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I took it upon myself to find a bracketologist that would give a concise answer on where Akron stands. He said if he was to rank them among the bubble teams today, he'd have them 12-15 spots out. He estimates an Akron 11-2 finish, including loss in final, would put them right at the bubble with a 50/50 shot of getting in. Question: Hi Dave, I see that you have the Zips as your 49th seed. I imagine that it is fair to assume that means you have them out if they don’t win the MAC as things currently stand. Roughly where would you place them in regards to the other at-large candidates? Reply: First, thanks for your interest in Bracketville. The biggest hurdle facing Akron is a lack of “Quality” wins and/or opponents. The MAC isn’t helping. As of this morning, Akron is 0-2 vs. Top 100 teams and they’ve played 11 of 21 games against teams ranked 200+ in the RPI (10-1 against those teams). No shame in losing at Gonzaga or Creighton, but there isn’t much else to showcase. The BPI has them at 76, but with a better SOR (Strength of Record – 34, a relatively new metric). Akron is No. 99 at KenPom. Their overall SOS and NC-SOS numbers are over 200. In other words, the numbers don’t look favorable. But there is a caveat (at least right now). The bubble is mired in mediocrity, with a bunch of teams posting significant sub.500 league records and other issues. And winning still matters. So in a round-about way, I would put Akron somewhere in the group of four teams maybe 12-15 spots away. It depends on how metrics might be used. Example: Wichita State is similar in some respects, but the MVC is a little stronger at the top. WSU has a notably higher BPI (24) and KenPom (21) marks, although worse in the RPI. If Akron avoids another “really bad” loss and wins the MAC with say a one-loss run, they’ll be in the conversation should they lose in the MAC final. But at best, it’s probably a 50-50 deal in that situation, depending upon teams around them. Long way to go. https://bracketville.wordpress.com/s-curve/

Coach Bowden mentioned that the 2017 class will have as many as 29 new players on the team. I would like to keep a list. CK and I will update (add and subtract) as information becomes available. We'll try to be as accurate as we can. Bold Blue is a confirmed commitment w/scholarship. Feel free to help. 01. Eric Bentley DL — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 02. Kobie Booker TE — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 03. DeAndre Brimage DL — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 04. Dustin Burkhart WR — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 05. Hunter Corne OL — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 06. Reggie Corner S — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 07. Zaire Jacobs DB — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 08. Nick Johns QB — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 09. Jeffrey Lubin DB — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 10. Alex Ramart QB — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 11. Jordyn Riley DB — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 12. Jemarulin Suggs RB — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 13. Malik Wooldridge WR — Signed national letter of intent on February 1 14. Darryl Long TE — Transfer from the University of Kentucky (Westerville South HS) - RJr 15. Deltron Sands RB - Transfer from Oregon State (St. Thomas Aquinas HS) - RFr 16. Jamal Davis LB - Transfer from Pitt - Eligible in 2017 17. Darian Dailey CB - Transfer from Rutgers (Manatee HS FL) - Eligible in 2017 - RSo 18. Denzel Butler DB- Transfer from WV Wesleyan (Fort Lauderdale Coral Springs Charter HS ) - Eligible in 2017 - So 19. James King LB - Transfer from Miami (Booker T. Washington HS) - Eligible in 2017 - So 20. Brandon Mitchell WR - Transfer from Wilmington ( Fox Chapel HS, Pittsburgh, PA) - Eligible in 2017 -RSo 21. Andre Williams WR - Winter Park FL - Signed February 2 22. Bubba Arslanian LB - PWO? 23. Mitch Cooper K - PWO? Possible Track Athlete 24. Justin Sampson DL - St. V. - Status TBD 25. Tracy Jordan DL - Springfield HS - Status TBD 26. Marquise Bridges RB - Ellet - Status TBD 27. Marquise Calloway DB - East HS - working on improving his ACT score to earn a scholarship 28. Marcus Kidd DL - Garfield HS - Status TBD - No Zips info on his twitter acct. 29. Matthew Hanson DL - Western HS (FL) - TBD 30. Malik Townsend DL - Perry (PA) - TBD - No Zips info on his Twitter acct in February 31. Jerome Cooper DB - Detroit area HS - UA Seal on Twitter site, but no February Zips update 32. Jonah Wieland P - PWO? 33. Nate Stewart WR - Per conversation w/Bowden, he's highly regarded 34. Domonick Holley WR - Akron Alabama East HS - Status TBD 35. Mark Ellis DB - University of West Virginia Transfer 35. Justin Canei DL - WVa High School Recruit - Twitter account says Zips have offered Note A maximum of 25 scholarships can be awarded in any given year. The above list contains the names of all "new" student athletes with recent published association to the Zips football team.

Dre Williams (WR, Florida) finds a home, accepts offer from Terry Bowden, Akron http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/florida-recruiting/blog/os-dre-williams-accepts-offer-terry-bowden-akron-20170202-story.html

Hunter Corne will move inside to Center or Guard according to OL coach. He would have played either in HS but had no one else to play left tackle. His dad is also the Defensive Coordinator at the school. He had 35 tackles,14 TFL, 2 sacks 2 FF as a senior. Benches 330, cleans 280, squats 475. Works with retired strength Coach from UF and Stanford. Coach has a performance complex in ocala fl and trains guys like a college strength program. He is also on Track Team and Weightlifting Team. Probaly will redshirt due to change of his position. He has high football IQ.

On a positive, upbeat note, I love the twitter photos of the recruits being shown as off the ground and all looking very athletic. Very creative....and of course, I love the packed grandstand in the background. and thank you to Coach Embick and his staff and the SID for getting this info out on Feb. 2nd and of course giving us hope that more athletes will be coming in the upcoming months I know that all of us got spoiled in the pre generation adidas and pre homegrown years when akron was signing 5 top 25 kids. It is important to remember from last year's group of new players...that Jonathan Lewis was not anywhere to be found in top drawer soccer or college soccer news top 50 or top 100 lists. Those 2 websites don't always get it right. It is safe to say that Coach Embick and his staff know soccer talent and have forgotten more about soccer than some of the writers rating talent for top drawer soccer. Also, remember that Ben Lundt was a last minute sign from a soccer college that does not have a stellar pedigree. On this date, I am thankful that the signing info was released within the first 2 days of the signing day and I want to wish a warm welcome to the 7 freshman and Morgan Hackworth. You have all come to a college with many fans that love Akron soccer.

Rough year for Brandon

Darian Dailey CB - Transfer from Rutgers (Manatee HS FL) sat out 2016 - eligible now Denzel Butler DB- Transfer from WV Wesleyan (Fort Lauderdale Coral Springs Charter HS )-sat out 2016 - eligible now James King LB - Transfer from Miami (Booker T. Washington HS) - sat out 2016 - eligible now Brandon Mitchell WR - Transfer from Wilmington ( Fox Chapel HS, Pittsburgh, PA)- sat out 2016 - eligible now-

hopefully, since this topic is about roster changes...this is the best place to post very nice photo of Chino and a nice writeup Best wishes to this nice young man...very happy for him that his family will get to see him so many games http://www.uicflames.com/news/2017/2/1/mens-soccer-adds-three-in-spring-semester.aspx

Oh come on, I've seen plenty of fans here make fun of other players. Talking about Hawkins always having ugly players or calling the one kid stainbrooke. Don't get butt hurt bc it's our players

Gosh bless it...its about time we got Above the fold respect!

I feel bad for OU having to go through the season without Antonio Campb.......naaaaaaaaaaaah.......screw 'em. I hope we beat them by 50.

I bet I voted that I wasn't satisfied. I bet I was right.

Explains the reason why we had such poor depth this year.

LZip, you're referring to last year's class, which was 2016. Keener's talking about the 2015 class. I don't remember who was in that class, do you? I should write that stuff down. Edit: And... Keener beat me to it. Thanks, K92!

I think the better question might be do any current college students know what a newspaper is?

Another East boy. I've heard good thing about the Brimage kid. Hopefully we can keep him since we were one of the first offers and his older brother will be here.

Ramon is 6-4, 375 OL!! Can move pretty well too. Ramon is part of the reason I'm picking Devanier Floyd to win Ohio's Mr. Football next season.

By the way, if you get the chance, pick up a paper copy of today's ABJ. The Zips recruiting class gets the entire page one (sports) above-the-fold placement, complete with a wicked picture of Jemarulin Suggs. Columbus State gets below-the-fold placement. (I'm showing my age. I doubt anyone presently in college even knows what "above-the-fold" placement means. Lol.)

Great question! Alex Ramart (QB) - definite redshirt Jordan Riley (ATH) - love this guy's build & looks like he can jump out of the gym. But we're rather set at DB so he'll likely redshirt. Reggie Corner (S) - same as above. Jeffrey Lubin (CB) - again, will be a good one but will redshirt. Zaire Jacobs (DB) - ditto DeAndre Brimage (DL) - Brim needs a year in the strength program before he sees the field. But that's normal, rarely do guys play as true frosh on the DL (unless you're at Ohio State or Alabama or one of those hyper-elite programs). Eric Bentley (DL) - ditto. GoZips.com lists him @ 6-2, 244. That's why he didn't see more attention during the recruiting process. I saw Bentley play a handful of times & thought he looked bigger than that. I would have pegged him at 265-275. On the field he and Hoban's Jabari Taylor looked like twins to me. Jemarulin Suggs (RB) - Suggs is simply a great RB but I think he gets red shirted. I'm excited to see what Suggs looks like 18 months from now after spending a year in our strength program. Malik Wooldridge (WR) - needs a year to develop more; red shirt. Kobie Booker (TE) - I'm disappointed they list him at TE. I'm afraid he's going to be wasted there. He's built like the Incredible Hulk. I think he could be an absolute terror at DE. But, oh well. Red shirt for Kobie. Dusty Burkhart (WR) - Great straight-line speed. But, like Austin Wolf, no reason to rush him out there. Red shirt. Which leaves who I think has the best shot of who I think answers your question about making the biggest impact the quickest. I'm going with QB Nick Johns. He has a chance to start at Penn State next year.

I got to see Petno play a few times last Fall as well as his junior year. He really filled out his frame in 2016 and is both quick and strong. Can muscle up if game gets physical....

I agree. Kent fans are Kent fans. They remind me of weird teachers that I had in high school, but they aren't bad people. Ohio fans, are without a doubt, the biggest douchebags in the conference. Anyone who has encountered them at the MAC Tournament knows this is true.

There were plenty of rumors flying about Woodson last year. That's what happens when there is lack of information about what is going on. People fill in the blanks.

I understand the emphasis on more football coverage. Larry Wiliams, et al, need to find a way to fill seats in Infocision Stadium to justify the expense of the Football Program. The problem is that throwing more good money after bad isn't going to solve that problem. Bowden needs W's. Getting to and winning the Potato Bowl (lowest paying D1 bowl), then going backwards the following year is not going to get it done. The Potato Bowl was a good step forward but there was no foundation for the next step. Personally, I'm done with it. Mostly because it's the same ole same ole...nothing new. But also because if they can't find it in the budget to provide more $'s for their best team sport, then I will...even if it's not that much of a bump up and comes at the expense of another Zips sport that is lower on my list.