[Breaking: North Texas hires Coach O as Director of Recruiting]

 

[Transfer TE expected to visit Hogs]

Tight ends had 12 catches for 117 yards in his offense last year and 7 catches for 56 yards the year before that. Maybe selfishly we would love to keep him, but would he serve as more than Gumms insurance? 10 personnel is usually Morris’ base offense. 

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

1 hour ago, NT80 said:

It does looks like our free throw shooting has improved.  I don't know if they were coached to practice them more, or guys are just more comfortable shooting them now?

It’s all about who goes to the line. When it’s Perry and Huntsberry getting to the stripe, we’re going to have a good percentage. When it’s Martinez, Scott, and Abou, it won’t be as pretty. That being said, Abou has taken a good step forward there lately. His form is decent. Just seems like he’s more in rhythm. In the past he has gone up too fast. Now it looks more smooth and in sync between his top half and bottom half of his body.

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

4 minutes ago, BigWillie said:

 

Fair points, I am all for tweaking the offense some to become an even better team. I just don't want that to be at the detriment of our defense or overall system.

Agreed

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

40 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

It is not just a system thing, but a familiarity thing. NT incorporated Hamlet easily, but it took him a second to adjust. NT incorporated Perry easily, but it took him a few games to adjust. NT is bringing in Eady, Martinez, and Huntsberry while also trying to heal up Rubin Jones and Perry. 

I think all of this is normal and fine. I don't expect NT to be clicking the way they were last year, and we have seen that. I had hoped we'd push it a little more, but they are sticking to the tried-and-true and waiting on guys to get in rhythm and knock down shots. I don't hate it and I am not panicking. 

Seems to me like we are clicking the same way we were last year. Grinding teams down defensively, not being pretty offensively. I know you’re referring more to team chemistry but it feels like we are where we were last year at this point (maybe a little ahead), but the biggest difference to me is that we have more capable players who seem to be playing below their proven offensive capabilities.

Last year’s team it felt like we had as good a season as we possibly could have had with that group (save for the CUSA tourney). This year it feels like we have some space between where we are at and our ceiling. So I don’t think it is so much panic as it is seeing how scary we can be if guys like Huntsberry, Eady, and Rubin just start hitting at the same clips they had been at historically.

[FAU (12/29/22)]

The boys haven’t played a home game since December 3rd against Omaha, and that is the only home game they have played in the last month. They have really been impressive road/neutral court warriors. Hoping that shooting on their own rims with a strong crowd behind them can be enough to lift them over a tough opponent.

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

At least he and Khai are seniors, but I would say Ruben has been a letdown so far. He and Scott need to get to work on the offensive end, but cannot complain too much when we are winning…

Kai and Rubin. I believe Kai still has another year of eligibility. He is listed as a senior, just like Perry who has another year. The guys listed as “5th” or “6th” are the guys in their last year of eligibility due to currently utilizing their extra year of eligibility due to COVID.

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

1 hour ago, BigWillie said:

I do agree with this, but..... we are 10-2 and we have seen Grant's system work time and time again. If it ain't broke...

Eh, that saying is very flawed. What if something is breaking? Do we wait until it has fully broken to address fixing it? What if just a part of something is broken but it doesn’t prevent the whole system from working?

Our offense is probably the thing holding us back from being a legit top 25 team. Doesn’t mean we need to fire Mccasland or change everything up, but maybe consider a little bit of tinkering instead of ignoring players coming here and becoming much less effective offensively just because we are winning.

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

6 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Sometimes I think we are our own worst enemy on offense.  I know the strategy by running clock is to lessen the number of possessions for the opponent.  Many times however we try to run the shot clock down then get a violation or a rushed shot because of it.  I see us passing up good shots in the lane sometimes just to move the ball around more, run clock, then heave a desperate 3 attempt.  Perhaps the strategy last night to get it down low for higher percentage shots and draw fouls was an attempt to help our offense?

This is absolutely true. We also don’t have a tremendous group of ball handlers so asking them to hold the ball/move the ball around that long is also going to lead to more turnovers than if you let a good shot fly with 18 seconds on the shot clock.

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

30 minutes ago, chrisfisher said:

When I posted our UNT offense sucks, I didn't mean to be a Debby downer, but I knew our season stats. We have a great line-up and elite defense. However, our offense or lack thereof will catch-up with us if we don't do something about it...low shooting percentages, long draughts of no scoring during a game, etc.... Defense can only get you so far...at the end of the day, you need to put the ball in the bucket to win.... Maybe Abou's performance is a step in the right direction. I really think the biggest hurdle for offense is that we play to the clock more than the open shot or in rhythm... it's hard even for the best shooters to jack up an out of rhythm shot, even if wide open, simply because there is 2 seconds left on the shot clock.  I think coach is trying to open up our offense as evidenced last night with the allowance of more shots even early in the shot clock.... For those that like to downvote, please see the pic of our offensive percentages.

Rubin Jones was a 36.6% three-point shooter entering the season and is at just 21.7% from three this year.

Tyree Eady was a 38.6% three-point shooter entering the season and is at just 25.8% from three this year.

Kai Huntsberry shot 39.8% from three at his JUCO and 41% at his D2 school but is shooting just 22.4% from three this year.

Jayden Martinez is shooting okay from three, but his shooting percentage for his 4-year career at UNH was 45% from the floor and he is shooting just 30% from the floor this season.

Part of this you can really argue is an indictment on Mccasland’s offense. It’s not the easiest offense to be efficient in when you play hot potato for 20 seconds before really making a move with the shot-clock dwindling sometimes. But to a certain degree you have to expect these percentages to correct themselves and progress back towards the mean. If they can, that completely changes the game on what caliber team we can be.

['23 LB Offer: Dylan Brown-Turner; South Oak Cliff: No Rating]

1 hour ago, 97and03 said:

We should look for an announcement if have re-offered

See Vito’s tweet above. Sounds like we have a chance for the February NSD.

[QB Options]

35 minutes ago, UNT Family Man said:

I would be shocked by this since he is a pocket passer and Morris prefers a dual threat type.

What makes you say that? His QBs, Copeland and Ward, have not been dual threats.

[UTSA (12/22/2022)]

I am eagerly awaiting when Rubin Jones starts to make his shots. Same for Eady, Huntsberry, and Scott

[Breaking: North Texas Hires Special Teams Guru Svoboda From Alabama]

38 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

We have West Texas connections in our HC, now Dallas and Houston ( coming from Texas & Alabama). Find a coach with East Texas ties and we are looking good 

Not to mention San Antonio with Morris and some UIW guys.

[Aune Enters the Portal]

32 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I know you're half kidding, but has anyone ever considered his baseball money is running out?

27 minutes ago, Green with Envy said:

How far could you stretch 1 mil?

Judging by his comments last year and the fact that he has purchased a house, it seems likely he has. Also when you consider 1 mil after taxes is more like $650K, and that was 10 years ago.

[Breaking: Iowa States Matt Caponi New Mean Green DC]

45 minutes ago, MEEN2018 said:

Here are all the Iowa State defenders in the portal:

from Texas:

https://247sports.com/Player/Mason-Chambers-46081367/
https://247sports.com/Player/Jayden-Gray-46100308/  (He was offered by UNT out of high school. Looks like he has been liking UNT related tweets so would not be surprised to see him transfer here!)

Not from Texas:

https://247sports.com/Player/Tayvonn-Kyle-46038606/

https://247sports.com/Player/Blake-Peterson-46037127/

 

Not only was Gray offered by us, but he was committed to UNT for a while.

[Head Coach Upgrade First Sign]

39 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Maybe the most vague comment you've ever posted. 

What is vague about it?

[Some Positive Thoughts as NSD Approaches]

On 12/20/2022 at 3:10 PM, Cooley said:

Come on ntexeagle. Was initially going to let this one slide. There were no star systems 50 years ago. There were no social media, twitter, facebook, HUDL. Rivals, 24/7 and other fan sites like today. Fans had to generally wait the next day. after signing day, to learn who their school signed. The Athletic Department provided an 800 number for fans to get a recording of who were signed on signing day.  

No question Milton was highly regarded as our best prospect ever to sign with North Texas. He was near the top of the Texas 100 lists with offers from most SWC schools. Don't think he would have been a 5 though. Maybe 4 based on similarities to Earl Campbell. Unfortunately the competition played at Blooming Grove, Tx  was not the same at many other places.

No disrespect, but couldn't let that one go right before Christmas.  

This is beautiful information 

[Head Coach Upgrade First Sign]

4 minutes ago, El Paso Eagle said:

Unfortunately, that worked against teams that ran the same offense, but not others 

Yeah, that and the fact that there are a lot more factors going into those results than just the position coaches. It wasn’t an entirely bad basis for choosing coaches, just overly simplistic and flawed, as I said.

[Head Coach Upgrade First Sign]

3 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

He also said the defense needs to compliment the offensive style. 

Right. It just seems a solid step more nuanced than the “three phases” non-sense. I know every coach wins the press conference, but this was something in particular that I was looking for going into the press conference and I thought he sounded competent addressing the topic.

[Head Coach Upgrade First Sign]

I’m not normally a huge fan of these comparisons but this really stood out to me. During Littrell’s opening press conference he said that he hired defensive coaches based on whose defenses were the toughest to score against, from his experience. I remember not liking that comment and feeling it was overly simplistic.

Later, during I believe the 2020 season, our defense was struggling and he was asked by Vito or someone else specific questions about the defense and his response was “I’m not a defensive coach. You’d have to ask them.” Coming from the head coach that is an atrocious response.

Today Eric Morris, when speaking about defense and special teams talked much more in depth about how he learned in his previous HC role how important it was to put a solid game plan together there and what it takes to really be effective there. That was arguably the most impressive thing he said today IMO. 

We hire HCs to win games, not just score points. Morris has really said the right things to understand he is coming here to run the whole program, not just “tee it high and let it fly.” 

[UNT TRANSFER PORTAL ACTIVITY]

23 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

You are mentioning players that are on the back end of pay for play. I think you could see players bail at the G5 level just to get a paycheck. It is going to be a hybrid system and unfortunately for coaches they will need to be prepared to flip the roster every season. I'm confident that EM can evaluate and develop talent. Yes I want to see the assistant coaches he hires, but really excited to see what qb he brings in.

Again, we’re talking about operating based on something that is not happening. Maybe it does, but we’re not seeing it and I don’t see the value in operating like it is occurring until we actually see it happen. 

[UNT TRANSFER PORTAL ACTIVITY]

20 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

Players like KD , Shorter and the twins transfer. One of the big reasons for Seth's downfall was the twins transferring. I trust EM with evaluating talent (one of the main reason I wanted him), but didn't trust Seth's. 

Players like KD and Shorter just gave us 5 seasons in Green. Mose gave us 6. Brammer went P5 but only after he had given us 5 years and only had an extra year to go P5 because of the extra COVID year.

The twins are the only starters we have lost to P5s in this portal era who actually hadn’t already given us 4 seasons. We even saw KD hit the portal, get P5 interest, and come back. There just doesn’t seem to be evidence yet of this “P5 farm system” where the high school players we develop leave us after they become starters to go P5, unless there’s a coaching change or something drastic.

I will say, you bring guys in with connections and that increases our chances at hitting on P5 offers. Guys like Morris and Gilbert who have actually coached P5 guys hitting the portal, there is value there. Otherwise, I just don’t think the odds are good or the ceiling is higher than an average player when you go after these P5 third stringers.

[How does JT Daniel's transfer and not have to sit out?]

Same reason Umoja Gibson didn’t have to sit out after transferring to DePaul this year. It appears as though they are letting grad transfers have as many sit out free transfers as they want.

In other words, I think you would have to sit out if you transfer a second time as an undergrad (and you actually played right away).

[UNT TRANSFER PORTAL ACTIVITY]

42 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

I would add that Davis from TxTech was supposed to be our starting CB this year as was the CB from Purdue who opted out 2020. Bush has been injured so not sure how to evaluate him. Terrell was competent WR we got from UT but did not meet expectations (although still a good ambassador for UNT). 
Agreed that the recent lower level transfers have been pretty good.

Yeah I think we can get contributors from P5s. I just think that if we forego HS recruiting as our primary source of additions in favor of P5 transfers, you’re going to have a team without stars. A team of Enoch Jacksons, Latrell Nevilles, and John Davis type players is going to struggle. Add them, sure. But mix them in, not make them the primary type of signing