Littrell, UNT players excited about where they stand as fall camp gives way to game week

The celebratory moment seemed like a perfect way for UNT to head into its final workout of fall camp on Friday. UNT will open the season on Aug. 27 at UTEP.

Game week starts Monday, when the Mean Green will narrow their focus to preparing to face the Miners.

“Camp has gone really well,” Littrell said. “There weren’t many down days or lulls. The energy has been good, and the competition has been great. A lot of guys worked hard. The experienced guys have been able to step up and lead.”

The hope is that progress will translate to a breakthrough season. UNT has played in a bowl game in five of its six seasons under Littrell.

That’s a dramatic improvement for a program that played in a bowl in just one of the 11 previous years.

The challenge for UNT is to take the next step by winning a bowl or a conference title. The Mean Green feel like they are a whole lot closer to reaching that goal as they close out fall camp.

“We improved everywhere,” Littrell said. “We are a much smarter and more disciplined team than we were last year. That is something that really hurt us, undisciplined penalties and plays. We have played a lot smarter.”

The hope is a productive camp will put the Mean Green in position to tackle the challenge of playing a Conference USA game right off the bat in their season opener. UNT was slated to open the year at home against SMU before C-USA was forced to adjust its schedule when three schools jumped to the Sun Belt.

UNT landed a rare August league game as a result. UNT also opened the 2011 season with a C-USA game and fell at Florida International.

The change and the importance of facing a C-USA team to open the season were on UNT’s minds throughout fall camp.

“It’s going to put us to the test to play UTEP to start,” cornerback John Davis said. “Every game is important but starting off with a conference game is like starting in the playoffs.”

UNT believes it is ready to tackle that challenge after what Littrell and his players characterized as across-the-board improvement over the course of the offseason.

The big question for UNT following the 2021 season was how its quarterback race would play out. Five players entered the fray before Austin Aune came out on top.

While Aune ultimately hung on to the job heading into the season, Littrell was pleased with the way the entire group performed. Memphis transfer Grant Gunnell provided the most competition for Aune and is expected to enter the season as the former Argyle standout’s backup.

Aune, who played six seasons of minor league baseball and will be 29 this fall, has said this will be his final year of college football. Gunnell is just a sophomore and is in a great spot to eventually take over.

“The quarterback room grew,” Littrell said. “All of them got better. I’m pleased with the group. The competition helps.”

That competition stretched beyond the quarterback spot. Offensive lineman Cole Brown is entering his junior season and could sense a difference in camp this year.

“We made a lot of progress,” Brown said. “There was a lot of competition and guys fighting for spots this year.”

That competition is an indication of just how much deeper UNT is at several positions. Littrell said the Mean Green have more options at wide receiver and running back, where Oscar Adaway III returns after missing all of last season due to injury.

“We got better over the course of fall camp,” Aune said. “We have good offensive line play and got Oscar back, along with most of the other guys in the running backs room. We have more depth in the wide receiver room and are adding weapons.”

UNT also sorted out several issues defensively. DeShawn Gaddie has settled back in at cornerback after playing both safety and corner earlier in his career and is expected to pair well with Davis on the opposite side.

Littrell has been pleased with the performance of both. UNT’s staff also had a pretty good idea that JUCO defensive end Tom Trieb would be a starter when they signed him out of College of DuPage at midterm.

Trieb has been everything UNT has hoped he would be and more while adding another weapon to a defense that made a dramatic jump last season.

“We have had well-rounded growth,” Davis said. “The defensive line, linebackers and secondary are all growing.”

That growth has UNT feeling good about how fall camp progressed as the Mean Green prepare to wrap up that section of the preseason on Friday.

“Overall, we got much better as a football team and became even tighter,” Littrell said. “We’re looking forward to kicking off the season next week.”