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The team had meetings yesterday. The team is on the field today to start Fall camp today. 29 days 'til Nebraska. It's 10:12 AM...

https://gozips.com/news/2018/8/2/akron-athletics-announces-class-of-2018-hall-of-fame-inductees.aspx CALEB PORTER (Soccer) – The men's soccer head coach (2006-12) for seven seasons, Caleb Porter guided the Zips to two consecutive MAC titles. Named the MAC Coach of the Year six times (2007-12) and the NCAA Coach of the Year in 2009, he coached UA to the 2010 national championship title. In 2011, Porter coached the U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team. From 2013-17, Porter coached the MLS Portland Timbers, earning MLS Coach of the Year honors in 2013 and winning the MLS Cup in 2015. He resides in Hilton Head, S.C. Nice write-up in the article on GoZips.com, but I'd like to add to it... Led the Zips to 2 College Cups, 2009 and 2010 His 2009 Zips won 23 consecutive games, were seeded #1 in the NCAA Tournament, and gave up 0 goals in the run of play in the NCAA Tournament (5 matches) While at UA, served as an assistant coach with the US U18s where he suggested DeAndre Yedlin move to right back, a position where Yedlin has been successful in the NCAA, MLS, EPL, and with the USMNT During Caleb's tenure, 2 Zips were honored as the NCAA Division I Men's Player of the Year receiving the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy ... Teal Bunbury in 2009 and Darlington Nagbe in 2010 With a staff that included now head coach Jared Embick, started (in 2007) a consecutive string of NCAA Tournament appearances that Coach Embick and his staff continue today If I counted correctly, Porter-led UA Men's Soccer teams included 18 Zips who were drafted by MLS, including 2009 overall #1 MLS draft pick Steve Zakuani, (Seattle Sounders) and a record (for any NCAA team) 7 Zips in 2011 (5 drafted in the first round); another 6 Zips who played for Caleb signed with MLS teams as homegrown players One of Caleb's former players, DeAndre Yedlin has gone on to play in the English Premier League (EPL) Four Zips who played under Caleb - DeAndre Yedlin, Wil Trapp, Darlington Nagbe, and Perry Kitchen - have played for the U.S. Men's National Team. Yedlin played in the 2014 World Cup and has 50 or more caps; Wil Trapp has recently served as USMNT Captain (a duty which he also holds with the MLS Columbus Crew) A few personal observations about Caleb: Although he attended and played for a B1G Ten university with a storied Men's Soccer program, Caleb was a true believer in UA. He felt we should shed the mid-major mentality. I also loved that he would call out anyone attending a UA event wearing Ohio State apparel letting them know they should be proud of UA and wearing Zips gear and colors. I also recall coming across a Zips practice on Shrank practice field where Caleb was quite frustrated with how the practice was going. I overheard him say ...You may have played sh*t soccer all summer, but this is Akron!

B & G and LZ, I couldn't agree with you more that we need to do all we can to keep coach Mounds, but, unfortunately, we will lose him. We may grow to be a good place to be, yet we will not be able to offer the money nor the prestige of a P5 program. It sucks and I hate it, but that is reality. Let's enjoy him while we have him. On another note I love our recruiting. The talent pool is getting deeper and wider. Your announcement that Jonah will be available this season is a game breaker. Defenses will not be able to focus on Kwad and/or MTB. Kato will have more time in the pocket. The running game will be harder to shut down as D's will have to spread out. All credit to TB for continuing to rebuild our program. Things look much better!

Just received word that Treon Sibley didn't qualify last year & will also be included in this year's class. Also received word that Jonah Morris will be on the field this fall!

[EDIT] Btw, this brings this class to 18 players broken down as such: 13 high school seniors 4 non-qualifiers from last season (WR Treon Sibley, WR Timothy Scippio, WR Shedro Louis, & S Adetutu Daranijo) 1 transfer (WR Jonah Morris, who I'm crossing my fingers will see the field this season) Current (8/2) position breakdown: OL: 3 (Kobe Hilton, Tyler Connolly, Jaison Williams) TE: 1 (Quan Easterling) RB: 1 (Sonny Ray Jones, Jr.) WR: 4 (Treon Sibley, Timothy Scippio, Shedro Louis, Jonah Morris) QB: 1 (Tyler Riddell) DL: 3 (Janil Brown, Jalen Bell, Deearius Reese) LB: 2 (Jarred Uran, Max Wynn) DB: 3 (Kyre Williams, Chris McDonald, Adetutu Daranijo)

This is actually a complete mystery to me...again for a second year. On one hand a number of players got some valuable playing time in the system and then we also let a bunch of players go. So even if the talent level on the roster is improved, these guys are going to need time to gel. Especially with new point guards. I agree the non-conference schedule isn't overly exciting and not built to earn an at-large, but they will have a few opportunities to challenge themselves. And practically speaking, the team can't rebuild every year so hopefully going forward as this team matures the schedule will strengthen right along with them.