I see little drop off next season

[Green P1]

Losing Brelan will hurt more than anyone can imagine.

[H-towngreen]

We do not have a prolific offense right now. we are going to have an unproven qb that will make mistakes, but is that any different than what we are dealing with now? People act like DT is playing mistake free ball. If the coaching staff plays conservative because of the new qb, how is it any different than this year? We're already used to it. We already give up pick 6s. Are we gonna run even more and give up 2 ints per game? I expect at minimum, similar results from the offense, and that is not asking for a lot.

This. But we will have another dimension in next years offense with a mobile QB

[NT03]

Another factor to consider is : The more continued success we see, the more our coaching staff will get raided.

[pastorgrant]

If we can keep Trice on as a GA (assuming he isn't playing on Sundays), that would help the loss in leadership.

[FirefightnRick]

Again.....we lose 16 starters or past starters including the one that will hurt the most, Thompson.

It's a full blown rebuilding year next year for sure.

Rick

[KingDL1]

I think people are misinterpreting my original post. I cherish the seniors on this team -- what they are accomplishing will put them in a very special place in the history of this program. What I am saying is that they WAY that Mac is building this program through high school players who are redshirted and given a year in the Wentrich system is different than what we have seen around here in the past. Heck Mac even redshirts Juco's like Chris Loving! My point is this isn't a one year miracle. We are developing a program that can compete for C-USA championships every single year.

I totally agree Harry I really think this is just the tip of the iceberg, the big MEAN GREEN Iceberg. Its just going to get better. These seniors have helped lay a foundation that Mac is building and showed the following classes how to strive toward excellence and winning not just playing. Hell I am getting fired up all over again. These young men coming up have been exposed to and are getting even better coaching and standards it will build.

[emmitt01]

Again.....we lose 16 starters or past starters including the one that will hurt the most, Thompson.

It's a full blown rebuilding year next year for sure.

Rick

No, Brelan's loss will hurt the most. He literally flips the field when teams decide to kick to him. And he gives DT that deep threat where he can toss one up and watch Brelan take it the distance...not to mention being able to contort his body to catch some of DT's more errant throws. This is why losing the Desoto QB hurts, we NEED a guy like Brelan who can make you miss in the open field and punish you if you kick his direction.

[TIgreen01]

I totally agree Harry I really think this is just the tip of the iceberg, the big MEAN GREEN Iceberg. Its just going to get better. These seniors have helped lay a foundation that Mac is building and showed the following classes how to strive toward excellence and winning not just playing. Hell I am getting fired up all over again. These young men coming up have been exposed to and are getting even better coaching and standards it will build.

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I sure remember thinking back in 2004 that even though we were losing so many seniors that our recruiting had picked up and we expected there to be little to no drop-off. We were getting bigger and speedier players. No we didn't have the great class of 2000 on hand, but each incoming class had gotten better and better rankings through our bowl run.

The simple fact is that you never know what you have in ANY player until you put him on the field in live game action. Doesn't matter how good our staff is at getting guys ready if the guys that they are prepping simply don't have "IT". Not saying that is the case next year, but to paraphrase what FFR is saying: we have a bunch of known commodities that are leading the 2013 Mean Green---those 16-17 seniors on the 2-deep---that will be replaced by a bunch of unknown commodities.

[GOMG2013]

No, Brelan's loss will hurt the most. He literally flips the field when teams decide to kick to him. And he gives DT that deep threat where he can toss one up and watch Brelan take it the distance...not to mention being able to contort his body to catch some of DT's more errant throws. This is why losing the Desoto QB hurts, we NEED a guy like Brelan who can make you miss in the open field and punish you if you kick his direction.

Brelan's output at wr is replacable. He is tough and is a veteran wr, but there's kids in high school and jucos right now, that can fill his void at wr. bigger and faster too. Can we get them is the question. We need a 4.3-4.4 guy to stretch the field. Not a knock on brelan, but our offense is just not that potent. He has the talent to be a top wr in the conf.

The skill that we will miss the most is his return game. Its not easy finding a punt/kick returner. Its more than throwing a fast guy back there.

[Eagle1855]

The skill that we will miss the most is his return game. Its not easy finding a punt/kick returner. Its more than throwing a fast guy back there.

This. All day, this.

The experience at QB -- and most positions -- is something we'll lack, but should be able to upgrade talent at that position and WR. As far as I'm concerned, the offense is still a work in progress because it's the only things separating us from an at-worst one-loss 2013 season.

[BillySee58]

Sorry to bump this thread this late, but it had me thinking. We had two threads on DT going this week, and I think they'll be answered next year. If our offense, in particular our passing game, really does improve next year even without Chancellor and Smith than that almost essentially proves he was "the elephant in the room" and might have been holding the team back. Also might invalidate his first-ballot hall of fame status.

Alternatively, if our offense and passing game struggle without DT, Smith, and Chancellor then we will realize how valuable and good DT really was. It'll be interesting to follow. But for now let's just keep enjoying the ride and hope DT can take us to the new heights we hope to and are capable of reaching.

[northtexassigep]

of course DT will be replaced by a far superior qb. not a knock just a fact. Look for the offense to be much improved and the defense to have a drop off.

[Green P1]

Losing Brelan will hurt more than anyone can imagine.

bump

[BillySee58]

of course DT will be replaced by a far superior qb. not a knock just a fact. Look for the offense to be much improved and the defense to have a drop off.

My opinion as well, but it's going to have to be a wait-and-see approach until this is proven on the field.

[UNT90]

of course DT will be replaced by a far superior qb. not a knock just a fact. Look for the offense to be much improved and the defense to have a drop off.

Right, because we surely wouldn't want that far better QB to play THIS year, would we?

Or maybe you are talking about Conner Means domination that is coming?

[Green P1]

Right, because we surely wouldn't want that far better QB to play THIS year, would we?

Parrently not.... Lets start a new thread about it!

[GrandGreen]

dt is a game manager. not a play maker. And the coaches love him. Power Obi and other former players all say Brent was a better qb but never had a chance with dt on the team. Dajon will break every one of Dt's records by the end of the 2015 season

You are basing this on what?

I hope whoever takes over is the best QB at NT ever, but the odds are against that.

I honestly think Thompson could average over 400 yards a game and NT win the next 5 games and some would still be absolutely sure that NT won in spite of Thompson not because of him.

[KingDL1]

The offense has lots of problems and the reason DT has some record stats was to make up ground lost by same offense at times also when we had no real running game. Total yards especially if we get up in the future early in games we will hand off more with hopefully with more success.

The stat I want to see is more wins than losses. More TDs than Pick/fumbles.

Zack Orr is the guy I will miss the most.

[MeanGreenZen]

If we want to be a great program, we better get used to having to replace great players.

To do that, good players need to make the leap to great and new talent needs to be continually infused into the program. Look at guys who have made the leap since last season, Trice was ok last year, he is great now. Abbé has been "just a guy" up until this season. Suddenly he is all-conference. And DT has gone from slightly below average to pretty good.

Couldn't you see Jimmerson jumping to that Cobbs/Dunbar level next season? Carlos Harris will surely be featured more. We have a lot of depth coming back at DE: Polk, Mason, Quenton Brown and Jarrian Roberts. Sed Ellis is catching my èye at LB in his limited playing time. What talent is already on our sidelines wearing a redshirt (personally I can't wait to see Sid Moore play)? What new talent will be faxing us their signature In a few months?

The bottom line is we finally have a coach and a program that can identify talent AND develop it. I agree with Harry about next season.

PS - I can't tell if people are joking about Thompson as a first ballot Hall of Famer. He has put in a little more than a half season as an above average college QB. He is a good QB this season. He might deserve 2013 UNT Offensive MVP but calling him a Hall of Famer is ridiculous.

[GOMG2013]

If we want to be a great program, we better get used to having to replace great players.

To do that, good players need to make the leap to great and new talent needs to be continually infused into the program. Look at guys who have made the leap since last season, Trice was ok last year, he is great now. Abbé has been "just a guy" up until this season. Suddenly he is all-conference. And DT has gone from slightly below average to pretty good.

Couldn't you see Jimmerson jumping to that Cobbs/Dunbar level next season? Carlos Harris will surely be featured more. We have a lot of depth coming back at DE: Polk, Mason, Quenton Brown and Jarrian Roberts. Sed Ellis is catching my èye at LB in his limited playing time. What talent is already on our sidelines wearing a redshirt (personally I can't wait to see Sid Moore play)? What new talent will be faxing us their signature In a few months?

The bottom line is we finally have a coach and a program that can identify talent AND develop it. I agree with Harry about next season.

PS - I can't tell if people are joking about Thompson as a first ballot Hall of Famer. He has put in a little more than a half season as an above average college QB. He is a good QB this season. He might deserve 2013 UNT Offensive MVP but calling him a Hall of Famer is ridiculous.

Great post. I can see Jim becoming a feature back and taking off with a good veteran line coming back. We can revisit this after the remaining 4 or 5 games, but if jim can make big plays against a good rice defense, he may have a strong end to this season and be the feature back next year.

Bringing back 2 corners is big with this defense. Our safeties come up and support the run a lot. I can see one of our corners making some preseason lists. If one or maybe even both of them build on what they are doing this year, it will be hard to throw on us next year.

[foutsrouts]

of course DT will be replaced by a far superior qb. not a knock just a fact. Look for the offense to be much improved and the defense to have a drop off.

Is McNulty really that superior?

[GrandGreen]

This is a senior laden team so you would have to think their will be a big decline next year. NT should be fine if not better in the OL, TE, RB and secondary. The rest of the positions are a big question. Although there are many that seem to think that Thompson is easy to replace, he will not be. He started for three years for a reason. There will be only two wide receivers returning with much experience, Harris and Kidsey. So at least three more need to surface.

The biggest problem area will be the defensive line losing all four starters. The second unit of Mason, Polk, Orr and Lincoln have some talent but are going to have to get better and there hasn't been anybody show behind them. Linebacker will be another position with little returning. Akunne is very good and Ellis and Scott have played well but not a lot.

IMO, NT's success this year is primarily because of an experienced well coached team. Losing half of the starting lineup is not something that is going to be easily replaced.

[UNTflyer]

I like that we have some 3-star recruits in the secondary. It's a real weakness on defense, can't count how many times we've been burned on the long ball.