BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Baron Tipton caught 2 passes for 12 yards last season. On Saturday he goes into the North Texas Mean Green opener at Indiana as the receiver Neal Brown called the most consistent player in the room over the past nine months. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is 11 a.m. CT on FOX.
Tipton is a 6-foot-5 junior from Coppell who appeared in all 14 games in 2025, mostly on special teams. He is one of the few returning players on a roster that brought in 70 newcomers this offseason, and Brown said Tuesday at his weekly press conference that seven other receivers have had their turn in practice.
“I think that’s going to be a little bit about who we are,” Brown said. “We’re going to be a group that’s by committee, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative thing. I think we’ve got guys that they can make plays. I think Baron Tipton’s probably had the most consistent, not just fall camp, but this point, through eight and a half months or whatever, or nine months now. But he’s probably been the most consistent. But Kyle Koch, Grayson O’Bara, Josiah Martin, Justin Stevenson, Corri Milliner, TJ, those guys have all had their time. And I think what we’ll try to figure out during this Indiana game and then through kind of our preseason schedule before we get in conference play is who are those guys that are capable of making plays in pressure situations. Because that’s what you don’t know.”
“You try to create as much adversity and as much pressure as you can in a practice setting, but until you get in these game opportunities you don’t really know,” Brown continued. “James Tyre would be the other one that’ll be in the mix there. So we feel like we have upwards of eight or nine guys that are ready to play and can play and be productive at this level. But game production is going to be the separator there.”
The North Texas Receiver Room
Six of the seven receivers Brown listed are transfers, according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football. Josiah Martin came from Oklahoma. Justin Stevenson came from Utah. Corri Milliner came from UAB. James Tyre came from Western Carolina. TJ Chukwurah came from Black Hills State, where he was a Division II All-American, and played high school football at Arlington Seguin. Grayson O’Bara came from Dartmouth and played at Denton Guyer.
Kyle Koch is the seventh and the only one of the group who was on the 2025 roster. Three receivers on the roster, Tipton, Chukwurah, and O’Bara, played high school football in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Tipton is in his third year in the program. In June, the Denton Record-Chronicle placed him in the top 15 of its annual countdown of the roster and quoted Brown from spring practice, saying long receivers can take more time to develop and that Tipton had put on weight.
Receiver Dalton Carnes will miss Saturday’s game. Brown confirmed it Tuesday without giving a timeline beyond the opener.
North Texas ran a top-12 passing offense in each of Eric Morris’ three seasons as coach, and last season’s team scored more than 600 points. Quarterback Drew Mestemaker threw for 4,379 yards, 34 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions as a redshirt freshman, then followed Morris to Oklahoma State.
Tayven Jackson Throws to a New Group
Tayven Jackson makes his first North Texas start Saturday after winning the job on Aug. 26. Last season at UCF, he completed 200-of-315 passes for 2,151 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions in 11 games, with 10 starts.
Jackson started 6 games at Indiana in 2023 and 2024 and grew up in Greenwood, Ind., about 45 miles from the stadium. He said a roster this new has to build its connection away from the field.
“I feel like the same situation I was in last year, like new team, it’s hard,” Jackson said. “No one really has a full grasp on the transfer portal, what’s going on in college football nowadays. It’s hard to get a whole new team and be successful. But I’ve seen it happen. So anything’s possible. But just what you have to do is you have to connect with the team. That involves eating at lunch together or just talking, putting your phone down. It’s all about connections. And I feel like if you have a strong connection off the field, you’re going to have a strong connection on the field.”
Per UNT Athletics, North Texas has added 215 new players over the past three seasons, the most in FBS.
Indiana went 16-0 last season and won the national championship, and the Hoosiers open at No. 6 in the AP poll. FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff airs from Bloomington ahead of the game. North Texas plays its home opener Sept. 12 against UNLV at DATCU Stadium, with kickoff at 2:45 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
