Mean Green Blog

The depth along UNT’s offensive line for the early stages of next season took a hit a few days back when tackle Matt Tomlinson had surgery on his shoulder. Tomlinson came out of surgery fine, but head coach Todd Dodge said today that the red shirt freshman will need several weeks to recover and isn’t expected to return to practice until Sept. 1. Tomlinson will likely miss the first few weeks of the season.

Tomlinson had been impressive in spring practice up until the injury and appeared as if he would end up in a key role as a backup on an offensive line that returns several key players and will add two junior college transfers in the fall. Dodge said Tomlinson would still end up being that key backup. It just might take a little longer because of the injury.

UNT has several offensive linemen who are on the mend and are expected to return late this summer, including center Kelvin Drake, an all-conference selection last season.

Dodge also said that he has ruled out the return of Ajani Banks, a guard who played with UNT in 2006, missed the 2007 season and never lived up to his potential with the Mean Green.

Be sure to pick up a copy of tomorrow’s paper, which will have a story on Tomlinson, a story on the UNT tennis team that opens the Sun Belt Conference tournament tomorrow and a column on new women’s basketball coach Shanice Stephens that we didn’t have room for in today’s paper.