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2017 Camp Thread


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11 hours ago, K92 said:

I have been waiting for this one!

Freshman Dylan Meeks is listed as TE/DL on the roster. He has spent the summer with the tight end group. At 235 pounds, he probably falls in the same category as Justin Sampson, just needs more time in the weight room to play line. Interesting that (freshman) Sampson is still listed as DE, since it was written that he was transitioning to linebacker. With the current success of the Zips training program, I would expect good things from both in the future. Not losing anybody in the TE group, and gaining MTB next season, I would expect Meeks to move back to D next season. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, K92 said:

It would have been nice to hear the stories behind the reasons the author came to this conclusion.

I would guess EA is forming an opinion through observation. Example: "to watch Ball go through a practice session it is clear he is the type of back any coach would drool over. He's big enough to carry the burden between the tackles, yet fast enough and elusive enough to rip off big gains at any moment."

 

I assume #34 will not be the only one carrying the ball (because of depth) Saturday, but with the comments below (found in EA's article), I didn't consider someone else throwing the ball (possibly second half) until reading this. It could be a consideration having TW only throw 17 or so times each in the next two weeks, and work him into more attempts in two weeks vs the Cyclones. 

Quote

"I believe in the MAC, unless you're one of those teams that just wins them all, like Western Michigan last year, Northern Illinois one year, it's never decided until November,'' Bowden said."We've got three of our divisional games the last three weeks of the season. That's why I think you've got to persevere. Winning the division, winning the conference, or just having a winning season is about how you respond to a tough game. How do you respond to a tough loss or a tough injury. "That's the key, and always will be.'' Which goes back to Woodson and Ball. If they are healthy and producing come November for the Zips, the season should be shaping up just fine.

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9 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

I would guess EA is forming an opinion through observation. Example: "to watch Ball go through a practice session it is clear he is the type of back any coach would drool over. He's big enough to carry the burden between the tackles, yet fast enough and elusive enough to rip off big gains at any moment."

 

I assume #34 will not be the only one carrying the ball (because of depth) Saturday, but with the comments below (found in EA's article), I didn't consider someone else throwing the ball (possibly second half) until reading this. It could be a consideration having TW only throw 17 or so times each in the next two weeks, and work him into more attempts in two weeks vs the Cyclones. 

If a team is "oozing with size, speed and athleticism", that says to me "stacked roster".  We understand Warren Ball is on the team.  We heard that Ulysees Gilbert is preseason MAC DPOY.  Who else is exhibiting this "size, speed and athleticism"?  If traits are "oozing" from this squad it is from an overabundance of these traits on the team and I don't think any of us saw an overabundance of it last year.

 

Either there are untold stories or it was a bull$hit statement.

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15 minutes ago, K92 said:

Either there are untold stories or it was a bull$hit statement.

I can't speak for EA. Possibly untold. I wrote in mid August what coach Stroud told me about the secondary "One of our corners in particular, Darian Dailey, we feel like he is going to be a special corner for us. Alvin Davis stood out again today, we have great leadership in Zach Guiser. This is probably the best backend we have had since we have been here, and that’s saying a mouthful because we were really good on the backend last year. They are all (secondary) doing great." He also spoke about his rotation of the front seven. Lots of question marks with the receiving corp, but coaches and players have told me that Tra'Von has looked special thus far. Let's hope all this translates to game day success. 

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On 8/8/2017 at 8:38 AM, LZIp said:

2 I believe. Taylor and Lambert.

 

Coming down the pipeline.....Probably Gates, Harrison, Ben and maybe Antonio Brown and Mack if they keep it up? Am I missing anyone?

Paul Brown , Weeb Ewbank from Miami

Emlen Tunnell from Toledo

George Allen from Eastern Michigan

 

Full list here.  http://www.profootballhof.com/heroes-of-the-game/colleges/

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24 minutes ago, K92 said:

If a team is "oozing with size, speed and athleticism", that says to me "stacked roster".  We understand Warren Ball is on the team.  We heard that Ulysees Gilbert is preseason MAC DPOY.  Who else is exhibiting this "size, speed and athleticism"?  If traits are "oozing" from this squad it is from an overabundance of these traits on the team and I don't think any of us saw an overabundance of it last year.

 

Either there are untold stories or it was a bull$hit statement.

And picked higher than 4th in the MAC east?????

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26 minutes ago, K92 said:

If a team is "oozing with size, speed and athleticism", that says to me "stacked roster".  We understand Warren Ball is on the team.  We heard that Ulysees Gilbert is preseason MAC DPOY.  Who else is exhibiting this "size, speed and athleticism"?  If traits are "oozing" from this squad it is from an overabundance of these traits on the team and I don't think any of us saw an overabundance of it last year.

 

Either there are untold stories or it was a bull$hit statement.

Either that or he visited Kent first and then came to visit us. Lol

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3 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

I can't speak for EA. Possibly untold. I wrote in mid August what coach Stroud told me about the secondary "One of our corners in particular, Darian Dailey, we feel like he is going to be a special corner for us. Alvin Davis stood out again today, we have great leadership in Zach Guiser. This is probably the best backend we have had since we have been here, and that’s saying a mouthful because we were really good on the backend last year. They are all (secondary) doing great." He also spoke about his rotation of the front seven too. Lots of question marks with the receiving corp, but everyone (coaches and players) is telling me that Tra'Von has looked special thus far. Let's hope all this translates to game day success. 

I'm not trying to be an asshole here.  I am a Zips fan starved for information.  I totally appreciate a coach saying "special", "stood out", "leadership", "best", "great" and all that.  It doesn't tell me anything, though.  They said those same things about a 1-11 squad.  What pains me is that a guy who gets paid to write down words for a living made the most positive statement I have ever seen penned about the Zips with absolutely zero justification to support the statement.

 

I want to believe that the Zips are "oozing".  Tell me why I should believe that.  The known quantities don't convince me.  Tell me who made incredible gains over the off-season.  We heard from the basketball golf outing that Daniel Utomi lost 56 pounds and increased his vertical by 3 feet.  Gimme some of that about the football team.

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I don't know if "ooze" is the best adjective, but there's no doubt the Zips team that takes the field against Penn State will be dramatically more athletic and deeper than the one that exited the field against OU last November.

 

Woodson is an awesome QB when healthy. And if he's not healthy, we have 3 guys behind him that can play. I rate that an Ooze Factor Index (OFI) of 89, on a scale of 0 - 100.

 

Warren Ball is an absolute beast. And a healthy Van Edwards is backing him up. OFI of 91.

 

WR's are completely unproven, and their chemistry with Tommy Woodson. who's reps have been limited, is a big question mark. But we have a bucket full of potential at WR. I think everyone's gonna love Williams. So I give the WR's an OFI of 51. With upside.

 

The OL lost LTT, and is probably better for it. Deep and experienced, they're a team strength. OFI = 84

 

Defensive line numerically lost players, but production-wise, lost nothing. Returning are the injured Moore and Boxen. Reinke looked good at year's end last season, and made huge off-season progress (per coaches). Jamal Davis III and Gilbert are expected to give us the Marcus/Brown disruptive edge rushers we lacked last season. Josh Ward is looking great at end too. Camera and Copeland will adequately plug the middle. OFI = 81

 

Hauser is back at LB. And you have returning veterans Bell/Lako/Bishoff/Junius/Lloyd/Gilbert too. There's experience, depth and talent at LB. Not "Linebacker U," but certainly in the upper half of the MAC. OFI = 78.

 

The staff says the secondary is the best in the Bowden era, and that says a lot because there have been some good ones. Jordan George isn't even one of our top 2 CB's (per the depth chart)? That's group's OFI is 96.5.

 

Special teams - OFI = 76. Coney does a nice job returning punts. Edwards is solid on kickoffs.  O'Leary looks to have improved his leg strength noticeably in the off-season. Punting has competition this year. If Gasser can't hit a long punt, there's three other kids waiting to do it.

 

I'm bullish on this Zips team. They obviously don't match up with a Top 5 program like Penn State, but no one else on the schedule scares me. I expect 7 regular season wins and a bowl game. We'll see how it plays-out.

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12 minutes ago, K92 said:

I guess there is a big disconnect for me somewhere.  If the team has that high of a OFI factor and you and others are that bullish on the Zips, I sure want to see more than 7 wins.  Perhaps I am unrealistic.

I don't think you took the Ooze to Wins Conference Adjustment (OWCA+) into account. Each ooze point is good for 1/10th of a win (CK average Ooze rating of 80.8), after the MAC's OWCA+ adjustment of 1 win you are at 7.08 wins.

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I would contend that, since the Zips have won 7 games in a regular season twice in the past 30 years, that 7 is a realistic positive expectation. If winning 7 is a letdown...there's a 28/30 = 93% chance to be disappointed. Hate them odds...

 

The Zips play a very difficult schedule in 2017:

 

Really tough games: Penn State, @ Toledo, @ WMU, @ Troy,  Home Iowa State.  If you are an Ohio State fan, that's easy stuff. But for just about any G5 program, it's damn difficult. If the Zips are a GREAT MAC team, maybe they'll win two of these games. 

 

Difficult games that I expect to win this season due to our "High OFI" include: @ Miami and Home OU. 

 

Games I chalk up as sure 2017 wins include: BG, Kent, Buffalo and Ball State.

 

The realistic ceiling on this Zips team is 9 wins. Give me a healthy Tommy Woodson and Ball for 11 to 12 games, and it is achievable

 

The bowel is 5 games. That would be a repeat of the hellish 100 year injury flood of 2016. And that shouldn't happen again until... 2116.

 

Hope my great grandson is here to type about it.:D

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