North Texas Continues Strong Presence in East Texas With Satellite Camp at Tyler Lee + Marshall’s Chett Munden Nets UNT Offer

TYLER -- The football program at North Texas, following a decade-long drought of bowl game appearances, appears to be moving in the right direction under fourth-year coach Dan McCarney.

That was among the many points the coaching veteran emphasized to more than 100 high school athletes at North Texas' satellite football camp at Tyler Lee High School on Tuesday afternoon.

And the East Texas region has had a hand in the program's turnaround, which included a 2013 season that saw the Mean Green finish 9-4 overall -- 6-2 in their first season in Conference USA -- with a resounding 36-14 victory over UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl on New Year's Day.

Thirteen players from East Texans are currently on the UNT roster, including the four it signed in February of this year. As of now, eight recruits from the region have offers from the Mean Green, including seven in the 2015 class.

"In my three years and now going on my fourth year, what I've seen and my coaches are unanimous about this, is a lot of loyalty; they're hard-nosed, they're tough, they've got great work ethic," McCarney said of the caliber of players East Texas produces.

McCarney, whose coaching experience includes an 11-year head coaching stint at Iowa State and assistant jobs at Florida, South Florida, Wisconsin and Iowa, was quick to credit the coaching in East Texas.

"The high school coaching in this area is outstanding," he said. "It's not good, it's outstanding and that makes for a lot of good players, so it makes it good for us. We come out to camps like this and these kids want to get better; they're not out here going through the motions. They want to be coached and they want to get better, they want to compete. And boy is that fun when you come and put on a camp and have kids running around out here, getting better and wanting to be coached."

The camp, which featured more than 100 college football hopefuls ranging from incoming freshmen to incoming seniors, included position-specific one-on-one drills instructed by members of McCarney's staff as well as 7-on-7 scrimmaging.

The UNT head coach came away impressed by what he saw.

"There was a lot of good high school players here," he said. "A number of these guys will play some level of college football, no doubt about it. You're walking around with a note pad on so you're limited with your evaluation but you can still see a lot about these players that are out here."

Marshall's Chett Munden on the Board

One player in particular stood out to the UNT staff as Marshall 2015 offensive lineman Chett Munden (6-6, 303) received his first Division I FBS offer from the Mean Green, as originally reported by Gabe Brooks of Scout.com.

Munden, whose frame suggests a future at either left or right tackle, became the seventh player in East Texas' 2015 class to pick up an offer from North Texas and the 29th overall with at least one FBS invitation.

At the second annual ETSN.fm + APEC Football Recruiting Combine in Tyler on June 1, Munden performed well. He ran the fourth-fastest 40-yard dash (5.29) out of the 12 offensive linemen who participated, and was among the standouts during the one-on-one portion of the combine.

Munden will be among the top returnees this fall for a Marshall team that reached the playoffs last season for the first time since 2010. The Mavericks also return quarterback Justin Hart, receiver John Love and running back Deondre Osborne to what figures to be an explosive offense in 2014.

Marshall will compete in the new District 15-5A this season along with Greenville, Hallsville, Longview, Mount Pleasant, Pine Tree Texas High and Sulphur Springs.

Van's Wyatt Santos Inching Closer to First Offer

It's been a busy few days for Van 2015 offensive lineman Wyatt Santos, who competed at the North Texas camp on Tuesday after performing at the Louisiana Tech camp over the weekend and the ETSN.fm + APEC combine the previous week.

And while Wyatt Santos (6-2, 318), the younger brother of Texas middle linebacker Dalton Santos, has yet to receive an FBS offer, he knows it will only be a matter of time.

"I went to Louisiana Tech last weekend," Wyatt said. "(Offensive line coach) Matt Moore said he liked me a lot; I had a conversion with both him and (head coach Skip Holtz) together, and they said they liked me a lot. I think (an offer) is coming soon … they like my toughness, so we'll see."

Santos took home OL MVP honors at the ETSN.fm + APEC combine for the second consecutive year on June 1. He recorded the most bench reps of 225 pounds (19) than anyone in the building, had the second-highest Keiser squat wattage output (3,412) and dominated the one-on-one action on the field.

The fiery competitor was back at it Tuesday.

"Oh it was awesome," he said. "The coaches were great as always and it was great seeing the competition in East Texas again; two great weekends back-to-back. There were same great D-linemen out here and even better offensive linemen, of course."

Wyatt believes he got North Texas' attention with his performance.

"We communicated a little bit; I like him and he likes me," he said of UNT offensive line coach Mike Simmonds. "He's going to have his eyes pretty heavy on me this year, and I think he'll like my film a lot."

East Texans Currently on North Texas Roster

• Carl Caldwell, WR, Whitehouse, Sr., 5-10, 176
• Antonio Johnson, OL, Diboll, Sr., 6-5, 294
• Lairamie Lee, DB, Chapel Hill, Sr., 5-10, 195
• Blake Macek, P, Sulphur Springs, RS-Soph., 5-9, 186
• Sid Moore, DL, Van, RS-Fr., 6-1, 252
• Rex Rollins, RB, Chapel Hill, RS-Soph., 6-1, 197
• Andrew Tucker, RB, Chapel Hill, RS-Fr., 6-0, 199
• Sir Calvin Wallace, DT, Chapel Hill, RS-Soph., 6-2, 293
• Mason Y'Barbo, OL, Sulphur Springs, Sr., 6-2, 307

2014 North Texas Signees From East Texas

• Caleb Chumley, QB, Pine Tree, 6-5, 220 (grayshirt)
• Terian "Tee" Goree, WR, Carthage, 6-3, 170
• Willy Ivery, RB, Sulphur Springs, 5-9, 180
• O'Keeron Rutherford, WR, Carthage, 6-5, 185
• Jeffery Wilson, RB, Elkhart, 6-0, 180

2015 East Texans With Offers From North Texas

• Rodney Bendy, WR, John Tyler, 6-4, 180 -- committed to North Texas
• Nate Brooks, CB, Whitehouse, 6-0, 150
• Jeff Gladney, ATH, New Boston, 6-0, 174 -- committed to TCU
• Erik McCoy, OL, Lufkin, 6-4, 297
• Samuel Miller, DE, Canton, 6-3, 220
• Chett Munden, OL, Marshall, 6-6, 303
• Broderick Washington, OL, Longview, 6-3, 285

2016 East Texans With Offers North Texas

• Kendrick Rogers, WR, Frankston, 6-5, 178

2015 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

• Jarion Anderson, WR, Texas High, 5-11, 165 – committed to Tulsa (1)
• Rodney Bendy, WR, John Tyler, 6-4, 180 – committed to North Texas; additional offer from ULM (2)
• William Brown, DL, Texas High, 6-3, 259 – offers from Arkansas State, Texas State (2)
• Kris Boyd, ATH, Gilmer, 6-0, 180 — offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Cal, Florida State, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech (14)
• Nate Brooks, DB, Whitehouse, 6-0, 150 — offers from Louisiana Tech, North Texas (2)
• Nick Cain, ATH, John Tyler, 5-10, 165 — offer from ULM (1)
• Key’Vantanie “KeKe” Coutee, ATH, Lufkin, 5-10, 160 — offers from Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Tulsa (4)
• Justin Dunning, S, Whitehouse, 6-4, 200 — committed to Texas A&M; additional offers from Arizona State, Baylor, Florida State, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt (11)
• Brandon Durman, LB, Tyler Lee, 6-2, 210 – committed to Louisiana Tech (1)
• Chandler Eiland, QB, Canton, 6-0, 178 – offer from ULM (1)
• Roney Elam, CB/S, Newton, 6-2, 175 — offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech (10)
• Jeff Gladney, ATH, New Boston, 6-0, 174 – committed to TCU; additional offers from North Texas, Northern Illinois, Rice, Texas State, Tulsa, UTSA (7)
• JaMycal Hasty, RB, Longview, 5-9, 181 — committed to Baylor; additional offers from Houston, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech (9)
• Tyrone Hunt, DE, Arp, 6-4, 230 – offer from UTSA (1)
• Marcalas Johnson, Arp, 5-10, 181 – offer from Colorado State (1)
• Kevrin Justice, RB, Kilgore, 6-0, 177 — committed to Houston (1)
• Jaylon Lane, CB, Nacogdoches, 6-2, 185 — committed to Oklahoma State; additional offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Boise State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia State, Houston, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, Purdue, South Alabama, Syracuse, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas Tech, UCLA, ULL, Utah State, Wake Forest, Washington State (37)
• Blake Lynch, QB/ATH, Troup, 6-3, 193 — committed to Baylor; additional offers from Clemson, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, TCU (6)
• Daylon Mack, DT, Gladewater, 6-1, 311 – committed to Texas A&M; additional offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, SMU, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, USC (21)
• Terry Mark, WR, Lufkin, 6-1, 180 — committed to Houston (1)
• Erik McCoy, OL, Lufkin, 6-4, 297 — offers from Arkansas State, Houston, Kansas, North Texas, Oklahoma State, ULL (6)
• Samuel Miller, DE, Canton, 6-3, 220 – offers from Arkansas State, Houston, Kansas State, Memphis, Nevada, North Texas, Oregon State, Texas State, ULM, UTEP, UTSA (11)
• Chett Munden, OL, Marshall, 6-6, 303 -- offer from North Texas (1)
• Larry Pryor, S, Sulphur Springs, 6-1, 185 — committed to Texas A&M; additional offers from Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech (10)
• Kyshaun Smith, S/LB, Tatum, 6-2, 178 — offers from Houston, Memphis, Texas State (3)
• Javon Thomas, RB, Texas High, 6-3, 211 – offer from Navy, Rice, Toledo, Tulsa, ULM (5)
• Jackson Tyner, QB, Edgewood, 6-5, 220 – committed to Rice (1)
• Broderick Washington, OL, Longview, 6-3, 285 — offer from Arkansas State, Houston, New Mexico, North Texas, ULL, UTSA (6)
• Matthew Weeks, OT, Tyler Lee, 6-6, 274 — offer from SMU (1)