Not every new addition North Texas unveiled on national signing day had to sign his name on a letter of intent.
John Skladany will spend his time at UNT convincing players to sign on to play for the Mean Green, not to mention guiding the team's defense.
UNT head coach Dan McCarney hired Skladany as the Mean Green's new defensive coordinator late last month after Clint Bowen left the staff to return to Kansas, his alma mater.
Skladany made his first appearance with the Mean Green at UNT's signing day news conference.
McCarney and Skladany spent a decade working together at Iowa State and helped lead the Cyclones to five bowl games in six seasons beginning in 2000. Iowa State had only three winning seasons in the previous 16 before McCarney arrived in 1995.
"When we took that program at Iowa State, where there was no hope or relevance, and turned it around and built a top-25 defense, John Skladany was at the heart of it," McCarney said. "He did a great job for me. If you lose real good people like we did when Clint Bowen went back home to Lawrence [Kan.], you had better hire real good people. It's a pleasure to have John Skladany to lead our defense."
Skladany spent last season as the defensive coordinator at Central Florida, which finished ninth in the country in both scoring defense (18.3 points allowed per game) and total defense (303.3 yards allowed a game).
Skladany said he would use a 4-3 defense similar to what UNT used last season, when the Mean Green finished sixth in the Sun Belt Conference in scoring defense with an average of 30.7 points allowed per game.
Skladany said he has not had time to get to know the players he is inheriting, but has begun to get to know the rest of the coaching staff.
Even though he has only been around a few days, he is convinced UNT has a bright future.
"This has unlimited potential," Skladany said. "The work ethic the young men are showing in the weight room while preparing for spring practice is really terrific. I can't wait to get started."
Win some, lose some
UNT gained a few players and lost a few others who changed their minds at the last minute after orally committing to schools early in the recruiting process.
Iowa Western Community College defensive back D.Q. Johnson backed out of a commitment to Akron to sign with UNT, while offensive linemen Chase Walling and Sam Rice signed with SMU after originally committing to UNT.
Connor Trussell stayed with UNT after receiving a late offer from SMU, while linebacker Jarrian Roberts stuck with the Mean Green despite receiving late offers from Iowa State and Tulsa.
"You hate it," McCarney said of players decommitting. "Fortunately, we didn't have any of that today or last night or in the last couple of days. I believe in my heart that even though a couple of players went to other places, we did all we could. This year when someone went somewhere else, it was things that were out of our control."
UNT hits Louisiana hard
UNT picked up four players from Louisiana, including one of the more highly regarded prospects in defensive back Devante Davis of Baton Rouge (La.) Woodlawn.
The strategy is one UNT will continue to use largely because cornerbacks coach Justin Gaines - one of its top recruiters - has established relationships with coaches in the area.
"Justin Gaines has connections there, it is not too far and there are really, really good football players there," McCarney said.
Running back Jarmarcus Jarvis of Houma, running back Mark Lewis of Livonia and linebacker LaJaylin Smith of LaPlace St. Charles rounded out UNT's contingent of Louisiana signees.
Line has potential
One of McCarney's main concerns early in his tenure at UNT is that the Mean Green's defensive line lacks size.
UNT began to address that problem by signing several high school players who either have prototypical size for Football Bowl Subdivision defensive linemen now or have the potential to get to that point.
Defensive ends Malik Dilonga of Cedar Hills Trinity Christian and Brad Horton of Liberty Christian are 6-foot-4 and 6-6, respectively. Defensive tackle Sir Calvin Wallace of Tyler Chapel Hill is already 300 pounds, while fellow defensive tackle Dutton Watson of Midland is 6-3 and 250 pounds.
"We have good potential," McCarney said. "I don't know how many of them will be ready right away, but I love the temperament, the tenacity, the toughness, growth potential and size that these guys have."
UNT to look for QB for 2013
UNT did not sign a quarterback in its 2012 class, but that did not bother McCarney.
Starter Derek Thompson will be a junior in the fall, as will third-stringer Brent Osborn. Backup Andrew McNulty will be a sophomore and Cooper Jones a redshirt freshman.
UNT did make an offer to Mansfield quarterback Jerod Evans, but he decided to play at Air Force.
"We made one offer to a quarterback and looked at some others," McCarney said. "It was not a big priority. I wasn't going to take a guy just to take a guy. It will be a priority next year. I'm sure we will sign a real good quarterback in the class of 2013."
UNT still below NCAA scholarship limit of 85
McCarney said that even after signing a class of 24 players, UNT is still well below the NCAA scholarship limit of 85 players.
Schools can only sign 25 players in a signing class.
"We are still 12 scholarships below 85 that we would like to be at," McCarney said. "It's not something we can fix overnight. It's a process and takes time. Gradually we will get our numbers back and our talent, depth and competition where it needs to be. We took another great step toward doing that today."
BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .
