The Next Great North Texas Gunslinger
Reese "Peanut Butter" Poff is next up in a long line of FCS transfer QBs poised to slay FBS secondaries.
Gentlemen, the hopes and dreams of an entire town are riding on your shoulders. You may never matter again in your life as much as you do right now.
- Coach Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights (2004)
I’ve always thought of North Texas as a ‘fun’ college football program. Dallas is a metro that produces many great football players, so it’s a wonder that its collegiate programs have failed to achieve a consistent level of success this millennium.
The fact that most of the best players from this metro end up going to one of the in-state SEC schools or a place like Alabama or LSU, probably has something to do with that.
When I started this publication in 2023, UNT was one of the first programs I featured. At that time they were ushering in a new era via Eric Morris, who came over from Washington State after spending a year as OC, coaching a Cam Ward-led offence. Here is an excerpt from that article on Morris’ background:
You might recognize the name as he was the OC at Texas Tech during Patrick Mahomes’ tenure. Of the five seasons Morris spent calling plays in Lubbock (2013-2017), four of those saw a Red Raider catch over 1000 yards receiving (note: in 2013 it was a TE). In the single season that did not see a 1000-yard receiver the leading WR caught over 900 yards.
He then coached at the FCS program Incarnate Word (IW) from 2018 to 2021. Of the three full seasons he coached at IW (excluding the COVID season), only one season provided a 1000-yard receiver: 5’11 188 pound slot receiver Taylor Grimes. His lone season at Washington State was disappointing all-around, as QB Cameron Ward failed to live up to the pre-season hype. The Cougs WRs suffered as a consequence, and none of them came close to 1000 yards receiving.
Morris is a disciple of the legendary Mike Leach coaching tree, and that immediately catches my attention when scavenging for hidden CFF value. While QB intrigues me, I will focus this article on the WR room.
That article focused mostly on the WR position. Not mentioned is the fact that Morris had coached Cam Ward at Incarnate Word at the FCS level from 2018-2021 as the head coach. At IW, Ward threw for a monstrous 4648 yards, and 47 TDs to 10 INTs in his final season.
Morris also had the privilege of coaching one of the greats, Patty Mahomes at Texas Tech. Mahomes’ final year (2016) saw him pass for over 5000 yards, and 41 TDs to only 10 INTs. Mahomes also rushed in another 12 scores and 285 yards. His numbers the year before were similar.
Beyond Mahomes, Texas Tech QB Nic Shimonek passed for just shy of 4000 yards and 33 TDs in 2017.
So it should come as no surprise to CFFers that the UNT QB position has been a coveted one since Morris’ arrival. As always, lets take a closer look into the patterns of the system over the last handful of years.
Coaching & System
QB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 25.1 — OC: 27.21 (five point passing TD)
The FCS numbers of this crew are not included in my database. Thus, the