Dan McCarney has the gift of motivation. He has long been known as master of the press conference and I must admit I fell for his charm at the podium once again. I came away thinking we had the recruiting class that will be essential to our future success.
Hell we just might have.
There is, however, an underlying tone of … something. It don’t know if it is disappointment or frustration or something else. Having built a program before it would seem he would understand the difficulty in recruiting to a historically moribund program. Perhaps he thought it would be a tad easier considering the proximity to the most fertile college football recruiting ground this side of southern florida.
Dan McCarney is not a quitter and he is ever positive. I’m not worried, just intrigued.
It has been chiché to say “No coach will tell you they had a bad class”. This one was … okay. We managed to nab a stud on the offensive line in Boone Feldt, ESPN 150’s 10th ranked center in the nation. He will be the starting center going into next year.
Dan said there were no shocks or surprises in this class. I wonder if that was the reason for the relative lack of excitement on twitter for these guys. Other than a few shoutouts from high school classmates, there was no “JUST SIGNED WITH UNT!” updates. Of course, I could just suck at twitter. . .
So, the state of the program is thus: we are unknown, and have few positives outside of a shiny new stadium with which to woo recruits. The carrot, as it were, is the opportunity to be a part of a culture change. “We have lots of challenges ahead of us”, says the coach. “we need guys that want to take those kinds of things on.”
That kind of thing is hard to do. I think we probably end up with less talented, more motivated guys when we open up Spring Camp. Is that good? Yeah. Unmotivated talent is a drain. Guys that can play okay combined with a desire to succeed and a coaching staff that can teach them how? Well we might just do something pretty good, ya’ll.
Let’s get into some totally random, quick observations after looking at their minute-long highlight videos on Mean Green Premium, shall we?
Mark Lewis RB 5-10, 210 –looks shifty. and quick.
Boone Feldt OL 6-3, 276 — dominating the competition. Looks beastly.
Brad Horton 6-6 DE 230 –looks quick.
Carlos Harris WR 5-8, 175 –fast and shifty. has breakaway speed. good returner.
Connor Trussell OL 6-5, 285 — yeah pushing people around.
D.Q. Johnson JUCO DB -5-11, 185 — Can make tackles –blocked a kick. good in special teams. Apparently really fast.
David Busby S 5-11, 180 — reads the play well.
Devante Davis CB 5-11, 185 — can tackle. blowing dudes up. blew through a blocker to beat up a runner. He played LB??
Dustin Clark LB 6-1, 205 –fast. special teams guy?
Dutton Watson DT 6-3, 250–quick and big off the end.
Jamal Marshall DB 6-3,185–fast. chased down a guy from across the field. play recognition.
Jamarcus Jarvis RB 5-10, 195–shifty. quick. fast. breakaway speed.
Jarrian Roberts LB 6-2, 220– strong.
Lajaylin Smith LB 6-0, 218– quick and fast
Malik Dilonga DE 6-4, 250– Big. strong. quick.
Mustafa Haboul DT 6-0, 247 — quick. strong.
Nic Schrapps WR 6-3, 197– big and good hands. not that quick or fast.
Rex Rollins S 6-1,185 –big hitter. had some time as RB. — pretty damn fast.
Rodrick Lancaster 6-2, 200– WR –fast and plays big.
Ryan Rentfro OL 6-4, 280– Yeah. Sure is blocking and stuff.
Sir Calvin Wallace DT 6-2, 300– monster. big and strong. gets into the backfield with some quickness too.
Xavier Kelly CB 5-11, 165– quickness and speed.
Cam Feldt OL 6-5, 308 –will start JUCO transfer
Marcus Trice DB, 5-8, 190 –will start JUCO transfer.
Other:
As always, this list likely includes a bunch of guys that won’t be on the roster in three years for various reasons. Rankings and stars are tabulated on a lot of things that do not necessarily translate into on-field success. Like coach said, a lot of this is about evaluation: what you have, what you can be, and what these recruits can be.
Here’s hoping we have some gems in this thing.
Go Mean Green.
hat tip: ESPNDallas.
