It’s starting to sound like Ryan Boutwell may be back in time for UNT’s home opener against Texas Southern.
Boutwell, a starting defensive tackle, was originally expected to be out for the first two games of the season. And while it does not sound any definitive decisions have been made yet, it looks more and more likely that he will be back a little earlier.
UNT really needed him back by the fourth week of the season, when the key games start for the Mean Green. If you look at the season realistically, unless UNT posts a huge upset and beats LSU or Kansas State (the Mean Green is 1-41 all-time against ranked teams) or falls flat on its face against Texas Southern, the games start to get really important when UNT faces Troy on Sept. 22.
It looks like Boutwell will have played in two games by then, which should help matters quite a bit.