U N T Mailbag

[MeanGreen61]

January 30, 2008

UNT mailbag

It's been a while since we dug into the mailbox for a blog item, but I received a good question today on football recruiting, so here goes.

A UNT fan asked about the status of Blake Gumm, a defensive tackle from Trinity Valley Community College. Gumm visited UNT and Arizona in early December and has about a half a dozen scholarship offers. I have not checked in with the coaches at Trinity Valley to see what Gumm's status is, but the fact that he visited schools almost two months ago and has yet to make a decision makes me wonder if he will end up signing with a school on national signing day. Gumm would be a great get for UNT. Rivals.com ranks him No. 80 among junior college players.

A second question was in reference to Celina lineman Troy Franklin and where he will end up playing for UNT. When he committed to UNT, Franklin told me that all the colleges that were recruiting him were interested in him as an offensive lineman. UNT has another good tackle recruit in Coleman Feeley, but with Robert Peachey leaving the team, I don't see UNT's coaches changing their minds and moving Franklin to defense. UNT doesn't have a lot of depth on its offensive line and needs Franklin at tackle.

That last part of UNTRugby77's message also talked about how much better UNT's defense would be next season under Gary DeLoach. I know a lot of people are excited about DeLoach, and those expectations for improvement are justified. One factor to keep in mind, though, is there is some doubt about what DeLoach will have to work with next season in terms of personnel. There is a long way to go until UNT's roster is finalized for next season.

On the hoops front, Johnny Jones made an interesting comment in his weekly press conference. Jones expressed some doubt that center Keith Wooden would get back to 100 percent the rest of his senior season because of the banging that goes on under the basket every day in practice and in games. Wooden has a pair of bad ankles. UNT has lost three straight and really needs Wooden to be at his best. One Sun Belt Conference coach told me that one of the key factors that put UNT over the top last season was no one in the league could match up with Wooden and Quincy Williams. UNT won't be nearly as dangerous if Wooden can't regain his form.

[SilverEagle]

January 30, 2008

UNT mailbag

It's been a while since we dug into the mailbox for a blog item, but I received a good question today on football recruiting, so here goes.

A UNT fan asked about the status of Blake Gumm, a defensive tackle from Trinity Valley Community College. Gumm visited UNT and Arizona in early December and has about a half a dozen scholarship offers. I have not checked in with the coaches at Trinity Valley to see what Gumm's status is, but the fact that he visited schools almost two months ago and has yet to make a decision makes me wonder if he will end up signing with a school on national signing day. Gumm would be a great get for UNT. Rivals.com ranks him No. 80 among junior college players.

A second question was in reference to Celina lineman Troy Franklin and where he will end up playing for UNT. When he committed to UNT, Franklin told me that all the colleges that were recruiting him were interested in him as an offensive lineman. UNT has another good tackle recruit in Coleman Feeley, but with Robert Peachey leaving the team, I don't see UNT's coaches changing their minds and moving Franklin to defense. UNT doesn't have a lot of depth on its offensive line and needs Franklin at tackle.

That last part of UNTRugby77's message also talked about how much better UNT's defense would be next season under Gary DeLoach. I know a lot of people are excited about DeLoach, and those expectations for improvement are justified. One factor to keep in mind, though, is there is some doubt about what DeLoach will have to work with next season in terms of personnel. There is a long way to go until UNT's roster is finalized for next season.

On the hoops front, Johnny Jones made an interesting comment in his weekly press conference. Jones expressed some doubt that center Keith Wooden would get back to 100 percent the rest of his senior season because of the banging that goes on under the basket every day in practice and in games. Wooden has a pair of bad ankles. UNT has lost three straight and really needs Wooden to be at his best. One Sun Belt Conference coach told me that one of the key factors that put UNT over the top last season was no one in the league could match up with Wooden and Quincy Williams. UNT won't be nearly as dangerous if Wooden can't regain his form.

Is this somehow related to the cryptic comment that KBJ made on another thread?