Riley Dodge Makes The Pre-Season All-Sun Belt Team As a WR?!? What?

Phil Steele's pre-season all-Sun Belt Team came out and had a huge surprise for Mean Green fans.

Riley Dodge is a pre-season second team all-Sun Belt receiver.

What?  Yes, exactly.

Steele generally does a great job with his Sun Belt picks so this was a total head scratcher.

UNT had 3 receivers on his all-Sun Belt team.  Jamaal Jackson was a first team pick and Tyler Stradford was a third team pick.

UNT's offense will feature a lot of one TE and 3 WR sets, so much so that 3 WRs will be the defacto base set.

After watching the spring game I certainly can beleive Stradford will be the team's deep threat.  I can buy he will beat out Mike Outlaw for the third receiver spot and even that he might land on a post season all-Sun Belt team. 

I just can't buy that Riley Dodge is going to displace last year's second leading receiver Darius Carey in the starting lineup and catch the 60 balls or so Dodge would need to make the second team.

To me, Carey appeared to be emerging as the teams's go-to receiver.

Riley Dodge is not a big play receiver.  I thought Riley Dodge was the 5th to 7th best WR on the field in the spring.  I think he will be a quality starter by his senior year as he works on his craft, but he just isn't there yet.

Plus, this is not the Dodge offense that Riley knows like the back of his hand, so there is no familiarity bump. This is an offense where everyone is learning it from scratch.

Additionally this team today is loaded with more developed and talented receivers than Riley Dodge.

Last season Jackson made Steele's all-Sun Belt first team and Carey the Steele's all-Sun Belt third team.

If this isn't a brainfart by Steele that had him typing in the wrong name, this is really puzzling.

One can only hope that Steele has no respect for Todd Dodge as a coach and as such has made this pick expecting the coach to inflict a cataclysmic bad decision on his team fuelled by out of control nepotism.

Other Thoughts

My gut impressions are that FAU's Jeff VanCamp, might be slightly overrated and Dasher might not end up the first team all-Sun Belt QB, but it does kind of look like a changing of the guard in terms of QBs, so maybe by default Dasher ends up there.

I do think the kid from WKU, Kawaun Jakes, could suprise if WKU digs up a WR. I think he is much better than people give him credit for and the WKU offense could take a major step forward behind their new coach and a very good RB in Bobby Rainey.

UNT Players on the Phil Steele Pre-season teams

First team
WR Jamaal Jackson, North Texas
OG Kelvin Drake, North Texas
OT Esteban Santiago, North Texas
DT Shavod Atkinson, North Texas
LB Craig Robertson, North Texas

Second Team
RB Lance Dunbar, North Texas
WR Riley Dodge, North Texas
DE Brandon Akpunku, North Texas

Third Team
WR Tyler Stradford, North Texas
OT Victor Gill, North Texas
PR Darius Carey, North Texas
MLB AJ Penson, North Texas
S DaWaylon Cook, North Texas
P Will Atterberry, North Texas

Fourth Team
C JJ Johnson, North Texas
CB Royce Hill, North Texas

It was interesting to see all 4 of UNT's returning starting offensive linemen on the all conference teams, and pretty highly ranked in that. They may be an elite pass blocking unit, but their run blocking is going to have to get a lot better in short yardage situations for me to buy that those honors are deserved (with the exception of Santiago who has been a beast the past).  Still I am pretty optimistic about improvement on the line myself.

I am very surprised that as well as Hill and Jackson did as kick returners last year neither made even the 4th team. Likewise Carey as a punt returner was somewhat unexpected - a consolation prize for being left off the WR list, or something? (Come to think of it, that would be a good role for Riley this year. We need someone with great football instincts and hands in that role more than we need a burner.)

The UNT secondary picks seemed about right.

Atkinson hopefully will have his breakout year. Akpunku's sack total could have him on the second team.

I found the linebacker picks interesting. I hope Craig Robertson might play like a first team all-sun belt linebacker, but that would be a big step up. When I watch him I don't see a very active player.  Steele has always seemed a little bit infatuated with him.  It was interesting to see AJ Penson on the third team all-Sun Belt list. I thought he was a very solid run stuffer last year when he got into the starting lineup.  I apparently was not alone.

Based on what I have seen so far, I am going to make some predictions for the what Phil Steele will likely have on his post-season list.  I think it is entirely likely that 2-3 of the new JUCO guys emerge in the fall as good starters, but for now I am not going to consider them.

Predictions on UNT players on the end of season Steele teams

First team
RB Lance Dunbar, North Texas
WR Darius Carey, North Texas
OT Esteban Santiago, North Texas
KR Jamaal Jackson, North Texas

Second Team
WR Jamaal Jackson, North Texas
DT Shavod Atkinson, North Texas
KR Royce Hill, North Texas

Third Team
WR Tyler Stradford, North Texas
OG Kelvin Drake, North Texas
OT Victor Gill, North Texas
DE Brandon Akpunku, North Texas
P Will Atterberry, North Texas
LB Brad Graham, North Texas
LB Jason Philips, North Texas
S Ira Smith, North Texas

Fourth Team
QB Nathan Tune, North Texas
C JJ Johnson, North Texas
LB Craig Robertson, North Texas
CB Royce Hill, North Texas
S DaWaylon Cook, North Texas

I am hoping for solid play up front that will allow our back seven to shine, but if UNT again cannot hold the line of scrimmage, I could see most of the players on my 3rd and 4th team lists falling out of consideration.

I think the back seven is going to be very solid if a good starting CB pair emerges. There probably won't be quite this many players on the all-conference teams as wins often dictate recognition and I don't see this team winning 10 games or anything like that, but these guys seem pretty likely to be in the conversation. 

I also am hoping that Jackson stays on kick returns, which may not occur.

I also think Freshman K Zach Olen might be pretty good if the blocking is not suspect this year. 

Honestly I don't see star talent on this defense THIS year, but I see guys who could be very good players this year at most spots.  There is enough talent that this defense should be at least average.

I would not be suprised to see either Kelvin Jackson or John Webber emerge as an all- conference fourth team candidate at DT this year.

As much as I like Penson and consider him a very solid, veteran, run-stuffing MLB,  UNT has 4 guys right now who all look like solid starters competing for 3 positions.  I think he might see more bench time as DC Gary DeLoach tries to get big playmakers Phillips and Graham lots of snaps.

Really a lot could change in the fall with the incoming players and some JUCO guys already here adjusting. There is a lot of talent in the new recruits.  A couple of those guys could emerge too.