UNT's offense breaks out in spring game
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Just when it looked like the North Texas football team's offense was going to go out with a whimper in spring practice, Daniel Meager and Casey Fitzgerald got the Mean Green going on Sunday in UNT's annual Green and White spring game. Meager tossed three touchdown passes and threw for 233 yards, while Fitzgerald caught four passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. The duo's performance was the highlight of the scrimmage, which the Mean Green's offense won 48-29. The score was kept with a modified system that awarded the defense for sacks, turnovers and holding its counterparts to three plays on a series. Meager appeared to tighten his grip on the starting job, but head coach Todd Dodge stuck with his stance that the competition for the position would continue into the fall. While Meager and Fitzgerald provided most of the highlights in the scrimmage, there were a few other developments of note. The official attendance was 5,194, which has to be a record for a UNT spring game. It goes to show just how excited people are about the Mean Green now that Dodge has taken over. Outside of the attendance, the biggest development had to be the play of UNT's offensive line. There were times this spring when the group looked like it might get UNT's starting quarterback killed next season. UNT's line looked much better in the spring game and surrendered just one sack. Esteban Santiago started at guard after spending just a little more than a week on offense and looked pretty good considering he has not played the position on a regular basis since high school. Dodge said he was pleased with the group and the way UNT's offense spread the ball around to seven different receivers. While UNT's offensive line did a good job of protecting the quarterback, it didn't open many running lanes. Senior running back Jamario Thomas appeared as if he might be ready to break out on Monday when he ripped off two runs of more than 20 yards. He only had five carries and lost a total of 1 yard on a day when UNT struggled to run the ball (I might have cursed poor J-Mo yesterday by predicting a big afternoon). Backup quarterback Woody Wilson, who is starting to look more and more like he might settle into a role as a runner and trick play specialist, led UNT with six carries for 26 yards. UNT will need to run the ball better if it is to be successful next season, but there is plenty of time to settle those issues in fall practice. Feel free to weigh in on the blog. Who impressed you in the spring game? Be sure to check out the game story and notebook in tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle. The following are the links. http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/sports/stories/DRC_UNTspringgame_4-23.36f5d436.html http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/sports/stories/DRC_UNTspringnotes_4-23.36f886d6.html By the way, we didn't run the full statistics in the paper, so I thought I would put a list here on the blog. After all, we try to be a full-service operation here at the DRC. Rushing Passing Receiving |
Comments
Posted by Scott Campbell @ 10:46 AM Mon, Apr 23, 2007
I have been to probably 10-15 Spring games. I can assure you that you can add the attendance of all of those and you may not be close to what I saw Sunday. This is a great measuring stick for interest in the program. Props to the Athletic Department for making this an event. And there are plenty of opportunities to make it better next year, i.e. pep band and cheerleaders, etc.
I was impressed with the energy the team showed, their focus through the entire scrimmage and the appreciative act they showed in acknowledging the crowd after the game.