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We're heading into year three of the Littrell era following his third recruiting class and third spring football practice season. The overall roster talent under Littrell has turned around from Mccarney's last year, as we all expected and as it absolutely had to. In year two we saw an impressive 9 wins, but we can all agree that it was not a loaded roster and that a few players, including an all-conference quarterback, really led the way and helped us to a lot of close wins. Now with our post-spring depth chart out to look at, we have something that roughly resembles what we will trot out on the field for year three. On paper, it reminds me a lot of last year's roster. On offense you have a really good QB, good receivers, offensive linemen who have experience but are likely not going to be preseason all-CUSA picks, and no Jeff Wilson but with a promising young backfield. On defense you still see not much proven depth, a few solid dependable players, decent amount of returning experience among starters, and mainly upperclassmen starting. One of the two exceptions to the last point was a big surprise in Tyreke Davis being listed over Ashton Preston. Imo that is very promising to see. My personal evaluation is that we have some star playmakers like Fine, Guyton, and Lawrence who can lead this team to a lot of wins but I'm not necessarily sold that this roster, top to bottom, is shaping up like a top-of-the-conference type roster. I like seeing Tyreke Davis pushing Preston out of the listed starting lineup because it shows the possibility of a recruited underclassmen locking up a starting spot early because of good play rather than lack of competition at the spot. NFL-type players are guys that come in and push legit D1 players out of starting spots. I would like to see more of that. Many of the young players who have played under Littrell so far have done so by default or because of lack of competition. Ozougwu starting over a walkon at Jack is an example of that. That's not a great look. So what do you guys think of the roster Littrell has built to this point? Do you see this roster becoming a top CUSA roster this year? Does this roster have the talent across the board to survive a key injury or two?

Been awhile since someone brought that back. Never gets old.

It's a formula in Excel at this point.

I may be remembering incorrectly, but don't they only put players who participate in spring training on the post-spring two-deep?

It's his freshman year--as of right now, he's in position to be the #2 his sophomore year and start his junior year. Of course, things could change with that; but as things presently stand, talking about Pearson transferring out has crossed beyond premature and into ludicrous.

Is this the first year in forever that we're not gonna argue the QB position?

These things are not cheap. If you do not drive it yourself you should budget about $86.46/hr. If you are the driver you should budget about $71.46/hr for operation. Here is the math for those who love to argue the minutia: Sample data in calculation 13 trips performed 78 total hours of service 1,450 miles of travel Associated hard costs Cost to “make ready” 13 washes/prep— $10/hour x 13 hours = $130 Driver wages (including pre/post trip) — $15/hour x 104 hours = $1,560 Fuel — 263 Gallons @ $2.60 = $683.80 Insurance (monthly premium) = $342 Associated soft costs Oil change ($150 per 6,000 miles) — .025 per mile x 1,450 = $36.25 Tire replacement — ($450 per 100,000 miles).0045 per mile x 1,450 = $39.18** Major tune-up — ($600 per 75,000 miles) .008 per mile x 1450 = $11.60 TOTAL BREAK-EVEN POINT = $7,060.43 Excludes employer payroll tax or workers’ comp premium **Based on six tires Hourly break-even point: $6,744.18 / by 78 hours of service = rate of $86.46 per hour OR $6,744.18 / 1,450 miles = $4.65 per mile Fuel Bus fuel capacity: 250 gallons Average MPG: 4 to 9 mpg Average fill-up cost: $950 Commercial truck stop required for large buses Maintenance Tire replacement: $400 — $600 each Lube, oil and filter service: $150 — $250 Turbo replacement (diesel): $1,500 — $2,000 Insurance Minimum: $5 million liability required Monthly cost: $280 — $500 Labor National average hourly pay School bus drivers: $10.19 — $18.32 Transit bus drivers: $9.57 — $23.09 Greyhound Bus Lines: $15 — $20.67 Source: Payscale.com

DRC: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/04/06/follow-thoughts-unts-depth-chart-including-curious-case-bryce-english

DRC: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/mean-green/2018/04/05/davis-starting-safety-among-surprises-unt-depth-chart

I still don't see a "one possession defense." In 2002 we had a one possession defense, and in 2013 we had a one possession defense. If either of those teams' offenses could get you ahead by one possession to start the 4th quarter, it was lights out. I still see a "three possession defense."

The fact that they went ahead and put Rod Young at DE tells me something. Last year, they had to put him back at DT when English went out. If T.J. goes down, we have a true freshman starting with no real depth...at DT?!? I don't think the coaching staff would put themselves in that position. Maybe I've been sniffing too much green model glue, but I see that depth chart as a sign the coaches expect English to be lining up to annihilate SMU's backfield.

The best ability is availability.

He's literally so far out of the football conversation my initial thought was, is Harry asking for some translation? Which is really sad.

Hello everyone, here's my lengthy breakdown of how North Texas won the CBI Finals and the adjustments that went into it. Plenty of clips in the story which I hope load for you. Let me know what you think, enjoy. -MB https://www.ntdaily.com/analysis-how-mccasland-and-his-staff-coached-their-way-to-a-cbi-championship/

No doubt. But we are more so Coach Bro Tech than Leach Tech. Leach's Tech teams could go swing for swing in spite of their defense in most seasons. Coach Bro's Tech teams get manhandled at the LOS on both sides of the ball against average and above average teams 10 out of 10 times thus almost always losing those games.

The physical issue concerns me. I can't get the way Troy basically bullied us physically in the NO Bowl out of my head...

It's amazing that we still don't have a senior starting skill position player.... This offense should be phenomenal in 2018 and downright terrifying in 2019

The defense is a big concern, but I have a tough time looking at the staff and killing them over it. Both sides were in bad shape when they got here and they prioritized offense over defense. If we continue to prioritize offense and let the defense suffer from here, then I can take the staff to task over it. Given the recent results, I am willing to give them a little leeway to continue to build and improve. They built and offense from nothing in a very short time, and defense can be more difficult to recruit to given the scarcity of players in those positions. Success on the field should allow us to get more of the higher quality defensive guys.

This was always the rub on Mike Leach's teams at Tech or Briles' teams at Baylor. Just never focused much on defense, only on offensive talent. They would have huge OLinemen, great skill players, but their defense was running out some lackluster talent. So when they played tams that had better talent on both sides of the ball, it generally turned into a massacre (see Tech's epic beatdown at OU in 2008) or just losing a huge lead late (see Baylor's epic meltdown in the Cotton Bowl against Michigan State in 2014)

Isn't QS a Senior this year? That would allow Pearson to be the backup in 19 as a RS Sophomore and the inside track to start his Junior and Senior years. I would think that would be attractive to him and a good reason to stick around.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/23020822/amaad-wainright-kansas-state-charged-suspended-team

I think he’s upgraded the roster at a very high level with skill positions. But the lines still look lighter than we need them to be. And I think that we can’t be so aggressive with our DBs next season unless the pass rush has improved—that cost us greatly against teams that could pass (SMU, FAU, and Troy, as well as UAB). I do worry about next year being a return to the mean and that we don’t win all of those close games like we did this past year. But the schedule is helped by having both Liberty and Incarnate Word, as well as Rice, UTEP, and SMU at home with a new coach and without their first round WR. That should be five wins right there. Win 4 of the remaining 7 games and we get back to 9 wins, which is doable.

That wide receiver room is legit!

i'm still worried about the line on both sides of the ball... neither side has been very strong since '13 and it started to really show towards the end of last year

Well, sometimes it just takes more than a single game.

My question as well, Harry.

Sorry the source was from 2015... Gas would be $683.80 at $2.60 a gallon. So with fuel cost today it would lower the hourly cost by $3.21. So $86.46/hr or $71.46/hr respectively. Thanks for keeping me honest. I corrected the math above

According to the federal Energy Information Administration, the "levelized cost" of new wind power (including capital and operating costs) is 8.2 cents per kWh. Advanced clean-coal plants cost about 11 cents per kWh, the same as nuclear. But advanced natural gas-burning plants come in at just 6.3 cents per kWh. I think I am buying from NRG at 7.8 cents per kWh right now. Again for the minutia hounds: The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is given by: {\displaystyle \mathrm {LCOE} ={\frac {\text{sum of costs over lifetime}}{\text{sum of electrical energy produced over lifetime}}}={\frac {\sum _{t=1}^{n}{\frac {I_{t}+M_{t}+F_{t}}{\left({1+r}\right)^{t}}}}{\sum _{t=1}^{n}{\frac {E_{t}}{\left({1+r}\right)^{t}}}}}} It : investment expenditures in the year t Mt : operations and maintenance expenditures in the year t Ft : fuel expenditures in the year t Et : electrical energy generated in the year t r : discount rate n : expected lifetime of system or power station

i'd love to help them out, but I would probably have to sell one of my fighter jets to make room for it.

Meanwhile, back at the original headline, congratulations to a good young man who deserves the recognition.

Agree! If we keep winning that helps with attendance and puts us in a better spot for the merry-go-round of conference realignment. Also, if you consistently win you'll attract the kind of players we want/need.

This is a huge point I think that's missed on the boards. God/Evolution (whatever you believe), has only created so many 290+ lb men that can run 40 yards in under 5 seconds. G5 in general is not a bastion of D-line talent. You got one all-american at Houston, and another of similar caliber that just graduated from UTSA. Ware from troy a few years back, etc. But athletic, talented behemoths go to big programs. With that being said, I think UTSA takes some huge steps back defensively, as no one or no rotation will replace Davenport. I think our offensive line will actually be significantly improved this year. Maybe it's a gut feeling, but I also think having a full red-shirted crop of o-line will really help us this season. And Manase Mose is the "Tyreke Davis" of the offensive line. Almost everyone said he could/should have started last year, but the staff wanted to bank that year. That's a decision the last staff would have never made. My concerns are really as follows in order from biggest to least: LB, D-line, RB. With linebacker, we just lacked any ability to beat talented run teams to the edge, whether that's shedding blocks, understanding schemes, or pure speed, it was definitely an issue. EJ was a bright spot, garner still scares me, if they can get JoJo ready, I actually expect him to be a difference maker. He had a lot of really good plays/athleticism just needs to raise the consistency and that will come with more reps. D-line is of course the Bryce English question. I think Rod will be a difference maker at end, just not sure we'll be able to afford to keep him out there if there are any injuries, similar to last year. He is really athletic for his size and I think he helps us on the edge a great deal. There's a reason they wanted him there last year. From either of these two groups we need a consistent pass-rusher to emerge. Without pressure, this defense is a sitting duck. This system operates with pressure, and we have not gotten a consistent amount form anywhere. It's the key to improving that 35 points a game. And honestly, i don't care where it comes from. If TJ/Bryce can force a double often enough, I think we could be alright. At RB, i'm just not sold on Smith and Co yet. Jeff, like lance, was special. Maybe we continue the RB magic, but Smith isn't built like the prototypes of the past. Not a lot of successful teams are RB by committee. The upside is that spreading everyone out in the pass, and having a productive pass-catching backfield can help close the gap. Hopefully.

Couldn’t agree more. I don’t believe the two listed on the depth chart at The Jack can produce at an injured Wheeler level, let alone when he was healthy. FFS, we have a converted TE in his first offseason playing the position listed at #2 on the depth chart. I hope Faison is the real deal and doesn’t have issues qualifying.

Yes, that's a requirement. It's there just in case someone new to the program walks in and gets the crazy idea that it's a program on the rise. We need them to know the full history without having to look it up. We don't want to risk someone making a rush to judgement before buying in. That's not how sports go you know? Only in Denton. Rick

Thanks. From time to time I have trouble reading things. Eyesight is off a little. DeepGreen

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x864dcb2e589a08af:0x5173552f1cf0dcb0!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipNK3xg_ShtKs6ZczSP_l7aa4s3sB1d0p60HEkVC%3Dw260-h175-n-k-no!5shotels+denton+tx+off+35+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipNK3xg_ShtKs6ZczSP_l7aa4s3sB1d0p60HEkVC This may change with the new hotel being finished that is attached to the convention center.

He's still listed on the Roster, so there is that ...

The LB corp still looks like it needs work. I am ok with Ejiya at the Will spot, but the Mike and Jack look pretty meh. The MLB spot has been very underwhelming for the last couple of years. I am hopeful that the JUCO LB can come in an compete for a spot right away (I assume he is being brought in to play Jack). I guess there is always hope that a year in Reffett's system will have a larger impact than an influx of new talent.

We still aren't physical enough. But our O will win us a lot of games. Hell, our QB will win us a lot of games.

Did anyone look at the other photos on that site. Looks like Jerseys, helmets, t-shirts, sweats, and cleats are in stock...

A bit too pricey? Maybe @Sound_Man still has his bus for sale!

Excellent sir! Rick

Hopefully he will come here with the attitude of getting better while waiting for his shot. In 2 years, if his arm strength, accuracy, and ability to read the defense are anywhere close to what Mason Fine was like as a sophomore ; he will be the next great QB at UNT. We will get to see what a truly unstoppable offense looks. (WRs who can get open, QB who can find the open receiver or extend/make a play with his feet, and a RB who could break it open on any play) We were pretty close to this last year. I think if we can keep Littrell until 2022, we will be able to score at will.

This makes me think he'll compete at WR if he can't cut it as a QB, similar to Chumley

not sure if it even registered outside of the UNT family, but getting 6300 or so people into the Pit on a holiday, no less, is a seismic register that can do nothing but get the fan base primed for the 18-19 season.

Yes. It was supposed to be built on top of the tailgating hill.