Fitzgerald Honored For Record Night

MeanGreen61 · September 11, 2007

Football: Fitzgerald honored for record night

Junior has breakout game with 18 catches

08:52 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 11, 2007

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

Casey Fitzgerald added one final accolade to his breakout week on Monday.

The North Texas junior wide receiver had already garnered headlines, not to mention a spot in the NCAA record book, by catching 18 passes for 327 yards in a loss to SMU on Saturday. Fitzgerald was named the Offensive Player of the Week in the Sun Belt Conference for his performance against the Mustangs.

Fitzgerald’s yardage total ranked fourth in NCAA Division I history for a single game and was also a school and Sun Belt record. His 18 catches was also a Sun Belt record

“We are just very proud of Casey,” UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. “We thought after spring practice that he would be a good fit in our offense. He has a lot of savvy to him and is a tough kid. … I don’t know that you would expect 327 yards, but we expect great things from him.”

So far, UNT has gotten all it had hoped for and then some.

Fitzgerald enters the Mean Green’s off week ranked No. 1 nationally with an average of 226.5 receiving yards a game, and also ranks third in receptions per game at 12.5. UNT’s top receiver has more than a 50-yard per game lead on Rutgers wide receiver Tiquan Underwood, who is averaging 176.0 yards a game.

Senior wide receiver Brandon Jackson ranks 17th nationally with an average of 108.5 yards a game.

The duo helped quarterback Daniel Meager post the top passing performance in school history with 601 yards. The junior ranks fifth nationally in passing yards at 354.5 yards a game and is seventh in completions at 30.5 a game.

Fitzgerald is the first UNT player to be named the Sun Belt’s Offensive Player of the Week since Patrick Cobbs received the honor after rushing for 103 yards and scoring the game-winning touchdown in a 14-7 victory over Middle Tennessee in the Mean Green’s 2005 season opener. The win was the capper in the Mean Green’s 26-game streak in Sun Belt play.

UNT to shift focus in off week

UNT’s coaching staff will use the Mean Green’s off week to take a hard look at what the team has accomplished and where it has fallen short in the first two weeks of the season, Dodge said.

UNT lost to Oklahoma and SMU consecutively to open the season, and is off Saturday before taking on Florida Atlantic in the first home game in the Dodge era. The game will also be the Mean Green’s Sun Belt opener.

“On Tuesday, we are just going to sit down and look at our needs for improvement and take time with individual techniques,” Dodge said. “We are going to identify the things we do well and the things we need to improve on.”

UNT has thrived offensively early in the season and enters its game against FAU averaging 430 yards a game.

The Mean Green hasn’t fared nearly as well defensively and ranks last nationally in scoring defense with an average of 62 points allowed a game. UNT’s Sun Belt rival Troy ranks one spot ahead of UNT in the national statistics with an average of 52.5 points allowed a game.

Dodge: Thomas will be fine

The status of senior running back Jamario Thomas will be a day-to-day decision heading into the Mean Green’s off week, Dodge said.

Thomas did not play in the Mean Green’s loss to SMU on Saturday after missing practice most of the previous week. Thomas rushed for 4 yards on five carries against OU.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

GoMeanGreen1999 · September 11, 2007

Football: Fitzgerald honored for record night
Junior has breakout game with 18 catches
08:52 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 11, 2007
By Brett Vito / Staff Writer
Casey Fitzgerald added one final accolade to his breakout week on Monday.
The North Texas junior wide receiver had already garnered headlines, not to mention a spot in the NCAA record book, by catching 18 passes for 327 yards in a loss to SMU on Saturday. Fitzgerald was named the Offensive Player of the Week in the Sun Belt Conference for his performance against the Mustangs.
Fitzgerald’s yardage total ranked fourth in NCAA Division I history for a single game and was also a school and Sun Belt record. His 18 catches was also a Sun Belt record
“We are just very proud of Casey,” UNT head coach Todd Dodge said. “We thought after spring practice that he would be a good fit in our offense. He has a lot of savvy to him and is a tough kid. … I don’t know that you would expect 327 yards, but we expect great things from him.”
So far, UNT has gotten all it had hoped for and then some.
Fitzgerald enters the Mean Green’s off week ranked No. 1 nationally with an average of 226.5 receiving yards a game, and also ranks third in receptions per game at 12.5. UNT’s top receiver has more than a 50-yard per game lead on Rutgers wide receiver Tiquan Underwood, who is averaging 176.0 yards a game.
Senior wide receiver Brandon Jackson ranks 17th nationally with an average of 108.5 yards a game.
The duo helped quarterback Daniel Meager post the top passing performance in school history with 601 yards. The junior ranks fifth nationally in passing yards at 354.5 yards a game and is seventh in completions at 30.5 a game.
Fitzgerald is the first UNT player to be named the Sun Belt’s Offensive Player of the Week since Patrick Cobbs received the honor after rushing for 103 yards and scoring the game-winning touchdown in a 14-7 victory over Middle Tennessee in the Mean Green’s 2005 season opener. The win was the capper in the Mean Green’s 26-game streak in Sun Belt play.
UNT to shift focus in off week
UNT’s coaching staff will use the Mean Green’s off week to take a hard look at what the team has accomplished and where it has fallen short in the first two weeks of the season, Dodge said.
UNT lost to Oklahoma and SMU consecutively to open the season, and is off Saturday before taking on Florida Atlantic in the first home game in the Dodge era. The game will also be the Mean Green’s Sun Belt opener.
“On Tuesday, we are just going to sit down and look at our needs for improvement and take time with individual techniques,” Dodge said. “We are going to identify the things we do well and the things we need to improve on.”
UNT has thrived offensively early in the season and enters its game against FAU averaging 430 yards a game.
The Mean Green hasn’t fared nearly as well defensively and ranks last nationally in scoring defense with an average of 62 points allowed a game. UNT’s Sun Belt rival Troy ranks one spot ahead of UNT in the national statistics with an average of 52.5 points allowed a game.
Dodge: Thomas will be fine
The status of senior running back Jamario Thomas will be a day-to-day decision heading into the Mean Green’s off week, Dodge said.
Thomas did not play in the Mean Green’s loss to SMU on Saturday after missing practice most of the previous week. Thomas rushed for 4 yards on five carries against OU.
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .

Fitz's recieving yards are incredible and are going to add to the fun in watching not only the team, but him the rest of the season. At his pace (which I know will slow down a little) he may break all of the schools recieving records by the end of the season.

The J-Mo thing is just sad. I feel bad for him.

StealthEagle84 · September 11, 2007

I wonder if J-Mo's situation is truely injury related. I have a hard time believing a hamstring can bother you over three whole seasons. He has plenty of time to rehab and get that thing back into shape. It would be one thing if it is torn or was torn at some point, but this is just tragic. Oh how times have changed in Denton, Texas.

stebo · September 12, 2007

Dodge's offense is 90% blocking for the spread. We only get to put 11 people on the field and the running back has to be blocking full time to protect the QB if he isn't getting the ball. JaMo has really never had to block for anybody before. He was too busy running the ball. I would guess that JaMo was benched on Saturday to help protect Meager so that Danny could have more time to throw the ball. Sad, but true. JaMo has two choices - adapt and learn how to block pretty quickly, or choose to be a benchwarmer. Again, this is just my best guess after watching this new offense and watching our new RB on the passing plays. He is basically a linebacker when he isn't running the ball... and that gave Meager a lot more time to throw last Saturday. In this offense, the QB is the true leader and needs to be protected.

RETSO · September 12, 2007

Dodge's offense is 90% blocking for the spread. We only get to put 11 people on the field and the running back has to be blocking full time to protect the QB if he isn't getting the ball. JaMo has really never had to block for anybody before. He was too busy running the ball. I would guess that JaMo was benched on Saturday to help protect Meager so that Danny could have more time to throw the ball. Sad, but true. JaMo has two choices - adapt and learn how to block pretty quickly, or choose to be a benchwarmer. Again, this is just my best guess after watching this new offense and watching our new RB on the passing plays. He is basically a linebacker when he isn't running the ball... and that gave Meager a lot more time to throw last Saturday. In this offense, the QB is the true leader and needs to be protected.

Good observation. J-Mo can NOT block well, thus he is done at UNT as an everydown back......He is the biggest one-hit wonder since Deep Blue Something.

PlummMeanGreen · September 12, 2007

Congrats, Casey Fitzgerald!

Can't wait to see some Mean Green wins accompanying some of our player's nationally ranked statistics. That will be one fine day when it starts happening (and anyone else have a gut feeling that it will happen sooner than later)? DD was in Year 5 when he had his 1'st above .500 season and I still believe it will be Year 3 when Todd Dodge has his own, but I think his may include some of the OOC wins we've all been waiting on to happen (regularly & consistently) for quite awhile now.

Edited September 12, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

Dodge2007 · September 12, 2007

PLUM Quote -

Todd Dodge Hasn't Come To Denton.....Texas.....America.....To Merely Give Us An Un-ranked Quick Fix or.........a One Hit Wonder.....And Shouldn't That Give Us All Great Cause To Celebrate?

DodgeBall: ~~~~~~It's A Matter of Voltage~~~~~~

Plum you must be a marketing major. You should package that up for next year's banner.

meangreendork · September 12, 2007

Good observation. J-Mo can NOT block well, thus he is done at UNT as an everydown back......He is the biggest one-hit wonder since Deep Blue Something.

This begs the question: could our best RB in UNT history, Patrick Cobbs have served in the offensive scheme we have now?

I also don't know about the hamstring being something this chronic. Maybe there's something inherently bad about his motion that causes that one muscle to act up? That's my only thought on that. I would like to see him on the field, racking up yards either through the air or by running it. I'd like to think he could be used as another reciever, too.

UNTLifer · September 12, 2007

This begs the question: could our best RB in UNT history, Patrick Cobbs have served in the offensive scheme we have now?
I also don't know about the hamstring being something this chronic. Maybe there's something inherently bad about his motion that causes that one muscle to act up? That's my only thought on that. I would like to see him on the field, racking up yards either through the air or by running it. I'd like to think he could be used as another reciever, too.

Heck, I'd like to know who is in charge of his rehabilitation. They should be working on flexibility, range of motion, muscular imbalance, etc...

meangreendork · September 12, 2007

Heck, I'd like to know who is in charge of his rehabilitation. They should be working on flexibility, range of motion, muscular imbalance, etc...

That's my bet. If you watch footage of him run, his strides are always pretty short and they seem awfully abrupt. Maybe that's not the cause, but having run track in HS, I can tell you that's not really the best way to do it, especially with pads on and with all the other impact of football. I'd look at getting him another rehab specialist or something. There HAS to be something up in his stride and motion that keeps aggravating his hamstring.

SilverEagle · September 12, 2007

So is his hamstring is worse than when he was a freshman and gaining 1800 yrds?....with a bad hamstring.

meangreendork · September 12, 2007

So is his hamstring is worse than when he was a freshman and gaining 1800 yrds?....with a bad hamstring.

Sure looks like it. If he had an injured hamstring that year (which he did), then the continuous use of it probably made it a bigger problem than it originally was. I remember in high school, I kept aggravating my (you guessed it) hamstring and it was a continuous problem for a while afterwards. Mind you, I didn't have anything besides a trainer to help out, but I would bet that his continuous use of that leg in his first year may have messed it up. For all we know, they ran James Mitchell in that one game because J-Mo simply couldn't run on that leg and J-Mo was playing with that injury all along.

eppy4life · September 12, 2007

To let everyone know after Jamario's freshman season my wife bought a black lab and we named it Jmo. Needless to say, since then he has been very disappointing.

Ibleedgreen · September 13, 2007

I have faith in Jamario.

stebo · September 13, 2007

Are you going to teach him to block? Because if you aren't - JMo will be "injured" for the rest of the season. The offense is about the QB and the receivers and we need our RB to be blocking, plain and simple.

Cr1028 · September 13, 2007

This begs the question: could our best RB in UNT history, Patrick Cobbs have served in the offensive scheme we have now?

If you watched any of Miami's preseason games, you would know the answer to this.

meangreendork · September 13, 2007

If you watched any of Miami's preseason games, you would know the answer to this.

Touche. Too bad J-Mo can't block well and keeps messing up that hamstring.

Got5onIt · September 13, 2007

Are you going to teach him to block? Because if you aren't - JMo will be "injured" for the rest of the season. The offense is about the QB and the receivers and we need our RB to be blocking, plain and simple.

Why not gameplan to use your best offensive weapon? If Dodge is the 2nd coming of Jesus that so many on this board claim, how can NOT find a way to tweak the O to fit Jmo????? I mean seriously, did Reggie Bush block at USC?????? Did Tech's Ricky Williams block 90% of the time???

MeanMag · September 13, 2007

Why not gameplan to use your best offensive weapon?

What makes you think J-mo is still our best offensive weapon? We haven't seen him be our best offensive weapon for 2 years now.

You are right, after that SMU game we need to find a better offensive weapon.

StealthEagle84 · September 13, 2007

Why not gameplan to use your best offensive weapon? If Dodge is the 2nd coming of Jesus that so many on this board claim, how can NOT find a way to tweak the O to fit Jmo????? I mean seriously, did Reggie Bush block at USC?????? Did Tech's Ricky Williams block 90% of the time???

The same way he was used last season. Why do you think Evan Robertson starting getting all the carries?

Green Jackal · September 13, 2007

To let everyone know after Jamario's freshman season my wife bought a black lab and we named it Jmo. Needless to say, since then he has been very disappointing.

Are you saying that because you named your dog after Jamario your dog has turned out to be a disappointment? I would take the dog to a good vet and have his hamstring checked out.