Let's Try Running...That's a Good Move!

[Philip Ferguson]

https://247sports.com/college/north-texas/Article/North-Texas-Mean-Green-football-is-prepared-to-rely-on-talented-stable-of-backs-Tre-Siggers-DeAndre-Torrey-150540184/

In Littrell’s four seasons, the Mean Green have rushed the ball close to 50 percent in every year, but have never quite reached that 50 percent mark. With the talent in the running back room in 2020, that feels almost inevitable.

[UNTLifer]

Siggers, Torrey, Adaway, Johnson (hope he redshirts), etc...  Plus, I think Nic Smith finally has the type of year that has been expected from him since he signed here.

[Green Crazy]

We've had the RBs, we haven't had the OL

[tmjerm]

With a first yr QB I’d imagine the run game will be relied on quite a bit. 

[KRAM1]

Yep...gonna tee it up and let it fly!  Oh, what? Not so much you say? Not a problem at all as long as we can move the ball on the ground.  We certainly seem to have the running backs and with a new inexperienced QB, probably the safer bet, but, like a lot of us I am wondering do we have the O-line to make this a successful strategy? Fingers crossed as I am good with whatever Coach Littrell thinks is best with this group. I just want to go to Mean Green football games!

OK, one condition...no later years Darrell Dickey ball allowed! No running up the middle three straight times inside the 20...OK, good to go with everything else.

Sic 'em Mean Green!

[meangreen11]

It disappoints me how much Littrell has failed the program in terms of building up talent and depth in the trenches.

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, meangreen11 said:

It disappoints me how much Littrell has failed the program in terms of building up talent and depth in the trenches.

This is correct, and has been hinted at in the recruiting discussions.   The last one or two recruiting seasons should have happened when he first got here.

I appears things are getting better, like he made some adjustments or figured something out.

[97and03]

13 hours ago, meangreen11 said:

It disappoints me how much Littrell has failed the program in terms of building up talent and depth in the trenches.

I think the Dline recruiting has been ok. Not great but we had some all-conference recognition and an NFL invite the last couple years. Not much of that in the Oline. We sign 4-6 a year and still struggling to find competent starters, much less reliable depth. 

[UNTLifer]

IMHO, I think it was a reflection on our OL coach and SL having to make the decision to let his good friend go. The impression I got from watching BTG was that they were tuning him out. I am excited to see what Bloesch does with this group. 

[untjim1995]

21 hours ago, meangreen11 said:

It disappoints me how much Littrell has failed the program in terms of building up talent and depth in the trenches.

He’s a spread guy from the Leach coaching tree. Linemen aren’t ever going to be the focus of recruiting. Now, Leach always had good OLs to protect his spread skill players, which SL has not done yet. But this is nothing new. 

[ttunt1970]

To all on this board the two hardest positions to recruit are the OL/DL, because all the P5/G5 are recruiting hard for these positions. Championships start in the trenches!

[97and03]

On 8/23/2020 at 9:27 PM, untjim1995 said:

He’s a spread guy from the Leach coaching tree. Linemen aren’t ever going to be the focus of recruiting. Now, Leach always had good OLs to protect his spread skill players, which SL has not done yet. But this is nothing new. 

It is usually 20 percent of each class so not sure you can claim it isn’t a priority, they just haven’t hit on enough quality players. This year will tell the tale. 

[Big Z]

Who’s that RB from Bishop Gorman? He had quite a bit of offers including the PAC 12. 

[UNTLifer]

30 minutes ago, Big Z said:

Who’s that RB from Bishop Gorman? He had quite a bit of offers including the PAC 12. 

https://meangreensports.com/sports/football/roster/ikaika-ragsdale/4785

[meangreen11]

On 8/21/2020 at 9:45 PM, Philip Ferguson said:

 

In Littrell’s four seasons, the Mean Green have rushed the ball close to 50 percent in every year, but have never quite reached that 50 percent mark. With the talent in the running back room in 2020, that feels almost inevitable.

[untjim1995]

2 hours ago, 97and03 said:

It is usually 20 percent of each class so not sure you can claim it isn’t a priority, they just haven’t hit on enough quality players. This year will tell the tale. 

Based solely on results, I'd say the focus of SL's staff is getting and developing skill players on offense. HIs best players have been at QB, WR, and at RB. That QB was so awesome that he basically survived 4 years of a severe beating, which really showed up last year when Mason looked like he was a shell of himself from the previous two seasons. As a matter of fact, I'm still amazed he survived that UH game last year. They literally had a huge guy from their Front Seven in the backfield as soon as Mason took one step back. 

For us to be better going forward, we will need to get much better OL play, as the odds of having a QB play as special as Fine did, are not real high. My guess is that we see that happen in 2021, as this year is just a retrenching year for the offense.

[greenminer]

1 hour ago, untjim1995 said:

Based solely on results, I'd say the focus of SL's staff is getting and developing skill players on offense. HIs best players have been at QB, WR, and at RB.

The makeup of our roster (and results) is a complex combination of player development, ability to recruit, and recruiting priority...among other things.  I know you know that.  Our lack of success in the trenches doesn't mean it isn't a priority.  I just can't simplify it that much.

Just my personal opinion, but I think that it is our system that is getting us a higher number of quality skill players.  As for our linemen, I imagine with Seth's history at FB, and his father's history at FB, that the importance of the linemen are firmly there.  He just didn't know when he started here how to recruit them at the G5 level.

my $0.02