SilverEagle

Well, they've already moved Chumley to TE/H-back (where he should have been in the beginning) and he's going to potentially be a star there. Conner Means (according to the roster) has been moved to RB. He was mostly suited up in the spring, but they didn't let him take any hits because he was still officially rehabbing. And that is too bad because I was looking forward to seeing how he did at the position. I've watched him scramble when he was still at QB, and the guy is both fast and elusive.
That leaves Fine, Shanbour, Pearson  Isadore, and O'Hara.
When O'Hara was getting reps last spring/fall he didn't impress me with his speed or niftiness as a runner. He would have to bulk up to play just about any other position.
Since Isadore was mainly rehabbing it was hard to assess his running ability. He looks pretty athletic, so I'm going to guess that he could make it as a WR. If he played on defense he would probably play safety.....maybe LB.
Pearson is fast enough to play WR or possibly DB. He got off at least one long run during one of the pre-spring game scrimmages, but he had a pretty open field for the first 15 -20 yards and he had gained a lot of speed/momentum at that point. So he has speed, but not all that much quickness....which is not a good thing for a RB.
Shanbour, has the speed and quickness to be either a slot receiver or a RB. He could also play CB or Safety. During one of the pre-spring game scrimmages held at Apogee I met Q. Shanbours grandfather. He told me that he was a coach/teacher by profession. In giving me his grandson's football history (in proud grandfather style) he mentioned that one of QS's high school coaches wanted to play him at linebacker....which prompted the family to move him to another school. Mr. Shanbour also showed me his crooked little finger that got broken when he was playing catch with his grandson. He had not anticipated the "heat" his grandson was going to put on the ball. He said that QS was 12 years old at the time.
Fine is about a half step behind Shanbour in speed, and my assessment is pretty much the same for him....slot receiver/RB/DB.
 

I disagree. I think this is the perfect forum/thread to discuss this.

I'll start off by saying that I never predict how the team is going to finish. As a fan of North Texas (or any team for that matter) I find the prediction thing a bit defeatist. If anyone ever pins me down about how many games I expect us to win, my answer will always be "all of them". If the fan base doesn't have a "I didn't come here to lose" attitude, then why should the football team?

One of the biggest disappointments for me about this program has been a fan base that has historically been, at best, a bit stand-offish about school spirit. It's almost as if school spirit was "not cool" (and that really was the case in the late 60's early 70's) and only when a noticeable contingent of fans start getting rowdy (led by the Emmitts and FFR's of that generation) does everyone else join in......but not always.

Our "I'll-show-up-and-get-rowdy-if-you-will....maybe" attitude has almost become institutionalized and (sadly) the only tradition that we consistently have here.

I don't know how other people's High School experiences were (spirit wise), but I went to a school that expected rowdiness on the part of the students AND the adults that showed up for games. We had cheerleaders that relentlessly worked the crowd, and when they did a cheer, they would announce what it was, and that they expected EVERYONE to participate to the fullest.....and we did. One year our band was playing some song at a crucial time in the game, when we should have been playing the fight song.....which totally pissed of the cheerleaders. Our band director refused to stop in mid-song to fire up the fight song. I was just sure that one of the cheerleaders (her name was Molly) was going to climb into the stands and whip our band director's ass.....and she probably could/would have had she not been restrained.

Some of you may remember Dan Clark, who ran for Sheriff a couple of times in Denton County. Among other things he was involved with, he was with officiating HS football games. I dated his cousin, and I had an occasion to visit with him one day (late 60's early 70's). Dan had just officiated the Decatur/Bowie football game, and he made a point to tell me that on more than one occasion during that game, he almost threw a flag on the Decatur fans for unsportsmanlike conduct. He said, "you better tell those fans to tone it down". I just smiled and said "Dan, you used to play football at Decatur, have you forgotten so soon how "exuberant " they can be?. And throwing a flag on them would only make it worse."

THIS is the culture I came from. So imagine the culture shock, for both me AND the long time NT alumni, when I started regularly sitting with the "tennis applause" crowd whilst acting like a Decatur fan. They used to look at me like I was crazy, and I would look at them as if they were a bunch of people that had gotten lost on their way to a funeral service rather than intentionally going to a football game. I don't carry on like that anymore, or not as much, but that has more to do with age, rather than being taken over by the "tennis applause walking dead".

So, this is a long harangue to say that I don't make predictions about our W/L record. But I do have expectations.

I expect my football team to show up with their "I didn't come here to lose" t-shirts under their uni's.
I expect our cheer staff to actually cheer and loudly encourage the crowd,(on BOTH SIDES of the stadium), to participate in the game rather than do gymnastics and perfunctory pom-pom shaking.
I expect the Band to take total responsibility for promoting school spirit starting in the parking lot, all the way into and at the stadium. And to celebrate this great school with performances that have lots of "showmanship".....instead of just showing up and playing their requisite song list.