North
Texas concluded it first preseason scrimmage with much doubt and its offensive
line in question.
North Texas starting quarterback also picked up his diploma just before the Mean Green’s
first scrimmage of fall practice on Saturday morning.
North
Texas found out a lot about what it might have in terms of several of the
players who will fill key roles this season during a closed, 130-play scrimmage
at the Darrell R. Dickey Practice Facility.
North
Texas has improved under their new head coach Dan McCarney in some ways but still
continue to see have a losing season. “The
best part was we got 130 plays in, had a chance to evaluate and find out who
our best players are,” North Texas head coach Dan McCarney said. “We have a
long way to go right now. We are hot and cold. It looks really good and then it
doesn’t.”
North
Texas offensive coordinator Mike Canales said he and the rest of the coaching
staff has all the confidence in the world in a few of the top skill-position
players.
And
who are those players, here is a look right here; Thompson is at the top of
that list, along with North Texas returning top three receivers: Brelan
Chancellor, Ivan Delgado and Chris Bynes.
Inexperienced
running backs at North Texas is the main concern, that will be backing up those
wide receivers come the fall.
There
is some competition among running backs Jeremy Brown, Brandin Byrd and Antoinne
Jimmerson since the spring.
Getting
attention Saturday was the play of Mean Greens backup receivers, including
freshmen Nick Schrapps and Carlos Harris.
“We
are trying to force-feed them the offense right now. They have to be backups
and they have to play,” Canales said. “They have to learn this offense. We just
can’t play with those three kids [Chancellor, Delgado and Bynes]. They are all
good Sun Belt Conference players, but we can’t play with just those three.”
Redshirt
freshman Chaz Sampson is also in the mix for playing time.
North
Texas coaches have said all along that they likely would play multiple running
backs this season. So far, UNT’s players like the way the way that plan is
working out.
Note: North Texas came
out of its scrimmage looking to improve in one fundamental area — getting into
the huddle, communicating effectively when there and then getting to the line
of scrimmage.
Dutton
Watson, a freshman defensive lineman from Midland, injured his knee during the
scrimmage but is not expected to need surgery
Canales
singled out four offensive linemen who have made significant progress during
the early stages of fall practice: backup junior tackle LaChris Anyiam,
freshman Connor Trussell, Arkansas transfer Cam Feldt and freshman walk-on
Kaydon Kirby.
