Saturday morning scrimmage notes

[Snowy]

If DT is named starting QB going into fall, my interest in Mean Green Football this season will be about as high as my interest in the basketball season was after a few games last season... You just know its not going to be very good. A least with BB you would be getting him FBS experience (do you really want his first game of college to be against Texas next year?) this year's schedule and OOC schedule is very favorable for a team transitioning QB's.

[Snowy]

I wonder if BB is not on first team by the end if the spring game (really just getting back to second team would be nice) would he have a legitimate chance to take away the starting position in Fall practice? I ask because I'm not sure how long fall practice is... The spring practice we're seeing could simply be a case of shaking the rust off.. But by the time the rust is off in the fall, will he have enough time?

[UNT90]

Nope. But then we don't have Spring basketball practice, now do we.

"Most talent team in UNT history", 12-20, loss to a D2 school, 2 losses to a 4 win conference foe, and a coach who manages a game like the big dog in this video:

But keep on making completely incongruent comparisions.

Interesting admission or does this only apply to football?

Edited April 7, 2013 by UNT90

[NT03]

I think DT will be the starter thru first 4 games of season. Any signs of struggle or record worse than 2-2 & there will probably be a change.

I'd also feel much more comfortable w/DT under center @ UGA than BB. He has the experience. & wouldn't be rattled one bit.

One thing is for sure , stiff competition battles do nothing but benefit the team. Both QB's will come out better because of it

Edited April 7, 2013 by NT03

[BillySee58]

People forget that these guys will report for fall camp about 2 months before we play Idaho.

We only have one more week left of spring football, but the qb competition will not be shut down.

I've said this before, but if DT is the starter don't be surprised to see he and Berglund both get chances to lead the offense against Idaho in the first half. These coaches have too much invested in Berglund and too little confidence in DT (see last year) to anoint him the undisputed starter.

Also, Berglund has looked good this spring when he was healthy. Who's to say he'll be fully healthy by fall, but the point is the coaches aren't going to label him a bust based on this spring.

Maybe DT starts, but he will have a much shorter leash this year than last year.

[ntmeangreen11]

Perhaps Brock is with the 3's because the spring game will be like last years, 1s & 3s vs 2s & 4s and they want Brock and DT getting the reps with the first team offense in the spring game?

I think it's too early to read too much in to this.

[meanrob]

People forget that these guys will report for fall camp about 2 months before we play Idaho.

We only have one more week left of spring football, but the qb competition will not be shut down.

I've said this before, but if DT is the starter don't be surprised to see he and Berglund both get chances to lead the offense against Idaho in the first half. These coaches have too much invested in Berglund and too little confidence in DT (see last year) to anoint him the undisputed starter.

Also, Berglund has looked good this spring when he was healthy. Who's to say he'll be fully healthy by fall, but the point is the coaches aren't going to label him a bust based on this spring.

Maybe DT starts, but he will have a much shorter leash this year than last year.

Fall camp is about 3 1/2 weeks long.

Perhaps that is enough time for Brock to get ready for the season but it would have been nice if he would have showed some of the things he can do in the spring.

Call me chicken little if you want, but if we don't get above average quarterbacking against Idaho, we could lose that game.

[HoustonEagle]

Fall camp is about 3 1/2 weeks long.

Perhaps that is enough time for Brock to get ready for the season but it would have been nice if he would have showed some of the things he can do in the spring.

Call me chicken little if you want, but if we don't get above average quarterbacking against Idaho, we could lose that game.

This is UNT. There is no such thing as a game we can’t lose.

[All About UNT]

This is UNT. There is no such thing as a game we can’t lose.

I would say that there is no way we would lose to these guys at least... http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/14214/lock-haven-snaps-52-game-losing-streak

[DentonAmerica]

I'd also feel much more comfortable w/DT under center @ UGA than BB. He has the experience. & wouldn't be rattled one bit.

Huh?

If DT starts we and McCarney are in a load of trouble. His ability to make multiple reads is on a preschool level. You will see guys in high school go through their progressions better. And I don't see the improvement. Watch the scrimmage video. He throws a number of ducks including one pick and another that should have been a gift wrapped pick six to Whitfield, and still has extremely sloppy footwork. The improvement is a myth from what I've seen.

[greenminer]

Huh?

If DT starts we and McCarney are in a load of trouble. His ability to make multiple reads is on a preschool level. You will see guys in high school go through their progressions better. And I don't see the improvement. Watch the scrimmage video. He throws a number of ducks including one pick and another that should have been a gift wrapped pick six to Whitfield, and still has extremely sloppy footwork. The improvement is a myth from what I've seen.

You should post more. Your gmg.com moniker is awesome in and of itself.

[Marty]

Seems like some of you want Bergland to start regardless of how he looks in practice. The one that produces in practice this spring & fall should be the starter. I don't care if it's DT, BB, McNulty, Gill, or Dajon Williams.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Marty

[H-towngreen]

Huh?

If DT starts we and McCarney are in a load of trouble. His ability to make multiple reads is on a preschool level. You will see guys in high school go through their progressions better. And I don't see the improvement. Watch the scrimmage video. He throws a number of ducks including one pick and another that should have been a gift wrapped pick six to Whitfield, and still has extremely sloppy footwork. The improvement is a myth from what I've seen.

Interesting to hear some of the feedback about DT in spring ball. It sounds as though DT is not tearing it up as much as Vito makes it out to be.

[BillySee58]

Fall camp is about 3 1/2 weeks long.

Perhaps that is enough time for Brock to get ready for the season but it would have been nice if he would have showed some of the things he can do in the spring.

Call me chicken little if you want, but if we don't get above average quarterbacking against Idaho, we could lose that game.

It's okay, the sky may very well fall on apogee if we lose that game.

[BillySee58]

Interesting to hear some of the feedback about DT in spring ball. It sounds as though DT is not tearing it up as much as Vito makes it out to be.

He's having a good spring, but Vito is making it sound like we won't be able to recognize the guy this year. Maybe he has improved, but I just don't know how we can win with a qb that our coaches don't have confidence in.

[DeepGreen]

It's okay, the sky may very well fall on apogee if we lose that game.

If we lose to utsa..............................that's when the sky falls.

[adman]

You know its UNT when:

Brock Berglund is still working with the third team and going through the transition of playing at the college level.

You know how Mac said we had to fabricate competition in the past - same thing is going on here. BB will be the guy come fall. (Injuries not withstanding.)

[SilverEagle]

He's having a good spring, but Vito is making it sound like we won't be able to recognize the guy this year. Maybe he has improved, but I just don't know how we can win with a qb that our coaches don't have confidence in.

He's having an OK spring, but I have to tell you that his weight loss and greater determination to get better is not translating into a real noticeable change from what I've seen so far. In other words, he pretty much looks the same to me. Actually the most improved QB out there is McNulty. If he keeps developing, he could be a good bus driver-type QB. Nothing spectacular, but good speed and good percentage passing. I'm getting a bit annoyed with Bergland. Saturday he spent too much time trying to show off with his running (which is kind of back firing since this defense is noticeably faster than last year and often runs him down at the line of scrimmage) and long ball throwing and not practicing making good decisions.

Trying to show off and be "wonder boy" is probably what got Mr. Bergland his hamstring injury in the first place.

[UNTLifer]

He's having an OK spring, but I have to tell you that his weight loss and greater determination to get better is not translating into a real noticeable change from what I've seen so far. In other words, he pretty much looks the same to me. Actually the most improved QB out there is McNulty. If he keeps developing, he could be a good bus driver-type QB. Nothing spectacular, but good speed and good percentage passing. I'm getting a bit annoyed with Bergland. Saturday he spent too much time trying to show off with his running (which is kind of back firing since this defense is noticeably faster than last year and often runs him down at the line of scrimmage) and long ball throwing and not practicing making good decisions.

Trying to show off and be "wonder boy" is probably what got Mr. Bergland his hamstring injury in the first place.

Thanks SE. Sounds like McNulty could be another, probably faster, Scott Hall type. DT is a thinner model of last year's version. Will have bouts of looking good and bouts of looking bad which can probably be attributed to mechanical issues (Come on Coach Chico!). And it sounds like BB has been reading the headlines and needs a little attitude adjustment.

[BillySee58]

He's having an OK spring, but I have to tell you that his weight loss and greater determination to get better is not translating into a real noticeable change from what I've seen so far. In other words, he pretty much looks the same to me. Actually the most improved QB out there is McNulty. If he keeps developing, he could be a good bus driver-type QB. Nothing spectacular, but good speed and good percentage passing. I'm getting a bit annoyed with Bergland. Saturday he spent too much time trying to show off with his running (which is kind of back firing since this defense is noticeably faster than last year and often runs him down at the line of scrimmage) and long ball throwing and not practicing making good decisions.

Trying to show off and be "wonder boy" is probably what got Mr. Bergland his hamstring injury in the first place.

That's just the way Bergland plays. Even last year during scout team he would play as such.

[untjim1995]

Seems like some of you want Bergland to start regardless of how he looks in practice. The one that produces in practice this spring & fall should be the starter. I don't care if it's DT, BB, McNulty, Gill, or Dajon Williams.

I think most people actually agree with your post completely. For me, though, if that means Berglund didn't win this spot, then I think we all know that this upcoming season won't be very good. We have seen DT for a few years now--the coaches don't trust his arm becasue he's not accurate and his throws are very "catchable" by the defense (i.e, ducks being thrown). He's not mobile enough to make a difference against a pass rush, either. McNulty should improve after his freshman year of being thrown to the wolves and getting a RS year. But he's a bus driver, at best, so you'd have to have a team that was like the Dickey teams that Hall led. Run the ball for 3/4 of the game and ahve a defense that was way better than most of your competition's offenses. We don't have any of those advantages right now.

In a perfect world, you know the exact opposite of what UNT Football exists in, we would have a healthy QB that played up to his lofty potential in Berglund. His talent is way above the others on this team. But if he cannot show that in practice or in scrimmages, I'll be the first to say that he shouldn't play. But I'll also say that it means we win about 3 games in 2013.

And, as far as who takes snaps at Georgia, whoever can run the damn clock out the fastest is fine with me. That's a game that should have never bee scheduled, as far as I'm concerned. Just make sure that injuries are limited and that their check doesn't bounce. Since 2005, games against OU, UT, LSU, Alabama, and Clemson haven't told me one thing about this team--its been games against the other OOC opponents that aren't FCS that have told me all that I need to know about where we are at as a program. Games against Tulsa and La Tech in 2005 told us what we needed to know about where we were really at as a program. Eventually, so did the SBC conference drubbings we took under Dickey at the end and under the entirety of the Dodge regime. I think McCarney's teams have shown some fight in them, but they have never had the horses to beat most of the teams on their schedule. Last year, if we had not played Texas Southern and South Alabama at home, we would have probably finished at 3-9 or 2-10 because of that lack of leadership at QB and lack of talent on defense. But I think Coach Mac is getting us there, especially on the lines. Games against Ohio and Ball State here in the OOC early will tell me a whole lot on where we will be for the year. Games against Idaho and Georgia won't tell me much, just like last year's games against LSU and Texas Southern didn't tell me anything. Last year, we competed with K-State very well, but we didn't compete at all with Houston. I think trading those two teams for Ohio and Ball State should be very telling.

[JesseMartin]

I like the reasonable, yet positive, replies that comprise a good chunk of this thread.

As far as the QB battle is concerned, we can't make any real judgments other than to see that there will almost certainly be improved play at that position, though we can't be sure as to what level until the season starts. Any improvement is laudable.

In terms of the team as a whole, I like that we are slowly moving away from deadly OOC games to include only one superpower per season, though until such a time as we move up a notch in overall field performance, I would actually rather not be in that situation at all.

Remember, it's hard to realize progress in medias res. When you look back over the last 5, 10, 20 years, and consider where we are now overall, you'll see that - although we haven't had the "huge breakthrough" we've been wanting, in general, we're in a much better place - and therefore, better positioned for good things to happen than just hoping, in terms of how realistic that breakthrough can be.

I think I may already be as excited as most of you will be right before kickoff against Idaho...and I probably won't even be there. Stay positive and work hard for more, for better, for the best we can be and good things will happen! GMG!

[GrandGreen]

I have never understood why so many think an untested QB is going to waltz in and replace a two year starter. Yes, Thompson has not been great or even average, but he is far from being as bad as many here paint him. Don't forget that NT has had to depend heavily on walk on receivers and that it is apparently McCarney game plan to go for quick releases to avoid sacks plus generally only passing on obvious passing downs. This doesn't make for great passing stats.

Also many on here point to the coaching staff not having any confidence in Thompson. KInd of strange being he is a returning team captain as well as having started for two years. Ever think that McCarney's conservative game plan may be a product of many other factors than just the QB?

Edited April 9, 2013 by GrandGreen

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Why is Berglund getting used to the college game? He has practiced at Kansas, JC and UNT. That is plenty of college experience. It is not like he just graduated early, skipped his prom and reported for spring practice. We are in big trouble if this kid is not what we need him to be. Where is the kid who was allegedly wowing on the scout team all fall? For us to get to a bowl our QB play needs to be MUCH better than what DT has accomplished.

Practicing isn't experience. Playing in games is experience. We all want to beat up KU because the kid didn't work out there. Then, the short stint at the JUCO where the coach said everyone has to compete.

I'm not saying anything, but I'm saying something. We have people so desparate to have football success that we might ignore signs. Charlie Weis - he might know something about quarterbacking. He might. Probably more than the JUCO coach. But, they have one thing in common: Berglund didn't win the starting job in either place, then jetted out of town.

It's not a stretch to say that I was not on board with Todd Dodge's "secret" recruiting of Derek Thompson...recruiting him so secretly that only Dodge and Eastern New Mexico knew about him Remember all that?

What has won me over with Derek is that he leads by example. He is a team guy. He has never had a dangerous receiving corp, yet he doesn't complain or make excuses. At the end of last season, he was down to throwing to a group of walk-ons.

He just works and works. Last year, they wanted him to put on more weight - he did it. This year they wanted him to lose weight - he did it. He went into the spring practice with everyone annointing this Berglund kid to be the starter.

Well, look...you have to earn the job. We are fortunate to have coaches who make kids compete. Anyone up for a repeat of Meager being screwed in favor of Vizza? Or, how about later with Vizza being screwed over in favor of the coach's son?

If Berglund wakes the F up, takes care of himself physically and mentally, learns the offense, and comes on like gangbusters in the fall and wins the job, so be it. So far, though, that hasn't been the story of his post-prep career.

Thompson does what is asked of him. He isn't showy. He's polite in interviews and doesn't cause waves. In my eyes, he's done far better than I ever thought he would, given how few schools were in on him. He's a worker. He's a team guy. He's got a lot of experience - real, game day experience - and that counts.

Brock Berglund will have to strap it on in the fall to beat out Derek Thompson. You might not like it, and you might cry, but that's the way it is.

[Fake Billy Tubbs Voice] Rock me. [/Fake Billy Tubbs Voice]

Edited April 9, 2013 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[MeanGreenTexan]

...

Well, look...you have to earn the job. We are fortunate to have coaches who make kids compete. Anyone up for a repeat of Meager being screwed in favor of Vizza? Or, how about later with Vizza being screwed over in favor of the coach's son?

...

I'll give you the Meager for Vizza situation, but I remember the Vizza for Riley situation a little differently. Vizza = q-word. plain & simple.