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1) Great event, great turnout. Well planned clearly and smoothly run. 2) $400 for the bowl helmets priced a guy like me (with twins on the way) out. A great memento though for those with the spare cash 3) anthony Wallace looks like a kid who could step in and step up. He has the build. Mac spoke highly of him. 4) The QB race is WIDE OPEN. Mac made a point to mention that DW wasn't showing the attitude they wanted to see. That's a real shame to me...flashbacks of the Byerly situation where all the tools are there. Mac spoke as if he didn't see Greer as an insurance policy but rather as a real candidate to take the reins. Not surprisingly he laid out his prerequisites for being our starter and said "bus driver" without saying "bus driver". 5) I asked point blank who some names were that they saw stepping in to fill the shoes of the graduated D-linemen and the answer was pretty vague. I attribute a good deal of this to the DL coach being new and a lot also to there really being no clear cut leaders to step in. Mac did say that he wants a rotation of 8-10 guys ("like I had at Florida when we won a national title"). One interesting tidbit is that the new DL coach Kelvin Patrick (sp?) said that this year's guys would be more athletic. 6) All you fashionistas will appreciate this one. RV said the SOW is going to stay so no more "North Texas" on the side. Said we'd see some tweaks but that the green and white jerseys would stand pat. 7) These coaches are eager to get out there on the field NOW. Mac said multiple times that they're preparing to win a ball game in Austin and not just show up. Coach Patrick said "I love to hunt and I plan to do some hunting in Austin". 8) Whoopin SMU's ass was mentioned several times. Both RV and Mac mentioned how they have looked down their noses at us. RV said they tried to get the game moved to the Cotton Bowl and he said no way because he wants them to have to face our crowd. 9) Mac clearly still is pissed that we've never sold out Apogee. I agree. 10) Spring ball is open and Mac encouraged people to come get a peek. Also, he warned the QB's in attendance that they would be live during practice and that they were gonna get lit up. That's al, I can think of off the top of my head.

Well I am biased but this is Bo's dad. He came from a 4A school in south Texas. When you are 6'5" and 320lbs playing in 4A it is not hard to be the biggest man on the field. He was running a 5.1-5.2 - 40 in March at 315 lbs. Bo has a very large frame, long arms and big hands that the coaches loved and can put their kind of muscle on. And he is just 17 years old right now. He had several offers from smaller schools but after a visit in late November by happenstance (A family friend knows Coach Canales and we were up here for Thanksgiving and just popped in to watch the team practice for the Bowl game), he loved UNT and decided this is where he wanted to go. His mom's family (a lot of them) live within 30 miles of Denton so there will be many Mean Green season ticket holders coming from the area and many from down south. Not often a kid passes scholarship offers to become a preferred walk on but we all just felt this was where he needed to be. Bo is so pumped we can't keep him out of the gym. He is doing cardio so he can be in the best shape he can be in July. For a big lineman to "want" to do cardio, he must be pumped! Go Mean Green!!!!!

Remember the "Jump to Conclusion" game from the movie Office Space? This idea easily tops that as the worst idea ever.

Sounds like some HS coaches who think they have players who can play on our level actually have guys who can play on SFA's/Lamar's level, and they're butthurt that we're not calling back about them.

The new president needs to have a 'fatherly chat' with the communications dept. at UNT and with Villareal. I have a license to do North Texas products, but have not gotten much help. I cannot even get the athletic dept. to help me get my stuff into the U Store. As a member of the Mean Green Club and football and basketball season ticket holder, you would think that I might get some consideration. I am the one who created the Eagle Eye and Battle Flag yard signs.

Very early, I know, but now that the 2014 signing day is now behind us, 2015 recruiting is here with an upcoming junior day on Saturday. If Chumley, Graham, and Jackson all do go through with the grayshirts and we don't sign anyone late then that will put us at 77 projected scholarship players for next season. With 17 seniors, plus the 8 open scholarship spots, we should be able to sign the class max of 25 players. Not to mention kids inevitably will transfer or quit, although some scholarships may be filled by walkons. Regardless, we should be able to sign 25. Here's a position-by-position breakdown of how many scholarship seniors we are projected to have and how many scholarship non seniors will be on the roster next year. Then how many we may sign in the 2015 class. QB - Seniors: 0 - non Seniors: 4 Projected 2015 signees: 1 With 4 non Senior qbs on the roster, we may be able to get away with signing 0. Chumley could be our qb signee since he was told he will get a shot there, although there is a notable chance that he may get moved to tight end or elsewhere at some point. For now I'm counting Chumley as our 2015 qb signee. If I remember correctly, Mac said he doesn't like more than 4 scholly qbs. If one of our guys transfers and qb is not in the cards for Chumley, then we may sign another qb. If not, there's a chance we don't and just stick with Chumley and look towards making qb a priority in 2016. RB - Seniors: 1 - non Seniors: 5 - Projected 2015 signees: 1 Another position where we could get away with not signing any. The skill players we signed in the 2014 class will allow us to be very picky with skill players in 2015. I would still be surprised if we didn't sign 1 back. Could just be a "best available player" type recruitment where there is a good back that we'd have a chance at getting, or an "athlete." Telling a kid you're only taking him at running back for the class is a nice sales pitch. WR - Seniors: 2 - non Seniors: 8 Projected 2015 signees: 2 Once again, we should be able to be very picky with our receiver recruiting in 2015 after taking 4 in 2014, and some pretty good ones at that. Again, maybe a best player available type signing at receiver. Or we could put all our eggs in a few baskets and hope we get those kids, knowing that we'll be okay even if we don't get them. Tight End - Seniors:1 - non Seniors:4 Projected 2015 signees:1 I think we sign a tight end this class and Caleb Chumley could end up there as well. We will only lose one senior tight end, but he is used more like a fullback in our offense and lines up more in the backfield than on the LOS (Tanner Smith). While we have 4 non senior tight ends, 3 will be juniors next year so bringing in a guy will be important. Then we won't have to replace all 3 at once with new guys. Might see us target a guy like Wylie Reinhardt/Andrew Power, since Mac likes to have those "6th lineman" type tight ends to be a road grader in the run game. OL - Seniors: 5 - non Seniors: 9 Projected signees: 5 Here's where the focus will likely be on offensive player recruiting. Losing 5 scholarship guys including 3 four-year starters. Here's our best bet at JUCO guys as well. Could be something like 2 JUCO guys and 3 high school guys. Could even be 3 JUCO/3 high school or 2 JUCO/4 high school guys. Getting 1 tackle and 1 interior lineman from a JUCO is very possible. At least to provide depth. These new guys plus our OL coach here who is developing the young guys already on the roster quite well should make the replacement of those o-linemen as smooth as you could ask. Projected offensive signees: 10 Current 2015 offensive offers to my knowledge:

In talking with my source, He is very impressed with Syd Moore . The transfer LB from Oregon is very much the "Real Deal".

Please, no.

DT - seniors: 1 - non seniors: 6 Projected 2015 signees: 3 One of the concerns because we have seen only two of our current d-tackles play, and have only one at or above 300 lbs. Two guys here who could play the nose/1-technique would help out our depth there substantially. We could sign just 2 and sign a big defensive end who would be likely to gain enough weight to move inside and play the 3-technique. Grayshirt Shaq Jackson counts here. DE - Seniors: 2 - non Seniors: 4 Projected 2015 signees: 3 Another likely priority in the recruiting class. Not a lot of d-linemen signed the last two classes so we will likely fill up in 2015. With potentially two senior starters at end, this is a position where getting a JUCO is a very much a possibility. We could get 4 ends, can't see any less than 2. I would say 6 total d-linemen and maybe a tweener or two who could play end or tackle. Although we could use some size to stay at defensive end as well. Grayshirt Jon Graham is counted here, but could move inside if he adds weight during his grayshirt and maybe a redshirt year as well. LB - Seniors: 1 - non Seniors: 9 Projected 2015 signees: 2 Interesting position. We will only have one senior, and return only one starter. However, we will only have two true middle linebackers when this class gets to campus in 2015 and they will be a then-Senior (Anthony Wallace) and a then-Junior (Fred Scott). Coach Mac has loved signing these speed guys at outside linebacker and it's working quite well, but we could use another thumper in the middle to develop under Wallace and Scott. Could potentially see us signing 3 guys here if the coaches have a shot at getting a good JUCO guy. Keep in mind we have 4 rising junior LBs , so they will all be leaving at once which means taking more than just 1 LB to account for losing Akunne. CB - Seniors:1 - non Seniors:5 Projected 2015 signees: 2 One of the strengths on the team last year and likely this year. The coaches have made getting solid cornerbacks a priority in recruiting, and we have already offered 3 for 2015. Whitfield has settled into the nickel role very nicely, and getting a guy to groom into that role behind Whitfield for a year before he graduates would be a nice addition in this class. Also could use a good open field tackler like Buyers to have on the far side of the field, with 2014 signee Andrew Jones likely to play a lot on the short side . Could potentially sign 3 guys here. Safety - Seniors:2 - non Seniors: 4 Projected 2015 signees: 3 Another interesting position to watch. An outside shot at looking at a JUCO guy here, just by virtue of the possibility that both starting safeties might be seniors. Not to mention we might only return one strong safety in 2015 in Shilleci. Should be fun to watch the young guys play here this year, including a healthy Warner. I think there's a good chance we end up signing 5 defensive backs total, since we have the spots and maybe an "athlete" type player would fit best in the secondary. Athlete Projected 2015 signees: 1 Coach Mac, like many coaches, likes the idea of bringing guys in and seeing where they fit best. These athletes could end up being the running back for the class, 2nd or 3rd receiver in this class, the 5th or 6th db in the class, or anywhere depending on what type of athlete he is. I kind of accounted for an "athlete" ending up at various positions in my projections like RB or WR, so that's why I'm saying just 1 here. With up to 27 or 26 spots and just 17 departing seniors, we have room to take one, two, or a few athletes. Projected defensive signees: 13 Athletes: 1 Total: 24 SN: However many spots we don't use in our 25 cap for 2015, we will be able to add to our 2016 cap of 25. As long as at least that many players (signees in excess of 25) enroll at midterm. Current 2015 offers to my knowledge:

...with our brandings and logos they'd prefer to have for their UNT caps or headgear.... Yesterday.........I called and spoke with one of the reps at Captivating Headgear, ie, the supplier of college caps at Lids, Walmart, Loves, Academy, etc, and told him I'd been at my local Loves off I-20 and Bankhead Hwy yesterday and could not find and usually can never find a North Texas Mean Green baseball cap or as they call them...headgear. In fact, I told him on the rare occasion that I could find one that I'd have to look underneath all the other caps to find (maybe) "1" UNT cap and it would be a very "plain Jane" version with only SOW on the front (which most outside DFW would mistake for a Philly' Eagle cap if the didn't look on the back to find........... a barely visible 'small letters' 'UNT'........BUT GET THIS.......... ................looking at the Love's colleges headgear selection yesterday I did discover 6 caps from.............UTSA.................... and even a couple from TSU-SM and they all looked damn fine. The headgear from our fellow conference mate had nice large letters "UTSA" on the front coupled with a very nice design as well.. Undoubtedly, all of us who've been to Lids at our local malls know the "UNT" story on that, now don't we; that is, a very, very slim selection of UNT caps with only 1 (maybe 2) different designs....nothing special or to write home about by any means but so plain as to make you not want to purchase it. I've never seen any cap with the words "Mean Green" on them at any of these specialty stores of which Captivating Headgear is the distributor and just why ? ? ? ? (They can't get licensing approval from our campus officials who handle such to have such a cap with "Mean Green" on it, that's why). Moving forward along.....then the Captivating Headgear rep tells me this: "We've spoken on a few occasions to your on-campus group who handles North Texas licensing and they won't release anymore branding designs for your school than the one we have." I responded..................."oh"...... (why not pink letters to represent sarcasm on these posts, right)? The rep from Captivating Headgear (located in OK) went on to tell me how he had been through our campus many times, saw some of our HOD Bowl game on New Years Day and had even toured Apogee Stadium saying "now that is one nice college football stadium yall have built down there." He told me that he had 2 degrees from OU and had been at all the OU/North Texas football games in the past as an OU student and as an alum. I'm sure there has to be some reason those on our campus who are sitting on our college gear licensing choose not to share the UNT or Mean Green brand with so very many others down here in the Southwest but I cannot imagine what that reason would be. It's sorta' like some small town that is setting on a gold mine, the city fathers know it, flaunt it, protect it but they are not about to start digging up the gold to share with anyone else in their town least of all those living beyond it. I know he will be busy his first days at North Texas, but I think it important that our new president Smatresk be made aware of this most important marketing-related subject. Perhaps even when he has his first open forum or "coffee" with UNT students if not before that. He needs to know all that happens with some on our campus who seem to take their positions much too serious (but maybe at the expense of our UNT students and alums at times)? ? ? ? After all, in Washington D.C. don't our politicians on both sides of the aisle call this kind of thing..............transparency? http://www.captivatingheadgear.com/captivatingheadgearcat2012.pdf

Thanks for the excellent report.....I want to add one more thing that was said in response to your D Line question to Coach Mac. After Coach Patrick spoke, Coach Mac did point out that he was impressed with what he has seen of Syd Moore. I don't remember specifically if he was talking about Syd's off season or his chances for next season but it is still encouraging to hear a good report on a young DT.

So, we getting a green helmet with a white SOW? That's the combo we haven't seen yet - that I want.

Cut the dude a break. Don't be a D. I saw a few sign ideas last fall that were WAAAAAAAAY bad from the very people that are cutting him down. And if we want to make jabs at people's sense of humor..... Just stop.

Is this a bit? Seriously. THEY SIGNED SEVEN TEXAS TOP 100s!

I'm fairly sure he wasn't talking to you when he singled out the people who live in the metroplex. Just a guess. And if you somehow felt put upon by his request that people drive in from within the metroplex that's your burden and not his.

I guess they haven't heard about glass houses and how their inhabitants should behave...

I've never understood the Athletic Department's marketing plan. The oldest marketing truism I know is the rule of seven - that is, a person needs to get smacked in the face with your product seven times before they'll do anything. So why on earth would you limit the ability of others to promote your material? It isn't just merchandising, though. Year after year, the UNT Fight Song never quite made it into the NCAA Football video games. I actually contacted a guy with EA through linkedin and he said that they request it every year, but never get anything back. When I ask the department, they shrug and point to the university. When I ask power brokers at the university, they say they have no idea what I'm talking about and wonder why it hasn't happened. This should have been as simple as emailing a few mp3 files over to EA Sports. But we just could never make it work, and that's a huge missed opportunity. Then there's the whole question of media coverage. I understand wanting to control your own media, and that's great. You should be able to produce the best quality stuff - you have around-the-clock access to players an coaches. But that doesn't mean that there's no value to reaching out to any media outlet (professional or amateur) who'll take your call and bring them in on the processess. Bring them in, let them in on the process, make them part of your story! If that means you let them in to practices and make them sign NDAs - what would be so wrong with that? Additional media coverage doesn't HURT you, it HELPS! Finally, If your product is flying below the radar, you simply CANNOT afford to miss out on the power of viral marketing. You've got about 200 active posters on this site who would be thrilled to help market your team if you just asked them, for exactly zero dollars. Just to help out this program and literally become part of its success. Look, I know that GMG is referred to as the "idiot board" by the athletic department, and it is very often an appropriate moniker. But it is also a board full of free and effective assets to promoting your product. If you can't sell the place out by yourself, why on earth would you turn down the help of others?

Love's? Also, let it be noted that the Rest Area near the Mile 81 marker on Interstate 30.....has no NT caps. I've already called TxDOT to let 'em know how I feel about it.

We really look forward to it. I will say we have been treated the best by the UNT coaches than any other school we have visited. That is what made Bo's mind up. He will do well at the school and hopefully contribute in a great way to the program. Go Mean Green!

High school coaches understand that only the elite of the elite recruits would interest Texas or A&M, but they all think they have 3-4 kids every year that UNT should be recruiting.

Hey everyone! Hope you all enjoyed national signing day! Just wanted to encourage you all to check out the recruiting forum. Obviously, there isn't near as much traffic there as there is here in the Football forum, but as we get commits earlier and compete against bigger schools for bigger name recruits, maybe it will start to become comparable. Plenty of recruiting going on year round, and it's very fun to follow. Not asking for you to obsess over it everyday, but stop by from time to time and get to know the class as it develops well before signing day. UNT will be hosting a junior day this Saturday. 2015 hopes to be a great encore to our 2014 class, and should be very special. I have a couple write ups about where we stand going into 2015 recruiting and who we've already offered. Check it out!

Green Helmet White SOW White Helmet Green SOW Make it Happen!!!!

Another thing I forgot to mention and it's kinda a biggie. RV said that, while it's not final yet, Mac's contract should lock him up through the 2018-2019 season.

Well maybe if everyone took them serious then we wouldn't have been sitting there in below freezing weather with a dumbfounded look on our face with our thumb up our ass staring at a 21-13 final. And the shirt idea wasn't my idea. I was just making an attempt to actually run with someone's idea rather than just talk about ideas all day and never act on them. I'll get in line and do more talking and less happening. My bad guys.

They are unbelievably reasonable compared to the prices of our fellow Texas universities.

$15 are too steep? I hope your kidding. Make it happen.

This is awesome

this is all i saw... we are talking about helmets, right?

I have a thread for that for tomorrow (maybe 2, ninja face). Stay tuned, but giving this day to the 2014 guys.

Players, Good Ones.

They signed 7 Texas Top 100s, same as Oklahoma St and TCU and Tech. They signed more than Oklahoma, Kansas, Kansas St, West Virginia and Iowa St. Only Texas and Baylor beat them out. I sure as hell wish we were wilting like that.

SMU, yes. TCU, no. TCU is a big 5 school and has every unfair advantage of one.

Being sold at the ticket office for $400...I can't be the only person that feels incomplete without one of these...

Is there a rush hour on fall Saturdays in Dallas? Weird.

One of the on going mysteries, Why is North Texas athletic apparel so difficult to obtain. It is an undeniable truth, and yet no one seems to know how to fix it. I believe even RV has promised that he would address the problem, but that was a long time ago and nothing has significantly changed. It's not like every other university has the same problem with product distribution. This issue seems unique to NT. I don't buy the theory that NT is limiting distribution to enhance in-house sales. It just doesn't make any sense on several different levels. Increased royalties would surely offset any decrease in UNT direct sales. Also the advertising value of increasing the brand awareness of NT has to overshadow any concerns over direct sales profitability. It seems to me that the AD should be able to satisfactorily address this issue even with his greatly overburdened staff. It is an embrassment for a school that expires to be first rate to have this issue for this long.

Great news. And I certainly trust your source.

I agree. Also, the sample size was 12 coaches, which is a very small percentage of area coaches. I would love to know who the 12 are and the schools they represent.

I was very surprised to see this. This coaching staff has done much more than previous staffs to reach out to the high schools. It could be a small sample size and the reporter just happened to come to a coach who had a bad experience with us, had a different opinion of his players than us, or maybe is still remembering things from the Dickey days.

Coach MaC wondered why we can get 35-39,000 at the Heart of Dallas Bowl, yet we cannot get 31,000 to Apogee. I could see a real frustration in MaC's face and tone when he spoke about this. RV asked the crowd last night to each bring one new person to the games. Coach Mac also said the NT-Texas game would be a nationally televised game. Probably to see the 2014 Mean Green. Although some might tune in to see the new coached team at Texas. Beat Texas GO MEAN GREEN

You can't sign a non qualifier. This certainly has the feel of us taking a chance on him qualifying and holding a scholly for him. If so,best of luck to him (and us).

Also, Coach Mac said in the presser yesterday that he will always have at least 1 RB per class, citing what happened this year with Pegram going down, then asking Rollins to step up only to see him go down and having to ask Mark Lewis to step up.

For all these good recruits and big ideas...... For our dreams to be actualized, we need to win a lot, win often, season after season, and have victories over P5 schools to hang our hat on. Win the west, Win the Conference, Top 25 ranking, Beat Texas, and for the love of God sell out the stadium a couple times a year. Heads will turn only then

I can agree that it may be best to just move on and no longer dwell on a loss but to say the game didn't mean anything is pretty revisionist. 1. It kept us out of the conference championship game 2. It prevented us from an undefeated home record 3. It was senior day for a class of seniors who we all wish had enjoyed a victory I, for one, am confused by those who were so un-supportive of your effort. Thank you for being willing to put forth the work required to bring a board idea together.

It was black.

Thanks for this from an out of towner.

This cracked me up. LEADING already. Lol

I guess I don't get it...?

And here's "the Fonz": http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-schools/headlines/20140205-photos-sharp-suits-plenty-of-balloons-and-a-tree-dallas-area-hs-athletes-celebrate-signing-day-20141.ece?ssimg=1419727#ssTop1418085

Nice to see a young pullen guard walking on with that kind of size. Welcome aboard!