Royce Hill hadn’t had a chance to tackle anyone up until the last few days of North Texas fall practices.

But like every other defensive player on UNT’s roster, the sophomore cornerback has been working on improving in that aspect of the game for months.

Ask UNT’s coaches and players, and they will say that the Mean Green wasn’t a good tackling team last season. That problem was a big reason UNT finished last nationally in scoring defense for a second straight season with an average of 47.6 points allowed a game.

That statistic is why UNT drilled on tackling over and over since the Mean Green’s players began preparing for the 2009 season during off-season conditioning.

“We took more time working on tackling in the off-season and every day in practice,” Hill said. “We do a lot more corrections and continue to work on it. We have to improve our tackling from last year. We can’t afford missed tackles.”

When UNT’s coaches looked back after last season, they decided that one of the Mean Green’s biggest problems was poor footwork that left them out of position. It was a dilemma the team’s players could work on without being in pads during the off-season with its new strength and conditioning program.

 “Our tackling has improved because of a lot of things we did in the off-season with [former UNT strength coach Aaron] Ausmus and what [new strength coach Charr] Gahagan is doing now,” head coach Todd Dodge said. “Tackling is all about being out of control and then coming into control. We did a lot of drills in the off-season that helped us get out of control and then into control by buzzing our feet. A lot of our missed tackles were because our feet were not in good position. We are improving. Our coaches work tackling drills every day.”

That work is expected to pay off this season when the Mean Green will look to cut down on the number of big plays it allows. Missed tackles were one reason UNT allowed 14 touchdown passes that covered at least 30 yards, 13 touchdown runs that went for at least 20 yards, three kickoff returns for touchdowns that went at least 92 yards and two punt returns for touchdowns that went for at least 59 yards

UNT has tried to build on the base it laid in the off-season by tackling more in practice and having its defense go against its starters on offense more often this fall. Dodge said he wants to have his players be smart and stay off each others legs, while still getting enough contact to be better prepared to tackle.

“There are certain drills that we are doing that will have us tackling more,” Dodge said. “Our three-and-out scrimmage today was completely live and our middle drills were completely live. Our Saturday scrimmages will also be live.”

Hill expects UNT to be much better prepared for those live scrimmages, thanks to the work it put in during the off-season.

“We worked on positioning and footwork,” Hill said. “That gave us a base so later on when we put on pads, our hands will come through and we can wrap up when we make a tackle.”

Dodge dismisses Sykes

Dodge has dismissed Marquis Sykes, a junior defensive end from Coppell who started five games last season.

“It was a culmination of things,” Dodge said. “I wish Marquis all the best in all the things he does, but it got to the point where we needed to part ways.

Sykes will remain on scholarship at UNT, but could transfer. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Sykes finished with 17 tackles, including four for losses, and a sack last season.

UNT had nine players combine for 12 sacks in 2008 for an average of one per game, a total that ranked in tie for 112^th among 119 Bowl Subdivision teams.

Four of those players who combined to finish with 5.0 sacks have either graduated or left the team.

“Our depth has improved in our defensive front,” Dodge said. “We expect the ones that are training now under coach [Mike] Nelson to step up. From the rush side we have Brandon Akpunku, Tyler Washington and K.C. Obi and then on the strong side we have Tevinn Cantly and Sam Owusu-Hemeng and John Weber can work at both. I am confident. Our numbers are still high in our defensive front. The tale will be this training camp and how they develop.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.