Saturday, November 25
Denton, Texas
1 PM CT
University of North Texas
vs
UAB
Photo by: Zach Del Bello
UNT Looking For Win On Senior Day
11/21/2023 2:43:00 PM | Football
DENTON – The UNT football team will look end the season with consecutive wins and send its seniors out on a high note as the Mean Green host UAB at DATCU Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast set for 97.1 The Freak/The Varsity Network.
Head coach Eric Morris and selected senior players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, their thoughts on a unique senior class with various stories, defensive growth and finishing the year with some positive momentum.
Unique group of seniors to be honored
The Mean Green will close out the season with a Senior Day ceremony before kickoff on Saturday when the program will honor 19 players who will be playing their final game at DATCU Stadium: Oscar Adaway III, Roderic Burns, Daizion Carroll, John Davis, JP Hadley, Kaylon Horton, Isaiah Johnson, Kadren Johnson, Carson Kropp, Christian Lee, Tarik Luckett, Kaci Moreka, Nick Nakwaasah, Noah Rauschenberg, Caden Reeves, Mazin Richards, Kaghen Roach, Jace Ruder and Kevin Wood.
The group is full of unique stories, and three of them were told during Tuesday's media session by Burns, Kropp and Richards.
Burns started his career as a walk-on who redshirted in 2018 and ended up with a breakout 2021 season that carried over to now, when he will end his career as the 10th player in program history to eclipse 2,000 career receiving yards. He needs just 76 yards on Saturday to move into eighth place on the program's all-time yardage list and with 13 receptions would move into a tie for sixth on the career receptions list.
Burns said, in retrospect, he's happy with his career and the legacy he will leave in Denton.
"I'm kind of happy with everything," Burns said. "I feel like I did everything I could. It's kind of bittersweet (it's ending). For me, it was just trying to take advantage of every opportunity. That's what I tell the young guys is take full advantage of your opportunity and when your name is called make sure you're ready."
Burns added that he's thankful for his time in Denton and he is happy he made the decision to stay, along with the rest of the season, with the coaching change this past offseason.
"I'm thankful for this university," Burns said. "It's shown me a lot of things. Not even in football but just in life. It's allowed me to get closer to God these last six years."
"I just want to go out and put everything on the line Saturday and enjoy it, too. It's gonna be my last time playing at North Texas. I remember being in that polo squad in 2018 redshirt year and always knew I'd go out there and leave a legacy, and that's my goal is to continue my legacy and finish the game healthy and give the glory to God."
Kropp played his first three years at Oklahoma State before coming to Denton in 2021 and has gone from primarily a special teams player in 2021 and 2022 to being a key contributor at linebacker this season.
"Covid happened and I took advantage of that with this being my sixth year," Kropp said. "I wanted a change of scenery and decided to come to North Texas, and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I love the environment and family atmosphere and I just love the guys. It's been great for me. A lot of guys came from all over the place and I love that about college football. There's a lot of stories. Everyone has their story and everyone has their journey and everyone's different, but we're all family now so it doesn't matter. That's what I love about college football."
As for what Kropp will remember most fondly about his time in Denton, it's not a specific moment or game, but all the behind the scenes aspects of being a student-athlete.
"There's the games, obviously, but It's the practices, locker room stuff, the lifts, the offseason, building that brotherhood, that's what it is. That's what gets you sentimental about it coming to an end. It's all the little things for me. Just to be able to play this game as long as I have and have the support staff around me that I do. I'm extremely thankful for that."
Richards spent three seasons at Division II Eastern New Mexico before coming to Denton last season and bursting on to the scene with 78 tackles, 12.5 TFL and 7.5 sacks, earning first-team all-conference honors from PFF.
With the coaching change came a defensive scheme change and a position change for Richards, but he still leads the team with 9.5 TFL and has made 25 consecutive starts for UNT (37 in his career).
"I thought about it ending last night," Richards said. "I was reflecting that this has been like a dream, coming from where I came from. Everyone in the community having a good response and welcoming me. I've had so many experiences I would've never had a chance to see if I'd stayed somewhere else. I'm so thankful for this university. I truly love this place. It's been a dream, truly. That's all I can say."
Richards said he never considered leaving when he had a chance to go play his final year elsewhere after the offseason coaching change.
"This place is my home," Richards said. "Leaving was never an option for me, no matter what kind of defense they brought in. They brought in my position coach (defensive line coach Demerick Gary), and I knew he'd be great right when I met him and knew he'd help me get better.
"North Texas is my home. I knew I wanted to graduate from here. I'm very proud to say I'm going to be an alum of North Texas. That's a huge thing for me."
Morris spoke about how appreciative he is of the group for sticking around and buying into what he and his staff sold them upon their arrival in Denton.
"This is always bittersweet, I think," Morris said. "It's perfect timing with Thanksgiving and the kids are off school. You're thankful for all the seniors and what they've given to this program. When the majority came, the staff wasn't here, I wasn't here, so I'm thankful for those guys. There's a ton of guys that have come here and given us their all. Even though it hasn't ben perfect, I commend them for staying committed to the process and buying in and allowing us to coach them really hard."
Defense seeing growth as season winds down
The UNT defense has struggled at times this season while adjusting to a new scheme and playing some holdovers in new positions.
But in recent weeks, they have shown bright spots and signs of growth, and that continued in last week's win over Tulsa when the Mean Green held Tulsa to seven second-half points while holding on for a 35-28 win.
"Coach Caponi did a nice job mixing some stuff in last week and we created more negative plays," Morris said. "There were times in that second half other than the 99-yard drive they had that were fantastic. We did a nice job getting off the field on third down. They challenged us more on the perimeter and it was good to see guys like Brian Nelson step up and make some plays. They challenged a freshman a lot that hasn't played a lot and he made some great plays."
To make the recent bright spots even more promising is the fact that several young players have stepped into big roles and made plays. In fact, the team has been led in tackles by a different freshman in each of the past three games in Evan Jackson, Jayven Anderson and Patrick Smith.
Add in freshman linebacker Ethan Wesloski, and the foursome has combined for 178 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception with four pass breakups.
Kropp said he has no doubt the arrow is pointing up for the unit and he is excited to see what the defense looks like next season and into the future.
"We've continued that steady climb and hopefully I can pass that torch to the young guys next year and I can see all these guys succeed in this defense," Kropp said. "It's on a steady incline right now and I think there's a good path going forward."
Mean Green looking to end on high note
Though the Mean Green won't be able to play in a bowl game this year, there is still plenty of motivation for them to have a strong showing on Saturday in their season finale.
Morris said the positive momentum of going into the offseason on the heels of two straight wins would be huge for next season.
"It's a lot of fun to lead with positive momentum and not so much with negative momentum," Morris said. "We've seen glimpses of both. We couldn't get over the hump in a couple of key times. We've learned a lot about this team and it's grown exponentially. We took a half step last week and got back in the win column. Still, on both sides, we're lacking a killer instinct. Both sides had a chance to put that game away a couple of times. But a gutsy, courageous, four-minute drive there at the end with them having all three timeouts and they knew we'd run the ball and to see four backup offensive linemen in the game and see Oscar and Ayo get the ball downhill, I was super proud."
Head coach Eric Morris and selected senior players spoke to the media on Tuesday and discussed, among other things, their thoughts on a unique senior class with various stories, defensive growth and finishing the year with some positive momentum.
Unique group of seniors to be honored
The Mean Green will close out the season with a Senior Day ceremony before kickoff on Saturday when the program will honor 19 players who will be playing their final game at DATCU Stadium: Oscar Adaway III, Roderic Burns, Daizion Carroll, John Davis, JP Hadley, Kaylon Horton, Isaiah Johnson, Kadren Johnson, Carson Kropp, Christian Lee, Tarik Luckett, Kaci Moreka, Nick Nakwaasah, Noah Rauschenberg, Caden Reeves, Mazin Richards, Kaghen Roach, Jace Ruder and Kevin Wood.
The group is full of unique stories, and three of them were told during Tuesday's media session by Burns, Kropp and Richards.
Burns started his career as a walk-on who redshirted in 2018 and ended up with a breakout 2021 season that carried over to now, when he will end his career as the 10th player in program history to eclipse 2,000 career receiving yards. He needs just 76 yards on Saturday to move into eighth place on the program's all-time yardage list and with 13 receptions would move into a tie for sixth on the career receptions list.
Burns said, in retrospect, he's happy with his career and the legacy he will leave in Denton.
"I'm kind of happy with everything," Burns said. "I feel like I did everything I could. It's kind of bittersweet (it's ending). For me, it was just trying to take advantage of every opportunity. That's what I tell the young guys is take full advantage of your opportunity and when your name is called make sure you're ready."
Burns added that he's thankful for his time in Denton and he is happy he made the decision to stay, along with the rest of the season, with the coaching change this past offseason.
"I'm thankful for this university," Burns said. "It's shown me a lot of things. Not even in football but just in life. It's allowed me to get closer to God these last six years."
"I just want to go out and put everything on the line Saturday and enjoy it, too. It's gonna be my last time playing at North Texas. I remember being in that polo squad in 2018 redshirt year and always knew I'd go out there and leave a legacy, and that's my goal is to continue my legacy and finish the game healthy and give the glory to God."
Kropp played his first three years at Oklahoma State before coming to Denton in 2021 and has gone from primarily a special teams player in 2021 and 2022 to being a key contributor at linebacker this season.
"Covid happened and I took advantage of that with this being my sixth year," Kropp said. "I wanted a change of scenery and decided to come to North Texas, and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I love the environment and family atmosphere and I just love the guys. It's been great for me. A lot of guys came from all over the place and I love that about college football. There's a lot of stories. Everyone has their story and everyone has their journey and everyone's different, but we're all family now so it doesn't matter. That's what I love about college football."
As for what Kropp will remember most fondly about his time in Denton, it's not a specific moment or game, but all the behind the scenes aspects of being a student-athlete.
"There's the games, obviously, but It's the practices, locker room stuff, the lifts, the offseason, building that brotherhood, that's what it is. That's what gets you sentimental about it coming to an end. It's all the little things for me. Just to be able to play this game as long as I have and have the support staff around me that I do. I'm extremely thankful for that."
Richards spent three seasons at Division II Eastern New Mexico before coming to Denton last season and bursting on to the scene with 78 tackles, 12.5 TFL and 7.5 sacks, earning first-team all-conference honors from PFF.
With the coaching change came a defensive scheme change and a position change for Richards, but he still leads the team with 9.5 TFL and has made 25 consecutive starts for UNT (37 in his career).
"I thought about it ending last night," Richards said. "I was reflecting that this has been like a dream, coming from where I came from. Everyone in the community having a good response and welcoming me. I've had so many experiences I would've never had a chance to see if I'd stayed somewhere else. I'm so thankful for this university. I truly love this place. It's been a dream, truly. That's all I can say."
Richards said he never considered leaving when he had a chance to go play his final year elsewhere after the offseason coaching change.
"This place is my home," Richards said. "Leaving was never an option for me, no matter what kind of defense they brought in. They brought in my position coach (defensive line coach Demerick Gary), and I knew he'd be great right when I met him and knew he'd help me get better.
"North Texas is my home. I knew I wanted to graduate from here. I'm very proud to say I'm going to be an alum of North Texas. That's a huge thing for me."
Morris spoke about how appreciative he is of the group for sticking around and buying into what he and his staff sold them upon their arrival in Denton.
"This is always bittersweet, I think," Morris said. "It's perfect timing with Thanksgiving and the kids are off school. You're thankful for all the seniors and what they've given to this program. When the majority came, the staff wasn't here, I wasn't here, so I'm thankful for those guys. There's a ton of guys that have come here and given us their all. Even though it hasn't ben perfect, I commend them for staying committed to the process and buying in and allowing us to coach them really hard."
Defense seeing growth as season winds down
The UNT defense has struggled at times this season while adjusting to a new scheme and playing some holdovers in new positions.
But in recent weeks, they have shown bright spots and signs of growth, and that continued in last week's win over Tulsa when the Mean Green held Tulsa to seven second-half points while holding on for a 35-28 win.
"Coach Caponi did a nice job mixing some stuff in last week and we created more negative plays," Morris said. "There were times in that second half other than the 99-yard drive they had that were fantastic. We did a nice job getting off the field on third down. They challenged us more on the perimeter and it was good to see guys like Brian Nelson step up and make some plays. They challenged a freshman a lot that hasn't played a lot and he made some great plays."
To make the recent bright spots even more promising is the fact that several young players have stepped into big roles and made plays. In fact, the team has been led in tackles by a different freshman in each of the past three games in Evan Jackson, Jayven Anderson and Patrick Smith.
Add in freshman linebacker Ethan Wesloski, and the foursome has combined for 178 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception with four pass breakups.
Kropp said he has no doubt the arrow is pointing up for the unit and he is excited to see what the defense looks like next season and into the future.
"We've continued that steady climb and hopefully I can pass that torch to the young guys next year and I can see all these guys succeed in this defense," Kropp said. "It's on a steady incline right now and I think there's a good path going forward."
Mean Green looking to end on high note
Though the Mean Green won't be able to play in a bowl game this year, there is still plenty of motivation for them to have a strong showing on Saturday in their season finale.
Morris said the positive momentum of going into the offseason on the heels of two straight wins would be huge for next season.
"It's a lot of fun to lead with positive momentum and not so much with negative momentum," Morris said. "We've seen glimpses of both. We couldn't get over the hump in a couple of key times. We've learned a lot about this team and it's grown exponentially. We took a half step last week and got back in the win column. Still, on both sides, we're lacking a killer instinct. Both sides had a chance to put that game away a couple of times. But a gutsy, courageous, four-minute drive there at the end with them having all three timeouts and they knew we'd run the ball and to see four backup offensive linemen in the game and see Oscar and Ayo get the ball downhill, I was super proud."
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