University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Scrimmage Report Cards
8/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Steven Bartolotta, August 14, 2010, 4:32 p.m.
The first scrimmage is in the books for North Texas and for those brave souls that battled the heat out at Fouts Field, you deserve a trip to the Rocky Mountains. For the rest of you, it's time to grade the offense and defense and see how they did.
Quarterbacks- C+ -The first round goes to Thompson. He had two big touchdown passes and was more in synch with the wide receivers than Tune. That's not to say Tune played poorly, but Thompson had the big results and big plays. However neither quarterback was particularly crisp. There were too many underthrown balls and the timing was off with the WR's too often. Coming into the scrimmage Tune probably had the edge. Coming out, I would say it's even or slightly tilting towards to Thompson.
Running Backs- B+ - Dunbar was very good for the brief time he was in there. He took the pro route most of the scrimmage and rested, a wise move with a known commodity such as Lance. Hamilton had two touchdown runs and I think has shown he can be Dunbar's backup, but if he slips watchout. Freshman Brandin Byrd is a star in the making. The baritone back, whose voice is deeper than most oceans, was tough as an ox and proved to be very difficult to bring down. Don't look for him to redshirt.
Offensive Line- B- The line did a nice job opening up holes most of the day for the running game but quarterback protection wasn't top notch today. Matt Tomlinson is looking more and more like the starting guard but the line today had some troubles with the blitz.
Wide Receivers- C+ - Tyler Stradford had the best day with a 70-yard touchdown catch. The speedster blew past the secondary, leaned out and grabbed a pass from Thompson and was gone after that. Chris Bynes also had an acrobatic grab on a touchdown. The pass was underthrown but he made a great adjustment to come back and grab it. After that it was pretty shaky. Willie Taylor and Riley Dodge had passes ricochet off parts of their body, resulting in interceptions. Nobody else made big plays.
Defensive Line- B+- Very impressive day. Against the run they did struggle a bit, but the pressure on the QB was much more than it has been in years past. K.C. Obi was in the backfield most of the day and freshman Aaron Bellazin also made some strides. Tackles Tevinn Cantly and Richard Abbe showed their ability to plug up the holes, and why not, that's almost 700 pounds of beef. John Weber, albeit working with the third-team, had numerous plays and a sack to stand out.
Linebackers- B+- LB's were good in coverage today and a made a couple of big sticks. Notably Craig Robertson and Jeremy Phillips had two big pops. Forlando Johnson also showed his ability and is a guy who will see a lot of time this year. A. J. Penson is the big question and after his first scrimmage he was solid, not great, but not bad either.
Secondary- A- The best day goes to this group. Steven Ford has moved ahead of D'Leon McCord to be the starter opposite Royce Hill. He was all over the field. Safety DaWaylon Cook had a monster hit late in the scrimmage and if not for Stradford and Bynes making plays, the secondary was nearly perfect today.
Special Teams- B. Will Atterberry was spectacular at times. The few minutes of punt work resulted in absolute cannons coming from the sophomore. While I hope I don't see a lot of him this year, if I do, look out. Freshman Zach Olen got off to a shaky start as his first kick was blocked and very low. He recovered the rest of the way until the end when another kick was blocked. The field goal unit needs to improve its blocking but I think Olen will eventually be fine. Early struggles could be expected, but he will improve.
