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Thanks a bunch, Cap'n; Great write-up! I was going to say exactly the same thing so no need for my practice report Just a couple of things to mention: You questioned how many (8?) snaps in the first session. I didn't count so not sure 100%, but that was the plan as I understood it We were told warmups at 8:30, scrimmage at 9:00 so I'm glad they were running a tick late as momma and I got out of the house a little later than we would have liked. My abbreviated practice report (as to not duplicate what CK already covered) LOVED the work by Maverick and Johns. I agree with CK that Wolfley is really fun to watch; he punishes DBs as they try to tackle him. Kyron Brown has his side of the field on lockdown and Butler had a good day with a great PBU The change from silent snap count to QB calling the cadence resulted in converting a 3rd and 6 into a 3rd and 1 via hard count getting the D to jump Keyondre White brings a wallop - He runs hard and finishes forward AND... Van is still FAST (I think I mentioned this 2 weeks ago) Overall was excited by the offense and their progress from 2 weeks ago Team tempo, energy, and camaraderie seem to be quite good When they ran the wildcat, it was Keyondre taking the snap, Maverick in the backfield with him, and Kato split out wide Davon’te Jest is very quick off the ball; he broke up several plays getting into backfield Can't wait til the 21st - see you all there! Thank you for detailing the QB competition from an outsider's perspective. I know my bias and I have refrained from commenting in detail lest I misrepresent the situation. I thought they both looked markedly better than they did 2 weeks ago but that was expected as they're digesting quite a bit of new info and getting used to the timing with new receivers.

If anyone attended the scrimmage and wanted to share their thoughts, let's try it in this thread. Here's what I saw... The scrimmage began a little late, with the action starting a little after 9 am. Thankfully it was held indoors. Appropriately kicking things off was a session with the various kicking candidates who rotated attempts starting at roughly 30 yards, and extending out to 50. O'Leary and Gasser alternated, and then Fitschen and newcomer David Albert took turns. O'Leary looked strong. Gasser was short from 50. Fitschen is a lefty who's been around a while. Looks like he's got a really powerful leg. Albert hit one from 50. I don't know what that all will mean come September, but those are the names presently in the kicking battle. Kato and Alex Ramart split virtually all the QB snaps. Drew Hodgson saw very limited action. They wore red jersey's, so they couldn't be hit. The offense/defense portion of the scrimmage began with the offense basically at the 20 yard line, running 8(?) plays each, and then moving back to the 20 and re-starting with the other QB. The 2nd half of the scrimmage was devoted to red zone plays, again alternating QB's. Zips fans should be pretty excited about their 2018 QB situation. Both Nelson and Ramart looked eminently capable of running the offense. As expected, there were a lot of designed running plays with Kato. Ramart, while not the runner, acquitted himself well when he had to use his feet. Said Bowden after the scrimmage, "As much as we're excited about Kato, we haven't really talked about how excited we are about Ramart. He's 6' 3", 215 pounds and in addition to his passing, he runs the ball well. He's not a typical "Louisville type" running QB, but he's big and strong. I liken him to that Florida Atlantic QB (Jake Driskel). A smart runner with good size that drives you crazy if you don't account for him. It's exciting to have two guys who have now been with our program a little while, that can play the game like Kato and Alex." Both Ramart and Nelson showcased strong arms. Ramart threw a nice deep ball the MTB on his first possession that would have been on the money, had Traylor-Bennett not been held. He later had a deep one to Kwad that was dropped. Kato's best deep toss of the day resulted in a 30+ yard grab by Andre Williams. Williams took a big stem forward in solidifying a starting position. He showed sure hands, and looked comfortable catching balls along the sidelines and in the slot. He's also very elusive after the catch. Said Bowden, "We saw as a back up last season that Dre was going to be something special." Ramart threw the only INT of the day. Under pressure, he tossed a ball into traffic that was picked by Bubba Arslanian. A name to watch on the defensive side of the ball is Andy Jean-Baptiste. The 6' 5", 267 pound JUCO transfer looks like he'll make an impact in 2018. Dylan Meeks saw some time at defensive end. Jamal Davis had an active day. Said Bowden, "He's still learning to play with his hand down, but he's got as much talent as anyone on our team. He could've had two or three sacks today if the quarterbacks weren't wearing those red shirts. Sampson on the other side, he's got some real ability too. We've just got to continue to grow them." When asked about the goals of this scrimmage, and the spring overall, Bowden said "I told our coaches I want to find the top eleven guys on offense and defense. and then we need to find those next eleven. We're evaluating the talent level of the team, and identifying which guys we can count on in the fall." Bowden also said it was a good time to experiment with some different looks on both sides of the ball. "We're trying a few different things ...just throwing some plays and formations up against the wall and seeing what sticks." One of those trials looked to be lining true freshman Keyondre White in the wildcat as the potential successor to 2017 short-yardage specialist Manny Morgan. On White, Bowden said "He's 233 pounds...we haven't had a runner like that for a while. He's got those big hips and he's tough to tackle. He's got a place here for sure." Bowden also mention he's following the track exploits of Devanier Floyd, "He's 220 pounds and ran a 10.9 the other day." Abe Alce also enters the picture this summer at 250 lbs, so the 2018 Zips will definitely have a different, more physical look in the backfield. There were only two scholarship running backs available today. Keyondre White and Van Edwards shared the load on the ground. Former DB Caleb Green got a few carries at RB too. He actually looked pretty good. ZipsNation medical specialist Dr. Z reports Deltron Sands is 75% healed, and will be ready to go for the fall. The Coach spoke in general terms about the scrimmage when he stated "We saw some guys today that made some plays...we didn't know those guys could do what they showed." But it was clear he was caught by surprise at the physicality of Maverick Wolfley's (West Virginia transfer) play from the H-back position. With Kobie Booker out for a family commitment, and Newman Williams out with a meniscus issue, Wolfley took the opportunity for extended playing time to steal the early Saturday morning show and provide a rude awakening to multiple would-be tacklers. The biggest roar from the sidelines came when Wolfley steamed up the sideline and completely flattened a Zips CB. If you like hard-nosed, old school football you're going to love watching Maverick Wolfley play at InfoCision over the next four seasons. Another surprise was the play of former QB Nick Johns, who caught several mid-range passes (1 TD) from the H position. At 6' 3", 230 pounds he was a favorite target for both QB's today. Former Zips defensive coordinator (under Lee Owens) Joe Trecey was once again seen coaching along the sidelines? In addition to Akron, he's had stints as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, UCLA, YSU and some other schools. Word on the street is he's not going to be the Zips DC, but will be a defensive position coach. Alvin Davis was a healthy scratch today. Jest is back and looks to be in better condition than his freshman season. So the overall takeaways from today's scrimmage? We have a deep, veteran defense. We're a little thin at WR, but reinforcements are coming. And MTB will shake off the rust at some point. We have two great young QB's. The depth at H-back might get the Zips playing some 3 WR + TE sets this year? Maverick Wolfley is a beast. We got out of the scrimmage healthy. Apologies if there are any errors above. The scrimmage was very fast-paced, with no time outs. The seating in the Stile Center is very low, and it's tough to see the action when it's far away. It was tough to keep up at times.

Jeremy Roscoe committed. http://verbalcommits.com/players/jeremy-roscoe

So for comparison sake and with the caveat of it being against lesser competition, he shot 2.6% better than Utomi on all FGs last year, 2% better on 3 point %, and 5% better at the FT line. I'll be the first to say I don't know jack about evaluating basketball players, but trying to not be biased, his release looks pretty slow. Maybe it just looks awkward though because he is a lefty. Hopefully he brings it! Eligible immediately with 3 years left.

I appreciate all you do to keep us informed as to TB's coaching decisions. He's got my support but I just can't get my head around his choices for Offense and Special Team coordinators. We have performed so badly over the last several years in both areas that a change is warranted. I realize this is a pet peeve of mine and maybe not shared by others, but a change can be positive for this team. Coaching does matter as we have the talent to put a better product on the field. None of that affects the respect I have for your informative posts. They are too notch. Thanks.

Channel Banks just officially committed to Akron, per Sheridan College Twitter.

goal last night for Zac Portillos

Next best thing to being there

Dude can definitely finish at the rim. Decent handles, nice jumper.. didn't see him look to pass too often

Channel Banks highlights video-

Another nice article from GT: Zips show potential at spring scrimmage

Akron 2-4 Charleston Marcel Zajac with FK goal and a really sweet crossing assist to David Egbo. A worrisome and lackluster effort by Zips. Probably only 4 or 5 of players on today’s squad will start come Fall.

Looks like a true combo guard w/ 5.8 assists per game.

He seems to shoot pretty efficiently considering his position.

Link to post-scrimmage interview of Coach Bowden by Joe Dunn

LZip was the first to post this.

I agree with Mr. Clark.... very good player...and also glad to see that he is a 2 time academic all bigTen Abdi Mohammed, Welcome to the finest location in Ohio...to play collegiate soccer

Not sure this is apparent to others as to why you posted this. Abdi Mohamed indicated on his twitter account (@_abdi_1) yesterday that he is transferring to Akron for the 2018 season.(thanks to TennZip for finding that).

No, logic & facts do not equal condescension. Tone, demeanor - that can equal condescension. Trust me, you didn't hurt my feelings. What further clarification did you need if you knew that the government is to pass no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion? Or did you just want to argue, and attempt to assert your supposed intellectual superiority? Because that's how it comes off.

No 14-18 isn't where we want to go. Are you serious? We've had a coach who was great in the regular season and that didn't do us much. We didn't get real respect at a national level. Winning games in the tournament is what gets respect at the national level and what brings in better recruits and more money (in various ways). You don't know he will be quick to jump again and you don't know that other teams will be quick to hire him again. And lets be clear - his tourney success was not a one and done. He won multiple games in the tourney over multiple years. And by given the circumstances, I absolutely mean the financial distress. I "understand" your point in that you think a new football stadium shouldn't have been built. What you don't understand, or apparently forget, is the feasibility study that was done on the Rubber Bowl and the cost it would have taken to repair that. Someone else can go into more detail than I care to look up. The Rubber Bowl lasted 68 years, the JAR is only 34 years old. The Info is not extravagant by any means compared to our peers. FAU stadium, built in 2011 cost 70 million. North Texas stadium built in 2011 cost 78 million. Tulane's stadium built in 2014 cost 75 million. Of course, if you're suggesting we should have dropped the football program for the very slim chance that building a new basketball arena would have made us a Gonzaga or Xavier level program, then I have no interest in further discussing this with you dude.

You should be suspended from the board for a month for this.