Leaderboard

He's what I could glean my first look at the 2024 Zips - Ben Finley saw the field as the #2 QB behind Tahj Bullock. It won't be long before he assumes the #1 position. He hit receivers downfield, whether they were open or in traffic. He moves the chains. Looking forward to watching him in an upcoming scrimmage. Seems like a nice kid too. From observing the player interaction on the sidelines, the other players seem to like him. Finley tosses one deep. Finley reads the D. Myles Walker reels in a 40 yard TD pass from Finley. Noah Perez is still hanging around. Steele Wasel saw a fair amount of action. He seems more confident this season. More purposeful with his actions. It wouldn't shock me to see him pass Tahj as the #2 QB at some point. Tahj received a fair amount of PT Saturday, but seems to be a distant 2nd to Finley in the QB race. Steele tosses a screen pass. David Jester arrives too late to block a PAT. Look out for Bennett Adler this year. I thought he was somewhat of an unsung hero last season. Solid, durable. And sneaky-strong. I'd predict 5-6 sacks for him in 2024. #36 Dante Jackson handled most of the punting today. Very windy...you couldn't tell much from what came off his foot. Adrian Norton handled the punt return duties. With mixed results. He misjudged one that bounded over his head. Braydon Ruggow saw some action. As expected, he looked overwhelmed. Tossed a bad ball on an out pattern that should have been an INT. Missed a wide open seam route for a TD. Nowhere to go but up for him. 😀 Joe speaks to the 4 QB's who saw action today. A little chilly, but overall a really nice day for an outdoor scrimmage. I wish I had hair like Steele. Owen Wiley lines up for a PAT. Then, my camera battery died. Other notes - Finley pulled in a high snap and hit Adrian Norton on a quick slant for a 7(?) yard TD strike in the second half. Perfectly placed ball, and Norton showed nice hands pulling it in while also keeping his feet inbounds. After the play he took his helmet off and got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Joe was pissed and stopped the practice to forcibly remind every player they can cost their team a game with their reactions to adversity, as well as prosperity. Not much news on the RB front. Marquese Williams saw a few carries. He's a little guy. In the post practice mid-field gathering Joe singled out Fish and McCoy as guys that have been outstanding so far. He also brought in three of his former players (not Zips) to say a few words to the guys. He also mentioned the portal opens on Monday, and if any player isn't fully committed to turning the Zips program into a winner, they should use it. Joe also voiced the players can't be thin-skinned. They need to listen to bad stuff in order to improve. Overall, to me, Joe's leadership style strikes a nice balance of being very direct and honest with the players, while also letting them know how much he cares about them and their success.

Yes. Busy day afterwards so I will post some pictures and thoughts tomorrow morning. My big takeaway of the day was - Finley is accurate. Short and long throws, in traffic, he hits his target.

LETS GO!

Found this on a WVU meme account. Doesn’t seem the person who runs the account is too upset about it.

Is this the year for the up-tempo offense? If @RoyalBlu is correct and Young contributes meaningful minutes at the point I believe it's possible. I keep waiting for it. I so enjoy it. Some of you might remember the team South of Akron running it. Please basketball gods make it be so. Groce usually teaches one position to true Freshman. For Sharron Young that will be at point guard. Tavari should be able to play all three guard positions by now, but he is not likely to be able to guard the wing position well. I expect to see both Wilson and Okonkwo play 35+ minutes a game. But Wilson will probably only play up to half of those minutes at the point. The rest of the minutes will be at the 2 and 3 positions. Wilson unlike Tavari is plenty strong enough to guard the 3 position. We could possibly have three point guards on the floor together and the half-court offense could be initiated by any of them. Talk about a defensive nightmare. So the rotation I would like to see next year is Young at the point, Tavari or Scott at the 2, Wilson at the 3, Nate or Prather at the 4 and Okonkwo, Marvin, Baker, Lyles (or our last recruit??) at the 5. We would have 4 guards capable of bringing the ball up the court in transition. So we would be able to rebound and run. And with a rim runner like Okonkwo our fast breaks could become lethal. Unlike last year our guards have to be able to hit a fair amount of those open shots from deep. If that is the case we can spread out opposing defenses then drive and kick, drive and kick, etc. It's not something you typically run all game or against every opponent. But it's effective and damn cool. Please, please, please!!!

The MAC Coach of the Year lost 10 players.

Now, that was more like it! AKR 2-0 LOU Match was not as close as score might suggest. Very solid and steady performance by our Zips, with flashes of brilliance throughout the match. 4-2-3-1 Goal Keeper Devin Armstrong #29 is much more than a suitable backup to Mitch Budler #1. Akron is set at GK for the foreseeable future. His medium ranged save, diving to his left, sealed the deal for me yesterday. (Just in case saving two PKs last week was not enough.) Zips keep trying to move Jonas Buechte #4 to HMF, because he is really good there. The problem is that we have only one Buechte. And he is also our best option at CB. The pairing of Jonas Buechte #4 and Roberto Ydrach #8 seems to be the best Center Back tandem for Zips. Both are heady and steady. Our outside backs really impacted the match yesterday, as they commonly do. Malik Henry #5 put in his usual uneven but sometimes brilliant shift up the right flank. On the left, Ashton Kamdem #27 fought like a demon! He created one chance after another all match long! He was everywhere! Remarkable that he did not score (hit the post). Ashton Kamdem is poised to have a monster Fall 2024. Promising freshman Nicholas Beier #6 was tried at Center Back last week, with mixed results. Beier looks far more comfortable at Holding Midfield where yesterday he facilitated several thrusts into our offensive third. He is also a good ball winner. And speaking of ball winning, Matt Dreas #22 is making a strong case for starting at HMF. Dreas will tackle anything that moves in midfield. Dreas is emerging as a scrapper. Incoming transfer Maximus Barboto #21 continues to show his creativity in the final third. He is quite accustomed to providing the critical pass from Attacking Midfield into space. And he is left footed, so he fits our paradigm of inverted wingers. On the other side? Whoa! When Dyson Clapier #19 has come to play... look out! "Katie, bar the door!" Several players on the Louisville right had nightmares last night featuring Ash and Dice. Stefan Dobrijevic #18 capped off his stellar Spring campaign with a goal and a beautiful assist to Joshua Bartels #15. Stef is another Zip on the verge of greatness. Not necessarily a consensus opinion, I believe Dobrijevic is best suited to play up top. He is currently Akron's best option at Forward. In summary, an excellent performance by Zips MSOC. May this victory be a harbinger of better things to come.

We need someone willing to spend the weekend hanging out at Diamond Deli.

Every spring game is full of vanilla formations and plays. Now-a-days it's a Marketing event more than anything else. Lee Owens would run Ben Ruhlin 25 times in the spring game, and people would be expecting Ruhlin to be our star back in the fall...only to be disappointed when he got only a handful of mop-up carries the entire season. It kept Brandon Payne and Bobby Hendry healthy tho. Finley's already enrolled. He'd need to sit if he transferred again. He's not going to go through the hassle of appealing sitting out another season just to transfer to Appalachian State or UAB. He's the odds-on favorite for the starting job here. There were some people, me included, 😀 who saw something special in Enrique Freeman even as a freshman. Soft hands, great footwork...relentless motor. I guess that's what I look for in a spring game...young guys that exhibit the tools to be a contributor one day. Breakaway speed, a WR that makes a circus grab or two. Just getting a chance to see some of the new players in person and see how tall, cut, fast, strong-armed etc. they are is interesting and fun.

The results of this Day of Giving are skewed. No contributions to any sports NIL collective are counted. No membership in the Summit Group ($25,000 committed over five years) are counted. The results are not a dire as would be surmised on first inspection. Would we like to see more from the general public? Absolutely yes! But things need to be taken in perspective.

Found it!!

Two more West Virginia players are in the Portal - Jeremiah Bembry & Kobe Johnson. The comments on X are hilarious. "Akron Lock" "Akron?" "He's the final piece of the puzzle for Akron to win the MAC" "You are an Akron Zip"

If you can dodge traffic on Exchange, you can dodge a ball.

Back then my family watched The Love Boat followed by Fantasy Island every Saturday night. Good times!!

The last time Toledo made the tournament the #1 song on the billboard charts was crazy little thing called love by Queen. The #1 movie at the box office was The Fog. The price of a Big Mac was $1.20.

Kent State just learned of our latest acquisitions.

My two cents: I would move Prather down to WF (Dawson's old spot). Wilson will probably play both PG and WG. Redshirt Mahaffey and Brisco. Add another wing, forward or center - best available. Josiah Harris would be fine with me.

Great game. Kudos to the players, coaches, and staff. The Zips dominated most of the match and created many more chances than reflected in the final score. Happy Devin Armstrong got the clean sheet. Well-deserved. Matt Dreas looked good in midfield, as did Nicholas Beier at #6. The backline of Ashton Kamdem, Jonas Buechte, Robert Ydrach, and Malik Henry were confident and solid. Awesome offensive action by Ashton and Malik getting forward and creating numerous scoring opportunities. Maximus Barboto continued to impress and great to see a healthy Dyson Clapier making the moves and creating chances. Awesome to see Stefan get the first goal of the game on a beautiful breakaway run. Happy to see Caleb Borneo get the start and to see his fellow Crew Academy team mate, Josh Bartels, score off the bench on a great cross by Stefan Dobrijevic. (Really great to see Josh score for the Zips in Historic Crew Stadium knowing that had to be special for him.) Much to be happy about in today's match. Looking forward to the Fall 2024 season with this group and the fall additions. Sorry to our team for not being around as much this Spring as I have been in the past due to personal issues. I hope I can attend more in the Fall.

As a freshman Seth Wilson was rated as one of the two best freshman PG's in the state (IIRC). I saw him at STVM a few times his freshman & sophomore years. He struck me as pretty darn good... but not awesome. He transfered to Lorain for his junior & senior seasons & his production really took off. Not saying that's STVM's & Coach Dru's fault - just saying it's probably because he was an upperclassman & team leader at Lorain as opposed to being an underclassman on some stacked STVM teams. He's big bodied & looks strong as an ox. Good ball handler & can shoot the 3-ball. When he committed to WVU I thought he looked like a prototypical Huggybear/WVU tough-as-nails-type player. Josiah Harris is a true 6-7 stretch 4. He can put the ball in the hole. Sometimes guys just need a change of scenery, and in Groce I trust. He gives his guys lots of confidence and a long leash. If Seth & Josiah felt they had a short leash at WVU then that can really get into a player's head. I think they'd do well - and have a lot of fun - playing Groceball.

I have it on good authority that it is KJ Walton, having qualified at 32 years old for his 8th year of college basketball.

https://twitter.com/PeteNakos_/status/1778960327989760019?t=HwJvbAxFgvQk2FIrr82KWg&s=19

As disappointing as it is to fans, JoeMo is running spring like most P5s do, which is limited access. Although, this has got to be the least amount of published video clips since his arrival. I imagine that has more to do with the media department at the school though. A number of G5 programs have gone away from the spring game and are doing something they call “spring show cases” where it’s individual drills followed by a glorified 7 on 7. Thankful that’s not yet the case here. Unfortunately, players can transfer multiple times now. Even in the same year if they so desire. NCAA has had their legs cut out from underneath them. That being said, I’m with you. I don’t think Finley is going anywhere. Even if he rips up the MAC this coming season, I’m not sure if he’d leave. Unless something drastically changes, he’s one of the many that seem genuinely excited to be a part of this program.

I really hope he can be a big scoring threat for us. Similar to guys like LCJ or Castanada. We need a legit guard who can put up big points if we want any chance to make a run in the tournament. Even with Freeman last season, I think not getting enough offense from our guards held us back.

https://x.com/ZipsMBB/status/1780714869517607166?t=PruLmPog7BbkyXMBreriDA&s=09

Every comment on this... "Kobe (Johnson) to Akron. Confirmed." Kobe, like Josiah, is from Canton. Keep an eye out for an Akron departure.

I have high hopes for these guys and think they could be major contributors. That being said, I had high hopes for Maishe Dailey, Taylor Currie and KJ Walton. As such, my enthusiasm is tempered a little.

It's crazy, but I'm already excited for the 24/25 basketball season to start and we just finished the current season! I feel really good about our recent portal signings as well as our high school recruiting class, especially Sharron Young. I agree with @Let'sGoZips94 that Brisco and Mahafey should/will be redshirted.

Read the comments. We're gonna have a good number of bandwagon fans from WV. Welcome aboard!

They aren't smart enough to find it, even if they had internet access

Via Professional Zip on Twitter...

Hunter -> Harris Tribble -> Wilson Freeman -> Okonkwo We could have done worse

The Akron Mountaineers

Just saw Josiah Harris to Akron!

I think the team counts its blessings in that it has a committed fan like you. No one does more for Zip soccer in building confidence and pride.

According to Professional Zip on X, the 3rd player on campus is from a PAC12 school.

That is former SVSM guard Seth Wilson!

Just saw this on X. We were discussing this a few days ago, the true Blue Bloods. We mentioned the top 7 as the true bluest of Blue Bloods. @Illini Zip also mentioned Villanova & @zippy5 also mentioned Michigan State.

To my knowledge we haven’t offered yet, but linebacker Rodney Groce is in the portal. We offered him out of JUCO before he chose UTSA. Committed to Miss. State out of HS and was an All-American JUCO LB. Something to keep an eye on.

We are on the same page. I have been watching West Virginia games on Draftmatic. I will post a couple of games later. All three typically come in off the bench 5 minutes into the game. Although Harris has started. ---------------------- The Big 12 Tourney 2 seasons ago. The last game James Okonkwo (32) played for West Virginia. First half he is in from (15:18-9:16) and (5:21-End of half). Second half (11:00-2:49) and (1:13-End of game). Seth Wilson (14) plays in the second half from (17:53-8:25) and (5:01-End of game). No Josiah Harris. -------------------------- The Big 12 Tourney this past year. The last game Harris (22) and Wilson (14) played for West Virginia. You might recognize #55 for Cincinnati. First half Josiah Harris is in from (15:24-11:53) and (6:00-1:45). Second half (14:36-9:24) and (9:21-2:46). First half Seth Wilson is in from (15:24-9:58) and (1:32-End of half). Second half (14:36-9:21). No James Okonkwo.

Peep the Wagon Wheel motivation.

Kent State’s best player on defense entered the portal. CJ West - 2023 3rd Team All-MAC. That’s a blow.

A couple of random thoughts about the Zips. I think the competition at PG in practice should be a blast to watch. And if I’m Groce, I am not backing off one bit on the OOC schedule. We will lack continuity early and will improve over the course of the season, but these new guys are battle tested and not afraid of anybody. That would be the case if we reach the NCAAT again as well.

Zips Lady Dodgeball - A true Underdog Story. Has a nice ring to it. I wonder if it would make a great movie title?

I think this could be big all the way around. Just like Shammah Scott coming back home. And Enrique before him. Make staying put in Akron cool again.

I know someone who follows Ursuline religiously, pun intended. He said that Tairan is an excellent WR for them, but it looks like we recruited him as a Safety. Hopefully that translates to a lot of interceptions for us.