Saturday, August 30
Denton, TX
7:00 PM CT
University of North Texas
vs
Lamar
Photo by: Zach Del Bello
Mean Green Set For Season Debut Against Lamar
8/26/2025 1:24:00 PM | Football
DENTON – The UNT football team will open the 2025 season on Saturday, as the Mean Green are set to host Lamar at DATCU Stadium with kickoff set for 7 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+, with the radio broadcast set for 1190 AM/The Varsity Network.
Head coach Eric Morris, who is entering his third season with the Mean Green, was joined by select players on Tuesday to speak to the media and discussed, among other things, new starting quarterback Drew Mestemaker, a new-look defense with several new faces, how the team chose its captains with so many new faces and the importance of fans showing up and showing up early.
It's Drew's time
Many Mean Green fans might have not known Drew Mestemaker's name before UNT's bowl game back in January.
After spending the season watching Chandler Morris set defenses ablaze, Morris was gone in the transfer portal between the regular season finale and the bowl game against Texas State. That left Mestemaker, a seldom-used backup, to start the game – his first start under center since his freshman year of high school.
He made the most of the opportunity by putting up 448 yards of total offense in the game and even became TikTok famous after a clip of him throwing up in a trash can after a long touchdown run went viral.
"It's awesome," Mestemaker said of going into the season as QB1. "Obviously, it's been not a very common thing in my career. To finally have this moment is really special."
Mestemaker said the bowl game success was a huge boost to his confidence heading into this season, but he said he never wavered in his belief he'd be in this position one day. Maybe just not this quick.
"As a quarterback, you have to have that confidence about yourself," he said. "But I didn't think it'd be this quick. As the days went on, I realized I'm meant to be here. Your confidence builds when you have coaches like these who believe in you."
Morris said he doesn't expect perfection from Mestemaker on Saturday, but he said it's been nice to be able to start with a quarterback from scratch, given he hadn't exclusively played the position in four years.
"It's a blank canvas right now," Morris said. "We haven't had to correct a bunch of bad habits. It's like clay. You're gonna mold it exactly how you want to. He played extremely well in that first game and was great at handling pressure and was accurate and got us in and out of stuff. But, we had two really bad turnovers in the red zone, too. There's going to be a ton of learning curve with Drew."
New faces, new defense
With the hire of new defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity in the offseason, one would expect to see a brand new defensive scheme.
But in the new college football landscape and with the advent of the transfer portal, those transitions might not be as difficult as they used to be.
That's because coordinators who take new jobs can now bring players with them – players who are familiar with their scheme and coaching style.
That will certainly be the case for the former Sam Houston defensive coordinator, who brought six Bearkats defenders with him to Denton, which should ease the transition to his scheme.
"Having a Mike linebacker that knows the calls and is hearing (Cassity) on player-to-coach communications and two corners who will be a huge piece to our success and a defensive lineman, too, that's huge," Morris said. "Briceon Hayes is as good of an end as we've had here. Richard Outland Jr., in the middle is one of the top DTs we've had here in a long time.
"It's proven true for us the last two years. Any time we bring guys in with snaps somewhere else, they come in ready to play. They're used to being on the field when live bullets are coming and making adjustments and doing all the things we're asking them to do."
That Mike linebacker Morris speaks of is Trey Fields, a senior with years of experience and a great season in Huntsville last year with 80 tackles, six TFLs and a pair of pass breakups. Fields said the transition in the spring was understandably a tricky one, but he thinks the unit is more than ready now.
"We've come a long way," Fields said. "In the spring, it's obviously going to be new to everyone except for the guys who came in. It was rocky for a little bit but we just started sharpening things up. We've come together great."
New faces made picking captains easy
With 68 new faces, which is tied for the most in FBS with Utah State, including 42 guys who came to Denton in the transfer portal, Morris said picking captains in the preseason was a little different this year.
But the choice wasn't a difficult one.
Senior interior offensive lineman Gabe Blair, senior defensive tackle Fatafehi Vailea II and senior punter Sawyer Evans were clear choices after Morris decided he wanted to have one from offense, one from defense and one from special teams.
Blair has made 37 starts for the Mean Green, including the first game of his freshman season, and he was an All-American Conference selection in 2023 before missing the 2024 season with injury. Vailea has played in 38 games and has started 26, and Evans has played in 25 games for the Mean Green.
"Those guys have all earned it," Morris said. "They know what it's like to go to school here. They have so much sweat equity in this place, and this place is important to them. What we'll do going forward is, the Players of the Week every week will be captains with them from offense, defense and special teams. I thought there were so many guys – older guys we brought in who are super mature. I thought there were eight or nine guys who did a nice job who probably deserved it so I thought this was a cool way to have those guys who've stuck it out with multiple coaches and been a part of this get rewarded."
Morris to fans: Get here early!
With construction still underway on Bonnie Brae Street, fans might need to allow more time to enter DATCU Stadium parking lots on Saturday, but with a 7 p.m. kickoff, fans are encouraged to arrive early and make a day of it.
Lots open at 7 a.m., and fans who arrive at least two hours prior to kickoff will receive several incentives – a free fountain drink and popcorn from the concession stands, 10% off merchandise at the Voertman's Team Store and automatic entry into raffles throughout the game to win upgraded in-game experiences.
Morris said arriving early should be a no-brainer, especially on the first full day of college football season.
"It's the first game of the season," he said. "Hopefully, the fans are as excited as we are. They're asking people to show up earlier. It's easy, in my opinion. There's tailgating. Free concession stand stuff. There's discounts. Get here. Bring a TV. Bring a fire pit. Get to your parking spot and drink a couple of cold beers or pops and have fun because college football is here.
"If our excuse is we're not coming because there's traffic, shoot I've had to put up with it every day coming to work. Show up and watch this team play."
Fields echoed his new head coach's sentiment.
"Having fans come to the game affects us a lot," he said. "It shows how much they enjoy seeing us play. Who don't want to watch the game of football? Why not go to the football game. You ain't got nothing else to do."
Head coach Eric Morris, who is entering his third season with the Mean Green, was joined by select players on Tuesday to speak to the media and discussed, among other things, new starting quarterback Drew Mestemaker, a new-look defense with several new faces, how the team chose its captains with so many new faces and the importance of fans showing up and showing up early.
It's Drew's time
Many Mean Green fans might have not known Drew Mestemaker's name before UNT's bowl game back in January.
After spending the season watching Chandler Morris set defenses ablaze, Morris was gone in the transfer portal between the regular season finale and the bowl game against Texas State. That left Mestemaker, a seldom-used backup, to start the game – his first start under center since his freshman year of high school.
He made the most of the opportunity by putting up 448 yards of total offense in the game and even became TikTok famous after a clip of him throwing up in a trash can after a long touchdown run went viral.
"It's awesome," Mestemaker said of going into the season as QB1. "Obviously, it's been not a very common thing in my career. To finally have this moment is really special."
Mestemaker said the bowl game success was a huge boost to his confidence heading into this season, but he said he never wavered in his belief he'd be in this position one day. Maybe just not this quick.
"As a quarterback, you have to have that confidence about yourself," he said. "But I didn't think it'd be this quick. As the days went on, I realized I'm meant to be here. Your confidence builds when you have coaches like these who believe in you."
Morris said he doesn't expect perfection from Mestemaker on Saturday, but he said it's been nice to be able to start with a quarterback from scratch, given he hadn't exclusively played the position in four years.
"It's a blank canvas right now," Morris said. "We haven't had to correct a bunch of bad habits. It's like clay. You're gonna mold it exactly how you want to. He played extremely well in that first game and was great at handling pressure and was accurate and got us in and out of stuff. But, we had two really bad turnovers in the red zone, too. There's going to be a ton of learning curve with Drew."
New faces, new defense
With the hire of new defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity in the offseason, one would expect to see a brand new defensive scheme.
But in the new college football landscape and with the advent of the transfer portal, those transitions might not be as difficult as they used to be.
That's because coordinators who take new jobs can now bring players with them – players who are familiar with their scheme and coaching style.
That will certainly be the case for the former Sam Houston defensive coordinator, who brought six Bearkats defenders with him to Denton, which should ease the transition to his scheme.
"Having a Mike linebacker that knows the calls and is hearing (Cassity) on player-to-coach communications and two corners who will be a huge piece to our success and a defensive lineman, too, that's huge," Morris said. "Briceon Hayes is as good of an end as we've had here. Richard Outland Jr., in the middle is one of the top DTs we've had here in a long time.
"It's proven true for us the last two years. Any time we bring guys in with snaps somewhere else, they come in ready to play. They're used to being on the field when live bullets are coming and making adjustments and doing all the things we're asking them to do."
That Mike linebacker Morris speaks of is Trey Fields, a senior with years of experience and a great season in Huntsville last year with 80 tackles, six TFLs and a pair of pass breakups. Fields said the transition in the spring was understandably a tricky one, but he thinks the unit is more than ready now.
"We've come a long way," Fields said. "In the spring, it's obviously going to be new to everyone except for the guys who came in. It was rocky for a little bit but we just started sharpening things up. We've come together great."
New faces made picking captains easy
With 68 new faces, which is tied for the most in FBS with Utah State, including 42 guys who came to Denton in the transfer portal, Morris said picking captains in the preseason was a little different this year.
But the choice wasn't a difficult one.
Senior interior offensive lineman Gabe Blair, senior defensive tackle Fatafehi Vailea II and senior punter Sawyer Evans were clear choices after Morris decided he wanted to have one from offense, one from defense and one from special teams.
Blair has made 37 starts for the Mean Green, including the first game of his freshman season, and he was an All-American Conference selection in 2023 before missing the 2024 season with injury. Vailea has played in 38 games and has started 26, and Evans has played in 25 games for the Mean Green.
"Those guys have all earned it," Morris said. "They know what it's like to go to school here. They have so much sweat equity in this place, and this place is important to them. What we'll do going forward is, the Players of the Week every week will be captains with them from offense, defense and special teams. I thought there were so many guys – older guys we brought in who are super mature. I thought there were eight or nine guys who did a nice job who probably deserved it so I thought this was a cool way to have those guys who've stuck it out with multiple coaches and been a part of this get rewarded."
Morris to fans: Get here early!
With construction still underway on Bonnie Brae Street, fans might need to allow more time to enter DATCU Stadium parking lots on Saturday, but with a 7 p.m. kickoff, fans are encouraged to arrive early and make a day of it.
Lots open at 7 a.m., and fans who arrive at least two hours prior to kickoff will receive several incentives – a free fountain drink and popcorn from the concession stands, 10% off merchandise at the Voertman's Team Store and automatic entry into raffles throughout the game to win upgraded in-game experiences.
Morris said arriving early should be a no-brainer, especially on the first full day of college football season.
"It's the first game of the season," he said. "Hopefully, the fans are as excited as we are. They're asking people to show up earlier. It's easy, in my opinion. There's tailgating. Free concession stand stuff. There's discounts. Get here. Bring a TV. Bring a fire pit. Get to your parking spot and drink a couple of cold beers or pops and have fun because college football is here.
"If our excuse is we're not coming because there's traffic, shoot I've had to put up with it every day coming to work. Show up and watch this team play."
Fields echoed his new head coach's sentiment.
"Having fans come to the game affects us a lot," he said. "It shows how much they enjoy seeing us play. Who don't want to watch the game of football? Why not go to the football game. You ain't got nothing else to do."
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