GrayEagle

We all know that Bush gets a "poor" rating for fiscal responsibility but this chart, wherever it came from, distorts the hell out of things. Where is the revenue produced by the tax cuts in the chart for instance? Here's another point...who voted for this spending? How much of this was proposed/caused by Bush's party and how much by Obama's? The Democrats controlled Congress during Bush's administration and check to see how much of the spending came directly from bills rammed down our throats by Pelosi/Reed. The chart covers eight years of Bush vs. two years of Obama actual without future spending already voted in by Congress. Remember when Nancy Pelosi said you'll have to pass this bill to see what's in it? Has that been included? How about adding those items in then produce a chart and let's see what it looks like?

If Brooks and Thompson are among the four best defensive tackles then they should play. They can't gain experience by redshirting and they seem to be pretty solid in size so there's no need to sit while gaining weight, speed and strength. They are needed now; we're already thin at that position.

Two impact players are on that list...Cam Feldt, the Arkansas transfer and Kendall Washington, the 76th rated safety this past draft. He accepted very late and could be gray-shirting or just reporting late, I don't know which. The rest are walkons which usually means that they are either a few pounds too light, a few inches too short or a few steps to slow. However, there are 6-8 of those with better chances than the others. Nick Crewe probably had FCS offers but chose to try his hand here. He's a possibility. Ryan Long of Leonard (hometown of the Renfros) has looked good at times but needs consistency. Tanner Smith is the son of Charlie Smith, a letterman from the 80s Jeremy Brown has great speed but is just too small Dimitri Wilhite is pretty much Jeremy Brown revisited. I wish that we could keep Jason Bruner just to lead the charge onto the field. They wouldn't think that we were samll with his 6'9", 311 pound frame leading the charge. He's actually a long snapper from Mineola who went to Trinity Valley CC. All appeared in the spring but I don't expect many, other than those listed above, to return for the fall.

Hadn't Todd Dodge already agreed to go to Tulsa before Todd Graham accepted the Pitt job? I'm thinking that somehow Riley got substituted for Todd in the article.

I noticed that Kendall Washington is not yet listed on this year's roster. He was supposedly a late recruit for the current class but has yet to be issued a uniform. Will he eventually be added to this roster, gray-shirted, or has not yet qualified? Anyone have any information?

Our chances for getting any of those four are somewhere between slim and none and slim just left town. Size is not that much of a problem it's developing that size into players. With Wallace we will have three offensive guards and tackles and defensive tackles that stand less than 6'4" and those three already weigh 300. Some of those six foot four and five players already weigh 290 to 357 so we should not be embarrassed by our lack of size. Add in 6'5" 295 Cam Feldt for next year and we'll be fine size-wise for the next couple of years at least. However, that would mean taking two of our best defensive tackles (Boutwell and McCoy) and putting them at DE where they belong. We are fortunate that our head coach both played and coached linemen. He'll have them up to speed (and size) by this year or next.

I don't think so. That was too close to the apple green of the flying worm days. Could have been a hand-me-down that Hayden gave him.

I mostly agree with those statements except for the peering over the fences. Don't make it public but there has to be some posturing ourselves for our future. Maybe quietly, but keep our name before the conference leaders and members. But you're right on the wins. It matters little what you have done in the past it's what have you done for me today?

Mostly, it was just Hayden being Hayden. He could spin a tale with the best of them. Besides that, while Hayden made the major AD decisions, Andy Everest did more of the day-to-day work that went with the athletic director's job. I'm trying to remember his salary figure but I just can't come with it. I seem to recall that our salary for both jobs was about the same as his coaches' salary at SMU or maybe slightly less.

I don't know; I haven't been counting the 4 and 5 stars handed out previously but I did count the offensive players this year. Here are those results: QB - 0 5-star; 16 - 4-star RB - 1 5-star; 21 - 4-star WR - 2 5-star; 58 - 4-star OL - 3 5-star; 34 - 4-star It seems that there may be fewer 5-star rankings awarded but that seems like plenty of 4-stars to me. It does seem to me that there may be more 5.5s and fewer 5.4s. That's purely from memory which may be fading fast.

I don't know for sure but this is what his dad/coach had to say about it... “Boone has really good feet and runs well,” Blake Feldt said. “He’s a good athlete. He’s not as tall as Cam, but moves well in space and has good hands. He is tailor-made to play center.” That quote is from Vito's article in the Denton Record-Chronicle. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the importance of the center but just let the center make a few bad snaps in a game and you'll be calling for his head. Or fail to pick up a blitzing linebacker or safety. I realize that the left tackle is protecting the quarterback's blind side (if he's right-handed) but he can miss a few blocks and it's not necessarily a disaster.

I go with the six wins also. I'm afraid that we only win one of the first five but five of the last seven. The focus, the enthusiasm, the strength and conditioning and the coaching staff (no major injuries?) are the real pluses as I see it.

I definitely agreed with you on this. You know there's something wrong when the 11th ranked center in the entire country only gets a 5.5. The highest ranking given was 5.8. I think that center is (next to the quarterback) the most important player on offense. They're all important but the center has to make blind snaps almost perfectly every time and is at the closest point of attack to the quarterback and has to react quickly to keep him protected. The 11th best player at other positions are probably 5.8 or 5.7. I consider them both four stars; screw what Rivals says.

It would depend on which personality Charlie S was in at the time.

To me it's not only when...but who? Admittedly, I was a little disappointed at first that the earlier commits were "under the radar" players who could be stars by graduation but are not attention-getters. What seemed to change the tide was the announcement of the transfer of Cam Feldt. It was then the rate began to pickup. Tucker,a ***,decided to go ahead and commit. Trice decided that he liked the conditions here and decided to transfer. The two highly-rated transfers and the brother of an excellent TCU player really piqued the interest. The football camps and innovations like "Friday Night Lights" are improving our esteem higher than ever. An experienced recruiting and coaching staff is also paying dividends. There are two other things that will improve our stature (and recruiting) even more. The first is winning and the second is a better conference. I have no idea on the latter but the first begins this season.

Another factor as to how far we'll go is whether Roger Franklin will be eligible. If he is then I believe that this young team can win the SBC. If not, I see them in third place. From what little I could find I don't see the Frenchman as being much help offensively but maybe he plays good defense.

If indeed it's Mexia Day when WKU visits it must be because of HOFer John Love.

I hope that Alzee has been working hard over the last year as well because they were pretty bad the last year that he played. He plays great defense but his offensive numbers haven't cut it so far. Walton's numbers at Casper weren't sensational but fairly solid. He was their leading scorer and had 3-point scoring percentages in the upper 30s both JC years. Williams had a 3-point percentage of .161 his last year played. I know that it's hard to compare due to the level of competition but Alzee has had virtually no competition in the past year so he'll be rusty also. http://www.tbirds.cc/mbb/downloads/mbb_newsletter.pdf

No, Vizza didn't actually score on those TD tosses; the receiver did.

I like being reminded about the great Darrell Dickey.

I don't think that he's pursuing a pro career. I remember reading somewhere that he plans to get an MBA degree for the business side of sports management.

I have no idea if he's close to signing with Houston or not. I do know this; he has added us as a medium interest recently. I am hoping that he might want to play for the Mean Green with his brother next year. He would definitely be a good one to get.

My apologies. I believe that Greer may be gone. He had originally been assigned #24. I see that Brandin Byrd now has that number, changing from 38.

Happy birthday, George. I remember you from as far back as 1956 so I know that you didn't just fall off of a turnip truck. I'm pretty sure that basketball is your true passion but you've always been loyal with your money, time, and attendance to both sports and academics. As they say, I wish that we had thousands more like you but that would be extremely difficult for any university. I wish you the best on your birthday and all of your days to follow.

I could be wrong (I've slept a few times since) but I believe that Greer had been injured when Dodge recruited him and McCarney decided to keep him and rehab him this year. He wasn't supposed to see the field this year so I see no need in issuing a uniform yet.