Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Ridge Texada of North Texas emulated Stone Cold Steve Austin
North Texas DB Ridge Texada made an interception against Stephen F. Austin in the Mean Green’s 35-20 victory on Saturday.
After the pick, Texada decided to celebrate like a Texas rattlesnake. Yes, the one and only Stone Cold Steve Austin.
YESSIR @ridge_texada! #GMG🦅 | #BTB https://t.co/JVjX0S5A5I pic.twitter.com/iDIpvs0cq6
— UNT Football (@MeanGreenFB) September 8, 2024
Texada is building a nice football resume for himself at North Texas. Give him a Hell Yeah!
The Seahawks will host UCLA defensive lineman Grayson Murphy.
UCLA edge Laiatu Latu is one of the top defensive line prospects in this draft class and is projected to be a first or second-round pick. He’s not the only Bruin up front who’s generating interest ahead of the draft, though.
According to Justin Melo at the Draft Network, the Seahawks will host UCLA defensive lineman Grayson Murphy for a top-30 visit.
The Seattle Seahawks will host #UCLA DL Grayson Murphy on an in-person visit.
Murphy recorded 10 sacks across two seasons at UCLA after previously playing at North Texas.
Pro Day!
40: 4:52
SS: 4.33
VJ: 37"
BJ: 10-5@GraysonMurph_ on @TheDraftNetwork:https://t.co/IpkYU2pHnX— Justin M (@JustinM_NFL) March 24, 2024
Murphy (6-foot-3, 260 pounds) played his first two college seasons at North Texas, where he posted 11.5 sacks and 18.5 tackles for a loss in 19 games. Ahead of the 2022 season he transferred to UCLA. In 26 games with the Bruins he totaled another 10 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss.
According to PFF, for the 2023 season Murphy posted 21 quarterback hits, earning an 85.2 pass rush grade to go with a solid 74.7 grade in run defense. In addition to his pass rushing prowess, Murphy offers positional versatility, as he lined up practically everywhere but the A gap last year.
Here are the highlights.
Murphy is projected to be taken in the sixth round of the draft.
More Seahawks Wire stories
6 former Seahawks players remain unsigned in free agency
The Chargers announced the signing of CB Matt Hankins.
The Chargers announced the signing of cornerback Matt Hankins on Wednesday. In a corresponding move, they waived CB Kemon Hall.
Waiving Hall with an injury designation means Los Angeles could revert him to injured reserve if he goes unclaimed on waivers. But since he would be placed on injured reserve before the start of the season, Hall would have to spend the entire season on IR.
Hall was undrafted out of North Texas in 2019. He signed with L.A. and played with the team through the preseason before going on the practice squad early in the regular season.
After being released by L.A., Hall bounced around the league and spent time with the Vikings, Saints and Cowboys.
Hall was brought back in 2021. In the past two seasons, Hall appeared in 18 games, combining for eight tackles and a fumble recovery. He has primarily been used as a special teamer.
Kemon Hall will have to justify his inclusion on the Chargers roster with strong showings in training camp and the preseason.
Training camp is approaching and with a few more weeks of dead time in the NFL offseason, Chargers Wire is documenting each of Los Angeles’ players before it kicks off.
Cornerback Kemon Hall was undrafted out of North Texas in 2019. He signed with the Chargers and played with the team through the preseason before going on the practice squad early in the regular season.
After being released by Los Angeles, Hall bounced around the league and spent time with the Vikings, Saints and Cowboys.
Hall was brought back in 2021. In the past two seasons, Hall appeared in 18 games, combining for eight tackles and a fumble recovery. He has primarily been used as a special teamer.
With such an influx of talent at the cornerback position, it isn’t a stretch to think that Hall could be on the fringe during roster cutdowns in August.
He will need to produce strong showings in training camp and the preseason to warrant his continued inclusion in the Chargers organization.
Contract (2023): $940,000 base salary, no prorated bonus, $940,000 cap hit.
Acquired: Hall was claimed off waivers by the Chargers in 2021.
Highlight:
If you're an underdog to make the roster you have to make plays in the preseason.
DB Kemon Hall does a great job of that here ripping the ball out for the forced fumble. pic.twitter.com/oxJ4QZ1jIN
— Daniel Wade (@dantalkssports) August 15, 2021
This would make Notre Dame a different kind of “Fair Catch U”
Late Sunday night I was going through various college football team websites trying to gather information on Marty Biagi. Biagi has emerged as the front-runner to be Notre Dame’s next special teams coach, and I spent time researching his past and figuring out the intrigue that surrounds him.
Then while scrolling Twitter on Monday morning I saw a couple of Notre Dame writers reference what was perhaps Biagi’s most memorable work. It happened when Biagi was coaching special teams at North Texas in 2018. He had his return team act as if it was calling a fair catch, only to return the punt 90 yards for a touchdown.
It’s not that this play will be used again at Notre Dame, but that the creativity within Biagi’s mind exists. It only speaks to the different value this regime puts on special teams compared to the previous one. Check it out below:
That play helped spur the Mean Green to a 44-17 thrashing of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
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He’s always felt a connection to his current head coach.
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The Miami Dolphins jumped back on the field this week with their mandatory minicamp, and off the field, fans have a chance to “dive in” with the team’s staple podcast – “The Fish Tank.”
Usually a look into the past, this podcast is a fan favorite hosted by the duo of Seth Levit, formerly of the team’s public relations department, and legendary Dolphins wide receiver O.J. McDuffie. It’s always a bonus when a current Dolphin takes the dive into the tank, and running back Jeff Wilson Jr joined the fellas to talk football.
Wilson joined the Dolphins last season in a November trade with the San Fransisco 49ers and was reunited in Miami with running back teammate Raheem Mostert, and their former running game coordinator there, Mike McDaniel, who’s, of course, now the head coach for the aqua and orange.
As Wilson told Levit and McDuffie, his football journey started in Texas, and he detailed his youth in terms of spending time both in Dallas, as well as East Texas, having divorced parents. Wilson said that his time as both a city and country boy gave him “the best of both worlds.”
His father was a collegiate running back in his own right, so Wilson had the name recognition and would be told stories of his dad’s football accomplishments in his Texas hometown. As Wilson mentioned, these stories motivated him to make his own name for himself.
Wilson also told tales of watching the legendary Adrian Peterson, another Texas native, in high school. Peterson and Wilson were both from Palestine, Texas. Wilson described the viewing experience of the running back to Levit and McDuffie saying, “Greatness was right there, so it was hard not to try to reach for it.”
Wilson talked about his recruitment process while in high school, and how he ended up playing collegiately at North Texas. He had tremendous junior and senior years in 2016-17, and in those seasons, he totaled 2,151 yards and 30 rushing touchdowns. He finished his four years at North Texas as their fourth all-time rusher with 3,205 yards, third in rushing touchdowns with 32 and fourth in all-purpose yards with 4,009.
Ending up as an undrafted free agent in 2018 for the 49ers, Wilson attributed his success to “Mike,” as he affectionately spoke about his head coach. Wilson described that at the time, it was McDaniel who showed confidence in his ability for the NFL game.
Wilson said that he felt a certain energy about his coach, even when he was the San Fransisco run-game coordinator and came to North Texas to see him play. Wilson said that he knew that McDaniel had head coaching ability and eventually would become one.
As for his presence in Miami as a head coach, Wilson said, “If you can come in and grab a group of men that early, and make them get behind and follow you…obviously with the help of your coaches and staff and everybody around the facility, but if you can get a group of men to believe in you that fast; that speaks for itself.”
Wilson went on to talk about his once again backfield teammate Mostert.
“It’s like you get to play in the league with your actual brother,” Wilson said. “I call his sons my nephew, he calls my son his nephew.”
Last season in Miami, not counting Wilson’s games in San Francisco, he and Mostert combined for 1,283 yards on 265 carries. Which was good for a 4.8-yard per-carry average. Wilson added his personal expectations, goals and aspirations, as well as a bit of what is ahead for him and the Dolphins this season.
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The 2023 Conference USA Player of the Year and a national champion shows interest in Tennessee basketball.
Former North Texas guard Tylor Perry has narrowed his recruitment to 12 teams.
Tennessee, Florida, Baylor, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Louisville, Wake Forest, Oklahoma, Creighton, Minnesota, Stanford and Oklahoma State are Perry’s top 12.
The 5-foot-11, 182-pound guard is from Fort Coffee, Oklahoma. He is scheduled to graduate in May and will have one year of eligibility remaining.
Perry averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game last season. He was named the 2023 Conference USA Player of the Year and earned first-team All-Conference honors.
North Texas defeated UAB, 68-61, to win the 2023 NIT championship. Perry was named the 2023 NIT Most Outstanding Player and earned NIT All-Tournament honors.
He was named the 2022 Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year in his first season at North Texas, while also earning first-team all-conference and NABC second-team all-district honors.
Before transferring to North Texas, Perry led Coffeyville Community College to the 2021 NJCAA Division I national championship. He was named the NJCAA Division I national tournament MVP after averaging 16.2 points per game.
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Follow @VolsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Tennessee news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Zach McKinnell on Twitter @zachmckinnell
Alabama football is losing another staff member to a coordinator role at another program.
Pete Thamel of ESPN is reporting that Alabama’s senior special assistant to the head coach, Drew Svoboda has landed a coordinator role at North Texas.
Svoboda has spent the last two years in Tuscaloosa, first joining the program as the tight ends coach and special teams coordinator in the spring of 2021 before taking an off-the-field role as the senior special assistant to head coach [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] for the Tide’s 2022 campaign.
Svoboda is the second Alabama staff member to land a coordinator job at another program for the upcoming season. Safeties coach Charles Kelly was hired as the defensive coordinator at Colorado. Svoboda and Kelly are expected to remain with the Crimson Tide through the bowl game on Dec. 31.
Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for continuous coverage of the Alabama Crimson Tide!
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on Twitter @Blackwood89.
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Boise State vs North Texas game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Frisco Bowl on Saturday, December 17
Boise State vs North Texas prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Frisco Bowl, Saturday, December 17
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– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
Date: Saturday, December 17
Game Time: 9:15 ET
Venue: Toyota Stadium, Frisco, TX
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Boise State (9-4), North Texas (7-6)
– Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+
Frisco Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
– Boise State probably deserved a bigger spotlight – not to bowl shame – but the Mountain West tie-ins weren’t anything amazing. It might have missed out on the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl with the Mountain West Championship loss to Fresno State, but there’s a shot at the first ten-win season since 2019 – that’s a long drought for this program.
After a midseason change of quarterbacks and offensive coordinators, the running game became dominant, the defense was among the best in the nation, and this is a chance to show off in the late night game at the end of a LONG day of football.
– North Texas also lost its conference championship game – dropping the Conference USA title to UTSA 48-27 – but even with a relatively successful year and a bowl appearance, the program sacked head coach Seth Littrell. Veteran head man Phil Bennett will take over for this, and then Washington State receivers coach Eric Morris will step in. Part of the problem for Littrell was …
– North Texas has been awful in bowl games. It lost its last five and seven of eight since 2002. Not only have the Mean Green lost in the recent post-season, they got trucked in four straight blowouts. The program is just 2-10 all-time in bowls starting with a loss to Nevada in your 1947 Salad Bowl. But …
– Boise State hasn’t exactly been a killer in this things lately. The first bowl appearance was in 1999 under head coach and now offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. After winning four straight and getting out to an 11-5 bowl start up until 2016, the Broncos have lost two of their last three, weren’t able to play in the 2018 First Responder, and last year got hosed when UCLA had to back out of the Holiday at the last second. This is the team’s first bowl game since 2019. They haven’t won one since 2017.
– The Frisco Bowl has been a tad rocky so far, to be nice about it. This is the fifth time the game has been played with the 2020 version canceled, and the other four … they weren’t anything great. Kent State’s 51-41 win over Utah State in 2019 was a fun shootout, but that’s as close a game as there out of the four.
CFN Bowl Expert Picks: Dec 16-19Â | Dec 20-27
Defense. Yeah … North Texas doesn’t really do that.
It’s 124th in the nation in total D, it has a hard time getting off the field, and worst of all in this, it struggles against the run. There isn’t enough pressure delivered into the backfield to generate enough big plays.
It played one Mountain West team this year, and got run over by UNLV for 365 yards in a 58-27 loss.
Boise State picked up the running game with 316 yards in a late September win over San Diego State, ran for 316 more yards in the win over Fresno State the following week, and everything kept on rolling from there. On the year the team is 7-0 when running for 148 yards or more.
North Texas allows 188 rushing yards per game. However …
North Texas has enough of an offense to be a problem for the Broncos.
The run defense isn’t going to slow down George Holani and company from getting their yards, but the Mean Green ground game needs to rip off big runs of their own.
They have a veteran in quarterback Austin Aune who can keep things moving with his midrange passes, but it needs to be the rotation of several good young running backs that has to keep grinding. Boise State doesn’t allow a slew of big, gashing runs, but it’s just 3-3 this season when giving up 150 yards or more.
North Texas hit that mark in every game but three, and lost all of them. In the other ten games it’s 7-3 when it’s able to control things a bit.
Boise State has had its breakdowns at times, and it suffered a power outage in the Mountain West Championship with just 321 yards of total offense. The team is 1-4 when failing to get to 325 yards, but …
Frisco Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
North Texas vs UTSA game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the Conference USA Championship Week game on Friday, December 2
North Texas vs UTSA prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. Championship Week, Friday, December 2
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Date: Friday, December 2
Game Time: 7:30 ET
Venue: Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
How To Watch: CBS Sports Network
Record: North Texas (7-5), UTSA (10-2)
– Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+
The Mean Green came close the first time around.
They went to UTSA, got the passing game going, and had their chances in the 31-27 loss. As long as they can keep bombing away, they’ll have a shot.
Consistency has been a bit of an issue, but no one in Conference USA gets more big plays out of the passing game partly because no on in the conference is better in pass protection. Giving QB Austin Aune time to work won’t be a problem – UTSA doesn’t have much of a pass rush to worry about.
Aune struggled with his accuracy, but he threw for 325 yards and three scores in the first meeting. He’ll come up with close to 300 yards in this to keep up the pressure.
However …
– Bowl Projections | Bowl Bubble: Who’s Bowl Eligible?
North Texas might have been strong the first time around, but UTSA did win.
Frank Harris threw a pick, but the offense was well balanced, there weren’t any big problems moving the chains, and it should all work again against a North Texas defense that allows over 450 yards per game.
On a nine-game winning streak, the defending Conference USA champion has the consistency North Texas doesn’t. It has the ability to run or 250 yards, bomb away when needed, and keep things moving against a defense that’s awful at coming up with third down stops.
The Mean Green are 5-0 when allowing fewer than 150 rushing yards and 2-5 when giving up more. UTEP is 7-0 when hitting the 150 mark.
– Championship Week Schedule, Game Previews
North Texas isn’t going to make this easy.
Just when it seems like UTSA has things under control, the Mean Green big plays will connect to keep the pressure on.
The UTSA offense will be steady throughout, it’ll control the clock late, and the program will make it two Conference USA championships in a row in a fun back-and-forth shootout.
– Expert Picks College Championship Week |Â NFL Week 13
UTSA 41, North Texas 31
Line: UTSA -8.5, o/u: 67.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
North Texas vs UTSA Must See Rating (out of 5): 3.5
CFN 1-131 Rankings | Rankings by Conference
Path to the Playoff: 6 teams still in the raceÂ
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