University of North Texas Athletics
Live Blog Marches On, Dodge Days From Denton Part IV
8/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Wide Receiver Coach Clayton George on progress of wideouts
“I’m really pleased with the progress of all these guys. Casey’s leadership is a huge asset for this team. He’s had an outstanding summer and he’s come in here better than he was in the spring. A lot of the young guys bring something different to the table, all catch the ball well and should fit in at some point during the season.”
POD (play of the day)
9:16 p.m.
Goes to freshman cornerback DeWaylon Cook. During red-zone drills he knocked away a sure touchdown pass to Breece Johnson at the last minute. He followed that up with another deflection at the goal line. Cook wasn’t perfect though, later during the drills he dropped a sure interception, and as self punishment, dropped down for 20 self inflicted push-ups.
Lighting off to the north, practice over. Back with quotes.
"That’s A Ball Disruption”
9:00 p.m.
Bellowing out of the vocal chords of new (old) defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach after linebacker Craig Robertson knocked not one, but two consecutive passes down. The first was a rejection intended for Breece Johnson, the second came as Robertson was blitzing off the strong side.
The defense has risen to the challenge after last night, lots of chatter on the dark green side of the field.
As the practices have come along the aggressiveness and emotions are definitely picking up steam. Tonight has easily been the most physical and emotional practice of them all. New (old) defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach was disappointed with the way his defensive line was getting man-handled by the offensive line and he let his troops know about it by using a wide variety of descriptive words. Looks like they’re responding though, during the 11-on-11 drills the defense has turned it up a notch. DeLoach’s presence is already making an immediate impact.
It’s no secret that
Later in the drill it was freshman John Shorter’s turn and he split the field right up the middle and wasn’t touched until reaching midfield. He didn’t feel like stopping either after getting touched until he finished off his defender with a fierce stiff-arm to the ground.
Old cornerback’s coach Butch LaCroix stopped by for a few minutes at the beginning of practice. LaCroix, who is now in sales, visited with a few of the players and coaches
In his second year as running backs coach, Shelton Gandy is making his presence felt during practice this evening. He's showing his running backs the ways to make defenders look silly. "Get outside and run to the numbers," said Gandy."Make them chase you." RBs Micah Mosely, Cam Montgomery, and Lance Dunbar were all ears.
Coach Dodge is exuding his knowledge for the offense today. You can’t help but hear what he’s yelling to his men while they are working on rollouts and handoffs. QBs, Giovanni Vizza, Riley Dodge, and Matt Phillips were all involved. “Get the ball out and be precise,” Dodge said. “Way to run, way to turn it up,” Coach preached after his receivers caught the ball.
I’ve Seen Him Before
7:51 p.m.
Mack Cole III has had us scratching our heads for the last few days. Not because of anything he has done, but because who he reminded us of. We’ve figured it out. Cole, a defensive end from
Daniels finished his career with seven sacks and two rings, here’s hoping Cole gets the same and then some.
Intensity is through the roof tonight and full pads isn’t until tomorrow. Receiver’s coach Clayton George was so fired up at one point he even told the cornerback’s what they were going to run. The challenge though was issued more towards his group.
Two talented freshman then locked horns. Wide receiver Sam Roberson engaged DB James Hamilton in a one-on-one blocking battle that started with
Warmup’s are done, first-team offense on the field and in action. Back with more. ..
One more from the mailbag
6:42 p.m.
Practice just about 20 minutes away, and it’s the full squad starting at 7 tonight so we’ve got some things to talk about. We’ve gotten a lot of questions and if we didn’t get to it tonight don’t worry, we will answer more tomorrow.
Dan from
Q: Which freshman Wide-out(s) do you think could have a break out year?
A: I’m going to cheat on this one a bit and say Sam Roberson. He’s a redshirt but he was one of those guys that Coach Dodge had to convince even himself last year not to take the redshirt off. He is a prototypical receiver that you want and he is poised for great things ahead. Of the true freshman, I will say this they are all fantastic athletes. Forrest Rucker has impressed as has Kenny Barrett but if this was poker I would say receiver’s coach Clayton George has a full house.
Dunbar is a very gifted athlete who at times is too fast for his own feet. He’s got lighting quick speed. Not sure what situations you might see him on the field in this year because remember the stable of running backs is very deep, and very talented. Brett from Cedar Hill Jeff from Denton Steve from Denton When you see all of the meetings, don’t think of these as executives meeting at a long desk with 105 guys waiting for CEO Dodge to start talking. Its broken down by positions, teams, coaches, etc. The point, the ordinary game of three-yards and cloud of dust takes a little more than just drawing it up on a chalkboard these days. With all of the technology available now, preparing for a game might seem a little out of the ordinary to some. Opening The Mailbag Jason from Lake Dallas Jeremy from Coppell Q & A Time Remember we are armchair quarterbacks like yourself so most of our explainations of x's and o's comes from our knowledge Madden 08. Click Here To Submit Questions Your answer? “Heck yes!” said North Texas quarterback Matt Phillips. And so began a budding friendship between the two. Bradshaw and Phillips played golf over the summer four times together and have made plans for even more golf during the fall. Wondering how these two hooked up? It didn’t have anything to do with the fact they play the same position. It turns out that Colt Mahan’s father is a good buddy with Bradshaw and one afternoon they needed a fourth playing partner. So as Phillips told us “they went down the QB depth chart.” Starting with Daniel Meager, then Nathan Tune, who both were unavailable, they made their way to Phillips who gladly accepted. Phillips has said that during the season on the team's off-day, Monday, that he and Bradshaw (a metroplex resident) are planning on hitting the links. Perhaps Phillips, not a bad golfer in his own right, could pull some of his newly-found strings and swap some tees and golf balls for a few QB tips he could pass along. Overheard Your probably thinking that DeLoach read them the riot act, yelled, screamed, and could be heard all the way to Camarillo. Didn’t happen. While DeLoach did raise the voice just a bit, his message was simple. He wants the players to get after it, compete and use this time to get better and improve. I’m betting the message was received loud and clear. Who’s the Beef On The Horizon Correction Time: In our salute to small towns yesterday we incorrectly noted that Celina had won seven state titles when in fact they have won a state record eight. Thanks go to Todd Snyder for pointing out the omission. The blog overlooked the 1974 state co-championship won by the Bobcats in the Class B division. The co-championship came as a result of a 0-0 tie with Big Sandy. Thank goodness for overtime these days.
More From The Mailbag
5:13 p.m.
John from Paducah
Q: How is the QB spot looking so far, and do you anticipate Riley in the mix this year? How is Lance Dunbar looking? Will we see him on special teams or 3rd downs this year? I hear he has some real speed? Who on defense is standing out thus far.
A: Let’s take these one at a time. The QB situation is what Coach Dodge has pretty much said, competition is always open. Vizza has been sharp through the first three days and has even stayed around after practice a few nights to get some extra work in. Your guess is as good as mine about Riley playing, whatever the decision is the quarterback spot is going to be good at North Texas for a really long time.
Defensive standouts, there are a lot to choose from. Kylie Hill and DaWaylon Cook are two that spring to mind. Once hitting gets going we will be able to know a little more.
Q: How do Brandon Akpunku (AK47) & James Hamilton look? Do either of them have chance to impact this year's squad?
A: Like Coach Dodge said all of the incoming freshman are going to get their chance to compete for playing time. Hamilton is an unbelievable athlete who played QB in high school but is now in the secondary at North Texas. Akpunku might have a harder time making a big impact because the three starting linebackers, Penson, Nwigwe, and Robertson are known commodities.
Q: How is the kicking game looking?
A: Yesterday was the first time we’ve seen any action from freshman Trent Deans and he was consistently nailing them from 30-40 yards out. It remains to be seen how he’ll fair once Aug. 30 rolls around but our crew was impressed with his power.
Q: How does the Mean Green’s recruiting class compare to other SBC teams?
A: Not sure about the rest of the Sun Belt but you can tell the coaches are very impressed with this 2008 class. Freshman wide receiver Forrest Rucker is going to be a household name by the time his tenure is up at North Texas. Linebacker Craig Robertson raved about the talent of the incoming class so it’s only a matter of time until others see the same.
An Ordinary Day
4:42 p.m.
The word two-a-days might be coming a bit obsolete. The number of actual days where multiple practices take place are around four, give or take a few. Before some of you old timers who remember the Junction Boys start getting upset we thought we would give you a quick peek at a regular day for a North Texas football member. They will vary of course with each practice, but you’ll get the drift.
Quick Synopsis
Up by 7 a.m., 8 a.m.,lifting, 10-12 meetings, lots of them. 12 p.m. Lunch, 3 p.m.- more meetings, 5 p.m.- dinner, 7 p.m. practice, 10:30-day is over.
4:13 p.m.
Keep them coming, still plenty of time to get your question in. Click Here To Submit Questions
Q: How is walk on Chase Baine doing? He was the QB at Lake Dallas two seasons ago. Love to follow the local boys.
A: We noticed Baine for the first time last night in some drills and he made two nice catches. When you first look at him he seems a tad small to be a wide receiver, but he actually is no different than Casey Fitzgerald when it comes to size. He’s going to be competing with 18 other guys for playing time, but with this offense anything can happen.
Q: What position do you believe has improved the most since last season?
A: That’s easy, all of them....Seriously though if we had to go with one position it’s going to be the offensive line. Keep in mind the returners, Drake, Santiago, Menard, and Bailey were all underclassmen last year and the line was ravaged by injuries. The newcomers that have gotten the most attention, Gabe Hollivay and Nate Jenkins, are going to play. A lot of people might have worries about their weight, but trust me the pounds are melting away as fast as D-lineman are hitting the ground battling those two. J.J. Johnson is another to keep an eye on, he is just a redshirt freshman. And I haven’t even gotten to the true freshman, so suffice to say I think fans are going to like what they see out of the o-line this year.
3:24 p.m.
Nope, not with any players or coaches, with you Mean Green fans. From now until the start of practice tonight, send us any questions you might have about the first three days of fall camp and we will try and answer it to the best of our ability.
Terry Bradshaw’s Caddy?
2:49 p.m.
So it’s another hot summer afternoon and as a 22-year old college student, you’re looking for something to do. You get a phone call and on the other end the voice offers you a chance to play golf with Terry Bradshaw, just your average NFL Hall of Famer, owner of four Super Bowl rings, and co-host of the popular FOX NFL Sunday pre-game show.
A Special One
1:54 p.m.
There are probably quite a few athletes who share the same small-town story and background as Mean Green’s freshman wide receiver Desmond Brigham. Few, however, are as proud and thankful as Brigham is towards his hometown of Caddo Mills. Entering this season Brigham felt like he needed to honor his hometown (just over 1,000) in some sort of fashion. He did so by choosing to wear number one on his jersey for the upcoming 2008 season. The number proves to be quite significant because Brigham is the first Division I signee in Caddo Mills history. -More-
11:58 a.m.
It was an offensive evening at Fouts and down on the sidelines last night we caught wind of a statement that turned out to be prophetic. During the team drills we heard the phrase “I bet there gonna be meeting tonight” in reference to the defense. He was right; the entire defense was corralled after practice by new (old) defensive coordinator Gary DeLoach.
11:09 a.m.
First-year graduate assistant coach Jeff Bryant is better known as Beef by
10:33 a.m.
It’s still early in fall camp but there are some storylines that are starting to develop and with full pads just 24 hours away things are getting a little more chippy. We’ve harped on themes the last few nights but it’s going to be clear hitting will become a big theme heading into the weekend. And if your fans of Terry Bradshaw stay tuned.
Dodge Days Part III
Dodge Days Part II
Dodge Days Part I
