We're Eating At The Big Boy Table Now

The Fake Lonnie Finch · February 1, 2011

Some of these decommits hurt, but look beyond the disappointment to the reality - we're not just sitting over at the card table with the kids anymore with this coaching staff.

When you go up against the Tim Billingses of the recruiting world, you are at the big boy table. To me, it's a good sign that guys as long in the tooth as Billings are having to fight us off for recruits.

And, as far as Carr to Oklahoma State - those guys live in DFW. They have 11 commitments from DFW alone this year - 3 from Guyer!

I chronicled late last season that Oklahoma State's starting defense was comprised of nine Texans, one kid from Mississippi, and one from South Carolina. These guys know their bread is buttered outside of the few prospects Oklahoma's small population can yield (there are twice are many people living in the DFW area as there are in the entire state of Oklahoma).

But, McCarney and his crew are going toe-to-toe with Okie State, and that's a good sign. I truly tired of the "stealth" recruiting of Dickey and Dodge. "Secret recruits."

Hey, in 2011, there are no secret recruits. Every last kid can sit in a computer lab at school or at home can make highlight videos of themselves and post them up on YouTube. To think we were going to "secret" away kids was always silly.

I think we are long past the days of kids choosing Texas State baseball over us, or having secret recruiting battles with Eastern New Mexico State. I'm sorry to lose Hunt and Carr. But, this coaching staff is out there taking their cuts.

This is Reggie Jackson swinging from the heels type of stuff this coaching staff is giving us. These guys aren't going to stand there and just watch the third strike go by. And, that makes me happy in the sports pants.

Kerry Swarn is a homerun. The Sampson kid who decommitted Tulsa. The kid Warner from Pinkston going Tech to UNT. These aren't small potatoes. This is good stuff. Hunt and Carr would have made this class more amazing, yeah. But, look at this compared to what we had in 2007.

I mean, we've got two scholarship players and one walk on remaining from 2007. Dodge bangers can cry and defend all they want, but they half-assed us all the way through December of 2006 messing around with high school playoffs. The hubris of the early Dodge era was sickening.

These coaches McCarney hired have hit the ground running here, and it shows. They are young and hungry, but with enough experience to shake veterans like Billings and the boys up at Okie State while picking off a couple here and there from Mike Stoops and Tommy Tuberville's charges.

That ain't bad, my Mean and Green friends. Not bad at all.

Now, pass the gravy...these biscuits is getting cold!

Edited February 1, 2011 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

Stan R · February 1, 2011

It doesn't hurt to have a brand new 80 million dollar stadium to recruit to either. But I like what I'm seeing thus far. :goodjob: :thumbsu:

UNT90 · February 1, 2011

Let's tap the brakes just a little, please. While I am happy this staff is recruiting the defensive side of the ball, the amount of 3 star recruits is about the same from several of Dodge's classes.

Hopefully McCarney will be much better at developing talent, and a million times better at coaching that talent.

FloMoGrad · February 1, 2011

But coming off our 5 wins in the last 4 yrs, and working with only 2 months, is reason enough alone to be excited by this class.

3 star players that don't stay on campus or eligible, don't do us much good. 3 contributors from the 17 or so signed in 2007 class. That's abyssmal.

This class is hands down better than anything we've seen in the past 5 yrs. How many times did we lose a committed recruit to an AQ during Dodge's tenure, fery few. And maybe just as many as we already have this yr.

Last season's recruiting by dodge left is with 12 HS players and 10 Juco's. That's a good class? Negative.

Most of Dodge's classes seemed like reaches to me, kids that were lightly recruited or not recruited at all, along with a gut bustnig dose of JuCo talent. There's a time and a place for 2-3 Juco's per year, but 10 in the last class and I think 8 in the class before, doesn't bode well for long-term stability or continuity.

I guess it's just a matter of perspective, but TFLF, I'm not tapping any brakes, momentum is a scary thing, I say we ride all this optimism and positive energy right on in to Sept 10th.

PlummMeanGreen · February 1, 2011

Earlier last football season during a televised TCU game the broadcaster said "TCU doesn't get many 4 or 5 star recruits but they are that before they leave TCU." This is probably where North Texas should hope to get to and I think we will now.

As we all know, talent evalutation is strategic especially at FBS schools, but since our coaches cannot coach speed it is imperative that who we do recruit can run like a deer (and I think Coach McCarney said early on that speed and quickness would be a top criteria in our recruiting; of course, I'm sure all FBS coaches would express that too).

GMG

Edited February 1, 2011 by PlummMeanGreen

UNT90 · February 1, 2011

But coming off our 5 wins in the last 4 yrs, and working with only 2 months, is reason enough alone to be excited by this class.

3 star players that don't stay on campus or eligible, don't do us much good. 3 contributors from the 17 or so signed in 2007 class. That's abyssmal.

This class is hands down better than anything we've seen in the past 5 yrs. How many times did we lose a committed recruit to an AQ during Dodge's tenure, fery few. And maybe just as many as we already have this yr.

Last season's recruiting by dodge left is with 12 HS players and 10 Juco's. That's a good class? Negative.

Most of Dodge's classes seemed like reaches to me, kids that were lightly recruited or not recruited at all, along with a gut bustnig dose of JuCo talent. There's a time and a place for 2-3 Juco's per year, but 10 in the last class and I think 8 in the class before, doesn't bode well for long-term stability or continuity.

I guess it's just a matter of perspective, but TFLF, I'm not tapping any brakes, momentum is a scary thing, I say we ride all this optimism and positive energy right on in to Sept 10th.

Love the optimism, but we won't know about the high schoolers signed in this class for at least another 2 years, so to say that it is hands down better than anything we have seen in the past 5 years is way premature.

It all comes down to developing talent (and keeping kids eligible). I do believe that Coach Mac will be better at this than Coach Dodge, but that is just speculation at this point.

I think if you do the research, you will see recruits in Dodge's classes that had numerous offers from other mid-majors, but chose to come here instead. Hell, Riley decommitted from UT to come to UNT.

I am glad there is excitement around this class, but I think the main difference s the attention being paid to the defensive side of the ball. Whether are not this class stands head and shoulders above any of Dodge's will be answered in a couple of years. It's all about player development, yo.

emmitt01 · February 1, 2011

Dodge bangers can cry and defend all they want, but they half-assed us all the way through December of 2006 messing around with high school playoffs. The hubris of the early Dodge era was sickening.

Coulda just posted this and saved a lot of typing. :thumbsu:

FloMoGrad · February 1, 2011

Love the optimism, but we won't know about the high schoolers signed in this class for at least another 2 years, so to say that it is hands down better than anything we have seen in the past 5 years is way premature.

It all comes down to developing talent (and keeping kids eligible). I do believe that Coach Mac will be better at this than Coach Dodge, but that is just speculation at this point.

I think if you do the research, you will see recruits in Dodge's classes that had numerous offers from other mid-majors, but chose to come here instead. Hell, Riley decommitted from UT to come to UNT.

I am glad there is excitement around this class, but I think the main difference s the attention being paid to the defensive side of the ball. Whether are not this class stands head and shoulders above any of Dodge's will be answered in a couple of years. It's all about player development, yo.

Riley is a piss poor example sir. He only came because Daddy came. Period.

His last class had 10 Juco's?

The 2007 Class contributed only 3 players still on the roster.

We've also failed to address at least one pressing need every yr.

Not this yr. We addressed every need on our team, with only 3 Juco's and one of the largest classes in the last 5 yrs.

Agreed, to ultimately know how this class turns out, we'll have to wait until 2013-2014, when they've all had a chance to become srs and we can truly judge the entire body of work.

I appreciate your caution, truly do, but I'll remain optimistic and excited about the young men that have committed to us so far.

GrandGreen · February 1, 2011

A few comments, I thought Dodge did well considering what he had to sell. He mostly missed his first year because of the late start and he relied much too much on accolades than knowledgable observations. If you look at his first class, it had more all-everything's than any I can remember in NT history, only problem most were not college ball players. Dodge's second year was the best class at NT since DD improbable and only great class of I think 2001 (Kennedy, Gardner, Spencer, Buckles, etc) Dodge's last two classes were only good when taking into consideration that Dodge had to fight his own record and had little to sell. Dodge's did scrap and find some players but relied way too much on jucos and out of state players. Overall Dodge was not a particularly good evaluator of college talent and seemed fascinated with wrs which was probably his worst recruited position. Dodge's staff did work hard and realized that recruiting was a year long struggle.

Dickey other than the aforementioned miracle class was a pi$$ poor recruiter. The most telling thing I ever heard from Dickey was a comment about mid-NT career when he stated he had only had one or two players he offered not accept. Think about that one. Number one, DD seldom ever offered anyone before most of the coveted records were long committed and second he didn't go after many with any other options. DD did recruit some all time great NT players but there were too many years when the star recruit was someone like Willie Ransom. In summary, DD despite being a good college talent evaluator, had a very lazy recruiting approach and never seemed to realize bad mouthing his situation might just effect recruiting.

Enter McCarney, a little known in Texas HC, but a coach with strong experience and apparently a lot of determination. Even with the late decommits, this class appears to be as strong as any Dickey and Dodge ever brought in again with the 2001 class exception. To be fair, he does have substantially more to sell than any of his predecessors, the new stadium, better funding, and the renewed hope that comes with every new coach. But he also has inherited a team that has been the bottom of the barrel in Texas and the Belt the past five years. Thus far he has done reasonably well, this class is good by NT and maybe Belt standards but it still lags most if not all the Texas schools. In summary, McCarney has assembled a strong Belt level class but more importantly has demonstrated they are willing to go after and get assess to players that Dodge or Dickey never did. I can't wait to see what this staff can do after a full recruiting year.

MeanGreenTexan · February 1, 2011

Riley is a piss poor example sir. He only came because Daddy came. Period.

His last class had 10 Juco's?

The 2007 Class contributed only 3 players still on the roster.

We've also failed to address at least one pressing need every yr.

Not this yr. We addressed every need on our team, with only 3 Juco's and one of the largest classes in the last 5 yrs.
Agreed, to ultimately know how this class turns out, we'll have to wait until 2013-2014, when they've all had a chance to become srs and we can truly judge the entire body of work.

I appreciate your caution, truly do, but I'll remain optimistic and excited about the young men that have committed to us so far.

How 'bout D-tackle?

pastorgrant · February 1, 2011

How 'bout D-tackle?

I guess I'm the perpetual optimist, but while we do need one or two more, but we did pick up two good DTs. Both had interests from big programs, and Brooks had offers from OSU and Arkansas (final BCS rankings 13 and 12, respectively). We will be thin there, but both (and Brooks especially) look like they have real potential to be impact players.

oldschoollefty · February 1, 2011

How 'bout D-tackle?

Don't underestimate the possibility of either a last minute signing day miracle or a quality walk on or two.

UNT90 · February 1, 2011

How 'bout D-tackle?

Yes, and make no mistake, the failure to sign a quality, Spring semester eligible JUCO DT is just that, a failure. This was a huge need. Again, lots of really good things with this class, but not addressing this glaring area of need is not one of them.

Or, we could all just keep on pretending it's 85 degrees outside.

Side Show Joe · February 1, 2011

Right now, the recruiting rankings on sites like rivals don't seem too high on this class compared to many others in the Sun Belt. That could change by tomorrow afternoon, but probably not too much. I'm not very concerned by that. We all know there are some quality players in this group, and I believe McCarney has a collection of coaches that will develop these players and win. As we do that, we will begin to improve our ability to recruit against most other schools. I like that we are actively going after the same recruits now. Next season, I believe we will be even more successful.

That said, I think this is a quality recruiting class considering; the coaching changes gave us a late start, we have few wins over the last 5 years, we play in the Sun Belt, and the success of the 2 other FBS programs in DFW.

FloMoGrad · February 2, 2011

Yes, and make no mistake, the failure to sign a quality, Spring semester eligible JUCO DT is just that, a failure. This was a huge need. Again, lots of really good things with this class, but not addressing this glaring area of need is not one of them.

Or, we could all just keep on pretending it's 85 degrees outside.

I don't have to pretend, is was nearly 85 outside today. Welcome to South Florida.

Spring Eligible players go to AQ. They also committed and made their decision before Coach Mac had figured out where the bathroom was in the Athletic Complex.

Not one scouting service or recruiting guru expected us to sign a Spring DT transfer, including Vito and Coach Dan.

We had a commit and he bounced. Such is life.

We signed 2 quality DT's that have the size to come in and play, one being labeled an impact player and a streal for the program from AQ schools.

We still adressed every position and every need on the team, and we're not even sure we're done with the class yet.

Our graduating DT's were both late term signees, neither was here for the spring, and both came in and made an impact.

But to you, our failure to recruit one type of DT, considering we did sign 2 and have 3 more on the roster already, makes this class incomplete?

Interesting.

Just sayin..

eulessismore · February 2, 2011

I don't have to pretend, is was nearly 85 outside today. Welcome to South Florida.

Spring Eligible players go to AQ. They also committed and made their decision before Coach Mac had figured out where the bathroom was in the Athletic Complex.

Not one scouting service or recruiting guru expected us to sign a Spring DT transfer, including Vito and Coach Dan.
We had a commit and he bounced. Such is life.

We signed 2 quality DT's that have the size to come in and play, one being labeled an impact player and a streal for the program from AQ schools.

We still adressed every position and every need on the team, and we're not even sure we're done with the class yet.

Our graduating DT's were both late term signees, neither was here for the spring, and both came in and made an impact.

But to you, our failure to recruit one type of DT, considering we did sign 2 and have 3 more on the roster already, makes this class incomplete?

Interesting.

Just sayin..

+1, I like the two DT's we got; they seem like guys who want to be here.

UNT90 · February 2, 2011

I don't have to pretend, is was nearly 85 outside today. Welcome to South Florida.

Spring Eligible players go to AQ. They also committed and made their decision before Coach Mac had figured out where the bathroom was in the Athletic Complex.

Not one scouting service or recruiting guru expected us to sign a Spring DT transfer, including Vito and Coach Dan.
We had a commit and he bounced. Such is life.

We signed 2 quality DT's that have the size to come in and play, one being labeled an impact player and a streal for the program from AQ schools.

We still adressed every position and every need on the team, and we're not even sure we're done with the class yet.

Our graduating DT's were both late term signees, neither was here for the spring, and both came in and made an impact.

But to you, our failure to recruit one type of DT, considering we did sign 2 and have 3 more on the roster already, makes this class incomplete?

Interesting.

Just sayin..

Not what I said, but keep rolling.

What I said was that the one greatest need on this team has not been addressed by an immediate, impact JUCO like everyone on this board agreed needed to happen before they got all coked up on signing day blow.

That doesn't mean this isn't a good class, or that I'm not excited that we signed some good high school guys that will really help the program in a couple of years, but it does mean that your wildly optimistic claim that "every need has been addressed" is South Florida, Sunshime-up-my-a$$ bulsh.

Yes, I hope we sign a Spring JUCO graduate DT that helps immediately. I also hope I hook up Angelina Jolley when she is in town for Superbowl week. You know what those 2 have in common? They have not happened yet. So please, ease up on the "this is the greatest signing class in all of UNT history forever and ever" crap.

Perspective, my friend, perspective.

FloMoGrad · February 2, 2011

I've never said this is the best class ever. I've said it's the most complete class we've seen in a number of years. I said I'm more excited about this class and the talent we've guided away from AQ programs than I have been before.

I actually referenced the ability to sign a late term Juco signee. So we agree there?

Look thru position-by-position, we've addressed every position on the team, top-to-bottom. How can you argue that. Not talented enough for you, that's a fair argument, but if we have needs at a position, we sign someone for that position, then how is that need not addressed?

You don't see an impact player at DT because you think the only way we can address that position is by a Juco DT. I think we've already addressed it and there's talent on the team we don't give enough credit too, because we haven't seen them, in addition to the man child at 295 lbs we signed out of HS that was being recruited by numerous AQ's.

There was no wildly optimistic claims. Now, my claiming we go undefeated next yr is wildly optimistic. But using your classifications, I guess I'm then not a fan of your grossly pessimistic views of this class.

You keep whatever perspective you've got and I will absolutely gladly do the same. No Florida Sunshine bullshit, just calls them hows I sees them boss.

Enjoy your weather.

FloMoGrad · February 2, 2011

Wednesday February 2, 2011 11:08
Random Idiot: Coach, can't say enough, thanks for staying, we like what you've done. With that said, thoughts on this class?

Wednesday February 2, 2011 11:09
Coach Canales: This looks like the best recruiting class I've seen in years. It's not about stars, it's about getting guys that are going to fill in for you. You find out how good your class is in four or five years, and I think these guys will compete and fill gaps asap. I'm smiling today!

From the Offensive Coordinator. He used best, I chose most complete.

Edited February 2, 2011 by FloMoGrad