. Midland High is the only team is the district that has not won state at least once and they lost in the state finals about 5 years ago. Mojo (Permian) has a well known book, movie and thinly vailed TV series based on their history. Mojo defeated Todd Dodge in the state Finals when he was a HS quarterback at Port Arthur. NT has had many Midland/Odessa players lately , including Brewster, the Pertiles, a tight end and the starting RB prior to Galbreath.

--Abilene is in the AAAAA semifinals this year.... Their last two victims were from the Metroplex...three of the last four if you consider Weatherford a metroplex team. They defeated Mesquite, Denton Ryan and Tyler, earlier in the year. that makes it 0-6 for East-Texas/Metroplex teams against them.

--Hayden Fry was a graduate of Odessa High and was their quarterback when they won state duirng the forties... You may have heard of him. Ut's current QB is from a small town near Abilene. (maybe 10 miles away). Highland Park's coach is from Abilene. The Ennis coach is from Brownwood and his son lived there for many years until they moved to Ennis, he is now the TxTech QB. A Brownwood kid was the QB at Miami (Fla) for several games this year. . Spike Dykes (coached at TT) is a West Texas native and was a head coach in Midland.. This just a few I can think of quickly. When I was in HS in Brownwood I was walking the halls with several (about 5) future NFL players. We only had 150 in my class.

...let the debate begin on your statements...

Since 2000, how many titles have come out of West Texas? Since 1990, how many titles have come out of West Texas.

In all classes you have a possibility of 14 State Champions since 2000...In 5A, your 'Little Southworst Conference' and all of West Texas has produced 1 out of 14 since 2000.

In the decade of the 1990's, West Texas produced a mighty grand total of 3 out of 20 potential champions in class 5A.

GREAT JOB WEST TEXAS! What a mighty powerhouse, completely dominating...NOT!

Dude, it's not even close. West Texas is the 2nd worst area for HS football in Texas behind the Rio Grande Valley.

[VideoEagle]

Remember, the “rankings” by groups like Rivals is questionable at best. More than once, a kid gains a star not for ability, but because a USC, Oklahoma or LSU are recruiting him. Conversely, kids seems to drop in ”quality” if they pick a lower ranked school. Recruiting services can sell more subscriptions if they make the recruiting classes of schools with large, free-spending, fan bases happy. They are happy reading they are getting the best recruits.

It takes a minimum of three years to see if a kid is a really a star player or not.