Wednesday September 01, 2010

Mean Green

Mean Green
North Texas enters Death Valley Saturday afternoon for its season opener. This will be the fourth season under Todd Dodge, a former University of Texas player. The Mean Green went 2-10 last season with wins over Ball State and Western Kentucky.

Under Dodge, North Texas has played some of the top programs in the country. Last season they lost to Alabama 53-7. In 2008 LSU beat the Mean Green 41-3. They lost 79-10 to Oklahoma in the opener of the 2007 season.

Offense
Offense has not been the issue under Dodge. In two of the three seasons he has been there, North Texas has averaged over 400 yards per game. Turnovers have been a different story though. The Mean Green are minus-42 in the turnover department over the last three seasons.

North Texas returns nine starters off an offense that averaged 26.6 points and 409 yards per game a season ago. The main threat is running back Lance Dunbar (5-9, 202, Jr) who rushed for 1,378 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. He also catches the ball well and had 28 receptions for 300 yards and two more scores.

Dunbar did not have a big role in the offense until the fourth game of the season last year but he rushed for over 100 yards in eight of his team’s last nine contest in 2009.

Last year’s starting quarterback was the coach’s son Riley Dodge but he has had shoulder issues and has moved to wide out. The new starter under center should be Derek Thompson (6-4, 225, So) who played sparingly as a true freshman last season.

The other strength of the offense should be the offensive line which returns four starters from a season ago including two all-conference candidates in Kelvin Drake (6-2, 280, Sr) and Esteban Santiago (6-3, 296, Sr).

The top three receivers return including Jamaal Jackson (5-10, 163, Sr) who caught 71 passes for 701 yards and six touchdowns last season. Darius Carey (5-10, 188, So) had 57 catches for 509 yards and four scores. Michael Outlaw (6-0, 185, Sr) had 41 receptions for 473 yards and two scores. North Texas also gets former Oklahoma wide out Tyler Stradford (6-2, 190, Jr).

Defense
North Texas allowed 47 points per game in 2008 but cut that number down to 35 a season ago. This year they return eight starters on defense

Up front the Mean Green are led by Shavod Atkinson (6-2, 307, Sr) and Kelvin Jackson (6-2, 309, Sr) who are both returning starters at defensive tackle.

The top linebacker is Craig Robertson (6-1, 221, Sr) who had 107 tackles as a junior.

Three returning starters are back in the secondary including Royce Hill (6-0, 175, Jr) who had three picks last season.

North Texas will line up in a 4-3 base defense and is not known for bringing a lot of pressure packages.

Special Teams
The Mean Green return punter Will Atterberry who averaged 39 yards per punt last season. They are having to replace last year’s place kicker Jeremy Knott and reports out of Denton have not been positive so far. They return they punt returner Darius Carey who averaged 6.1 yards per return and their kick returners, Jamaal Jackson and Royce Hill, both who averaged over 26 yards per return a year ago.

Staff
North Texas took a different path when they named Todd Dodge their head football coach in 2006. They hired a successful high school coach. In fact, you could say Dodge was a legendary high school coach that helped Southlake Carroll High School to four state titles in his last five years at the school. His team won 79 and its last 80 games he coached in high school. The only game he only game he lost in his last 80 was a one-point loss in the 2003 state title game. He ended his career by winning his last 48 games at Southlake Carroll.

Dodge took over a program that went 5-18 the two previous seasons before he arrived in Denton. His teams have gone 5-31 over his three seasons at North Texas. They went 2-10 in 2007, 1-11 in 2008 and 2-10 last season.

North Texas has a new offensive coordinator in Mike Canales who was the offensive coordinator at South Florida the last three seasons. He was also at NC State when Phillip Rivers was under center.

Gary DeLoach returns as the defensive coordinator. The defense should drastic improvement under DeLoach a season ago. He is most known for his stint at UCLA.

History
North Texas used the nickname of Eagles for its athletic teams until the mid-1960s There is a misconception that the name is after the school’s greatest player, Mean Joe Greene. Actually fans used to call the defense the “Mean Green” in 1966 because of its toughness. Joe Greene was a part of that defense but he was not called Mean Joe Greene until he arrived to play with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers fans starting using the nickname because they thought it was really the school’s nickname and it rolled off of their tongues. The school officially changed its nickname later but the original thought was describing the entire defense of 1966, not just Joe Greene.

North Texas is located in Denton, TX and has an enrollment of over 36,000. They are known for their strong music department with alumni including Pat Boone, Roy Orbison, Meat Loaf, Norah Jones and Don Henley.

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Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, The Huffman family, Nancy Winkler, John Reeve, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, Steve Cato, the Nicolopulos family, Cason Palmer, Scott Jackson, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle familty, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee, Richard Crawford, Kelly Trakas, Jimmy Moore, Steve Williams Jr, Steve Williams III, Kim Thomas, Reid Thomas, Sam Thomas, Linda Wiggs, Emily Claire Young, Dr. Wallace Honeycutt, Stacy Fowler, Kitty Bowers,Julie and Austin Locke, the Scheider family, Lauren Kittles' family.