Charlie NT 73

I do not see any "dump" off passes to the RB's, nor any designed plays with the RB out in the flat or in the slot- I think Coach Dodge is "saving" these type of plays and maybe did not want to show too much of his pasing offense. I watched some of his SLC games, and the RB position was used in many pass routes form the backfield. There were a couple of WR "screens" ran on Sunday, but that is all I saw.

Yes, I agree with FFR- the offense was "watered down" and the defense did not run stunts- or hide pass coverage. The game appeared to be 100 plays of scripted plays-I read that Coach Dodge and the staff wanted video to evaluate plays and players. I did not see any passes to the RB's, nor did I see the RB's line up in the "slot" receiver position. The RB's were handling alot of pass blocking. I saw Cam Montgomery bounce off a LB, then run to the sideline-flat. When the play was over, one of the coaches plulled Cam aside, and reviewed how Cam should have blocked-showing Cam a block technique. I saw the same for Jamario-sideline instruction-regarding blocking. What impressed me was the coaches did not chew out/blast the player- the coaches were teaching the player how to correct his mistake, and how to handle the blocking assignment. Plus- someone mentioned zero U spies at this scrimage. If that is true, I am sure the staff thought of this possibility also, and did not want to show too much of the offense and defense. For Coach Dodge's first college game, I am sure Caoch Dodge will do everything possible to win this game, even if the opponent is zero u.

First of all- This scrimage was a controlled scrimage, scripted plays- Looked like there were 4 seperate offensive teams-so-if you want to call the first offense team the "starters", then followed by team # 2, #3, and #4. Team # 1- had Meagar, team # 2 had Wilson, #3 and #4-Tune and Phillips, interchanged who interchanged both team # 3 and #4. All QB's had good plays and bad plays, overall they competed very well considering this scrimage was only their 15 practice learning a whole new offense. Meagar is the #1 for now-had some zip on the ball-nice deep passes--controlled the offense. Only knock I saw was on only 2-3 plays, where he kept the ball to long, and should have dumped the ball off. Main thing-he clearly was the best QB runing the show! Wilson-had 2 designed running plays-quickness showed! Had some nice passes, but- drilled the ground on a couple of open receivers across the middle. Working with the #2 OL. Seemed to "rush" his passes, which cause inaccuracy. Tune-has a very strong arm-good velocity-power.But-had the #3 OL protecting him- Tall-big QB- Needs some more development-can be good QB. He did have 2 designed runnng plays that went nowhere. Shows alot of promise down the road. Phillips- I was somewhat disappointed-I thought he would be father along with this offense- He had team #4-had a pass or two batted down at the line-seemed sluggish with handling the offense- plus added pressure of the DE's coming at him. Meagar is clearly the QB leader for now-not the starter-just the leader. Looks to have a real handle on the offense-one thing for sure-give this guy some pass protection-and he is on the money. Managed the game, contolled the tempo-players-knew what was needed for 1st downs- did not make any glaring mistakes-he did have 2-3 plays where the DE's got in-caused him to scramble-took too much time looking for a open reciver before he dumped the ball- He did a go job in getting the pass off quickly-2-3 step drop, or passed direct form his position stance. Considering all the details of Dodge's offense to learn, Meagar did pretty good and will only become better. As far as Vizza coming in and taking over-well-that is a unknown- we will have to wait and see.

The 5194 fans-WOW- I have seen a few regular season games where there was not that many fans in the stands. Major kudos to the athletic department for promoting and supporting this event. We need to make the spring game bigger every year! This turn out tells me the power of what Coach Todd Dodge and his staff can bring to NT. The fire is burning now! I bet DR B and RV have big smiles on their faces! The offense-after just 15 practices, the offense was working pretty good. I was impressed with how the 5 OL guys would get into their stance-stay "frozen"-while the QB/WR/RB would look to the sideline for the play-then, the play was started with alot of time left on the play clock. Major improvement on time management! Next-I have never seen so many different pass routes! Deep/inside/outside/crossing patterns- stop and go's, streaks, criss cross, and many more! Heck, I thought I saw some WR's running backwards, upside down, sig and zagging in all directions. I see why the offense is called "spread" . I saw open receivers in the "holes" all day! The talk in practice was how good the defense looked. I saw a bunch of out of gas DB's and LB's -all hand their hands on their hips-after every play later in the scrimage. Best part I thought, was all the players on the sidelines kept looking at the crowd! I could easily see, the players were excited about the NT fans that came to see them play! The standing O from the fans after the scrimage ended-was greatness! The players reacted to the fans-waving their fists in the air, jumping up and down, waving to the crowd! It is great to be a NT fan!

KingDL1- Outstanding! Excellent photos! I hope you are around for 2 a days in August to take some photos of practices! Great job and good work!

The running game did not go to much in this scrimage- All three backs, Jamario, Cam, and Cox looked good-all have exceptional speed There were not many running plays called-looked like all the plays-both pass and run were from a script- the offensive plays were controlled- Heck, I saw Woody have 2 designed QB runs, to take advantage of his speed/quickness and oddly- Tune had 2 designed QB runs. I am not worried at all about Jamiro,Cam or Deavin- I can see the running game really taking off this season, and I am excited to see the surprises the Coach Dodge will work into the running game and passing game with these 3 guys!

# 39, true Fr DB, Trevor Ashlock, 5-11, 175lbs from SLC, brought alot of crowd reaction when he snifted out a WR screen, charged into the play, and just BLEW UP, the WR, destroyed the play! If the WR had caught the ball, the play would have been a 7-9 yd loss! This kid is a player, good position reads, kept up with the WR's. Real "sleeper"! Where I was setting, everyone was saying "Who is that?" "Man, what a hit!" then I heard a SLC fan say-"That's Trevor! He did that all year last year!" #60, Brad Weeks, walk on OT/OG, 6-3, 260lbs-from Fossil Creek-Northwest, listed as a junior, played more LT in the game-Played pretty good, held his ground-can be a good back up player. #19, Roderick Johnson, WR, 6-2, 190lbs-from Garland-Naaman Forest, listed as a junior- handled Kick off returns, has good speed, played WR with the 2nd and 3rd offense teams. Familiar names- #70, Brian Carlson, LT, 6-5, 280, Sr,-played a good game with #2 offense-looks to be pushing for the starting position, looks strong, will be a very good backup or possible starter later in the year! This guy is better than what most fans see! #61, DE, so, Jonathan Stewart,6-2, 266, this guy played preety good-needs some more development, can easily be in the 290 range, big body. More later-

First of all, there was a good steady wind out of the north-blowing south, gusty at times. Deep snaper--both punts and FG's was--# 86, Christian Davidson, former LB, now DB at 6-3, 220lbs, got the ball back-sharp sprials direct to punter and holder. Held his blocks-got down field, did not screw up any deep snaps! Punting- all I can say is that # 25 Truman Spencer has a cannon for a leg! Best punt I thought was the offense died on abot the 19 yd line, Spencer was backed up to the goal line, facing the strong wind- deep snap hit him in the hands-nailed a line drive type of punt-got caught in the wind, then dropped out of the sky-that ball sailed 65 yds easy! got credit for a 49 yd punt. Kick offs- Well- I thought the KO's were terrible-# 23 Woodward either was having a bad day on KO's or he needs some more work. None of his KO's made the goal line, most were caught at the 20-25-30yd line -with the wind! Now- FG's is where Woodward shined. He drilled home 3 FG's right down the middle, with the football high up- can easily hit out from 45 yds or more! # 18-QB Phillips was FG holder- One FG attempt was a bust-did not see what happened- Kick off and FG's teams had numerious palyers, combination O and D players- to many to keep up with. Looked like the D was holding back on FG's. More later-Charlie

I got a late start to the spring game-but made it to Denton- then-- What are all of these cars doing at Fouts, are you kidding me? Wow! The entire west/alumni side was packed, from the bottom to the top by the press boxes! I moved up to the press box area to watch the begining of Dodge Ball- Yes, there were many SLC fans and veteran NT fans in the upper areas. Heard these fans talking about many things-more on that later. I have several topics to cover so- I will have more than 1 post- Starting O-Lines, note- there were 4 complete sets of offensive teams, for each QB Here is the team that started the game- # 71 LT Menard, thin last year, has gained weight, bigger legs-looks alot stronger. Wiil be a very good LT later on-can hold his own for now. # 57 LG, Tyler Bailey, a surprise here-also has hit the weights, looked good, took on the NT # 68 Center K. Drake--did ok on the snaps, some were line drive low-most snaps were in the QB's hands-Held his ground, very quick for a big man #77 RG Santiago-this guy is special-bigger-pushed the DT's around-Star! # 69 RT Peachy- bigger, long arms also-pushed the DE's out-contained-Star! # 87 WR Fitzgerald-What a surprise here-major D1 WR!! Star! # 4 WR Fentriss-knows the SLC offense, Johnny Quinn clone-major D1 Star! Favorite target today- wide open alot, across the middle-catches the ball! # 49 Jackson--will shine in this offense, big body for a WR-caught some tough passes! Star! #82 B. Sticlker--surprise here also- was open, but did not get alot of passes his way #10 Special K Washington-deceptive speed, faked DB #29 Loren out of his jock on a stop go route, caught pass in stride, turned on afterburners-gone! 65yd TD!Star! More later--Charlie

From Keith7's post, and the TexasPrepExtra report, aparently several teams wanted him- ATM, Baylor, duke, Ok State, and Penn State. Reports that he signed a LOI with ATM. These schools must have seen something in this kid. He could be another hidden gem- diamond in the rough. Glad to have him! Great speed! He looks like a great athlete that came from a team that did not have a very good season, could be the supporting cast was not that good.

Did you notice that Banks was not on the roster- I liked the coaches bio's with the photos- I noticed that many of the players photos, they were clean shaven and had hair cuts- Looked like real football palyers-I wonder if the coaches set down some rules regarding appearence. I read many player bio's-I did not realize how many different guy's that actually played in games. Anyway, this is a really good report with alot of very good information.

Now I remeber his name- Coach Ness! He was our head JV football coach.

Great Story! Brought back alot of memories! As a freshman in 1967, I got to meet many of these players, see some great games. It is odd- all of the players drafted by the NFL, and could not get a bowl game! After all the talent left these great teams, Rod Rust never could put together too much. Back then, NT also had a junior varsity, that played 6-7 games a year- I am trying to remember the coach-great guy, went out to Univ New Mex later in his career, crap cannot remeber his name- I will remeber his name afer I post this.

REV77- Thanks for the update- Your right, these guys have alot of responsibilty now. Good luck to both!

I agree with FLF-- regarding the playing Texas,OK,Ark, future games against Miami,Clemson-- to start up the season. The so called MONEY games- NT is not ready for these games right now. Give Caoch Dodge a couple of years, and maybe we can win some of these games. I fully understand the need for the $ but, I do not like getting hammered in these games- I know Coach Dodge can work wonders, but he will have some real challenges. I would rather play the mid major schools with a real chance to win. Winning cures everything-brings in the recruits we need, and the $$$ we need. Speaking of OU, they stomped the muts, 59-0. The muts handled NT, 35-0 last year. So will the point spread against zero-u be NT +94 ?

Other football recruits- I saw several listed at Collegefootballnews.com click on "College"--upper right hand corner then Team Diretory- scroll down to North Texas Mean Green--click on go to Football Recruiting-- click on "Prospects"--about 6 or 7 listed. Rivals.com will has a National 250 for 2008 -- rivals will have a new updated list by "State" soon- another is Scout.com, then Texasprep.com

I understand that Coach Dodge and his staff did try to recruit OT and DT's- preimum type of players- Most of these players were committed by the time our coaches got into the recruiting game. Look at Tomlinson, Desoto, Johnson-for example-all were recruited by major programs. The Coaches did not want to recruit a 6-5, 300 stack of blubber- like many schools do, and hope they pan out. At the time, we had several players that looked to be in good shape-but, Brown,Pistol, quit, then grades on others, injury to Alexander. I beleive our coaching staff will be able to address the depth need, and the OL will be OK. I have seen a few recruiting sites for 2008, and noticed kids that have NT listed, along with the Big 12, SEC, and other conferences. So this tells me Coach Dodge and his staff are recruiting right now for future needs. Have faith!

Run this idea by the athletic department- I think this would be a good way to contact recruits and regular students-

Now I am confused- Johathan Ieans was a 6-5 QB , recruited by DD. Was switched to WR, then gave up football last year. Jon Ieans--no relation to Johathan--was a WR recruited by DD, left the team to transfer to Southern Arkansas, left S. Ark. to come back to NT as a walk on WR. Is this the correct explaination on the "Ieans" mystery? Please advise- Thanks

I agree, I thought cornerback was a strong point. What is up with the grade issues? Banks can not practice due to grades-how many more may not show up for fall? Anyway- I hope these guys make up the grades. Back to the issue, OL depth. Brown and Pistol leave the team to join the Dallas Police Dept., and Banks has grade issues also- the OL has become very thin for depth. I beleive we are ok at Center, and OG. The coaches have been rotating guys all spring practice,such as Santiago to OG, Rose to OG, Drake to G and back and forth with others, to find depth and the best players at each position. I beleive Peachy and Menard can be very good OT's-my worry is what if one or both get hurt! There is Foster and Eidd, both big and strong, but, more suited for the OG position. Maybe these guys are being worked at OT also. As far as recruiting a few OL guys at this point in the game, I do not think this will happen. I prefer the staff to work with what we have, and develop these guys. Recruiting CB's- hey, we have 2-3 very good CB recruits coming in this fall. Give these recruits a chance.

Hey- Thanks for the updates- I do remember the movie. Like I said, I did not know anything about the movie being filmed at NT.

4 scholarship WR's: Jackson, Stickler,Stubblefield, and Special K Korey Washington Add: Brian Nelson, a scholarship DB, converted to WR = 5 true scholarship WR's 3 TE's moved to WR: Brown, Davenport, Gill Walk ons- 5: Brandon Dixon, Roderick Johnson, Eric Lichty, and our old QB, 6-5 Jonathan Ieans, and 5-11, 174lbs, Casey Fitzgerald, the suprise of spring training. Evan Frentriss, transfer from Rice cannot play until 2008, I assume he will play Sunday. Looks like 14 WR's will be available for the spring game (counting the TE's too), so, will the coaches give the Green team and the White team 7 WR's each? With the new 6 WR recruits coming into the fall, there could be 19 WR's on the roster for 2007. Top 8 play, so I can see real competition within this WR group. Best thing is, all of these players have specific skills. Coach Dodge can create plays that can use these skills, instead of letting the tallent sit on the bench.

This morning I was talking to a co-worker, who is a Tx Tech grad. My co-worker was telling me that he watched a movie called "One on One" starring Robbie Benson. The movie is about a small town BB star that is recruited by a big time BB program, with a head BB coach that is the bad guy in the movie. My co-worker stated this movie was filmed at the Super Pit just after the Super Pit open. My co-worker claimed that Tx Tech played in the NCAA regionals held at the Super Pit back in 1976, while this movie was being filmed. I do not remember any of this-- Any GMG fans know about this movie being filmed at NT?

New recruits- I read somewhere that all the new recruits and their families will be come to the game. I sure hope so! I would like to meet some of the new recruits!

I am looking forward to the NAVY game! I will have out of town NT fans coming in and some local friends going also. I am a NAVY vet, but, my team is the MEAN GREEN! This game will be a big event, big time college football! Early fall season, nip in the air-WOW! Tailgating, sell out crowd, the Mean Green will be ROLLING! Man I am going crazy now! This game will be GREATNESS! As far as the $muts/phonies-I will go to this game also- but it will not be the same as the NAVY game. I respect the Mid-Shipmen and the Naval Academy! I will enjoy seeing Dodge Ball hammering the phonies!