MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF

Pretty much 100% accurate, except that...he did get Apogee built. His weakness was hiring coaches. But, history will - and, does in the archives here - show that many took RV's side in the Dickey feud. To this day, there are Darrell Dickey haters among the fan base. And, many - if not most - lauded his hiring of high school Todd Dodge. There were many here who thought Dodge should be allowed to coach out his contract. Things turned sour after the 2014 football and basketball seasons. Before that, I think many here were still on his side. I credit him with Apogee and upgrading a majority of the other athletic facilities. No one here can seriously look at the facilities the athletes had in 2001 when he took over and say we are worse off from that standpoint. He did get the 17 to help immensely in that area. For better or worse, though, you are going to be judged by the on field performance of the football and men's basketball teams. It's just that way at the FBS level...and, most other levels. Outside of Johnny Jones' (RV's first big hire) five year run and Dickey's three years win streak and McCarney's record setting 2013 squad, there wasn't much there. Benford and post-2013 McCarney pushed people over the edge...even the 17.

Raveon...still working out, still tweeting: https://twitter.com/superstarrayy?lang=en If he had just put the same effort into the classroom as he did the weight room and twitter....

Give me record-setting senior Kicker, Trevor Moore. Will battle Jeffery Wilson for scoring leader. Has hit UNT record 99 consecutive PATs; currently, that's the fourth best streak in the nation as well. Currently, 2nd in career PATs with 99. Leader is Nick Bazaldua with 121. Currently, 3rd in career FGs with 33. Leader is Keith Chapman with 49; second is Bazaldua with 42. Can probably catch Bazaldua. If he catches up to Chapman, we're having problems converting in the Red Zone. Currently, 1st in career FG Made Percentage with 75%. If he can keep it up he'll stay ahead of Jeff Graham and Garrett Courtney, both at 74.3% for their respective careers; Richard DeFelice at 72%; and Denis Hopovac at 71.4% Currently 5th in career scoring with 198 points. Ahead of him: #1 - Lance Dunbar, 294; #2 - Nick Bazaldua, 247 (can probably catch up to this); #3 - Keith Chapman, 233; #4 - Patrick Cobbs, 228. http://americansportsnet.com/conference-usa/north-texas-mean-green/unts-trevor-moore-kicking-his-way-into-record-books

And, Taylor was a DMN State Top 100 recruit, this kid wasn't. Not even close. No offers out of high school from any FBS schools; nor, from what can be found, any FCS schools either. Unlike Taylor, who had success here pretty much from the get go, this kid wasn't even lighting it up at his DII school, okay? He's as different from Taylor Casey as night is to day. If we were getting Taylor Casey-type players out of this coaching staff, that'd be nice, though. We're not. So, if this kid, who was barely getting by at the DII level, ends up in our two-deep, it's a problem.

2015: Redshirt 2016: Four games played, no starts, no stats: http://riderangersride.com/custompages/gallery/HTML FOOTBALL/2016/teamcume.htm

This LB news is not exciting to me. EDIT: Nevermind. WT A&M shows he was there four years, played two years (2014, 2016) DB out of high school and listed as DB at WT A&M. No offers out of high school: http://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/120780/colton-mcdonald. As far as "track" talk, recruiting showed a 4.73 40. That he's seeing 1st team snaps says something - and, not something good. Also a 6'4" LB listing at 210? Again...probably fine in DII ball. FBS? He'll have guards and tackles outweighing him by 100+ pounds...H-backs, TEs, and the now rare fullbacks will easily have 30-50 pounds. I haven't counted, maybe someone else can. How many former Division II and FCS players now populate our roster? I'm beginning to wonder whether Littrell and Co. known we're not I-AA anymore.

Bingo!

Remember, Smith was so good, he didn't need to study film or the playbook. That's how good he was. And, Dajon as well. I also think it was Dajon who wasn't putting in time in the weight room, if memory serves correct. The very least you can say about Fine is that he at least does the things off the field that a starting QB should do. God bless him, he's just not big enough to be consistent QB at the FBS level. But, you can't fault him for off the field preparation/leadership. Wish to heaven we had a real QB so Fine could be moved into the slot, and return kicks and punts.

Son...you haven't been following the Mean Green football long enough, apparently. We go into every season with (unrealistic) hope. Four times in the last 22 seasons, that hope has been justified. Four. The law of averages does catch up with our hope every here and again. Littrell should play this clip for the team before every game:

If we lose to Lamar, yes...banner time. I'll chip in the first $100 towards a "Fire Seth" banner at SMU if Lamar rolls in and beats us at home to open the season.

Easiest prediction in college football ever: Under Kiffin and Little Briles, FAU becomes the new "Thug U" out of south Florida...easily outpacing The U, which is being rebuilt by Christian head coach, Mark Richt. (The U will also fall behind FIU in the race for traditional, south Florida, football thugginess as Butch Davis, who got North Carolina embroiled in NCAA sanctions, takes over.) Be prepared for cheap shots all day long from their defense, and ridiculous celebrations for things like even simple first downs from their offense.

Yeah, okay. Sam Bradford at Oklahoma comes to mind. Jamies Winston at FSU. Johnny Manziel at A&M. All either freshmen or redshirt freshmen who managed to wrangle starting jobs at some pretty big schools. Isadore couldn't even compete at Angelo State a Division II school. And, people here are excited about that? We have ridiculous talent issues at QB. When you talk about Fine, Shanbour, Isadore, Cason, or O'Hara, you are talking about guys who weren't even getting offers from many FCS schools, if any. Pearson had four FCS offers, plus one from Wyoming, and one from us. We're not, with any of them, dealing with QBs anyone else in the country on the FBS level was clamoring for. Of the six QBs on the roster. Only one, Pearson, held another FBS offer - again, Wyoming - and that is it. It's a problem. A real problem. Whether or not Fine is healthy or injured makes no difference - no one behind him was thought of as an FBS-level talent either. These QBs who have transferred in looked at us as the lowest common denominator...and, they still are not competing for the starting job, even after leaving the FCS and Division II schools for the JUCOs. So, we're simply finding out what Angelo State and Western Illinois coaches already knew about Isadore and O'Hara - they aren't college QBs. Period. And, Shanbour...can we please give this a break? How many times, with as thin a roster of QBs as we've had since he's arrived, has he managed to not win the job? Every year. He was a 2012 prep? Come on, folks. You are arguing about what amounts to nothing: None of them, outside of Pearson, should even be on the roster...and, Peason, ain't exactly lighting it up either...precisely as recruiting foreshadowed. Unless a real, bona fide superstar receiver emerges, 2017's offense will be the same as 2016: As Jeffery Wilson goes, so goes the Mean Green...and pray for decent defense and special teams again. #6 - WR corps, as Coach Littrell himself lamented last month. No one can run consistently good routes, or fight for the ball when necessary. And, with a QB as small as Fine, it's going to be necessary a whole lot. Got to have guys with clocks in their head to know when to fight back towards their little QB...who hasn't gotten the ball out yet.

This...plus, when the race is among three or four kids who had multiple FBS offers when they signed. We've got a bunch of kids that FBS coaches didn't even consider. With some, no FCS schools/coaches were takers either. But...here they are...in Denton.

You have to be joking. This is a kid who couldn't win the job at Angelo State. He then goes JUCO after not being able to win the Division II Angelo State job, then comes here...where he can't compete with the thin QB lineup we have. He's just another Division II, at best, prospect. He wasn't even recruited by FCS schools as a prep. He's a big kid and can probably toss the ball really far. But, that's not football. In law school, we had a classmate on our flag football team who could stand flat footed at the goal line and throw the ball 70 yards. He was a Navajo kid from Arizona. Never played football in his life, but was just a big, strong kid. It's fine to be a big, strong kid. But, football in an era of timing offense, as it is these days, a big, strong arm doesn't mean as much as it did when Ken Stabler and Roger Staubach were playing. Hell, it doesn't even mean as much as when Troy Aikman and Dan Marino were playing. To me, a kid like Isadore, whoever was his influencer at home screwed up: should have had him in baseball pitching. The days of QBs just being big and strong are long gone. What they need to be now is big and accurate. And, if the big part is missing...he needs a hell of a WR corps making up for him.

It's just tiring. Getting the QB who, at some point, had offers from Colorado State and La Tech was a brief respite from the onslaught of landing FCS/DII guys. Like I said before, if they were paying the coaching staff the same as SFA or Sam Houston pays their coaching staff, that would be one thing. If we were still having to recruit to Fouts, that would also be a thing to overcome. It's just disheartening to see it playing out this way. The only positive you can pull from it now is to know that when this coaching staff goes titsup and is fired for it, we do have the money to offer someone who can get out there are get a recruiting class full of legitimate FBS prospects. It fits my narrative perfectly - if the kid was a legitimate FBS talent, coaches would have already picked up on it no matter where he is. Coaching staffs - in theory - recruit to win. They don't care where the kid is. You'd have to get me to believe that other G5 and P5 schools don't have the recruiting budget to send a coach in a car just a few miles up the road from Allen/McKinney, when the same coaching staffs are already crawling all over ever nook and cranny of North and East Texas for players. If Anna was worth a visit for any player, they'd be there...grinning ear to ear and selling their well worn bullsh*t to the kid, his parents, and his coaches. It ain't Bugtussle, Oklahoma.

What's the closest airport to: Arp, TX...population 1,002, home of https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2018/demarvion-overshown-182700 Goodness gracious! Look at all those offers from coaches who had no major airport from which begin their journey into the East Texas sticks for a visit to Arp High...a 3A school. It's a joke, man. Coaches know who the best players are. Anna is far more accessible than most of the East Texas schools that annually feed top players to SEC schools, plus Texas and OU. This commitment is what it is: we beat out Illinois State, Sam Houston State, ad Central Arkansas...not Illinois, Houston, and Arkansas, okay? If we'd beaten even those schools out, it'd be news. Best of luck to the kid when he gets here; but, this isn't FBS-ready recruiting.

This is a joke, right? Anna is off 75. Also, coaches from all over seem to find player in the sticks of East Texas despite the lack of a major airport and many two-lane country roads. Anna isn't a difficult find...and certainly not out of the way as many East Texas towns are. If the number one prospect in America was in bf Alaska, every coach would be on a dogsled mushing his way to the igloo for a visit.

Kid didn't have enough FCS or Division II offers. Competition level was too high for Million Dollar Man & Posse - they know their place...and, don't waste time getting there.

It's another deflection from reality. So, "he would have multiple P5 offers if only he were playing at (X School) joins": -"Our coaching staff is so smart for offering him before anyone else"...even though everyone else has seen tape, had him in camps, etc....and declined to offer -"Our coaches are just like Gary Patterson!": But, not like the dozens of other coaches who have failed with this kind of recruiting at this level...including the last four right here in Denton. -"Our coaches only get guys who 'fit their system'"...because higher ranked recruits would never "fit the system" it seems. That's four good excuses now for recruiting a Southland Conference-worthy roster.

Littrell & Co.: No FCS prospect is safe when the Million Dollar Man's Posse comes a-callin'! Broken hearts today in Huntsville, TX, Normal, IL, and Conway, AR.

We offered him a couple of years ago during the recruiting process: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2017/chris-robison-1502 His offers outside of OU and Okie Lite were pretty much G5. Not sure why OU offered him other than Stoops was letting his OC/QB coaches turn OU into Texas Tech on that side of the ball. So, they just needed a guy who could quickly read a defense and get it out the second he saw a WR with an edge. Other than that, looks like most P5s ignored him.

McCarney's team quit on him...because, they likely felt that he had mentally quit on them. There's only so far you can drive a horse that won't run. McCarney was at the point of seeing that it wasn't going to happen and retired early in his mind. UNT is a tough job, but you can't quit on the team you put together and expect things to go well. McCarney made it worse by playing favorites with players too openly. All coaches have favorites, some (most?) just do a better job of hiding it. The coach he trusted to get QBs couldn't land a real FBS ready QB. In fact, most of the guys brought in at QB couldn't even cut the mustard at FCS or D II schools after they flamed out here. Some (Dajon Williams) simply never played again anywhere. Also, after Skladany left, the defense was cooked. The McCarney/Skladany combo did great things at Iowa State, given their past. The same duo pushed us to one of four winning season in the last 22 years. But, once Skladany was gone, McCarney was pretty lost. And, that's what turned many of us against his coaching regime. You had a guy who had been on a national championship staff during the Urban Meyer Florida era. And, a guy who turned up Iowa State to the point of consistently beating Iowa State and, finally, Nebraska - their long term in-state and border rivals respectively. To me, the cracks were showing after a couple of recruiting seasons where supposed DL guru McCarney couldn't woo DT recruits who were better than we had seen in the then-recent past.

We all did. And, this was an early enrollee who probably just got carried away with college life too soon. OU's new coach...if this is the line in the sand he's drawn versus Stoops letting starters deal dope and beat women, fine. And, especially fine if it accrues to our benefit.

Same. I'm going to guess we allow less than 28 per game on defense. Littrell hired more experienced guys to coach that side of the ball, so it should keep improving in increments. The other issues are timing, and as Littrell lamented a couple of weeks ago, the WRs fighting more to get open/consistently doing a better job in their routes. Fine doesn't have the luxury of being tall enough to see the whole field over the line. So, timing and route technique are very critical for us.