Mean Green

Darius Johnson, a wide receiver from Missouri City Hightower who had an offer from UNT, committed to SMU this morning, Rivals.com reported.

Johnson is 5-10 burner with 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash who projects as a slot receiver in college. UNT's only commitment thus far is Daniel Mayberry from Dallas Spruce. Mayberry also projects as a slot receiver. Mayberry's coaches at Spruce said they were told that UNT is only going to take one receiver in its next recruiting class and settled on Mayberry after Alex Tweedy of The Woodlands decided to wait on an offer from Cal or Stanford instead of committing to the Mean Green.

Johnson is a solid prospect both as a receiver and kick returner. He had seven receiving touchdowns last season and also returned a punt for a touchdown.

SMU has now landed two prospects that had UNT offers at some point in the recruiting process, including defensive lineman Marquis Frazier. While the loss of Johnson probably does not hurt UNT much, it does show that UNT and SMU could be crossing paths frequently now that both are under the direction of head coaches with similar offensive philosophies in Todd Dodge and June Jones.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Is one receiver enough in UNT's next recruiting class?

It's been a couple of days since news of the SMU and Army series came down, but I am back with a recruiting tidbit and an answer to a question that was posted on the blog recently.

A couple of days ago, Trenton Thomas, a safety from Brenham, committed to TCU. Thomas told Rivals.com at the time that Utah and Houston were among the other teams that had offered him a scholarship. Turns out that UNT was among the teams he didn't mention.

The Mean Green, Mississippi State, UNLV and Rice were also in the hunt and had offered scholarships, according to Rivals.

While we are on the topic of TCU, a fan going by the name "FAN" wanted to know if UNT would ever renew its series with the Horned Frogs. My guess is that it will happen sometime in the future, but the announcement that the SMU-TCU series is going to be extended probably does not help UNT's cause. TCU wants to play games in Texas, especially now that it is in the Mountain West, but the SMU series helps the Frogs in that regard. I am not sure that TCU is going to want to play two nonconference games in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but it just makes too much sense for the school not to put UNT on the schedule at some point. When that will be, who knows? The UNT-SMU series will be back, but it isn't going to until 2014.

I told my wife when I went to the office today that I didn't expect to be there long. Go figure. Tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle will be loaded with UNT news.

We will have a follow-up on UNT signing contracts to play football series with SMU and Army with quotes from Rick Villarreal and SMU AD Steve Orsini. We will also have a story on UNT's new assistant basketball coach Shawn Forrest, a 33-year-old veteran who appears to be the young recruiter head coach Johnny Jones was looking for to join his staff.

We will also have a story that maybe you didn't see coming. UNT recruit Daniel Mayberry became a free agent late this week when the Dallas Independent School District shut down the Spruce athletic program due to the school's low standardized test scores. Mayberry is free to transfer to any DISD school for his senior year. I talked to Mayberry and one of his coaches about his plans for next season.

While we are at it, UNT fans should be thrilled the school managed to get SMU and Army on its schedule, even if the games are a long way off. SMU has to be among the Mean Green's top rivals historically and Army will bring a great crowd to Denton. There is little doubt that landing those teams as future opponents is a huge win for the UNT athletic department and the administrators that helped make the series a reality.

A source at the UNT athletic department has confirmed the details of the series with SMU and Army that will be announced later today.

The SMU deal is for four games from 2014-17 with an option for eight additional games through 2025. The first four games will alternate sites, beginning with a game in Denton.

The Army series will be six games beginning with a home-and-home in 2009 and 2010. UNT will host the first game. The series will then resume in 2016 with the games alternating between West Point and Denton, beginning with a game at West Point. The last game of the series will take place in Denton in 2019.

North Texas will announce multi-game deals in football with Army and SMU later today, according to a source in the UNT athletic department.

UNT has also hired former Arkansas State assistant Shawn Forrest as an assistant men's basketball coach.

Check back on the blog and in tomorrow's paper for more details.

A few days back, one of the major recruiting Web sites reported that UNT target Tanner Brock had committed to TCU, where he has long been expected to end up. It turned out that Brock had yet to commit, but it is starting to look like it is only a matter of time.

Brock has a list of 11 schools that have offered him scholarships that he is still considering. UNT offered the Copperas Cove linebacker, but is no longer listed among the schools he is considering. Brock lists high interest in TCU and no interest in any other school, according to Rivals.com.

It sounds like it is only a matter of time before the Frogs add a player Rivals lists No. 32 among inside linebackers nationally. TCU is quietly building an outstanding class. Of the 11 players who have committed to the Frogs, only three are not ranked among the top 80 players at their positions nationally.

For comparison sake, UNT had two nationally ranked players in an outstanding class last season -- Riley Dodge and DeWaylon Cook. That class was widely considered to be the best among the Dallas area's big three - UNT, SMU and TCU.

Even with Brock off UNT's list of targets, there is still plenty of talent out there to be had for the Mean Green. UNT has four targets who are nationally ranked by Rivals at this point, including Kolby Gray, a quarterback from Houston Cypress Falls who has been offered by the Mean Green and five other schools.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Do you think UNT's pace in recruiting will pick up before the start of two-a-days?

Braylon Williams, a tight end-defensive end prospect whose name came up in connection with UNT early in recruiting season, committed to SMU on Wednesday.

UNT never offered Williams, but was among a list of schools that included Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and TCU that showed interest. Williams might be a bit of a tweener at 6-4, 227, and is not rated by Rivals.com. Scout.com rates him as a three-star prospect and No. 47 among tight ends nationally. Northwestern State had also offered Williams.

There was also some action in the Sun Belt on Wednesday when Maybank quarterback Knowlton Browning became the second player to commit to Louisiana-Monroe so far this recruiting season. ULM was the only school that offered Browning, but several Big 12 schools were recruiting him. Scout.com rates Browning No. 67 among quarterbacks nationally.

ULM received a commitment from Evangel Christian (La.) defensive lineman Blake Cogswell earlier this summer. Both appear to be solid recruits for ULM. Cogswell was the first high school recruit to commit to a Sun Belt Conference school.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Was Williams among the prospects you would have liked to have seen UNT land?

I ran across another early projection of what the Sun Belt Conference standings will look like at the end of the season. History shows that picking the SBC is like throwing darts at a target after being blindfolded and spun around 10 times, but for what it's worth Dixie Fried Sports is picking Florida Atlantic to win the conference with Troy coming in second. That seems to be the general consensus and the way that I picked the conference to play out in Dave Campbell's Texas Football.

The Web site has UNT picked to finish seventh, in front of only Florida International, which beat the Mean Green at the end of last season to snap a 23-game losing streak.

The following is a link to the site:

Since the format of the blog changed to match the Morning News, it's tougher to see comments that fans post. It takes an extra click, but I thought Jim Fincher left one that might be worth discussing on the blog.

Here it is:

"TROY AND FAU ARE PULLING AWAY FROM THE REST OF THE SBC. I FIND IT AMUSING THAT MOST DENTONITES THINK OF THESE AS SMALLER SCHOOLS THAT UNT STANDS HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE. I HAVE BEEN TO BOTH CAMPUSES, AND THEY ALONG WITH FIU ARE ABOUT TO LEAVE UNT IN THEIR DUST. IT'S SO SAD THAT EVEN LAMAR (WHO JUST HIRED AWAY UNT'S TOP BB RECRUITER), UTSA, AND TSU@SM ALL NOW HAVE INSTITUTED STATE MAXIMUM STUDENT FEES FOR ATHLETICS THUS ASSURING COMPETITIVE ATHLETIC BUDGETS. I JUST WISH A FEW OF THE CLUELESS CITIZENS OF DENTON WOULD GO ON THE ROAD TO SEE WHERE OUR COMPETITION PLAYS AND WHAT THEIR CAMPUS LOOKS LIKE. MOST WOULD BE SHOCKED AT HOW FAR UNT HAS SLIPPED BEHIND."

I don't understand why people use all caps, but I digress. I don't know of anyone that does not think UNT has great potential, but the Florida schools also have strengths. FAU has an enrollment of 26,000 and a legendary coach, while FIU has 38,000 students. Both are located in the recruiting hotbed of Florida. Troy also has some strengths, including a nice stadium and a recent tradition of success. We all know why UNT is considered to have great potential - location, ect.

Post your thoughts on the blog on where UNT might finish in the Sun Belt and how UNT's potential compares to that of the Florida schools and Troy.

I have received a few questions from Mean Green fans concerned about the lack of linemen prospects whose names have come up in connection with UNT.

It's not like one can expect them to appear out of nowhere.

I would expect them to arrive from Mississippi, which one could argue is just about the same deal.

UNT landed offensive linemen Gabe Hollivay and Nate Jenkins and defensive end Alonzo Horton from Mississippi in its last class. No one had ever heard of either of the offensive linemen until they committed to UNT.

Ask anyone who covers recruiting on a national level or has recruited Mississippi and he will tell you that the state is a black hole when it comes to information. You need someone who knows the lay of the land to make any headway and UNT happens to have just such a coach in Shelton Gandy.

Gandy is from Mississippi, played at Southern Miss and also coached there. If you are wondering how UNT magically pulled three top recruits from the state last year, Gandy is the reason. And don't forget that Cam Montgomery, a running back who was among the Mean Green's highest-rated recruits two years ago, was a Mississippi JC player.

A quick look through any national recruiting database shows that there are a ton of huge linemen at the Mississippi JCs again this season. There is no indication that any of them are being recruited by UNT. Just don't be surprised if there are not at least a few Mississippi monsters in the Mean Green's next recruiting class.

Pigskinpress, a Web site that covers college football, came out with an interesting look at the coaches in the Sun Belt Conference recently -- rating them with a "Stock Watch." Coaches were rated as rising or falling based on their performance of the last few seasons.

There is a link to the site at the bottom of this entry, but here are a few highlights. The site lists the stock of UNT head coach Todd Dodge as rising based on the Mean Green's offensive performance in his first season.

The site also says that Florida Atlantic has the ability to run the table in the Sun Belt for several seasons and that -- insert gasp here -- Larry Blakeney could have Troy in Conference USA in a few seasons based on the strength of the Trojans football program.

The following is a link to the site:

New UNT women's basketball coach Shanice Stephens has landed the first recruit of her tenure with the Mean Green. Brittney Hudson, a 5-7 guard from Sugar Land Austin who spent last season at Rice, confirmed Saturday that she is transferring to UNT.

Hudson averaged 3.5 points and 3.0 rebounds a game as a freshman at Rice. She will have three years left to play at UNT after sitting out the upcoming season.

Hudson was rated among the best players in state during her high school career.

There will be a full story with quotes from Hudson on her decision to play for UNT and her connections with Stephens that helped lure her to Denton in tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Are you impressed that Stephens is off to a good start in recruiting early in her tenure at UNT?

There will be a story in tomorrow's Denton Record-Chronicle on UNT's first recruit for 2009, Dallas Spruce wide receiver Daniel Mayberry. Until then, here are a few interesting tidbits I picked up today.

Justin Owens, the offensive coordinator at Spruce, said that UNT's coaches told Mayberry that he was No. 2 on their board in terms of wide receivers behind The Woodlands' Alex Tweedy. UNT offered Tweedy, but found out that one of the top receivers in the Houston area is likely to receive an offer from Cal and Stanford is also interested. UNT extended an offer to Mayberry and quickly secured his commitment after Tweedy said he wanted to wait and consider his options.

In an interesting side note, Owens said UNT's coaches told Mayberry and the coaches at Spruce that they are only going to take one wide receiver in the 2009 class and wanted someone who could play the slot.

With only 15 or so scholarships to give, UNT will now turn its attention to some other key need areas.

In another interesting side note, a new quarterback target popped up on UNT's list today. Houston Cypress Falls' dual-threat quarterback Kolby Gray has an offer from UNT along with ones from Army, Marshall, Rice, UTEP and Boise State. There are also a few Big 12 schools sniffing around that haven't extended offers at this point. It seems certain that UNT will take at least one quarterback in every recruiting class, although selling a player like Gray on UNT a year after Riley Dodge committed could be tough. Gray is ranked No. 25 nationally among dual-threat quarterbacks by Rivals.com.

Post your thoughts on Mayberry on the blog.

There will be a story in tomorrow's Denton Record-Chronicle on UNT's first recruit for 2009, Dallas Spruce wide receiver Daniel Mayberry. Until then, here are a few interesting tidbits I picked up today.

Justin Owens, the offensive coordinator at Spruce, said that UNT's coaches told Mayberry that he was No. 2 on their board in terms of wide receivers behind The Woodlands' Alex Tweedy. UNT offered Tweedy, but found out that one of the top receivers in the Houston area is likely to receive an offer from Cal and Stanford is also interested. UNT extended an offer to Mayberry and quickly secured his commitment after Tweedy said he wanted to wait and consider his options.

In an interesting side note, Owens said UNT's coaches told Mayberry and the coaches at Spruce that they are only going to take one wide receiver in the 2009 class and wanted someone who could play the slot.

With only 15 or so scholarships to give, UNT will now turn its attention to some other key need areas.

In another interesting side note, a new quarterback target popped up on UNT's list today. Houston Cypress Falls' dual-threat quarterback Kolby Gray has an offer from UNT along with ones from Army, Marshall, Rice, UTEP and Boise State. There are also a few Big 12 schools sniffing around that haven't extended offers at this point. It seems certain that UNT will take at least one quarterback in every recruiting class, although selling a player like Gray on UNT a year after Riley Dodge committed could be tough. Gray is ranked No. 25 nationally among dual-threat quarterbacks by Rivals.com.

Post your thoughts on Mayberry on the blog.

I just got off the phone with UNT's first recruit for the Class of 2009, Daniel Mayberry of Dallas Spruce.

Mayberry (6-1, 179) threw for 959 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, but is projected as a slot receiver at UNT. The interesting part of the story on Mayberry is that he lived in Denton when he was in the seventh and eighth grades and went to several UNT football and basketball games.

UTEP offered Mayberry a scholarship, while Louisiana Tech, Tulsa and SMU showed interest.

I will have more on Mayberry in the paper sometime in the next couple of days.

It looks like Dave Campbell's has jumped the gun on Alex Tweedy's intensions to play for UNT. I tracked down Tweedy and it turns out that he received an offer from UNT this morning, but he has not committed to play for the Mean Green.

UNT, Army and Air Force have extended written offers. Cal has extended a verbal offer and Stanford is also heavily involved, Tweedy said.

"I am waiting on Cal and I really like Stanford," Tweedy said. "They said they are extremely interested. I am going to wait around and see what happens with them."

I talked to Tweedy coach Mark Schmid, who said he projects as a slot receiver.

It's only a matter of time before UNT gets its first commitment and Tweedy could end up playing for the Mean Green, but as of now UNT is still without a player committed for 2009.

Alex Tweedy, a wide receiver from The Woodlands, has committed to UNT, according to Dave Campbell's Texas Football. Tweedy had offers from Army, Navy and Colorado State and had received interest from Northwestern.

One of the top offensive line prospects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has received a scholarship offer from UNT that I have not seen mentioned since recruiting season started.

Lewisville Hebron tackle Joel Gray is ranked No. 23 among tackles nationally by Rivals.com and has received close to 20 scholarship offers, including ones from Florida State, Nebraska, Texas Tech and SMU.

Gray told Rivals.com that UNT had offered him about a couple of weeks ago.

At this point, Gray does not list UNT among the 16 schools he is considering.

The following is a link to his Rivals.com page:

A few days back a fan who goes by the name of Walston posted on the blog that Round Rock Stony Point brothers Glasco and Desmond Martin visited one-on-one with Todd Dodge after participating in UNT's mini-camp that featured several potential recruiting targets.

Glasco is an athlete/wide receiver in the Class of 2009, while Desmond is a safety in the Class of 2010.

Word came down today that Glasco has given a soft oral commitment to Baylor. Air Force offered Glasco, who told Rivals.com that UNT was among several schools that had shown interest without offering a scholarship.

UNT officials have confirmed that the team will sign a smaller than normal class in 2009 due to the fact that it has only a few seniors graduating after this season. Martin never received an offer from UNT and might have been a player the coaching staff had in mind if another player it wanted more decided to commit to another school. He also projects as a wide receiver in college, a position at which UNT is already loaded for the foreseeable future.

San Antonio O'Connor's Jarek Lancaster passed on an offer from North Texas to commit to Rice, Rivals.com reported Monday night.

Lancaster, 6-1, 199, is projected as an outside linebacker/safety in college. He had offers from UNT, Air Force and Army, while Baylor, SMU, TCU and UTEP were actively recruiting him.

Lancaster told Rivals.com he is projected as a safety by Rice. Scout.com rates Lancaster a three-star recruit and No. 45 among outside linebackers nationally.

It's still early in the recruiting season and UNT only has a few scholarships to give. UNT has offered about a half a dozen players and only a couple has passed on them to play for other schools -- DT Marquis Frazier (SMU), CB Bryant Nnabuife (California) and now Lancaster. UNT still has time to make up ground.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Do you expect UNT to get on the board in the next few weeks?

There has been a lot of interest among Mean Green fans in Stefan Huber, an offensive lineman from Nederland who has a number of connections to UNT. He played with current UNT running back Micah Mosley in high school.

Huber has yet to commit and has never said that UNT has offered him a scholarship. What is certain is that SMU has and that Huber attended the Mustangs' camp over the weekend. SMU Web site PonyStampede.com reported this afternoon that Huber came close to committing to play for the Mustangs after the camp and that SMU is now the favorite for his services.

There is no telling now valid those comments are. It's kind of like when your wife asks if she looks good before you leave the house -- you better know what the answer is. Huber could change his mind tomorrow. He was supposed to be a Texas A&M lean not too long ago.

Huber is ranked No. 59 nationally among guards in the Class of 2009 by Rivals.com and would be a huge get for either UNT or SMU. He reportedly also attended UNT's camp.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Should Huber be a top priority in recruiting for UNT?

Our publisher at the Denton Record-Chronicle dropped some good blog fodder on my desk a few days back. Athlon's preseason college football magazine rated the 24 coaches who took over Division I programs before the 2007 season based on their first-year performance.

UNT's Todd Dodge came in at No. 17, which is a pretty good rating considering what a tough first season the Mean Green had in his debut last year. Oklahoma blew UNT out 79-10 in Dodge's first game, which proved to be the first misstep in a dismal 2-10 campaign. Athlon's noted in its review that UNT improved its offensive production 176 yards a game, which probably saved Dodge from being ranked lower.

Interestingly enough, Florida International's Mario Cristobal came in at No. 16 after finishing 1-11 in his first year with the Golden Panthers. His only win came against Dodge and UNT.

Of the 24 new coaches on the list, eight had first-year records that were worse both overall and in conference play than their predecessors. Only Butch Jones of Central Michigan, whose team finished 8-6, 6-1 after going 10-4, 7-1 the year before was rated in front of Dodge in that group. UNT dropped from 3-9, 2-5 to 2-10, 1-6.

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh, who interviewed for the job at UNT, was No. 9 on the list after helping the Cardinal finish 4-8, 3-6 and upset No. 1 USC. Troy Calhoun of Air Force was No. 1 after leading the Falcons to a 9-4, 6-2 finish a year after they finished 4-8, 3-5. Former UNT offensive coordinator Steve Kragthorpe was rated No. 23 after leading Louisville to a 6-6 finish after the Cardinals finished 12-1 the previous year.

Post your thoughts on the blog. How would you rate Dodge's first season in comparison to other first-year head coaches?

There have been a few changes to North Texas' football roster since the end of spring practice. Most of the moves are good news for the Mean Green.

Defensive lineman Draylen Ross and Marquis Sykes and Sam Owusu-Hemeng, a pair of defensive ends/linebackers, are all back on the roster after missing spring practice.

The only player at this point who is certain to not be back is offensive lineman Jack Crumes, a backup guard. Everyone else is expected to be back -- as long as they take care of business in summer school. There are several players in summer school that need to pass a class or two, as is the case every year.

Getting three defensive linemen back will be a boost for UNT. The Mean Green has a few solid players coming back, but the defensive line is one of UNT's biggest concerns heading into next season.

It would have been nice to have Crumes, but UNT has some junior college and high school recruits coming in who will fill the void. There is also the matter of losing players when it comes to the team's APR score. UNT lost five scholarships this season and could be in danger of losing more next for every player who leaves the program while ineligible if it can't boost its overall score above 925. Each player who leaves the program costs UNT a point towards its score, two if he left while ineligible.

Post your thoughts on the blog. What is UNT's biggest area of concern heading into next season as far as a position?

I put in a call to Andrew Harris, UNT's vice president for finance and administration, today to ask a few questions about the school's commercial paper program.

Harris said the best way to think of commercial paper is as an interim finance tool. UNT could use commercial paper to finance a project in the short term while constructing a building and then issue bonds to repay the paper, which is cheaper in the short term.

UNT is expanding its commercial paper program from $50 to $100 million this summer, a move Harris said has to do with having the proper financial structure for a university of UNT's size. Of the $100 million, $25 million can be used for taxable purposes. If UNT was to use bonds for a portion of the cost of a stadium, commercial paper could be used.

Harris also said UNT cannot build a stadium based solely on a student fee, although it could be part of the equation. Student government officials have said that UNT students have met with the athletic department's administration to discuss the idea. If a fee were put in place, it would have to be voted on by the students, Harris said.

Although the picture is not complete, the farther along the summer goes, the clearer it becomes when it comes to the direction UNT is taking to financing a football stadium. UNT has solicited its major donors, met with students interested in the way they could contribute -- which appears to be a student fee -- and made plans to increase its commercial paper program, which would make it possible to borrow millions in the short term that could be bonded out in a few years once a stadium is completed. UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal has said it will take the involvement of UNT fans and students to get a project of this magnitude finished. It looks like a number of sources could be used to arrive at the necessary total, which would be about $60 million.

On the recruiting front, it appears as if I have hit a nerve because I said UNT's options have dwindled when it comes to cornerback recruits. I didn't think that is overly dramatic. You have a group of 10 possibilities and take away two, the options dwindle. There is no reason to panic. There is a long way to go until signing day.

Recruiting is a hot topic and each move along the way to signing day is interesting, which is why fans love to talk about it. That's why I try to keep track of who commits out of UNT's prospects. If a player UNT has offered decides to play for another team, we report it. We are in the business of news, whether it's good news or not.

UNT had a few players committed at this time last year, which was widely heralded as a dramatic step forward for the program. With UNT sitting on zero commitments this year after a 2-10 season, I was starting to wonder if the masses had begun to worry. The consensus answer judging from my e-mail is not yet.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Do you think UNT has enough sources for funds to get the stadium project underway in the next year or so?

One of the few prospects the UNT football team has offered thus far in recruiting is off the board. Blinn cornerback Bryant Nnabuife has signed a national letter of intent with California. Landing Nnabuife was probably a long shot for the Mean Green. He had offers from Houston, Southern Miss, Tulsa and UAB in addition to UNT and Cal.

Mesquite cornerback Marcus Trice was also considering UNT at one point, but has since landed 11 scholarship offers from several major conference teams, including Arizona, Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota. Trice is no longer considering UNT.

The loss of both prospects could make landing Katy Morton Ranch cornerback Owen Michael Venson an even bigger priority. UNT has offered Venson, who has seven offers, including ones from Kentucky, UTEP, Tulsa and Troy, one of the Mean Green's Sun Belt Conference rivals.

In an interesting twist, Copperas Cove linebacker Tanner Brock is back on the board. One of the main recruiting Web sites reported that he had committed to TCU, which turned out to be a bit premature. UNT is one of more than a half a dozen schools that have offered Brock.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Does it concern you that UNT has had several of its recruiting targets commit to other schools?

UNT head men's basketball coach Johnny Jones confirmed Wednesday what has been rumored for the last few days -- assistant coach Tic Price is headed to Lamar.

Price spent just one year on the Mean Green's staff, but Jones said his longtime friend made an impact during his time with the team, both in recruiting and in helping guide UNT to the second of consecutive 20-win seasons.

I have no inside knowledge on where Price will fit in on the Lamar staff, but it would stand to reason that he will be the team's associate head coach or top assistant and recruiting coordinator. Leaving UNT for Lamar would make little sense otherwise.

Jones said he hopes to have another assistant in place in the next week or so. While no one on the staff wanted to lose Price, this could be a chance for Jones to add a young assistant who could hit the road and make an impact in recruiting.

UNT had several assistants who fit that profile over the last few years but was a little on the older side this season with Charlie Leonard, Bill Foy and Price. The group still did a fine job, landing players like Josh White, Tristan Thompson and JUCO All-American Eric Tramiel, but a young recruiter certainly wouldn't hurt matters any.

The job will be pretty appealing considering Jones has some stability after back-to-back 20-win seasons and the program's track record of sending assistants on to better jobs. Fred Rike - one of my all-time favorite UNT assistants -- is a head coach at Division II Angelo State and several other former assistants have moved up the ladder.

Post your thoughts on the blog. What direction would you like to see Jones head when it comes to hiring his next assistant?

One of the benefits of writing for Dave Campbell's Texas Football -- other than a hefty check -- is that the editors send you an early copy. I wrote the UNT and Sun Belt previews again this year.

Here are a few tidbits:

UNT's recruiting class was rated fifth out of nine teams in the state, ahead of TCU, Houston, UTEP, Rice and SMU. Quarterback Riley Dodge was the only UNT player ranked among the top 75 recruits in the state.

Wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald, offensive lineman Kelvin Drake and linebacker Craig Robertson were selected for the All-Texas College Team.

I never got around to turning in a questionnaire the magazine sent to all the writers in the state about the upcoming season, but several other writers did. One of the questions was who would win each conference title. Nearly every writer picked either Troy or Florida Atlantic to win the Sun Belt. I picked FAU when I wrote the Sun Belt preview.

UNT was once again the headline on a story about Texas schools' performance on the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate report. The magazine used part of a page on a story that detailed UNT losing five scholarships for next season.

The fields at the Mean Green Athletic Center were packed today. Yes, it's time for the famous Todd Dodge quarterbacks and receivers camp.

Dodge held the camp at Southlake Carroll and brought it with him to UNT when he took over before last season. I know the first question everyone will ask is who was there, but it's pretty much impossible to tell who anyone is. What is obvious is that Dodge still has the respect of the players and coaches in the area who send their skill position players to study under him every summer.

There are two sessions going on, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. I happened to see part of the afternoon session when I was making the daily rounds.

In other news of the day, a few more names have popped up in connection with UNT in football recruiting, according to Rivals.com. Naaman Forest wide receiver Derrick Osborn is listing UNT among the schools that are recruiting him while San Antonio O'Connor linebacker Jarek Lancaster has offers from UNT, Army and Air Force. Crockett athlete Ja'Gared Davis' name came up a few days ago, but I never got around to putting him on the blog. He has offers from Baylor and Louisiana Tech, but not UNT.

Post your thoughts on the blog. How important is it for UNT to have so many high school prospects in Denton for Dodge's camp?

North Texas saw two recruiting targets come off its board over the weekend when its Metroplex rivals TCU and SMU each picked up key players. UNT offered Navarro College defensive lineman Marquis Frazier, who committed to SMU, and Copperas Cove linebacker Tanner Brock, who committed to TCU.

Brock is one of the top linebackers in the state and has brother who plays for TCU. Eight teams had offered Brock, including Oklahoma. Frazier is a tougher loss for UNT. He was ranked No. 42 among defensive ends by Rivals.com when he graduated from Garland in 2007 and had offers from six Big 12 teams at the time. UNT is looking for help on its offensive and defensive lines in its next recruiting class. Frazier would have been a key recruit for the Mean Green.

SMU also picked up a commitment from Abilene Cooper defensive lineman Brandon Henderson, a solid recruit who was also receiving interest from Baylor and Kansas. Henderson played in one of the best high school football leagues in the state last season -- the Little Southwest Conference that includes Midland Lee, Midland High, Odessa Permian, Odessa High and Abilene High -- and finished with 14 sacks. Scout.com rates Henderson No. 44 among defensive end prospects nationally.

TCU now has 10 recruits on the board, while SMU has three.

UNT will face extra challenges this recruiting season after finishing 2-10 in Todd Dodge's first season. UNT doesn't have nearly as much to sell recruits on this year and has a small number of scholarships to give after losing a small senior class.

UNT has yet to get on the board, which isn't all that unusual for Sun Belt Conference teams. Only league power Troy has a commitment thus far, and both of the players it has landed are 2007 signees who didn't qualify and have decided to re-sign after their second junior college season.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Are you disappointed to see Frazier and Brock pass on offers from UNT to play for SMU and TCU?

A little bit of this and that ...

A couple of more names have popped up when it comes to UNT football recruiting. Keenan Flax, a guard from Houston Cypress Ridge, has an offer from UNT, which is in a battle for his services with several major conference schools, including Arkansas and Iowa State. New Mexico is also in the mix, according to Rivals.com.

The Mean Green has also offered Tanner Brock, one of the top linebackers in the state. The Copperas Cove standout has offers from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Arizona State, SMU, TCU and Tulsa.

Both could be a longshot for UNT.

While the focus this time of year is on football recruiting, there has also been some good news to come out on some of UNT's non-revenue sports the last couple of days. Toby Edwards and Ciara Smith are headed to the NCAA national championship track meet. It's been a long time since UNT sent more than one individual to nationals. Just getting there is a pretty big accomplishment.

UNT also hired a world class diving coach in Jim Pyrch, who was named the national coach of the year twice while coaching at Yale. Head coach Joe Dykstra seems to have the swimming and diviing program on the right track.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Do you expect UNT to land a player the caliber of Flax or Brock in its next recruiting class?

A few days back, South Alabama became the first Sun Belt Conference school to land a football recruit for 2009. Now Troy is on the board with a pair of impressive players.

My friend Drew over at the Dothan Eagle reported on his blog last night that Troy has received commitments from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College linemen Eugene Kinlaw and Nate Newland.

Here's a link to Drew's blog: http://www.gulfeast.com/index.php/troy_blog

Both Kinlaw and Newland signed with Troy in 2007, but came up short academically and went to Hutchinson. Both said they plan to return to Troy in 2009.

Kinlaw is a big get for Troy. He was rated No. 46 in Rivals.com's 2007 Georgia Top 50, was a three-star recruit out of high school and had 5.5 tackles for loss last season for Hutchinson in the Jayhawk League, arguably the top junior college conference in the country. Newland started at right tackle for Hutchinson last season and is expected to start again this season.

There were a few interesting tidbits on UNT recruiting target Stefan Huber on Rivals.com yesterday that I thought would be worth passing along on the blog.

The offensive lineman from Nederland has offers from SMU, Army and Stephen F. Austin and is about to hit the summer camp circuit with stops scheduled at TCU, Arizona, Oklahoma, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Arkansas and LSU.

Word is Huber stopped by UNT for its camp last week.

At this point, it looks like Texas A&M is the team to beat, if the Aggies decide to offer Huber a scholarship.

"Honestly, I'm hoping to get an offer from Texas A&M," Huber told Rivals.com writer Brian Perroni, who works for AggieYell, a Texas A&M Web site. "It's close to home and it's a good program. The new coaches seem to bring a lot to the table, too. But, we've got to see what happens."

Landing Huber would be a boon for UNT, which looks like it could use some help both on its offensive and defensive lines in its next recruiting class. The Mean Green's chances could hinge on who else offers a scholarship. An offer from A&M, Arizona or Oklahoma could be tough for UNT to overcome. All three programs are reported to be interested in Huber.

Post your thoughts on the blog. Should Huber be among UNT's top high school targets?

I received a call from Paris defensive end Westley Martin today. I left him a message to see if he or any of his friends had committed to UNT after attending the school's mini camp over the weekend.

It turns out the group's plans changed. In an unfortunate bit of news for everyone involved, Martin's father just had back surgery and can't drive. He was going to give Westley, quarterback Quin Rollerson, wide receiver Ro Barr and linebacker Brandon Harris a ride to Denton.

Martin is actually spending a lot of time taking care of his dad when he isn't working out in preparation for the season. Martin said UNT is actively recruiting him and his three friends. The group just missed out on having a chance to work out in front of UNT's coaches.

Former UNT women's basketball coach Tina Slinker has landed a new job as the Director of Physical Education/Athletics at The Hockaday School, a private all-girls school in Dallas.

Slinker will have a chance to mentor young coaches and still have an influence on young people in her new position.

Slinker spent 19 seasons at UNT, which did not renew her contract after last season. Slinker handled her departure admirably. It's great to see one of the truly classy people at UNT land on her feet.

For more on Slinker and her new job, see tomorrow's edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle.