DRC column: Time has arrived to take serious look at Williams

Brett Vito · September 13, 2014

Redshirt freshman has shown enough in limited time to merit a long look:

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20140913-brett-vito-time-is-now-to-examine-williams-as-option.ece

Christopher Walker · September 13, 2014

Hear, hear.

GreenMachine · September 13, 2014

Mac is too stubborn, Greer will start next game.

pastorgrant · September 13, 2014

That first quote by Coach Mac seems really encouraging.

UNT90 · September 13, 2014

Encouraging comments from Mac that he may finally be willing to start the most talented QB on the roster.

Let that sink in for a moment...

Stubbornness has already cost this team a chance to be competitive in their 1st conference game. Lets hope it doesn't cost them anything else this season.

NT03 · September 13, 2014

Encouraging comments from Mac that he may finally be willing to start the most talented QB on the roster.
Let that sink in for a moment...
Stubbornness has already cost this team a chance to be competitive in their 1st conference game. Lets hope it doesn't cost them anything else this season.

I just hope it didn't cost this team a bowl birth. It forces a pretty inexperienced team to find a way to win on the road. I think we can win out at home , but teams like UAB & UTEP seem to very much improved.

untwillrise · September 13, 2014

Can we stop talking about Thompson please. Last year was all about defense, BC making plays, and special teams blocking kicks. If DT was here instead of Greer we would still be calling for DW just like I was last year.

Harry · September 13, 2014

This is encouraging.

H-towngreen · September 13, 2014

So he is the next Seneca Wallace.

DW is also only a RS freshman. If he plays well he could hold onto this job for the next 3.5 years.

SilverEagle · September 13, 2014

The evaluation of Williams has been decidedly different.

“There is talent there, but he needs to mature and grow,” McCarney said earlier this year.

I'm sorry, but just what does that mean?

Down the corridor of years, I've seen a lot of QB's who were, (off the field), just big ol' goofy kids. But when they put on their uni's and got out on the field, they were in their element.

So again, what does mature and grow mean for Coach McCarney? Do everything that I say, exactly as I say to do it?

I'll say this much.....how may passes has DW thrown and how many int's does he have?

gradumacated · September 13, 2014

Thompson was far more than Greer or McNulty, and continues to be underrated. He made plays when he had to, and led the team into game-tying or game-winning positions. I had confidence that when Thompson was on the field he could make the offense do something and move the ball - unlike Greer. Sure, Thompson had Brelan and Byrd but he still had to find them and give them the opportunities to succeed.

If Thompson were here, UNT would at least be 2-1 and may have played the Longhorns far closer.

I'm not going to assert that Williams will have the same effect, but I think he would lift the team far more than McNulty or Greer has, or will. Playing Williams in meaningless snaps doesn't tell us anything we don't already know about him. What I want to see is how he performs when the game is still in question and the pressure is up.

I didn't have confidence in Greer or McNulty after the UT game, it filckered only briefly in the SMU game, then was completely extinguished by halftime of the SMU game when out of EIGHT DRIVES UNT garnered only ONE first down. Drives get snuffed out, I realize, but still. Given the offensive line of UNT, and the WR and RB we have, it's inexcusable to go backwards more times then we go forwards on offense. And that's down to the poor QB play we're getting from Greer.

JRock · September 13, 2014

Thanks Brett. Great write up. Williams all the way.

H-towngreen · September 13, 2014

I'm sorry, but just what does that mean?

Down the corridor of years, I've seen a lot of QB's who were, (off the field), just big ol' goofy kids. But when they put on their uni's and got out on the field, they were in their element.

So again, what does mature and grow mean for Coach McCarney? Do everything that I say, exactly as I say to do it?

I'll say this much.....how may passes has DW thrown and how many int's does he have?

DW isn't DT who was here for what, 5 seasons. Dajon is 19 maybe 20. So what if he acts like it. As Mac has said, he was the most talent of all the qbs

gradumacated · September 13, 2014

I'm sorry, but just what does that mean?

Down the corridor of years, I've seen a lot of QB's who were, (off the field), just big ol' goofy kids. But when they put on their uni's and got out on the field, they were in their element.

So again, what does mature and grow mean for Coach McCarney? Do everything that I say, exactly as I say to do it?

I'll say this much.....how may passes has DW thrown and how many int's does he have?

This is what I wondered when DW was pretty much eliminated from the QB race during the spring when he came down with an ankle sprain. I was surprised he wasn't given more opportunities to come back and make a push. I won't be surprised if rather than play him, he ends up transferring at the end of the year. Character guys are important, I get that, but DW is a redshirt freshman - he can GROW into a leadership role, as all players do. Rare is the player who comes in as a freshman and immediately acts like a mature leader.

And more than throwing INTs - how many in-completions and missed wide-open receivers does he have, compared to Greer and McNulty?

If Mac is serious about making UNT a force in football and getting an excited fanbase who will regularly fill Apogee, he has to give the fans a better on-field product than the lousy one we have right now. The defense can't be expected to keep bailing the offense out, especially when after no more than five minutes they're back on the field and in bad field-position to boot.

Mean Green Matt · September 13, 2014

So he is the next Seneca Wallace.
DW is also only a RS freshman. If he plays well he could hold onto this job for the next 3.5 years.

3.75.

GOMG2013 · September 13, 2014

Mature and grow...what does that mean?

With the little details I have, the experience I have had with football over the years, and knowing some of the people involved, it translates to this.

This is an old school coaching staff with older coaches. They are in your face and do not cater to you.

When a kid is recruited, they are told all sorts of things. They are catered to, treated real nice and polite. Told they are the man and they are promised a lot. When they report, it is a totally different story and it is a big adjustment for some.

you go from being the man and being catered to, to being the low man on the totem pole, highly criticized, and being cussed out. Lots of players have issues with this change.

Dajon has the most talent. He knows it by some of his comments in the spring. Im sure he was told when he was recruited, this could be his team and would have a chance to play right away. He probably got his hopes up high when he didnt get redshirted and played against Idaho.

For some reason it didnt work out and the maturity issues came up. He may have expected the job to automatically be his by default. By the workout reports, he did not work hard and prepare. He expected the talent to overrule the off the field performance. For some programs, it does. Not this one. It got worse with nagging injuries. from my experience, you dont sit or pull yourself due to small injuries. Even if you are hurt, you try to go and let the coaches see you are not 100% and they make the call. Once you get the soft label, its hard to shake. You have to show that you are trying to get out there.

To summarize all this in macho man, sports lockerroom terms. If you are not being mature, you are acting like a lil !tch..

Hopefully dajon and the coaching staff is past this and the team can move forward.

UNTexas · September 13, 2014

"UNT doesnt have enough information to be sure that Williams is that player yet. Thats the problem."

Well, we know who isn't, right? Get Williams in there and get him comfortable with a game we surely win. Williams gives us the best chance to win.

Ben Gooding · September 13, 2014

Get DW in there and manipulate the offense to fit his skill set. If we still run the ball at 9 man fronts we will still lose, regardless of who is at QB. Mold the O to this mans skill set and we'll have something special here for the next 3.75 years. GMG!

Edited September 13, 2014 by Ben Gooding

NT80 · September 13, 2014

"We're trying to find the best guy at all positions right now to have the best chance of winning", UNT coach Dan McCarney said. "Williams has the most talent of all the quarterbacks. We are going to be very thorough and put the best guys on the field to give us the best chance to win."

Vito: UNT doesn't have enough information to be sure that Williams if they player yet.

It sounds to me that Mac just answered that himself..."Williams has the most talent..."

There are game players and there are practice players. We need game players. Try Williams, then I'd try Means next before going back to Greer or McNulty. The time to win is now!

Edited September 13, 2014 by NT80

Travis · September 13, 2014

There seems to be a serious lack of chemistry with Greer and mcnulty and the rest of the team.

The biggest thing I saw with DW in there was a better connection between him and the others.

Eastwood Eagle · September 13, 2014

In re: leadership.

I feel that Mac wants the QB to lead with their voice. However, it appears that, if given the opportunity, DW could lead by example. I'm willing to bet when he came in late the other night, it provided a spark for the team. This type of leadership, leading by example, is similar to Michael Young. He wouldn't yell/get people fired up. Instead, he would quietly go about his business on the field and lead by example. Both types of leadership work. Let DW get a chance to prove himself on the field to his teammates and lead by example.

gradumacated · September 13, 2014

There seems to be a serious lack of chemistry with Greer and mcnulty and the rest of the team.
The biggest thing I saw with DW in there was a better connection between him and the others.

Exactly. Greer and McNulty miss wide-open receivers; Williams hits them. It seems basic enough to me that the answer is staring them right in the face.

gradumacated · September 13, 2014

In re: leadership.

I feel that Mac wants the QB to lead with their voice. However, it appears that, if given the opportunity, DW could lead by example. I'm willing to bet when he came in late the other night, it provided a spark for the team. This type of leadership, leading by example, is similar to Michael Young. He wouldn't yell/get people fired up. Instead, he would quietly go about his business on the field and lead by example. Both types of leadership work. Let DW get a chance to prove himself on the field to his teammates and lead by example.

It's also hard to be seen as a leader by the rest of the team when you're buried on the depth chart. Put him in, and let him grow into the leadership role Mac craves. DT did the same thing - it wasn't until last year that he was definitively the leader of the offense.

NM Green · September 13, 2014

Swagger. I feel he also puts some fear in the defense - am I going to run, pass, dump it off, throw deep - you figure it out if you can. I cannot remember when UNT had this type of QB. I'll take a winning statue but from a program development point of view you have to keep moving forward or you are moving back.

Let's see if this guy has the goods. I have always felt he was Mac's Seneca Wallace but he planned on him getting in much later in his career.

GMG

eulessismore · September 13, 2014

Well, the manager in our office mentioned this week how much improved UTEP is this year over last (as is La Tech, obviously). Right now, Indiana and FIU are looking good over supposedly superior competition. Other than the next home game, nothing gets easier. The Nicholls State game just got a whole lot more important. Either we see the coaching staff use it to see what our "most talented players" can do, or we'll know we're in for a long season, followed by a very long offseason.