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I haven't posted or really followed the board for a while. Sadly, my wife passed away unexpectedly at the beginning of April. I'm looking forward to the season although games won't be the same without my Aggie(never held it against her) next to me. Hell, I'm actually looking forward to basketball for the first time in years. Things are really looking up for the Mean Green for the first time in a long while.

Oh, man, I'm so sorry to hear. I lost mine a year and a half ago, so while I don't claim to know exactly what you're going through, I know it is tough. Very tough. PM me if you ever need someone to talk to. Prayers and condolences from Tennessee.

UNT land Commitment for Tyler Junior College Center Sosaia Mose. He has 3 years to play 3. He is the big brother to UNT signee Manase Mose. http://www.hudl.com/video/3/1528399/581b8247bd752030e878bf3c

Fine has apparently won the starter position. He started as a true freshman and was injured probably limiting his progress through the spring. He looked pretty good to me in the games he played when healthy. I do realize that any NT qb is going to be subject to lots of criticism because according to some they are primarily responsible for every loss despite the level of play from the rest of the team and the opponent. The next QB up is almost always the fan's choice at NT. Going from small town high school football to the FB level is a monumental jump. NT was a bad football team last year with the weakest areas being the offensive line and wr corp. That does not bode well for any QB. Fine may not be the answer, but he at least provides some assurance that NT will have a capable QB and no one at this point knows his ceiling. NT's primary problem has been bad teams not any one position even QB.

ECU fan here. Have not posted since Marc became the DL coach for the Mean Green. I know Marc and am a coach. He came to my school to recruit some of our kids when we has at ECU. IMO you have hired one of the best DL coaches on the market. Have no idea why it took Marc this long to get back to FBS football. Marc was in my estimation the best defensive coach ECU has had in a decade. Marc is smart ( chemistry major) and a straight shooter. He has excellent knowledge of the game and took some very average dline talent and made them all better to a man. North Texas got a steal with Yellock. Very impressed with your head coach as he recognizes coaching talent. Good luck next season. I will be rooting for Marc and North Texas.

Maybe I'm just a cockeyed optimist but I think that an improved offensive line may help the quarterback and running back situation. A big part of the improvement that I'm hoping for hasn't even enrolled yet. It may put a quick-learning burden on three of the linemen but I feel that Mayfield, Mose, and Newman will work their way into the two-deep with one of them eventually a starter. I believe that the coaching staff correctly identified Mose and Newman as under-evaluated and that they will "coached up". Newman may have to be moved to guard because I like Barr's play at center. Right now, the OL is the weakest unit but the season opener is more than three months away.

Wooohooo...rafi is back!!!! Here's to your wife sir ...

Best wishes & treasured memories.

thanks for clarifying this. i didn't see mention of it elsewhere and started doubting that they were. also, just from seeing the size of the Mose family on twitter. they should increase the attendance significantly by themselves. ;) also i'm pumped about possibly starting a pipeline to euless trinity.

That's horrible to hear. My condolences. In my opinion, this year is looking up for football and both basketball programs! Good to have you back!

Eh, for an offense predicated on exploiting matchups, especially in the passing game, if we, as an "Air Raid" offense, don't average 30+ points a game and 20+ passing TD's a season we need a new captain of the ship. Fine has the "moxie" but I sincerely doubt his physical capabilities of leading the offense to what it should look like as compared to other Air Raid offenses across the country, let alone our own conference(See La Tech and Western Kentucky) THAT should be the standard. Not "Let's hope Jeffery Wilson can carry the offense on his back for 12 games completely healthy behind a shoddy OL"

Over the past 12-18 months the AD's at ODU, MTSU, and USM have all made on the record statements supporting the idea of geographically oriented realignment. My studied belief is that the window of opportunity hasn't arrived yet. 2020 is the "magic" year. It is the first year that there are 7 CUSA schools meeting continuity of membership. It is the final year of the Sun Belt TV deal. The first year of the next bowl cycle. Both CUSA East, CUSA West, and any combination of 7 Sun Belt not including Coastal meet continuity the next year. If you are going to redo the world, the time to do it sometime between January 2018 and June 30, 2020. The CUSA TV deal for July 1, 2017 forward *MIGHT* provide a clue. If it is a short deal of four or fewer years that would be consistent with planning to shake things up. As for the business of not wanting to associate with Sun Belt schools. Seriously that's like marrying a hooker then declaring you don't want to associate with hookers. USM, UTEP, UTSA, Rice, and Marshall are the only CUSA schools without Sun Belt membership on their resume and but for ULM and the two non-football schools the budgets are similar across the leagues. Ten years ago, CUSA drew 11,300 more fans per game than Sun Belt, last year the difference was 1800. This year's hoops numbers aren't out yet but last year the hoops attendance difference was 1500 and 10 years ago 2600. As Memphis NCAA units drop off the financials have been moving to the Sun Belt's favor in league revenue per team. I absolutely don't believe in the idea of some happy little meeting where everyone sits down and works things out walk out holding hands. If there is an AD or president with the clout to make that happen I'd love to know who it is. That's just not how things tend to work out. Far more likely that someone likely that someone is out there working to find at least six more schools in their conference willing to break at the big moment find 3-5 more to add to the mix once they have their basics in order. That's how the SEC and ACC emerged out of the Southern, the Big 8 out of the MoValley, Pac-12 out of the Pacific Coast. The WAC out of the Border and Skyline, MWC out of the WAC, Great Midwest out of the Metro and Sun Belt, CUSA out of Great Midwest and Metro and people got left out every time.

So sad to hear of your loss. Glad to have you back!

Prayer for our MeanGreen family member.

I am sorry for your loss.

Depends. What is going on in Dallas and surroundings at the same time. I don't recall a lot of other high level basketball tourneys being in the area at a time when Football is long over.

Do you really think that Littrell is going to start an inferior player to the others on the team? If Fine falters, he will replace him just like he did Morris in favor of Fine. College coaches do everything they can to win, the belief that are gong to sacrifice their careers to play favorites is absurd.

Yep. Some obvious ones: Bryce English, Turner Smiley, Josh Wheeler. Not even a mention of Chris Miles on the OL 2-deep. That is concerning. He's entering 'bust' territory if he cannot crack the 2-deep after being one of the highest-regarded recruits of the 2014 class. Edit: Miles was out this spring rehabbing. Hopefully he works his way back into the conversation in the Fall.

20 TD's would be remarkable if we weren't running an offensive system that regularly churns out 20+ TD passers every single year. I'm not saying Shanbour is better, I'm saying we need to raise our standards of QB play. There's a reason we were his only FBS offer folks. I stand by my statement. Prove me wrong.

If I were to be the one who would set Mr FInes bar for growth, I would say increase the completion percentage from 59% to 61 while maintaining the same yards per catch (not all on him, I know) and decrease the sack rate from a whopping 12% to 8% (which is still a lot but would be significant progress for him). With that kind of progress we would have an offense that could already be passing a lot more, which should open up a bit of space for the runners.

Just as a level set, in the 9 games that Fine played in last season, (not counting WKU since he barely played) he averaged more per game than what would be required to get to 2k for a full 12 game season. 20 TDs may be a high mark based on what we saw last season, but 2k yards should not be.

Whatever man. We just see things differently.

Unless you are referring to someone other than Shanbour, I wouldn't call a guy who threw for 2 TDs and 253 yards with limited time in the spring scrimmage an early tuck it and run guy.

I'd rather have a guy tuck it and run too early than one that goes through one read and takes a 15 yard sack

Did I miss something? I read at the end of spring that Littrell said that he will not announce a starting QB until Fall with Fine and Shanbour continuing to compete for the starting position.

Much needed depth for the offensive line.

Awful to hear. Sorry for your loss.

Very sorry to hear of your loss. My sincere condolences.

They've knocked on the door at the Sun Belt a couple times. President even did a tour visiting every Sun Belt school to lobby for admission. Like the door to door salesman who won't leave you alone, we gave them CUSA's address. They are a looooong way from having the resume App, Georgia Southern, or Coastal brought to the Sun Belt or the metro size UTSA, ODU, and Charlotte brought to CUSA.

I'm gonna get downvoted to oblivion for this but here's my skip bayless hot take of the season: Even if he somehow stays healthy for the entire season, Mason Fine won't pass for 2k yards or 20 tds and our defense will have to play at 2013 levels to get us to 6-6. Prove me wrong

We need a bigger RB in this group. That's a concern. LB has minimal depth. Rotation along the DL looks to be strong. I like the WR corp. Depth in the secondary. OL looks very interchangeable, which will be a good thing. We'll need to plug and play, much like last year, until a good rotation is established along the OL. QB is still concerning to me. Overall, I like what is there.

I'm just praying that Fine isn't Littrell's McNulty. You can try as hard as you want but if it ain't there it ain't there. The fact is while Wilson is our workhorse, he's also made of glass, and I'd be willing to bet teams are going to key on that little swing pass next year because it was the only play we ran with any sort of consistency last year. My question is, when you take away that safety net, will Fine be able to do anything else consistently well? So far I haven't seen it. Even with improved receivers

A lot of talk about the air raid offense like we have actually seen it. I would caution anyone to not assume that last years offense is a big indicator of what to expect this year. Littrell obviously didn't have the players he needed to effectively use his primary offense last year. Doesn't the mass of wrs and ols added to the program tell a story? In the same vain, QB didn't seem to be a big priority with only one high schooler given a ship.

Not to mention Alec Morris threw 9 of those 15 TD's in less games. Let's face it, you're a Shanbour apologist, and having expectations of an average air raid QB season are completely and utterly ridiculous. You know, because North Texas. Should I also mention the fact that Jeffery Wilson hasn't played a full season in his entire career and *whispers* we may need a competent QB to win us a few football games. But what do I know, I don't breakdown gifs and go on podcasts doing football analysis

Maybe back in the day when the SWC conference was forming, but now? No way. I doubt they would be happy about UNT joining their conference, but the ability to block us? Nah.

You haven't seen my lineup of Birth Class of 2016. We evaluated every baby born in 2016 and their chance for football stardom in 2034 and '35. We have organized them into positional groups and tiers. You may find a few surprises in the O-lineman section as North Texas continues to struggle putting in an offensive line.

Abe Lemons and Bill Blakeley, cut from the same cloth, polyester!

Looks like another needed part, but NT has used a ton of ships on the offensive line. By my count NT currently has 17 scholarship ol and that doesn't count the reported gray shirts that should join the team. DD, seldom had as many as 10 ship offensive linemen. Shows the important and challenge of getting offensive linemen that can be effective in this offense. Hopefully this will change an obvious position of need to a strength of the team. There should be a lot of competition and that should bode well for the team.

Yeah I'm just very skeptical about the offense as a whole. I love our WR/RB groups, but Fine scares me, especially after seemingly no improvement from the limited amount I saw him. I just think 2k yards and 20tds should pretty much be the benchmark for an average Air Raid QB, and if the offense doesn't improve drastically I just don't see it happening.

Why would SEC schools have any say in the matter? It wouldn't hurt the BXII's feelings if SEC schools lost recruits out of the deal. Again, that would only be 4 Texas teams. The conference has always had 4 Texas teams. That certainly makes some sense. On the other hand, I wonder if WVU and the BXII are really committed to each other for the long term. If the BXII picks up Cincy--which would be an inferior add to Houston in almost every other way except the fact that they would provide a good travel companion for WVU--and then WVU bolts to the ACC in the next few years, the BXII will be left with a geographic outlier that is a detriment to the conference.

Unless things have changed, it's a real charge and not just a paper adjustment. From what I understood, specific to this point, that out of state athletes are charged out of state tuition. A running back from Decatur, Texas is cheaper than a linebacker from Decatur, Georgia.

Well wait till you see my 117 page review for the 2018 class so far. Going to hold a poll on which player to put on the cover. 13 easy payments of $29.95. Venmo please.

Ever notice the Cheshire Cat grin on the face in the avatar for "Coach Bill Lewis"? The thread was started 9:36pm on Friday evening. Methinks one of the mods decided to have a bit of fun with us, while enjoying an adult beverage.

Where? Outside of reading opinions on the message boards, have there been any media reports with factual statements? Not trying to shoot you down, but this comes up every off season and yet nothing really happens.

Dre and Pac were never seen wearing a North Texas t-shirt so for that reason, @Wale for the win!

Suuure, why not? In the meantime, this is nice:

Good move. Good ballplayer and a team first guy. He is like having another coach on the sidelines.

I just wanna win, don't give a Rats behind who starts. Also FWIW this ship doesn't count against a class, as he had been here 2 years previously. He has also been granted another year of eligibility. By my count he has this season, and next season so he could potentially be a 2 year starter. 2016: • Made his North Texas debut on 11/12 at WKU, going 0-for-1 passing and carried once for no gain 2015: • Did not see any action 2014: • Did not appear for the Mean Green 2013: • Redshirted first year on campus, after walking on following the spring semester at Oklahoma State High School: • Attended Heritage Hall HS, and then went to Choate Rosemary Hall, a preparatory school in Connecticut • Threw for over 1,500 yards as a senior at Heritage Hall

The kid is talented and deserves a shot. I have enjoyed watching him these past few years and am very happy to see this! It is going to be a great year and GMG!