Recruiting philosophy by position

Harry · December 17, 2018

I think Littrell got burned on the juco route in 2017 when 2 difference makers did not get on the field (LB William Johnson and OL Cody Hayes). Our recruiting philosophy since has been predominately high school and a few jucos and transfers mixed in.

UAB and Utah State were the two toughest teams we faced this season and both of them are chocked full of jucos and transfers. We have chronicled the UAB situation at length already. Take a look at the Utah State roster here.

My point is, yes this is an outstanding recruiting class we have right now. Is that the best way to go for a G5? Time will tell.

For instance, we all know that our offensive line HAS got to improve and thinking that it will next season with one 4-year transfer and 3-4 high school guys is wishful thinking. If we had better talent on the roster this past season than why would they be on the bench?

If I am Littrell I go to Chuck Langston and say look at what we saw against USU and UAB... what do we need to do to match or better those OL? Is high school and development the best long term strategy to get improvement? Or should we be looking to sign more juco's? Tell me your plan and what you need to execute it and be held accountable to it.

I am actually torn on this because I do believe in the long run developing through high schools is the best way but it is more difficult to do that at certain positions. Perhaps we should be looking at handling it differently at certain positions.

UNTLifer · December 17, 2018

Our JUCO's under Littrell have been hit and miss. Pahuini came in a never contributed. Preston was touted during the Fall but played little this year. But then we have someone like Henson that graduated last year that was pretty solid. I think like any position, we just have to do a better job of identifying talent that will help us and then convincing them to come to Denton.

Wag Tag · December 17, 2018

I think the key for UNT On both sides of the ball is recruit length and red shirt! With the 4 game angle it would be great to have lines made up of 5 th year seniors! Kentucky would be a good example!

Edited December 17, 2018 by Wag Tag

agw0038 · December 17, 2018

I think the Juco route is effective for schools in areas where its hard to recruit. OL/DL is the only position i would even consider this for at a school like UNT. We just need to keep doing what we're doing. Establish a culture, create a family environment, and hopefully start to when some big games.

97and03 · December 17, 2018

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Our JUCO's under Littrell have been hit and miss. Pahuini came in a never contributed. Preston was touted during the Fall but played little this year. But then we have someone like Henson that graduated last year that was pretty solid. I think like any position, we just have to do a better job of identifying talent that will help us and then convincing them to come to Denton.

I think Preston was injured early in the year. Anyone else remember hearing that?

MGNation92 · December 17, 2018

Sosaia has been solid at center and he was a JUCO

I wont be surprised to see Preston starting at LG. The real question is what our tackles will look like. Plantin is obviously one to watch, but what about Woodworth? He saw a lot of playing time in spring/fall at LT.

We seem to have better luck with JUCO OL than high school OL

MeanGreenTexan · December 17, 2018

42 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

Sosaia has been solid at center and he was a JUCO

I wont be surprised to see Preston starting at LG. The real question is what our tackles will look like. Plantin is obviously one to watch, but what about Woodworth? He saw a lot of playing time in spring/fall at LT.

We seem to have better luck with JUCO OL than high school OL

For sure. Poor guy picked a heckuva day to have a bunch of bad snaps. Of course, I guess your snaps have to be different when hiking to 4 different QBs?

Don't forget Redshirt Freshman Manase Mose, who wound up being an honorable mention all-conference guy. I think he's going to get better & better.

I'd like to see Woodworth stay at Guard if possible. So yeah, that makes Plantin succeeding at LT imperative. Have Brammer/Parrish duke it out at RT, and you'll have a starting line like this next year:
LT: Plantin
LG: Woodworth
C : SMose
RG: MMose
RT: winner of Brammer/Parish spring&fall battle.

MGNation92 · December 17, 2018

3 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

For sure. Poor guy picked a heckuva day to have a bunch of bad snaps. Of course, I guess your snaps have to be different when hiking to 4 different QBs?

Don't forget Redshirt Freshman Manase Mose, who wound up being an honorable mention all-conference guy. I think he's going to get better & better.

I'd like to see Woodworth stay at Guard if possible. So yeah, that makes Plantin succeeding at LT imperative. Have Brammer/Parrish duke it out at RT, and you'll have a starting line like this next year:
LT: Plantin
LG: Woodworth
C : SMose
RG: MMose
RT: winner of Brammer/Parish spring&fall battle.

Yeah the only thing I'd be worried about would be Parish's weight. I'd like him to pack on another 20 pounds in the offseason, but I like his length.

Brammer looked pretty bad at LT but then again so did Murray, so who knows.

TheReal_jayD · December 17, 2018

1 minute ago, MGNation92 said:

Yeah the only thing I'd be worried about would be Parish's weight. I'd like him to pack on another 20 pounds in the offseason, but I like his length.

Brammer looked pretty bad at LT but then again so did Murray, so who knows.

Brammer is just a freshman and is converting from playing TE in High School. He is adding weight. He will only get better.

MeanGreenTexan · December 17, 2018

Just now, MGNation92 said:

Yeah the only thing I'd be worried about would be Parish's weight. I'd like him to pack on another 20 pounds in the offseason, but I like his length.

Brammer looked pretty bad at LT but then again so did Murray, so who knows.

Agree. So hoping maybe RT will suit him a little better? But that puts all our eggs in Plantin's basket, or slide Woody over & put Preston in at LG, but then you only have Plantin for depth.

NorthTexan95 · December 18, 2018

10 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

JUCO's have been hit and miss.

I corrected your post. Every school is hit and miss with Juco's

UNTLifer · December 18, 2018

What about moving Anthony out to RT? I am asking for no other reason than he has the size and has been listed on the two deep. Anyone have any news on his development? What about Witherspoon's recovery from knee surgery #2?