'15 OL Cody Wheeler (Allen)

[UNTLifer]

This is a cluster.

[H-towngreen]

Sweet fucking Jesus. This is all on Mac.

Everyday I'm leaning more and more towards amc needs to go. He had 1 good season behind a great defense, special teams and running game in a down league. Is passed Mac by.

[BigDanTeague]

So we're surprised that he got an offer from Texas Tech and flipped?

[Ben Gooding]

So we're surprised that he got an offer from Texas Tech and flipped?

Yes, I am surprised. Lubbock is a dirty shit hole. Cody is DFW grown. Denton is what...30 miles from Allen? I know this is said often about kids flipping, but he comes to North Texas he is a difference maker on the OL. Going to Texas Tech it's a crap shoot, who knows. Either way...good riddance. GMG.

[Harry]

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/hoopsfootball-recruiting-notes-wheeler-to-texas-tech.html/

[Ben Gooding]

Sweet fucking Jesus. This is all on Mac.

Everyday I'm leaning more and more towards amc needs to go. He had 1 good season behind a great defense, special teams and running game in a down league. Is passed Mac by.

Mac can't recruit, been saying it since he arrived. He's been given the benefit of the doubt since day 1 for whatever reason, but the proof is in the pudding.

[greenminer]

Yes, I am surprised. Lubbock is a dirty shit hole. Cody is DFW grown. Denton is what...30 miles from Allen? I know this is said often about kids flipping, but he comes to North Texas he is a difference maker on the OL. Going to Texas Tech it's a crap shoot, who knows. Either way...good riddance. GMG.

Football kids don't share your anti-Lubbock sentiment.

[FirefightnRick]

Hmmmm. Not good!

Rick

[BillySee58]

Our other 6 decommits may have been a bad job on our staff on retaining commits, but I don't think Wheeler was. He got a P5 offer, which happened to be his dream school. That wasn't the case with the other guys.

This case is a danger of recruiting the big metroplex powers. People often say "oh, we need to recruit Cedar Hill/DeSoto/Allen/Coppell/etc really hard and get a pipeline going through those schools. Talent right in our backyard."

That's just not realistic. The kids at those schools get as much, if not more recruiting exposure than just about any other high school players in the country. If there are good players at those schools, then they're going to have good offers. Sometimes kids from those schools have even better offer lists than they should just because colleges want to get into that school. It's next to impossible for kids to go under the radar at those schools, as long as they're eligible and playing.

Alternatively, take a look at East Texas. The example I like to give is Jeffery Wilson. If Jeffery Wilson had been playing for the schools I mentioned like the Allen Eagles instead of the Elkhart Elks, he would've had multiple BIG12 offers and could've even had offers from a school like Texas or OU. At least a TCU, Ok State, or Texas Tech. But because of his minimal exposure, he only had offers from us, New Mexico State, ULM, and Texas State. Cases like that are why I believe East Texas has and can be our biggest asset in recruiting.

We still do need to absolutely recruit the metroplex well, including the powerhouse programs. But to land kids from those schools who are legitimate CUSA level players, you're going to have to be able to win recruiting battles. We have struggled mightily with that. That has to improve, as well as sustaining our commits.

Edited January 21, 2015 by BillySee58

[Ben Gooding]

Our other 6 decommits may have been a bad job on our staff on retaining commits, but I don't think Wheeler was. He got a P5 offer, which happened to be his dream school. That wasn't the case with the other guys.

This case is a danger of recruiting the big metroplex powers. People often say "oh, we need to recruit Cedar Hill/DeSoto/Allen/Coppell/etc really hard and get a pipeline going through those schools. Talent right in our backyard."

That's just not realistic. The kids at those schools get as much, if not more recruiting exposure than just about any other high school players in the country. If there are good players at those schools, then they're going to have good offers. Sometimes kids from those schools have even better offer lists than they should just because colleges want to get into that school. It's next to impossible for kids to go under the radar at those schools, as long as they're eligible and playing.

Alternatively, take a look at East Texas. The example I like to give is Jeffery Wilson. If Jeffery Wilson had been playing for the schools I mentioned like the Allen Eagles instead of the Elkhart Elks, he would've had multiple BIG12 offers and could've even had offers from a school like Texas or OU. At least a TCU, Ok State, or Texas Tech. But because of his minimal exposure, he only had offers from us, New Mexico State, ULM, and Texas State. Cases like that are why I believe East Texas has and can be our biggest asset in recruiting.

We still do need to absolutely recruit the metroplex well, including the powerhouse programs. But to land kids from those schools who are legitimate CUSA level players, you're going to have to be able to win recruiting battles. We have struggled mightily with that. That has to improve, as well as sustaining our commits.

I completely get what you are saying, but if NMSU knew about Wilson wouldn't practical sense tell us that TCU, Tech, etc. knew of him as well? My money is on yes. This staff is dragging this program down. The next coach, whenever that may be, will inform of us what he has to work with when he arrives. And unlike what Mac does, he won't bullshit us either.

Rhett Lashlee, Bo Pelini and Gene Chizik are on the market for a D1 HC position...just saying.

GMG

[Censored by Laurie]

so...no one else thinks that with 3 freshman, 1 JUCO and 2 D1 transfer offensive linemen being added to a roster with 10 OLs already on scholarship that this slot might be better allocated for a defensive lineman or an offensive play-maker anyway?

[BillySee58]

I completely get what you are saying, but if NMSU knew about Wilson wouldn't practical sense tell us that TCU, Tech, etc. knew of him as well? My money is on yes. This staff is dragging this program down. The next coach, whenever that may be, will inform of us what he has to work with when he arrives. And unlike what Mac does, he won't bullshit us either.

Rhett Lashlee, Bo Pelini and Gene Chizik are on the market for a D1 HC position...just saying.

GMG

I understand the logic, it's not quite that simple. For the main reason that Wilson didn't have a big sophomore year and no one knew who he was. Running back is the position where it's most likely for young players to make early impacts, on all levels. Hence, there are a lot of 1000 yard sophomore running backs.

Wilson didn't start popping up on anyone's radar until around April/May at the end of his junior school year. Scouts weren't exactly flocking to watch Elkhart football games during that fall, and Wilson wasn't camping much. So the big schools already had their running back big boards essentially finalized by the time anyone knew about Wilson. Which was, again, very late in the process for a running back. No need to scour the little towns in East Texas for a skinny running back. Had Wilson committed before his senior season and been a UNT commit he also prpbably would've had some schools tracking him, but luckily he didn't commit until right before signing day. TCU also doesn't really get out and recruit East Texas much.

I've played with and against some running backs in the Metroplex who signed with schools like Notre Dame and Oklahoma and didn't have the talent and athleticism that Wilson has. Big schools being lazy and not wanting to drive an extra hour and a half or more outside the metroplex is a great advantage for us. Tee Goree would've also had an even bigger offer list. It's just the nature of having less exposure, and we need to capitalize on it.

As for getting a new coach, any big name coach that would take this job would be a bad idea IMO. They're available for a reason, and not getting picked up by another big school for a reason. Chizik did worse at Iowa State than Mccarney and had one good year at Auburn because of Cam Newton, Malzahn, and a good senior class.

I think Mccarney is going to be here for a while. But whenever he leaves/retires the guy I want is Brad Smiley, head coach at Trinity Valley CC. He was a recruiting coordinator at Tulane, he's from Louisiana and went to Baylor, so he'll be very familiar with the area in between (East Texas), and DFW as well. They went undefeated this year and have been cranking out more D1 recruits than any JUCO in the country, and doing a great job convincing the good non qualifiers to go there. I think he'd be a good recruiter and good coach, and could get us JUCOs when we need it, with his JUCO ties.

I'm not calling for Mccarney to get out, but Smiley is exactly what I want in our next head coach whenever that may be. It's rare for schools to ask a JUCO HC to step up to be their FBS HC. So hopefully he'll be available then. Until then we need recruiting to step up, plain and simple.

[BillySee58]

so...no one else thinks that with 3 freshman, 1 JUCO and 2 D1 transfer offensive linemen being added to a roster with 10 OLs already on scholarship that this slot might be better allocated for a defensive lineman or an offensive play-maker anyway?

We're down to 1 interior offensive lineman for the class (a good one in Creighton Barr). We have upperclassmen candidates to start this year, but we could run into problems down the line. We only signed one interior linemen last class (Avery Fortenberry) and two the year before, but one left (Nelson left and Walker is still here). We were each Walker and Fortenberry's only offer, so we needed some good interior linemen this class to solidify the future of that position. 3 interior o-linemen (Barr, Fortenberry, and Walker) in 3 recruiting classes is really low, even if they do pan out. Edited January 21, 2015 by BillySee58

[UNTLifer]

Ben, your last sentence above tells me all I need to know. Pelini is a grad A ass and Chizik failed as a HC. Lashlee may be good, but nobody knows for sure since he has not been a HC.

I don't like this decommit, but I respect Wheeler much more than any of the others because he was man enough to pick up the phone and call Coach Mac. Considering his parents met at Tech and he has followed them all his life, I can see where the attraction is to TTech. The main point is that he has enough character to make the call. I hate to lose him, but can respect his decision and wish him well.

[10Eagle10]

Our other 6 decommits may have been a bad job on our staff on retaining commits, but I don't think Wheeler was. He got a P5 offer, which happened to be his dream school. That wasn't the case with the other guys.

This case is a danger of recruiting the big metroplex powers. People often say "oh, we need to recruit Cedar Hill/DeSoto/Allen/Coppell/etc really hard and get a pipeline going through those schools. Talent right in our backyard."

That's just not realistic. The kids at those schools get as much, if not more recruiting exposure than just about any other high school players in the country. If there are good players at those schools, then they're going to have good offers. Sometimes kids from those schools have even better offer lists than they should just because colleges want to get into that school. It's next to impossible for kids to go under the radar at those schools, as long as they're eligible and playing.

Alternatively, take a look at East Texas. The example I like to give is Jeffery Wilson. If Jeffery Wilson had been playing for the schools I mentioned like the Allen Eagles instead of the Elkhart Elks, he would've had multiple BIG12 offers and could've even had offers from a school like Texas or OU. At least a TCU, Ok State, or Texas Tech. But because of his minimal exposure, he only had offers from us, New Mexico State, ULM, and Texas State. Cases like that are why I believe East Texas has and can be our biggest asset in recruiting.

We still do need to absolutely recruit the metroplex well, including the powerhouse programs. But to land kids from those schools who are legitimate CUSA level players, you're going to have to be able to win recruiting battles. We have struggled mightily with that. That has to improve, as well as sustaining our commits.

I once saw a graphic indicating that there are more Texas-produced NFL players born east of I45 than there are from the rest of the state combined. I 100% agree with you, Billy, that east Texas is where we should be signing a minimum of 5-7 kids per year.

[FirefightnRick]

so...no one else thinks that with 3 freshman, 1 JUCO and 2 D1 transfer offensive linemen being added to a roster with 10 OLs already on scholarship that this slot might be better allocated for a defensive lineman or an offensive play-maker anyway?

I do. But for whatever reason, D linemen don't seem to want to play for us, and would rather play for ULM instead.

Rick

[Ben Gooding]

Ben, your last sentence above tells me all I need to know. Pelini is a grad A ass and Chizik failed as a HC. Lashlee may be good, but nobody knows for sure since he has not been a HC.

I don't like this decommit, but I respect Wheeler much more than any of the others because he was man enough to pick up the phone and call Coach Mac. Considering his parents met at Tech and he has followed them all his life, I can see where the attraction is to TTech. The main point is that he has enough character to make the call. I hate to lose him, but can respect his decision and wish him well.

Pelini is an ass, but I don't care. If he goes 9-4, 10-3 he can be an ass all day. Chizik sucks as a coach on the P5 level. I'll be the first to say that. But he has a name and a face that would bring in recruits. Lashlee will be a star, with us or with someone else, it's only a matter of time. I was naming these guys as our only options, just throwing out a couple names off the top of my head. Granted I still think either 3 of the said names would do a better and respectable job at North Texas, particularly Lashlee. This staff has lost me. And thanks to our fantastic AD we are stuck in a very similar situation as basketball. Let's take off the green goggles and look at our situation with a real perspective. It's grim.

[BillySee58]

Pelini is an ass, but I don't care. If he goes 9-4, 10-3 he can be an ass all day. Chizik sucks as a coach on the P5 level. I'll be the first to say that. But he has a name and a face that would bring in recruits. Lashlee will be a star, with us or with someone else, it's only a matter of time. I was naming these guys as our only options, just throwing out a couple names off the top of my head. Granted I still think either 3 of the said names would do a better and respectable job at North Texas, particularly Lashlee. This staff has lost me. And thanks to our fantastic AD we are stuck in a very similar situation as basketball. Let's take off the green goggles and look at our situation with a real perspective. It's grim.

Very few coaches can recruit off name alone. I think a lot of people underestimate how much recruits know and follow college football. I don't think any of the kids we'd be recruiting would really know whp those guys are. Edited January 21, 2015 by BillySee58

[BillySee58]

Since committing to Texas Tech, Wheeler has picked up a 3-star rating on both Scout and ESPN. Which, again, is another example of why UNT fans need to pay much, much more attention to our recruits' and commits' offer lists.

Wheeler absolutely deserves to be a low 3-star and high 2-star (depending on the site). He was that caliber player before Tech offered. The thing is, our commits don't get the time of day when it comes to getting rating bumps and reevaluated, or sometimes even seriously evaluated the first time. We don't have subsites on the major recruiting websites and we don't have subscribers pestering the site analysts for our commits to get another evaluation and rating. Texas Tech does. Rivals didn't even bother to make Wheeler a profile until Tech became a serious possibility.

Usually offer lists and star ratings do equal out pretty well. But star ratings are still secondary to offer lists when it comes to being the best predictor of a kids' ability to be a good D1 player, and show how good a job a school is doing recruiting against other schools.

[Wag Tag]

Since committing to Texas Tech, Wheeler has picked up a 3-star rating on both Scout and ESPN. Which, again, is another example of why UNT fans need to pay much, much more attention to our recruits' and commits' offer lists.

Wheeler absolutely deserves to be a low 3-star and high 2-star (depending on the site). He was that caliber player before Tech offered. The thing is, our commits don't get the time of day when it comes to getting rating bumps and reevaluated, or sometimes even seriously evaluated the first time. We don't have subsites on the major recruiting websites and we don't have subscribers pestering the site analysts for our commits to get another evaluation and rating. Texas Tech does. Rivals didn't even bother to make Wheeler a profile until Tech became a serious possibility.

Usually offer lists and star ratings do equal out pretty well. But star ratings are still secondary to offer lists when it comes to being the best predictor of a kids' ability to be a good D1 player, and show how good a job a school is doing recruiting against other schools.

I agree keep us advised! Thanks

[MeanGreenTexan]

Since committing to Texas Tech, Wheeler has picked up a 3-star rating on both Scout and ESPN. Which, again, is another example of why UNT fans need to pay much, much more attention to our recruits' and commits' offer lists.

Wheeler absolutely deserves to be a low 3-star and high 2-star (depending on the site). He was that caliber player before Tech offered. The thing is, our commits don't get the time of day when it comes to getting rating bumps and reevaluated, or sometimes even seriously evaluated the first time. We don't have subsites on the major recruiting websites and we don't have subscribers pestering the site analysts for our commits to get another evaluation and rating. Texas Tech does. Rivals didn't even bother to make Wheeler a profile until Tech became a serious possibility.

Usually offer lists and star ratings do equal out pretty well. But star ratings are still secondary to offer lists when it comes to being the best predictor of a kids' ability to be a good D1 player, and show how good a job a school is doing recruiting against other schools.

Good stuff Billy.

[FirefightnRick]

The thing is, our commits don't get the time of day when it comes to getting rating bumps and reevaluated, or sometimes even seriously evaluated the first time. We don't have subsites on the major recruiting websites and we don't have subscribers pestering the site analysts for our commits to get another evaluation and rating. Texas Tech does. Rivals didn't even bother to make Wheeler a profile until Tech

It's been this way since the very first time someone with an opinion got it in print.

Rick