A look back at the key contributors from UNT’s 2014 signing class

[Harry]

National signing day is just around the corner and with it a key opportunity for UNT.

The Mean Green are hoping to add a few key players who could help them bounce back from a 4-8 campaign and return to the form they showed while finishing 9-4 in 2013.

Before we turn the page to 2015, here’s a look back at five key players UNT added a year ago who ended up contributing last season and how they will fit in next fall.

Trevor Moore, kicker, Edmond (Oklahoma) North

UNT elected to sign a kicker to help upgrade its special teams last season and saw the decision pay off when Moore excelled throughout his first season with the Mean Green. Moore hit 15 of his 17 field goals and all 37 of his extra points. One of the few misses Moore had on the year was from 49 yards out and fell just short. UNT couldn’t have asked for a better performance from a freshman kicker. Moore was an honorable mention All-C-USA selection and appears to be well on his way to a standout career at UNT.

Read more: http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/2014-signing-class-review.html/

[untjim1995]

So 2014 key contributor list of freshmen was led by a kicker (great kid, but never a good sign if he is the best impact palyer from your class) and the 5th best was a juco QB that couldn't keep the job after 3 games? No wonder we sucked so bad this year...

Edited January 12, 2015 by untjim1995

[Harry]

A lot of guys redshirted who could have helped us last year. So it is still too early to tell.

[oldguystudent]

Greer threw for 171 yards on the season

Ouch.

[meangreendork]

Yeah, but Wilson? Wilson gives me the sort of feeling Chancellor did in his first year. That "this kid is gonna be something special" feeling. Wilson changes direction very quickly and his straight-line speed is great. Right now, his vision needs a bit of work, but once he gets that solid, he's gonna be the sort to turn the tide of a game on a single run.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Yeah, but Wilson? Wilson gives me the sort of feeling Chancellor did in his first year. That "this kid is gonna be something special" feeling. Wilson changes direction very quickly and his straight-line speed is great. Right now, his vision needs a bit of work, but once he gets that solid, he's gonna be the sort to turn the tide of a game on a single run.

He's gonna be running around behind a re-tooled OL. Lots of good-looking pieces fitting in (Epps, Rice, Miles, Rentfro & returning-starter Kirby), but they are still variables nonetheless.

[FirefightnRick]

A lot of guys redshirted who could have helped us last year. So it is still too early to tell.

You mean freshmen like Nick Orr or Desmond White? Oops, wrong team that has a history of playing the best player regardless of their classification.

My point? If we had a 2014 freshmen that will contribute and be a difference maker in 2015 we would have seen them already. At least I hope so. I hope we didnt just cash it in, wasting the best O line we had in years and a chance to cement a fanbase that showed up for the bowl game just to save for some imaginary great year down the road?

Rick

[forevereagle]

You mean freshmen like Nick Orr or Desmond White? Oops, wrong team that has a history of playing the best player regardless of their classification.

My point? If we had a 2014 freshmen that will contribute and be a difference maker in 2015 we would have seen them already. At least I hope so. I hope we didnt just cash it in, wasting the best O line we had in years and a chance to cement a fanbase that showed up for the bowl game just to save for some imaginary great year down the road?

Rick

Would we? If a freshman came in and needed a year to learn the playbook, get bigger, or whatever else, they could still help next season. They may have also sat behind a senior that was better. Another year of coaching could make them better. Not sure how you can discount that many players because they got a redshirt season.

[greenminer]

It was always in the back of my mind that Mac sacrificed 2014, regarding red-shirting players that could play right away.

It's a slippery slope: you want to build for the future, but at the cost of what? His credibility took a step back for many fans, and he had some incredible seniors in our trenches.

[FirefightnRick]

Would we? If a freshman came in and needed a year to learn the playbook, get bigger, or whatever else, they could still help next season. They may have also sat behind a senior that was better. Another year of coaching could make them better. Not sure how you can discount that many players because they got a redshirt season.

It's a guess on my part as a fan. But it's a guess I base on this staff's ability to evaluate talent in the past and on our overall history. You can disagree or not but I stand by what I said. If there had been a freshman who could have done better at getting pressure on the QB, or cover better, or block better, or tackle better than what he had playing this past season on a 4-9 team then they should have been on the field. They weren't. And now, the very fact that we are having to go heavier on JUCO's gives me reason to think this as well.

Rick

[GrandGreen]

There is no way that Mac would red shirt a bunch of players that could have helped in a dismal season unless there were other issues involved. There were not that many redshirts to begin with. I really don't understand if those highly touted wide receiver were ready, why they would not have been played on what turned to turned out to be a very weak receiving corp.

I do think Means will definitely get a shot at QB, but I don't think overall that next year's players coming off redshirt seasons appear to look any better than average.

[forevereagle]

Sometimes giving a player a redshirt season gives them a chance to develop and learn how the college game is different and faster. Sometimes it is about planning for the program in the future and having them contribute when they are more prepared. Other times, it may be about getting them a chance to get used to college life and get a good academic footing. It is almost always about giving the player a better chance for success. Just because we had a bad year doesn't mean that any of these guys would have been able to actually make enough difference to improve the wins and losses. Maybe they would have made a couple of games closer, but not change the outcome. Then it was a wasted season for that player and one less year of eligibility.

I am just not willing to write off half of a class because the staff decided to give them an extra year for any number of reasons that we are completely unaware of.

[Travis Scott]

our receivers had no one to throw to them so burning a redshirt on a couple of freshman receivers would have been non-productive IMO.

[akriesman]

It was always in the back of my mind that Mac sacrificed 2014, regarding red-shirting players that could play right away.

It's a slippery slope: you want to build for the future, but at the cost of what? His credibility took a step back for many fans, and he had some incredible seniors in our trenches.

I seem to remember Dickey doing this prior to his 4th or 5th season. And, he was even public about it on a radio interview that I remember hearing. The end result was about 3 good seasons and then the bottom fell out of the program for many years.

I am NOT a fan of stacking your team for one or two breakout seasons (breakout by UNT standards).

Plain and simple, we are underperforming when it comes to recruiting for a school of our size and facilities. We may not consistently belong in the top half of FBS. But, we don't belong in the bottom 10 or 20 schools either, which is where we are consistently ranked when it comes to recruiting.

There is somebody out their that will look at our enrollment, facilities, potential and decide that they can sell this program instead of talking about the difficulties. I really believe that even without my green glasses on.

[UNT90]

No need to burn receivers Redshirts when you don't have a QB on the roster who can get them the ball.

Lets hope Smith changes that. Next season really does depend on Smith being the real deal. Pretty scary.

[GOMG2013]

No need to burn receivers Redshirts when you don't have a QB on the roster who can get them the ball.

Lets hope Smith changes that. Next season really does depend on Smith being the real deal. Pretty scary.

I think a lot of next season and the following season rides on this juco class. That being said, I can see McNulty starting the season like Vito posted in his early 2015 prediction article.

Im thinking worst case senario...how much upside does McNulty have if he is the starter? Can he at least give us average D1 QB play? its not a lot to ask.

[UNT90]

No, he can't, and has demonstrated such on the field. There is a reason Mac went to DW first.

With 7 road games including a 3, 2, 2, likely set up for those road games, Smith is going to have to be the steal of the recruiting season in CUSA for bowl eligibility to be obtained.

[untjim1995]

I think a lot of next season and the following season rides on this juco class. That being said, I can see McNulty starting the season like Vito posted in his early 2015 prediction article.

Im thinking worst case senario...how much upside does McNulty have if he is the starter? Can he at least give us average D1 QB play? its not a lot to ask.

McNulty will start here--he is DMac's guy. He trust MiniMac, loves his busdriver mentality, and most importantly, doesn't have any trust in anyone else on the roster to run his offense. There is absolutely no question that Dajon Williams had the most potential to grow into a great QB, but his inabilities to grasp the responsibiltiy was a mortal sin in Mac's eyes. That really is too bad, because if there was ever a season that we as fans could've handled losing out but seeing DW gain valuable experience, this past year was it. Instead, we got Derek Thompson 2.0, which by the way, will be the big promotion of McNulty as we move into the spring, summer, and fall--"He is just like Derek, who, of course, was the HoD Bowl MVP, as a Senior..." , which just ignores the reality that Derek Thompson 1.0 was better than version 2.0 ever has been or will be. The original version had an awesome defense and awesome special teams to work with, which version 2.0 doesn't have, but needs even more than 1.0 did.

This juco QB will be Minimac's backup--he will get groomed for next season's bus driver du jour. Dajon Williams will transfer to a FCS school if he wants to play football still. Greer will transfer to a Division 2 or 3 school or just finish up his degree and move on, knowing he will never get consideration for this job again. The others are competing to become Mac's Bus Driver in 2017--assuming that the new juco QB can play in Mac's system.

We will win 3-4 games next year (Portland State + 2 or 3 wins over CUSA teams and SMU). We literally could go 1-11, but Mac is here for two years after this, bare minimum. This upcoming season, for fans, just needs to be about seeing the lines get experience and strength, as well as to see a running back emerge as the main guy (J. Wilson looks the part right now). To me, the absolute earliest that we can hope to get back to .500 or better is 2016 at the earliest. It took Mac two years to build up Dodge's team into a winner, so I suspect it will take at least that much to build this thing back up into a winner again, especially with Version 2.0 as the QB this season. In all honesty, progress for me will be to get to 4 wins, two of which would be over freaking UTSA and UTEP here. Right now, we are literally giving kids we should try to compete for in recruiting every reason to go to UTSA, Texas State, UTEP, etc...when we cannot beat the two Texas public CUSA teams (Texas State uses that against us, too, even though they are in the SBC). So beating UTEP and UTSA would be proof we are at least progressing in the right direction. SMU will be horrible, as well, so we should be able to compete with them, even if its in Dallas as our "alternative" home game. Really, if SMU beats us early in the season, with what little talent they have on their roster right now, I would argue that we may not win more than 2 games all year--that's a very real possibility. To me, Portland State and SMU represent our two most likely wins next year.

[Mean Green 93-98]

McNulty will start here--he is DMac's guy.

I don't think so. I don't believe Smith would have come if he didn't receive assurance from the coaches that he wouldn't at least be given a legitimate opportunity to compete for the starting position.

And remember that last year, McNulty was Coach Mac's last resort. The other two were named starters and could have kept McNulty off the field if they had not lost their starting jobs by virtue of terrible on-field play in one case, and enough terrible on-field play combined with insufficient preparation and various other issues in the other case. If McNulty was Coach Mac's "guy," why not name him the starter for Texas? Or at least let somebody else take the beating there, and then name him starter for LaTech or Nicholls State?

Whatever you say about Coach Mac, he wants to win, and he is not intentionally going to put players on the field who give us less of a chance to win. If McNulty is the starter next year, it will be because no one else has earned it, at least not in Coach Mac's/Chico's eyes.

[GOMG2013]

No, he can't, and has demonstrated such on the field. There is a reason Mac went to DW first.

With 7 road games including a 3, 2, 2, likely set up for those road games, Smith is going to have to be the steal of the recruiting season in CUSA for bowl eligibility to be obtained.

Ok, I saw a few games in 2012 and DT looked horrible. Not even a D1 QB. Was 2014 McNulty any worse than 2012 DT? I understand DT had a stronger arm, but we rarely used it. No one would have predicted DTs 2013 season based on 2012. Im just asking for average...6-6...we really were a decent defense...average defense away from being 6-6 last year. An average defense gets us the usm and utsa wins.

Hopefully those juco additions can get our defense back to where we can slow down sorry to average cusa teams and get average QB play against those same average cusa teams.

[untjim1995]

I don't think so. I don't believe Smith would have come if he didn't receive assurance from the coaches that he wouldn't at least be given a legitimate opportunity to compete for the starting position.

And remember that last year, McNulty was Coach Mac's last resort. The other two were named starters and could have kept McNulty off the field if they had not lost their starting jobs by virtue of terrible on-field play in one case, and enough terrible on-field play combined with insufficient preparation and various other issues in the other case. If McNulty was Coach Mac's "guy," why not name him the starter for Texas? Or at least let somebody else take the beating there, and then name him starter for LaTech or Nicholls State?

Whatever you say about Coach Mac, he wants to win, and he is not intentionally going to put players on the field who give us less of a chance to win. If McNulty is the starter next year, it will be because no one else has earned it, at least not in Coach Mac's/Chico's eyes.

I agree with your paragraph completely--but I think McNulty will win that job because he will drive Mac's bus better than anyone else, due to having Mac's trust. He tried everyone else on the roster to be the bus driver for his offense last year, but finally settled on Minimac for the final 7 games of the season, then told everyone at the end of the season that McNulty was gonna be the leader int he clubhouse for being the starter in 2015.

McNulty is who McCarney wants as his QB--responsible, nice, understanding, etc...he's basically the exact opposite of Greer and DW.

[Aldo]

...he's basically the exact opposite of Greer and DW.

Greer isn't "nice"?

[untjim1995]

Greer isn't "nice"?

only to the other team...

[GOMG2013]

only to the other team...

Stop.

Ok, I know im reaching, but what would the outcome have been had McNulty been the starter outright. Named starter after the spring and gotten all the reps. Could we have won usm,

possibly la tech? Remember Greer missed kidsy twice. Both WIDE open for TDs and the defense balled at the start of the la tech game. It would have at least been a lot closer.