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Returning Starter: Last year, C. Cravaack took advantage of Newell missing time with an injury to lay claim to the starting tight end position. I thought Cravaack was playing substantially better than Newell by the end of 2025 and I imagine that played at least a part in Newell deciding to transfer out. New Faces: W. Hook comes in as a transfer from Michigan State. Although Hook only saw snaps on special teams during his time as a Spartan, he easily has the most upside of all the newcomers. An insider at MSU compared Hook to Josh Whyle, who was selected in the 5th round of the 2023 NFL Draft. I don’t know if I’d go that far with the praise, but Hook definitely has the potential to immediately step in and be a productive player for the Zips. E. Alexander is a JUCO signee with some potential. He’s a good athlete with a long frame and uses it well to gain yards after the catch. He may not be a great blocker at this time, but he is a willing blocker and should improve in that area with some added mass and experience. Y. DeReese is the most recent, and probably final, addition to the tight end room. He’s actually listed as the smallest TE on the roster, but looks bigger on film, so there’s some discrepancy there. The way he moves reminds me of former Bowling Green and current Wisconsin tight end Jacob Harris. My guess is DeReese is more of a depth addition at this time, but he has the ability to eventually become a contributor down the line. Conclusion: I thought the tight end room had the potential to be one of the best in the MAC last year between Newell and Cravaack, however that did not come to pass. Cravaack came on strong the more he played, while Newell only saw action in six games and didn’t necessarily play all that well when he was on the field. This season will feature some new faces alongside Cravaack that should have enough ability to help this offense be productive. Returning: Cravaack (R. Jr.) In: DeReese (Jr.) - JUCO Hook (R. So.) = Michigan State Alexander (So.) = JUCO Out: Newell = Toledo Whisner = Sam Houston Witherspoon = Still in portal (Transitioned to WR)

Finish it off, ladies!

Matthew Paiva 🥅 to tie the game 1-1 just before HT.

Going to the 5th inning, Zips lead Virginia Tech 4-1. Winner moves on to play host LSU in the regional championship game at 2pm ET tomorrow.

4 current and 1 former Zip among tonight’s starters! 🔥🔥🔥

As a Zips coach, Craig Nicholson has a better record in the NCAA tournament than John Groce and Keith Dambrot combined. Sad.

The Zips get a 1-0 win over South Alabama in 8 innings for their first ever NCAA tournament win.

Men's leading by 30 points, women's leading by 20 points. Both with 4 events remaining.

Both leading by 40 points with 8 events remaining.

BGSU added Jayden Johnson from South Carolina State. It seems like a fairly solid pickup for them. Last season he had a 23 point game against South Carolina and a 25 point game against Tennessee so don't write him off because he played at a low major. https://x.com/i/status/2055365959058084101

Zips leading the outdoor MAC championship in both men's and women's going into the final day tomorrow!

That's certainly a better argument than AkronAlumnus was attempting to make. You still listed 2 players who played a combined 7 games last season. Willis will be returning from a broken foot, which he had to get a secondary surgery on after re-injury. That type of injury with a secondary surgery can take up to 3 years for a player to return to 100% per the national institute of health. Sumlin's injury I'm not sure what it was, but it was severe enough that he missed the entire season. Depending on what the injury was it's hard to project what, if any, impact it might have on his game for next season. I would say the injury concerns surrounding both players still leaves questions on how effective both players will be. I will concede there is more certainty there than with the other 2 prior mentioned players that have yet to play.

Akron was a very early adopter of NIL. I've heard jokes about other MAC coaches referring to Bud as the real league MVP. Akron probably still is at or near the top of the MAC in NIL spend, but the gap has certainly shrunk. It's not just in the MAC either. More and more mid-majors are stepping up their spending as well. With more money out there for players to get, Akron isn't going to be able to afford the same caliber roster that it could before. Not unless it doubles or triples it's current spending to restore the same disparity it once had.

Wait a minute ... neither Miller or Dorian are PGs. Both are shooting guards and listed as such. Jones might even be a wing, albeit a short one at 6-4. Their PG is Minnesota transfer Chansey Willis, who only played/started 7 games before being injured. But he was a stud at WMU before that averaging 16ppg and 5.8apg. True, Miller and Jones are more question marks with no D1 experience. But Kent has former 6th man Sumlin (injured last season) and All-Freshman Team guard Quinn Woidke in the wings with proven experience should those two fizzle.

I'm not as negative about next season as AkronAlumnus is but I do have lower expectations than last year, for sure. I felt okay when we started off by getting Staveskie but Burton and Hammer do nothing to make think we're on our way to another MAC title. Of course, who knows with every team having so many new players but as Kreed said, on the surface, it's not realistic to say this team will be better than last year.

I don't find it unreasonable to have lower expectations for next season. I also don't think we'll finish in the top ~60 for NET or go 17-1 in the MAC, like we did this year. I also don't see any team as good as Akron or Miami were last season for this coming season. Akron/Miami really pounded the rest of the league. Kent kind of did too to a lessor degree as I think they only had 1 loss to a MAC team not named Miami or Akron. I expect next year there will be 4-5 teams in the top 100-150 range battling it out for MAC supremacy. I'm not saying Akron will come out on top, but I'm not seeing anything from any of the other MAC schools that leads me to believe we should be written off.

So he went from being committed to Ohio State to not playing at Rutgers to Kent. There is either a character issue, talent issue, or both.

I'll come back after next season and maybe you'll be the topic of my roast. Dorian was originally committed to OSU btw

We’ll see... I’ll revisit this after the season. I think some of you will be severely disappointed. My expectations are much lower this year, so I can’t really be disappointed

Huron blows. Guarantee whatever plan they come up with will get shut down.

7 1/2 minute interview with Richie Laryea

This was a great interview. Thanks for sharing. We are lucky to have Michael on our coaching staff. he will make a good head coach some day.

Go zips!