This year’s class was nowhere near as hyped as the ones from previous years when it was something of a novelty to get a good class on signing day. NT last year tried to sign everyone but this year they still have “three or four” scholarships to fill.
The fans at GoMeanGreen.com, the forum of choice for NT crazies, will tell you that they saw last year coming because of some faulty classes in the previous years. To that I say “sure”. While we can speculate and criticize the results we know very little of the process of recruiting at North Texas.
The things we do know are that NT has missed out on some guys, that they have tried to fill “holes” in the classes with some risky JUCO guys that have not panned out. That is a fairly common occurrence as JUCO guys are risks almost by definition.
The staff at NT has recruited guys that have won all-conference awards, that are playing in the NFL, and have won some freshman awards (the defensive guys last year).
Whatever you think of the talent in CUSA, NT has recruited enough guys to compete with the top of this league. There was only two games where we could think “wow, we just do not match up with that” and those were the FAU games in 2017.
The most glaring whiff in the JUCO recruitment ranks was the CB play last year, after two-straight nice signings. So it goes.
Below are the new crop of Mean Green guys, with the data straight from MGS. North Texas has 19 commits and the average rating puts them at 2 (just being FAU with their 10 commits) on 247’s ratings. As always, the ratings do not matter when it comes to individuals, but they do when it comes to aggregate. Every player represents some chance they will reach their potential. The higher the rating, the higher the chance they will be impactful.
You cannot win by hitting consistently low rated guys and hoping to find that many diamonds in the rough. Everyone on the list was three-stars and that is nice. One of last year’s 3-star impact guys was Deonte Simpson. Two years ago, you might have seen Jyaire Shorter on the list. Maybe KD Davis. In 2017 you saw Tre Siggers and Jaelon Darden with three stars next to their names.
The point is that this is a class full of solid players and you can expect them to contribute soon. There are a lot of lineman and LBs here, which is good. One interesting thing is there is no QB on this list. NT has something of a logjam at the spot formerly occupied by Mason Fine and no true clear option.
There is always the transfer route.
- Kade Bond OL 6-3 298 Magnolia, TX Magnolia HS 7:21 a.m.
- Jordan Brown LB 6-0 200 Huntsville, TX Huntsville HS 7:22 a.m.
- Garnett Burke S 5-11 170 Garland, TX Lakeview Centennial HS 7:17 a.m.
- Jett Duncan OL 6-2 291 The Woodlands, TX The Woodlands HS 9:21 a.m.
- Anterrious Gray OL 6-2 329 Macon, MS Northwest Mississippi CC 10:00 a.m.
- Dane Jackson OL 6-0 277 Berea, KY Madison Southern HS 7:00 a.m.
- Isaiah Johnson RB 6-0 200 Lubbock, TX Cooper HS 7:11 a.m.
- Jacobi Johnson LB 6-3 230 Oklahoma City, OK Midwest City HS 7:53 a.m.
- Ta’Shoyn Johnson DL 6-1 288 Killeen, TX Killeen HS 9:05 a.m.
- Christian Lee TE 6-3 210 Friendswood, TX Friendswood HS 7:05 a.m.
- Davontae McCrae DL 6-4 250 Miami, FL East Mississippi CC 7:29 a.m.
- Jordan Nichols S 6-1 199 Waco, TX Connally HS 7:59 a.m.
- Kortlin Rausaw DL 6-3 259 Wylie, TX Wylie HS 7:16 a.m.
- Jake Roberts TE 6-4 235 Norman, OK Norman North HS 8:29 a.m.
- Upton Stout DB 5-9 165 Houston, TX North Shore HS 9:34 a.m.
- Loronzo Thompson WR 6-0 160 Friendswood, TX Clear Brook HS 7:30 a.m.
- Ron Tiavaasue TE 6-3 244 Akid, New Zealand Snow College
- Tavorice Weaver DB 5-11 190 Dallas, TX Madison HS 8:19 a.m.
- Erik Williams OL 6-4 247 Lubbock, TX Coronado HS 9:14 a.m.
