UNT lands La. running back

Brett Vito · December 12, 2011

DRC

MeanGreenTexan · December 12, 2011

Rivals lists him as a LB?

Mark Lewis - Rivals

Harry · December 12, 2011

Sport: Football

Position: Linebacker, Running Back

Livonia High School ( Livonia , LA )

Graduation Year: 2012

Personal Statement

I am more of a running back/safety type than linebacker with my athleticism and size, I played running back in 9th grade, linebacker in 10th and this season I will be playing Runningback. In 9th grade I received all-county and 2nd team all-conference and 10th all-county and honorable mention all-conference. I can offer alot to a program, i'm very easy to coach and work with. I'm a hard worker and I am team captain at my high school. It is my dream to play football in college and it drives me to be the first to the field and the last off. To me any school that has my sport would raise my interest to enroll. One of my biggest college accomplishments would be to play as a freshman.

Read More: http://www.ncsasports.org/football-recruiting/la/livonia/livonia-high-school/mark-lewis

UNTFan23 · December 12, 2011

That Dillards ad is truly annoying. :growl:

Harry · December 12, 2011

I think he could be a running back or a safety. Reminds me of a bigger version of Special K (Korey Washington) from central Texas who played here a couple years back.

greenjoe · December 12, 2011

I'm pleased to hear this young man is coming to play at North Texas. I hope he is successful.

But there are a zillion and seven 1-A players within 40 miles of the North Texas campus. and 25 zillion within 100 miles. Local players bring mom and dad and grandmothers and girlfriends and formers coaches. Why are we going out of state (and paying out of state tuition )to recruit when everybody calls the D-FW area a "hotbed" oftalent ?

Again to this young man, welcome abord. You will love your time at North Texas.

GO MEAN GREEN

H-towngreen · December 12, 2011

But there are a zillion and seven 1-A players within 40 miles of the North Texas campus. and 25 zillion within 100 miles. Local players bring mom and dad and grandmothers and girlfriends and formers coaches. Why are we going out of state (and paying out of state tuition )to recruit when everybody calls the D-FW area a "hotbed" oftalent ?

GO MEAN GREEN

Sounds like a brilliant recruiting strategy. Let's offer this other kid who's lower on out list bc he'll bring 10 more butts to a game.

H-towngreen · December 12, 2011

WOW.....I don't know what level of competition Liviona plays against, but what I just saw was 15 minutes of awesomeness. Please watch the video below. Very, very impressive.

Highlights

Harry · December 12, 2011

We need to be careful with this one. He's really good and we probably were helped by the fact that Memphis was going through their coaching change to TCU's Fuente. I promise you, Fuente is well skilled on how to go after North Texas after spending time at TCU...it wouldn't surprise me to see Fuente pick up on some and try to get this kid to change his mind. This is where a good staff will pay dividends, keeping close contacts with commits to make sure they are solid. Good pickup for the Mean Green!

greenminer · December 12, 2011

WOW.....I don't know what level of competition Liviona plays against, but what I just saw was 15 minutes of awesomeness. Please watch the video below. Very, very impressive.

Highlights

He looks like a man among boys out there. +1 for the link.

UNT Mean Green · December 12, 2011

I'm pleased to hear this young man is coming to play at North Texas. I hope he is successful.

But there are a zillion and seven 1-A players within 40 miles of the North Texas campus. and 25 zillion within 100 miles. Local players bring mom and dad and grandmothers and girlfriends and formers coaches. Why are we going out of state (and paying out of state tuition )to recruit when everybody calls the D-FW area a "hotbed" oftalent ?

Again to this young man, welcome abord. You will love your time at North Texas.

GO MEAN GREEN

Coach Mac has obviously assigned a member of his staff to Louisiana and is apparently cleaning up pretty good down there. Royce LaFrance, Devante Davis, Mark Lewis, (apparently the other kid at the banquet from LA whom La Tech was after committed as well). Get the best 25 players you can possibly get. I don't care if they're all from Texas or not...and I believe Mac would say the same thing (while stating D/FW is a priority-as he has clearly made it). You and I both know that those kids from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are just "different"...in a good way. They're bigger, thicker, stronger, faster, more tenacious, and seem to be "rougher around the edges" than Texas high school players. Hence the unparalleled success of the SEC and the physicality on the rosters down there. Shoot, look at Southern Miss versus Houston. They had different systems, but the way those Southern Miss kids "looked" from a physical standpoint was much more impressive than UH's kids.

It looks like this is shaping up to be a very good class, and a very physical class of players. Bigger bodies at all positions is clearly an emphasis.

Lewis is a good land, congratulations to our staff and I can't wait to see him wear the Green and White for the next few years.

Censored by Laurie · December 12, 2011

More QBs need to wear numbers in the 20s again.

jtm0097 · December 13, 2011

Looks like a physical runner, I am interested to see what side of the ball we use him on.

GTWT · December 13, 2011

"They're bigger, thicker, stronger, faster, more tenacious, and seem to be "rougher around the edges" than Texas high school players. Hence the unparalleled success of the SEC and the physicality on the rosters down there."

Which is why, I suppose, there are 12 Texans on the roster of the top SEC school.

http://www.lsusports.net/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&SPID=2164&SPSID=27812

GrandGreen · December 13, 2011

Yeah, the kids down South are just built better, what a reach. Texas players have always been as good as anyone that is why this state supports 10 going on 12 fb division programs plus about every other team in the nation recruits here. There are good players everywhere, Texas just has more of them.

NT for years as had to recruit a lot of players away from the metroplex, I think primarily because they just haven't been able to compete with the many who recruit here for the best players. La is a natural recruiting area in that they have a lot of athletes and only one major conference player in LSU.

It appears to me that despite the new stadium and McCarney's enthusiasm that NT is still basically recruiting from the same pool of players that they have traditionally got., borderline fb division players which have not been heavily recruited. Before all the rebuttals, please take time to look at NT recruit list and note how few have any offers from other Texas fb division schools and how many are from smaller private and state schools. Yes, they can all turn out to be superstars and we all hope they do. I do believe that Mac is probably a very good recruiter but currently he is hindered by both NT's recent poor football history and being in a very under appreciated conference. USM was mentioned and actually they are a very good example of what NT can do. They have built their program not by getting blue chips but being able to recruit very well from second tier recruits.

SHOSS · December 13, 2011

Yeah, the kids down South are just built better, what a reach. Texas players have always been as good as anyone that is why this state supports 10 going on 12 fb division programs plus about every other team in the nation recruits here. There are good players everywhere, Texas just has more of them.

NT for years as had to recruit a lot of players away from the metroplex, I think primarily because they just haven't been able to compete with the many who recruit here for the best players. La is a natural recruiting area in that they have a lot of athletes and only one major conference player in LSU.

It appears to me that despite the new stadium and McCarney's enthusiasm that NT is still basically recruiting from the same pool of players that they have traditionally got., borderline fb division players which have not been heavily recruited. Before all the rebuttals, please take time to look at NT recruit list and note how few have any offers from other Texas fb division schools and how many are from smaller private and state schools. Yes, they can all turn out to be superstars and we all hope they do. I do believe that Mac is probably a very good recruiter but currently he is hindered by both NT's recent poor football history and being in a very under appreciated conference. USM was mentioned and actually they are a very good example of what NT can do. They have built their program not by getting blue chips but being able to recruit very well from second tier recruits.

Yes, but in addition, it is getting the most out of these kids...developing them and putting the pieces in the right place at the right time to make plays... aren't there a decent number of usm players in the nfl now? that's turning these kids into solid football players... That is the key for our program. we aren't going to beat out big programs or even mid major programs right now for kids... it is all about development and coaching... mac and the strength and conditioning coach(name slips my mind right now...wintrich or something like that) are the keys...

Harry · December 13, 2011

I had some conversations with Dickey regarding this talent issue. What he said I think was valid. In the state of Texas there are about 50 prospects who are can't miss talents...landing players from group is difficult if not impossible at times. Yet below that there are 300+ who are good prospects who don't have offers from Texas etc that you have a shot at. These kids can become great players if there is a good system. There are also some late bloomers every year who never make the BCS radar. We here on this board are in a vacuum in some respects. We are MUCH more finely tuned in regards to conferences and the perceived value placed on them. The average recruit and his family really doesn't understand the nuances of all this conference stuff. They want their kid to be safe and get a good education. Many of them would like to be close to their friends and family.

I get tired of the doom and gloom I hear about UNT and its prospects for the future. Look at Tulsa, they were on deaths door ten years ago and made a commitment to excellence. SMU hired June Jones, relaxed some of the academic restraints added more athletic friendly degrees and you see the results. Houston for goodness sakes struggled to field competitive teams until the hired Art Briles who changed the face of their program. So I am confident North Texas can do the same. We finally have all of the pieces in place (board support, new stadium, new coaching salaries) to see results and that starts at the top with Mac. Because our leadership has FINALLY realized that you must INVEST resources into the athletic program to expect RESULTS we will finally see some significant results. We are heading into a golden era for North Texas athletics - in ALL sports - so sit tight and enjoy the ride.

UNTLifer · December 13, 2011

Yeah, the kids down South are just built better, what a reach. Texas players have always been as good as anyone that is why this state supports 10 going on 12 fb division programs plus about every other team in the nation recruits here. There are good players everywhere, Texas just has more of them.

NT for years as had to recruit a lot of players away from the metroplex, I think primarily because they just haven't been able to compete with the many who recruit here for the best players. La is a natural recruiting area in that they have a lot of athletes and only one major conference player in LSU.

It appears to me that despite the new stadium and McCarney's enthusiasm that NT is still basically recruiting from the same pool of players that they have traditionally got., borderline fb division players which have not been heavily recruited. Before all the rebuttals, please take time to look at NT recruit list and note how few have any offers from other Texas fb division schools and how many are from smaller private and state schools. Yes, they can all turn out to be superstars and we all hope they do. I do believe that Mac is probably a very good recruiter but currently he is hindered by both NT's recent poor football history and being in a very under appreciated conference. USM was mentioned and actually they are a very good example of what NT can do. They have built their program not by getting blue chips but being able to recruit very well from second tier recruits.

Per ESPN

Boone Feldt: also offers from Houston and Louisiana Tech

Brad Horton: also offers from Army and Air Force, etc...

Xavier Kelly: also offers from Memphis, Washington State, etc...

Royce LaFrance: also offers from Arizona and Southern Miss

Nick Schrapps: also offered by Air Force

Chase Walling: also offered by Marshall and Kansas State

per Rivals

Sam Rice: also offers Duke, Memphis and UTEP

Mark Lewis: also offered from Memphis

I would say we have competed well for recruits based upon our recent history, and I think we have found some good ballplayers from a smaller school, Chapel Hill, while it will be interesting to see how a few turn out.

It is fun to see these early commits, but it is making Signing Day a little less fun. With DD, it was like Christmas morning in that we didn't know what we were getting until then, now we know ahead of time and hope that we hang on until Signing Day gets here.

H-towngreen · December 13, 2011

It is fun to see these early commits, but it is making Signing Day a little less fun. With DD, it was like Christmas morning in that we didn't know what we were getting until then, now we know ahead of time and hope that we hang on until Signing Day gets here.

I was just thinking the same thing

UNT Mean Green · December 13, 2011

Yeah, the kids down South are just built better, what a reach. Texas players have always been as good as anyone that is why this state supports 10 going on 12 fb division programs plus about every other team in the nation recruits here. There are good players everywhere, Texas just has more of them.

NT for years as had to recruit a lot of players away from the metroplex, I think primarily because they just haven't been able to compete with the many who recruit here for the best players. La is a natural recruiting area in that they have a lot of athletes and only one major conference player in LSU.

It appears to me that despite the new stadium and McCarney's enthusiasm that NT is still basically recruiting from the same pool of players that they have traditionally got., borderline fb division players which have not been heavily recruited. Before all the rebuttals, please take time to look at NT recruit list and note how few have any offers from other Texas fb division schools and how many are from smaller private and state schools. Yes, they can all turn out to be superstars and we all hope they do. I do believe that Mac is probably a very good recruiter but currently he is hindered by both NT's recent poor football history and being in a very under appreciated conference. USM was mentioned and actually they are a very good example of what NT can do. They have built their program not by getting blue chips but being able to recruit very well from second tier recruits.

Grand, my comments about the physicality of players from that part of the South was not a shot at Texas high school kids. It was more that I don't think people from Texas are quite aware of the incredible talent pools in the less populated states of the South. Go look at FBS and NFL rosters. Louisiana (2.49 per 1000), Florida (2.27 per 1000), Alabama (2.14 per 1000), and Georgia (1.98 per 1000) constantly have more players on those rosters per capita than anyone else, including Texas (1.84 per 1000) and Ohio (1.78 per 1000) which are talent rich states. It's intersting because it seems that the kids from the south do not have the multi-million dollar facilities at their high schools and the organization/structure or coaching that the kids from Texas have; yet there is a ton of raw talent down there; and all of that being said I am glad that Coach Mac is tapping into it. And I really like the Southern Miss comparision---agree 100%.

MeanGreenTexan · December 13, 2011

Grand, my comments about the physicality of players from that part of the South was not a shot at Texas high school kids. It was more that I don't think people from Texas are quite aware of the incredible talent pools in the less populated states of the South. Go look at FBS and NFL rosters. Louisiana (2.49 per 1000), Florida (2.27 per 1000), Alabama (2.14 per 1000), and Georgia (1.98 per 1000) constantly have more players on those rosters per capita than anyone else, including Texas (1.84 per 1000) and Ohio (1.78 per 1000) which are talent rich states. It's intersting because it seems that the kids from the south do not have the multi-million dollar facilities at their high schools and the organization/structure or coaching that the kids from Texas have; yet there is a ton of raw talent down there; and all of that being said I am glad that Coach Mac is tapping into it. And I really like the Southern Miss comparision---agree 100%.

2.49 players out of every 1000 players in the NFL are from Louisiana? Out of every 1000?? Even if every state represented that well, you would only have 124 players. So 124 players out of every 1000 are from the United States? I knew there were some Samoans out there, but I didn't know there were THAT many.

greenminer · December 13, 2011

I had completely forgotten how terrible Tulsa was pre-Krag. I think they won 1 game (UTEP, no less? can't recall) over a 2 to 3 season span.

Talk about a turnaround.

GrandGreen · December 14, 2011

Per ESPN
Boone Feldt: also offers from Houston and Louisiana Tech
Brad Horton: also offers from Army and Air Force, etc...
Xavier Kelly: also offers from Memphis, Washington State, etc...
Royce LaFrance: also offers from Arizona and Southern Miss
Nick Schrapps: also offered by Air Force
Chase Walling: also offered by Marshall and Kansas State

per Rivals
Sam Rice: also offers Duke, Memphis and UTEP
Mark Lewis: also offered from Memphis

I would say we have competed well for recruits based upon our recent history, and I think we have found some good ballplayers from a smaller school, Chapel Hill, while it will be interesting to see how a few turn out.

It is fun to see these early commits, but it is making Signing Day a little less fun. With DD, it was like Christmas morning in that we didn't know what we were getting until then, now we know ahead of time and hope that we hang on until Signing Day gets here.

I am not sure whether you are responded to my comment. I guess yo are, but I don't see anything above that counters anything I stated. Feldt is an exception being NT had a little in with his brother playing here and all. Wallings offer from KSU was pulled per Vito's column. So with the exception of Feldt you have pointed out one player who is credited with an offer from a TX FB school and that is from UTEP. Also for those not in the know, service acadies offer a lot more ships than other schools because a year of prep school is involved for most if not all and it greatly weeds out the corp, also they seldom get highly recruited players.

Lafrance along with Feldt are probably the highest recruited on NT's commit list. Again, I have trust in McCarney and staff's eye for talent but I do believe NT needs to able to recruit and beat teams like La Tech, Tulsa, Rice, Memphis, UTEP; etc. for recruits on a regular basis. I understand the circumstances McCarney is recruited under, and think he will do very well but I also think people should be realistic about this class.

UNTLifer · December 14, 2011

Grand, I was responding to your comments about this class being full of "borderline fb division players that have not been heavily recruited.". I think my response shows many of these recruits were heavily recruited by Division 1 schools, regardless of location, and regardless if a Big XII school pulled the offer or not, they were recruited. I find your criticism of this class unfounded.

UNT90 · December 14, 2011

Grand, I was responding to your comments about this class being full of "borderline fb division players that have not been heavily recruited.". I think my response shows many of these recruits were heavily recruited by Division 1 schools, regardless of location, and regardless if a Big XII school pulled the offer or not, they were recruited. I find your criticism of this class unfounded.

Dodge's 2008 class was ranked in the top 70 in the nation, and what did that get us??

Nothing, because one of the many things he had no clue about was developing young men from high school players to FBS college football players. There is tangible evidence that this staff will be much better at developing players (Ybarbo, Warner, Delgado, Orr, and some others I can't think of off the top of my head) than anything we have seen around here in forever.

You can't grade this class for at least another 2 years.