Eric Morris didn’t take long to detail his plans for North Texas offensively during his tenure with the Mean Green.
UNT’s new coach vowed to open it up and throw the ball. That move wasn’t a surprise considering Morris’ background.
The former Texas Tech wide receiver played and coached under Mike Leach, one of the legendary proponents of the Air Raid offense.
Offensive coordinator Jordan Davis reiterated UNT’s plans early in spring practice.
“They did a bunch of good things on offense last year as far as running the football,” Davis said. “We will widen it out more and drop back more than they are used to.”
One of the biggest questions as UNT heads down that path is if the Mean Green have enough talent at wide receiver and tight end to make the approach work. The issue comes in at No. 4 in our annual rundown of offseason questions for the Mean Green.
UNT returns half of its receivers who caught at least 20 passes last season. Roderick Burns led the Mean Green both in receptions (40) and receiving yards (676) and will be back.
UNT also has wide receivers Damon Ward and Jordan Smart returning. Ward finished with 26 catches for 378 yards, while Smart added 21 receptions for 331 yards.
Ja’Mori Maclin finished with 380 receiving yards on just 16 catches last season and was a member of the C-USA All-Freshman Team.
Those four players give UNT a good place to start.
The departures of a few other key players illustrate how important it is for the Mean Green to supplement that core.
Wide receiver Jyaire Shorter, who led UNT with 11 touchdowns catches, entered the transfer portal and landed at Auburn. Tight ends Var’Keyes Gumms (458) and Jake Roberts (394) ranked second and third among UNT players in receiving yards, respectively.
Gumms transferred to Arkansas, while Roberts landed at Baylor.
Those departures leave UNT with some holes to fill, especially considering the Mean Green plan to use four-receiver sets extensively this season.
UNT has several players who appear poised to help fill those voids.
“We have enough guys to run the system,” Maclin said early in the spring. “We could run 15 wide with the receivers we have. We’re deep, and everyone is different.”
UNT isn’t quite as deep now that Shorter and Gumms have transferred but still has some key players to build around.
Trey Cleveland transferred in from Texas Tech and emerged as a potential starter over the course of spring. The Arlington native caught 22 passes for 344 yards in his final season with the Red Raiders before transferring to UNT to play a little closer to home.
The Mean Green picked up another potential impact wide receiver this spring in Blair Conwright. The TCU transfer caught 39 passes for 552 yards in four seasons with the Horned Frogs.
UNT also added former Guyer wide receiver Landon Sides.
Several of those players are sure to fill key roles for UNT as it makes the transition to a more wide-open offense.
The group looks promising on paper with a proven commodity in Burns, a couple of transfers who were productive during their time with Power Five programs in Cleveland and Blair and a handful of other players with experience.
“We have a good mix,” Maclin said. “We have guys who are fast, guys who are a little more shifty and big guys.”
UNT is hoping that combination will give it enough firepower to compete in its first season in the American Athletic Conference after making the jump from Conference USA.
Here are the earlier entries in this year’s series:
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