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Mean Green Fall Scrimmage #1 in Review


Harry

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We got there early so we could fertilize and de-ant our tailgating spot. 

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Overcast and cool morning.  Most likely one of the most comfortable scrimmages I have ever watched.  Sparse crowd was most likely due to the weather or change of start time.  Offense in green, defense in white.  1's vs 1's, 2's vs. 2's and mixmatch.  QB's with red jerseys and no contact.  Did not see Wren Baker, but did see RV in the end zone.  Front doors of stadium were closed so you had to walk around to the athletic center and enter across the bridge.

One thing that is totally different with Littrell is his itunes songlist is booming over the stadium speakers non-stop. You hear it in the parking lot.  When I say loud I mean like have to speak in the guy's ear next to you loud. He seems to like rap but also mixes in some country and classic rock.  My favorite song of the day was AC/DC Back in Black, but I have to admit I was tapping my leg to some of the rap and hip hop as well.  The only time they turn it down is when there is a special teams play, ie like a field goal or extra point.  I found that odd, you would think you want it to be loud during that type of play.

I am going to say overall, I really like the rhythm of Littrell's practices and scrimmage.  Very upbeat and constantly moving.  There is not a lot of debate or arguing over referee calls etc.  They keep the chains moving.  He personally is starting to show a tad bit more personality as opposed to the spring where he pretty much delegated everything to the assistants.  I saw him high fiving guys after plays and yelling a little bit today.

The best way I think I can recap everything is on a player by player basis.  I was honestly more focused on the offense today.   I am going to go through the roster and comment on everyone I can remember anything on.  So here it goes:

#1 WR Turner Smiley -- Decent day, he had one drop I saw he should have had on a sideline out pattern but he to me runs the best routes and has the best hands on the team.  He is sort of the best all around WR we have at this time in my opinion.  A shame we won't have him for SMU.  That will be a big loss.

#2 WR O'Keeron Rutherford -- Clearly the tallest guy out there, still fairly lean but looks like he has put on a little more size.  Smooth and fluid.  I really like this kid and can't wait to see what he can produce this season. 

#3 WR Tee Goree --  I was there for most (not all) of the scrimmage and this didn't seem to be his best day.  Too many drops.  Again it was just one day but not his best work.

#4 RB Anthony Wyche -- WOW -- Maybe the MVP of the offense?  He had one Sportcenter run where he bowled over a defender and wheeled his way to the end zone on like a 40-yard TD run.  Good speed, moves.  The entire green offensive sideline came off the bench to congratulate him.  Most of what I saw were runs, I would like to see him catch more passes.  Definitely a player that will help us THIS season.

#5 LB Mylam Peters -- Playing LB on the outside.  Made a few decent plays.  Interesting body, very big torso with kind of lean legs.  Seems to be better against the run as opposed to pass protection.  Saw a lot of playing time.

#5 QB Alec Morris - Great day.  Looked 10 times more poised than in the spring game.  Great arm, made some needle through the haystack sort of pass completions.  Looks like a leader out there.  I kept thinking to myself, "that is a throw McNulty could never make.."  Get excited folks.  This guy is the real deal, he's the best package at QB we have probably ever had.  My only teenie weenie criticism  of today, and I have noticed this with him before -- he seems to sit in the pocket a tad too long at times.  Wearing a red jersey makes this seem like less of an issue.  With our o-line issues, and the fact I saw MANY 4-receiver sets with a back in  the backfield, it concerns me.  I don't want to understate though, this guy can FLAT OUT PLAY!

#6 QB Mason Fine - fun, fun, fun player to watch.  Tiny out there but very confident and mobile.  Rocket arm and very quick release.  Makes mostly good decisions with the ball.  He had one interception that was a bad decision but I liked the fact that Littrell ran him right back out there.  It seemed he and O'Hara were splitting time with the two's.  He's also pretty quick of foot as he had some decent looking runs.  My hope is we can redshirt him as physically he needs another year in the weight room but I could see him playing this year if required.

#7 DE Jareid Combs -- didn't catch too much of him, but love his size and speed off of the edge.  One guy who looks the part of a D-I defensive lineman.

#8 WR Rico Bussy - Only saw one play of his, unfortunately it was a drop.  Does have good speed and seems to run good routes. 

#15 TE Caleb Chumley - was not dressed out but was not wearing a brace as I could see it.   If injured it seems to be minor.  He casts a long shadow with his height and size on the sidelines.  Hope we can make it fit into the program in some way.

#17 LB Courtney Finney -- He had an interception and made a very nice read/move to the ball.  He looks small out there but he has really good quickness and an eye for the ball.  I could see him being a real surprise this year after a rough 1st season as a juco transfer.

#18 Devin O'Hara - Every bit of 6-5 but fairly lean.  Nice arm, not Morris nice but better than McNulty by a lot.  Graham Harrell pulled him after one bad decision but put him back in pretty quickly after.  He has a nice zip to his ball and seems to be fairly comfortable with the offense.  To me, he is not as good a runner as Morris or Fine and I think he would limit us in the offense to some degree from that perspective.  Clearly the #2 guy and getting the most reps other than Morris.  A nice addition, if only from an insurance perspective.

#19 QB Quinn Shanbour -- was not wearing pads and did not play.

#23 DB Kishawn McClain -- had the biggest hit of the day on a receiver.  Just slammed the receiver a split second after he caught it.  Crowd went wild.

#25 RB Andrew Tucker -- had a couple of nice runs.  I see him filling a nice jack of all trades type of role this season.  He has some ability.

#29 WIlly Ivery -- Had a huge showing today with some very impressive and long runs.  Guy is just extremely talented and has some amazing field vision.  Harrell HAS to figure out a way to get this guy the ball at least 7-8 times a game.   On the down side, his punt returns while good were marred by fumbles.

SIDE NOTE - - One thing I noticed that there were a fair amount of turnovers.  Instead of the Mac regime banishment to eternal hell fire, I sensed more of a "That sucks but get back out there and try not to do it again" attitude.  It will be interesting to see how it plays out this season.  Littrell seems to value the effort more than the error.  I could see this team making more mistakes but also making more plays.

#30 Kicker Trevor Moore -- Had some hits and misses.  Clearly he is the field goal kicker for this team and I am glad to have him.  However, the book on him seems to be great accuracy and not great power.  He missed a few mid range FG's he should have made. 

On the other hand, Our punter #84 Eric Keena on the other hand was killing it with both power and precision.  If Keena keeps playing like this he may end up getting some NFL looks.  He is that good.  I thought he had a 60-yarder out there today and there wasn't much wind.  Keena is a VALUABLE weapon for this team.

#32 LB Fred Scott made a nice hit on a tight end across the middle play that drew some sidelines praise.

#42 LB Corey Mann -- reminds me of Corey Pertile.  Lean, very quick.  A little on the small side which his why he didn't have more offers.  Good nose for the ball.  He is going to play at minimum on special teams this year.

#50 LB LaDarrius "Hambone" Hamilton -- made a few plays, seemed active.  Playing mostly with the 2's.

#53 - OL TJ Henson - we got a good one here.  He had the best pancake block I have seen in awhile on a pull from the right side, just destroyed a linebacker.  He's better than I had hoped.  Good feet, good size.  Could be a REAL nice surprise this season at a position of need.

#58 OL Wylie Reinhardt -- move from TE to OL.  Listed at 265 - my guess is he is more about 275, 280.  Looks more like a lineman.  Gotta keep him eating.

#59 O-Tackle Trey Keenan -- Listed at 272 and may be less by the time the season starts with all this heat.  Probably our best offensive tackle in terms of defending the rush.  Has good quickness and hands.  Will be interesting to see how he plays.

#64 Center Sam Rice -- had a battle going on with Bryce English for much of the day.  I though Sam won.  Also, his snapping seemed to be a bit crisper although there were a few low ones.  It could take a few games, but he is going to be a very good center.

#88 Jason Pirtle -- has a nice long TD catch from QB Fine after wrestling the ball away from a defender.  Was nice to see these two hook up again. 

#86 Kevin Dillman -- wore a knee brace on the sidlelines but did not appear to be anything serious. 

THE END

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Great review.  I'm sure it would be at least a "+20" if we were allowed to vote.  Love to see the depth at RB--the bad part is that every single one you mentioned is a junior, and will be exhausting eligibility at the same time.  I'd sure love a year of Wyche and Ivery after Wilson graduates.

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52 minutes ago, Harry said:

#4 RB Anthony Wyche -- WOW -- Maybe the MVP of the offense?  He had one Sportcenter run where he bowled over a defender and wheeled his way to the end zone on like a 40-yard TD run.  Good speed, moves.  The entire green offensive sideline came off the bench to congratulate him.  Most of what I saw were runs, I would like to see him catch more passes.  Definitely a player that will help us THIS season.

And for two more years after that.  Great that at least some of the JUCOs seem to be panning out.  

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Khan is a prototypical slot WR that fits the air raid perfectly. Excited to hear about him excelling. 

Young has all the tools. It was well beyond obvious last year at smug when as a true freshman he was giving their OL fits until he kind of gassed out. I can only imagine that will improve. 

And it is damn refreshing hearing about Bussey being as advertised. We have all been kind of waiting on Goree to maturate into something special. Bussey will bring competition into that position group and possibly expedite Goree into relevance. 

Good write up, UNT MG. 

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3 hours ago, Harry said:

Great detailed report UNT MG!  Like seeing different perspectives.  Much obliged to you for you doing that.

Thanks to both for the detail. Qb,Qb we finally has some talent! That will win us games instead one that makes the fewest mistakes? Morris talent in this system could easily see him in top four of C- USA. Little dude... Reshirt him put on 20lbs then you got something for an additional 4 years! Wow how the Qb conversation has changed in a season! "F" potential! GMG 

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5 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

I really liked the speed of the practice there was no screwing around the offense we working on precision, something I may have never seen before at North Texas.

Not a surprise to read about precision.

I read a great article about Leach's offense a couple years ago.  If I remember right, a Tech player said you could scribble the entirety of the offense out on a napkin.  It relies more on technique and execution, rather than deception or complexity.

Littrell's offense is probably in the same vein.

 

@Ben Gooding I was asking.  Is Crabtree your answer?

Edited by greenminer
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4 hours ago, greenminer said:

Not a surprise to read about precision.

I read a great article about Leach's offense a couple years ago.  If I remember right, a Tech player said you could scribble the entirety of the offense out on a napkin.  It relies more on technique and execution, rather than deception or complexity.

Littrell's offense is probably in the same vein.

 

@Ben Gooding I was asking.  Is Crabtree your answer?

Always cracks me up seeing the opposing coaches have these massive playsheets and Leach would have a note card lol. 

Good thing about this offense is you basically have 2 OC's at any given point. Harrell calls the play, and Morris can change the route combination with a simple hand signal at any time depending on what the defense is showing pre-snap. 

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8 hours ago, GreenFlag said:

My observation:

RV - Fat, somewhat stiff. Looks like he needs some agility and flexibility training. Questionable fashion sense but understandable considering his build. Nice stache. 

Thanks for noticing my presence, guys! I'm a gamer an will show up!

200.gif

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On 8/14/2016 at 1:15 AM, UNT Mean Green said:

...

Hamilton - what a monster freshman! Huge kid who will light you up. We don't have them look this good normally.

The more I see, hear about this guy, the more I think we may have something special here.

I poo-poo'd him a little bit when he first committed because he was like a man among boys on his highlight tape due to coming from a small school.
I worried that he would be a little slow and might fold due to the competition being his size now.  He would no-longer dominate like he had been.

Starting to think I was wrong.   He may take a redshirt this year, and that will be fine.  Expecting big things from this fella by 2018 & beyond.

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Morris should definitely be our MVP.  But, he will need protection and some talented receivers and a good line to make a wave in the Conference.  The #1 quarterback in the conference should be Nick Mullens but I believe that Morris has that level of talent.  I just hope that he can shake the rust off.  If Littrell and Harrell believe in him, so do I.

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