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Defensive effort has done much better. Now we just need our shots to start falling.

Hunter Corne named 4A 1st Team all state by Florida High School football.com

My favorite quote from Dre Williams in that article: "So now every single school we're playing against when I'm at Akron, I'm taking it as, 'You guys passed me up, so I'm playing with a chip on my shoulder, every game, as big as a house.' "

This seems like a No Brainer for the Athletic Dept. to put a package together to include all Football Alums, Boosters, Sponsors, Fans, etc.

I think the reality is that if Mike Hughes had been healthy all season, we'd have seen very little of Poke, primarily only in mop up time. He's as raw as they come, but his athleticism overcomes some of that. Unfortunately, the athleticism and rawness combine to cause him to pick up bad fouls and rely on his jumping ability rather than box out. All that being said, I love the kid as many of his errors come from just trying too hard. I don't think he'll ever be much of a contributor on offense but his motor, athleticism and effort will make us very happy as we're leaving the JAR over the next three years. As for Josh, I'd like to see less of him for now. I'm not giving up on him, but his struggles are apparent. From having seeing him in high school, I never thought he'd be a dynamic penetrator, but by the same token, I never thought he'd become so one dimensional and essentially a specialist. As I've said before on here, right now he's a specialist without a specialty. I think he'll work it out, but I want to see him work it out in practice rather than in crunch time. As for Austin Jackson, he just has too many other contributors ahead of him and the returns in the limited time he's seen have been less than stellar. Contrary to GT's article, he's not a guard, and with Kwan, Ivey, Utomi and Poke, his chances to impress will be limited. With any luck, he'll focus on being a defensive madman and a spark when he gets in.

To get this back on track as a celebration of a ZIP going into the Pro Football HOF, in case anyone is interested I checked into some of the events at the induction weekend. A lot of them are really pricy and not things I care that much about. The one I really wanted was the Enshrinement ceremony on Saturday. There is a one day package for that at $270 that includes: Enshrinement Celebration Fan Party Class of 2017 Enshrinement Ceremony Prime Lower Level Seats 1-Day Hall of Fame Admission There might be cheaper ways to go but how often are you guaranteed lower level seats to see a UA player get inducted? So if anyone is interested in that the link is https://hofexperiences.com/2017-pro-football-hall-of-fame/single-day-package I'm also seriously thinking about the Gold Jacket Dinner that is held at the Canton Civic Center. They don't have the date absolutely set yet but tickets are available. They are $120. Anyone interested in joining together to maybe get an Akron table for that event?

I was a little perplexed by GT's article (a regular occurrence). As I count them, we regularly play: 1) Dog; 2)Kwan; 3)Noah; 4) Antino; 5) Jimond; 6)Josh; 7)TDM; 8)Poke; 9)Utomi; 10) Aaron Jackson; and 11) Hughes (when he's healthy). GT made it sound like we're going to dig deeper, beyond 7 guys. I get what Keith was trying to say, that those 3 or 4 five to ten minute per game guys will get more minutes, but GT's article does a poor job in explaining it. Also, I was excited to see that Aaron Jackson is now a guard!

Chase started for the world champion giants and had 2 picks in the super bowl. He was a decent NFL linebacker. Just ask giants fans what they think of him. They about had a meltdown when they released him. Hixon was damn good... he just could never stay healthy.

I grew up in NY Giants territory. I'll tell you first hand that Giants fans absolutely loved Hixon and Blackburn. Chase was elected captain by his teammates. Both guys were renown for their total effort and their commitment to the game. Both guys made stellar plays that absolutely played a big part in winning a championship. These Giant fans know by heart that Chase Blackburn and Domenik Hixon WERE AKRON ZIPS. It frankly pisses me off to read a post on an Akron forum that seems to, from my perspective, belittle their pro careers. Sometimes this forum makes me think we have the worst "fanbase" in sports.

I think the issue here is not so much about how the University can use Jason Taylor's stature to help the football program as it is about how great it would be if Jason Taylor wanted to rep the Zips. So far, he hasn't shown much desire to do that. What we can do is show up in droves at the induction ceremony like Zips Superfans to show how much we love and remember him. Maybe he will rekindle some Akron love in his heart if there are some embers left. Zippy says: "Ask not what your university can do for you, ask what you can do for your university."

So, let's forget the 3 Zips who have SuperBowl rings, huh? NFL careers aren't necessarily long. I'd say Dwight Smith, Domenik Hixon, and Chase Blackburn were good NFL players and made good use of their time in the league...HoF caliber or not.

I hope the Zips paddle that ass so hard Balls think CG23's back in town.

I was going to bring this up late in the season. I noticed that the stadium at Stanford has large banners of their retired numbers or soccer specific Hall of Famers. Akron has what, just two of these? We need to expand our legacy and history.