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Source: U of A Akron, Ohio – Over the weekend, the Akron Zips received a signed National Letter of Intent from Loren Jackson(Chicago, Ill.) to play for the men's basketball program, head coach John Groce announced on Monday. Jackson is a guard transferring from Long Beach State, who will become eligible for competition during the 2018-19 season. "Loren is a terrific fit for how we want to play; he excels off ball screens and in the open court. He is a gifted leader with a high basketball I.Q. He will make an immediate impact on our team and the future success of Zips Basketball," Groce said. The Windy City native appeared in 34 games and started five times for the 49ers as a freshman in 2016-17. In 18.9 minutes per game, he averaged 5.8 points, while shooting 43.7 percent from the floor (66-of-151) and 34.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (23-of-66). Jackson dished out 52 assists and grabbed 40 rebounds with 21 steals. "Loren is a coaches' son, who has grown up in a gym," Groce said. "He is a high-character guy with a relentless work ethic and knows what it takes to get better." Jackson was a three-star prospect and rated as the No. 9 prospect from Illinois in the 2016 class by ESPN.com.

Sounds like he is feeling good, and looking forward to some football. From his Instagram page yesterday: "...transferring in a year ago from The University Of Pittsburgh to The University Of Akron I didn't know how easy the transition was going to be to make new friends / new bonds.. but then I came and instantly vibe with my new family, my new team. Love these guys foreal, and I'm looking more then forward to are journey this football season..."

Loren Jackson just signed from the Beach http://gozips.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20170501nxi04f

I saw Dusty Burkhart at Tusky Valley Invitational, he looks like he is putting time in the gym. He won all 4 of his events & was Invitational MVP https://twitter.com/gohardburkhart/status/859075103228866560

I would encourage you to at least come out for the Iowa State game on Sept. 16, especially if Warren Ball is playing. Ashland will be playing away that day at Northwood U., wherever that is.

Hey Capt, the name is Joe AKRON, not Joe Dambrot.. I'm used to the struggle of NE OH sports teams, even if U of A bball hasn't been in that group very often. Fred said it best: We cheer the Akron Blue and Gold, We cheer as the colors unfold. We pledge anew, we're all for you, As the team goes crashing through, Fight! Fight!

I wonder if it hurt Scott that he saw few highlights because everyone avoided throwing near him last year? I can't imagine he won't get an invite to someone's camp.

Whoops. Fixed!

So I guess our Groce-ry shopping is done for the year. Gotta give him some credit looks like he pulled in a pretty good class in a very short time. Really interested to see how this season plays out (though I'm not wishing for November to roll around any time soon :-))

I think that's pretty much what we all said when we got Forsythe to transfer here too. In theory, a transfer "down" should be a great benefit to us. You just hope you get the kid that's hungry to prove himself again and really wants to be a team player, and not the kid who still has his high school ego and feels entitled because he still thinks he's too good to be playing at a place like Akron. I think this is one of the two guys from the new crop (along with Patton) that have the potential to be important offensive contributors for us in the future. I hope I'm right. We'll see how they develop.

--DeAndre might still get a tryout --Larry put on some muscle this past year and has good size for an NFL CB --Maybe Larry had a good Pro day --Larry had somewhat better stats than DeAndre in 2016

I really like what Groce is doing. More than once, I heard our previous coach reference the Zips guards small stature and say they wouldn't have been able to get those kids if they were bigger. I'm not sure whether he was prematurely resigning himself to the fact he couldn't reach a little farther, or whether it was reality, but I'm happy to see Groce not coming to the same conclusion.

That's one way to look at it. Or, you can see it as Akron having 2 chances to knock a Colts incumbent out of a job and be on an NFL roster.

I know this is tongue-in-cheek but I sense it will be a theme for many moving forward, so I'll say this and then move on: Akron was a mediocre program when Keith Dambrot took over. He and his staff built it into a consistently winning program with 3 NCAA Tournament berths along the way. When KD left, he left the program in FAR better condition than he received it. Even the biggest KD critic should be able to admit that he took the program to a higher level than it had been before. In fact, John Groce is not Akron's coach today if Dambrot didn't build it into a program with a winning reputation first. Dambrot took us as far as he could, and now I believe Groce will take us to the next level in finally getting that NCAA Tournament run. It's OK to be excited about Groce and what he's doing while still having great appreciation for 13 years of hard work KD gave us. Keith Dambrot will one day have a banner next to the one belonging to Bob Huggins in Akron. I think we can all agree on two things: #1- That banner better be hanging in a new or renovated arena, #2- It'd be perfect if John Groce fulfills what we all believe he can here to have a banner up there as well. Rant over, back to scouting awesome prospects. Go Zips!

Incredible. Loving what Groce has done, and thanks to Dalton, we still have 1 more scholarship!