UNT essentially closed the first section of fall practice Monday. The Mean Green starts preparing for LSU today.
So, in a sense, UNT finished off its major player evaluations and made some decisions about who will start, who will play and who is likely to redshirt.
Dan McCarney is supposed to be available today to talk about it all, but until then I thought I would post some thoughts on who helped themselves in the first part of fall practice.
Now remember, fall practice is closed to the media.
I didn’t see practice. This is all based on what UNT’s coaches had to say. That is why I hesitate to say anyone fell flat on their face.
UNT’s coaches are pretty straight, though, when it comes to saying who is playing well.
Here goes:
Marcus Trice — You never know what you are going to get with transfers. We heard for nearly two years that Tyler Stradford was going to be the best thing since Johnny Quinn. Yeah, that didn’t work out so well. Trice appears as if he will work out in a big way after transferring from Oklahoma. He’s earned a starting job and McCarney says he’s a physical player (a compliment that is near and dear to the Dan Man’s heart)
Carlos Harris — UNT needs to develop some depth at wide receiver this year, and this converted running back looks like he will play. He’s only 5-8, so he will end up in the slot like Brelan Chancellor. If he plays like Chancellor, UNT will be in business.
La Chris Anyiam — UNT signed Anyiam as a defensive lineman. McCarney took one look at him and said, “Uhh, that guy’s a tackle”. It looks like he might be UNT’s starting right tackle.
Dylan McDorman – UNT was planning on grayshirting McDorman, but whiffed on landing a quarterback in its 2012 class when Brock Berglund decided to go the junior college route. McDorman took the scholarship UNT was holding for Berglund and has since risen through the ranks to the point he might play this year.
Zac Whitfield – The former Sherman standout came out of the spring behind Antoinne Jimmerson, Jeremy Brown and Brandin Byrd at running back. Normally, that would relegate a guy to the bench or lead him to transfer. McCarney asked Whitfield to move to cornerback, which he hadn’t played since early in his high school career. All he did was move over and play so well that he might start at LSU.
And while we are at it, here’s the latest edition of the “Get Your Rear on the Record” list. Send in your guesses soon.
9-3 – LD Stacey 3
8-5 — Andrew Hinojosa
8-4 – ATXScrappy, Jeremy Roden
7-6 – SHOSS, Lynn Ramsey, Kellen Jemeyson, John Davidson, Grant Hawley (Pastor Grant), Gregory Goedecker, Andrew Price
7-5 – Joe Eckstein, Andrew David Morris, Harry, Amber Morrow, BobFam, Eagle MBA, James Stinson, bstnsportsfan3 (Tony DeSousa), Joe H., Chris Hensley, RPP79, An Aquairan, Travis Miller, Derek Murray, Devin Axtman, Rick Herold,
6-6 – Brett Vito, Steve Baker, BenW, Bruce Lathrop, Chris Ballard, Matthew Taylor, Zachary Hallak, CodyCarissa Valle, Joe McAtee, Philip Watson, Dr. Seuss, David Gilliam, Len Yarbrough, Pat McLaughlin, Valley Boy
6-7 — Todd Samuels
5-7 – GreenFlag, Bryan Graves, Jim Hull, Skip Scott, Brandon Cooper, Lee Hughes, Kevin Bradley Sardina, John Carnes
4-8 — Marc Hernandez, FilmerJ, Samuel Peters
3-9 — Tom Hamilton