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BOOM! What are you hearing? My count is up to 12 in the pouch (kangaroo pouch, get it). Did we just get better; fill some holes? Spring Ball starts 7 March. Let’s GO ZIPS!

The positives... - We saw real adjustments made at halftime that worked. The negatives... - Just about everything else. This team is about 2 players short (a killer shooter and an offensive big man) of being a legitimate top-of-the-MAC team. Until those players appear, we'll need to rely on pure effort to keep us in/win games.

I don't know if the Zips are middle of the road in the MAC or not. I think what they are is one dimensional. The defense can keep Akron in just about any game on any night but the offense can quickly take them out of contention. These days it is much more common to see one-sided teams that are good offensively that struggle on defense. Even the good offensive teams will have an off night now and then but solid defensive teams can be a little more consistent with regards to their strength. That's not to say that there aren't just nights when your opponent can't miss or a game where everything you do defensively seems to be called a foul but in general good defense should be more consistent than good offense. Being this deep in the season I think the Zips are what they are. I expect that they will upset a team or two yet this season but at the same time I can see them getting beat by any team they would play that is below them in the standings. I am encouraged by what I have been seeing from Cheese the last couple games. I at least think the team is trying to become more than the three point shooting team they seemed to be a few weeks ago. That is progress, albeit slow progress. hopefully this team finds a new level as it gets to MAC tourney time.

2019 Akron Football National Letter of Intent Signees Name Pos. Elig. Ht. Wt. Hometown | High School | Previous School Randy Cochran, Jr. DB Fr. 6-0 175 Doraville, Ga. | Norcross Jordan Daniels OL Fr. 6-5 275 Huntersville, N.C. | North Mecklenburg Adetutu Daranijo $ DB Fr. 5-10 200 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. | St. Thomas Aquinas Zach Gibson QB Fr. 6-3 215 Alpharetta, Ga. | Johns Creek Xavior Gray OL Fr. 6-9 315 Massillon, Ohio | Jackson Peter Hayes-Patrick RB Fr. 6-0 204 Orlando, Fla. | Winter Park Caleb Herring OL Fr. 6-7 320 Lakewood, Ohio | St. Edward Daniel Lavelle DL Fr. 6-4 260 Forsyth, Ga. | Mary Persons Quevan Lawson LB Fr. 6-4 225 Ashburn, Ga. | Turner County Kyshad Mack DB Fr. 6-1 200 Massillon, Ohio | Massillon Washington Michael Mathison WR Fr. 5-10 175 Covington, Ga. | Newton Tyson McDonald DB Fr. 6-2 195 Corona, Calif. | Eleanor Roosevelt Owen Murphy OL Fr. 6-6 270 Cleveland, Ohio | St. Ignatius Julian Richardson LB Fr. 6-2 210 Albany, Ga. | Westover Kyle Romenick P Fr. 6-2 220 Fort Mill, S.C. | Fort Mill Michael Scott $ LB Jr. 6-3 230 Tallahassee, Fla. | North Florida Christian | Iowa Western CC Keyshawn Swanson DB Fr. 5-11 180 Pensacola, Fla. | West Florida Corey Thomas, Jr. DB Fr. 6-5 200 Pittsburgh, Pa. | Penn Hills Jarred Uran LB Fr. 6-2 195 Cincinnati, Ohio | La Salle Kevin Walls WR Fr. 6-6 215 Westlake, Ohio | Westlake AJ Watts DB Fr. 6-1 208 Columbus, Ga. | Carver Demetrick Watts II LB Jr. 6-3 230 Riverside, Calif. | Hillcrest | Humboldt State Bryce Wilson DL Fr. 6-3 275 Lilburn, Ga. | Parkview $ Mid-year enrollee 2019 Akron Football Walk-on Commitments Name Pos. Elig. Ht. Wt. Hometown | High School Ryan Beckman OL Fr. 6-3 305 Avon Lake, Ohio | Avon Lake Nick Demchuk QB Fr. 6-3 200 Cleveland, Ohio | Benedictine Noah Garrett P Fr. 6-3 175 Mentor, Ohio | Mentor Taylor Griffin RB Fr. 5-11 195 Strongsville, Ohio | Strongsville Jory Mattox OL Fr. 6-3 290 Massillon, Ohio | Massillon Washington Jordan Maul DL Fr. 6-4 325 Steubenville, Ohio | Central Catholic Tank McClendon OL Fr. 5-11 270 Lima, Ohio | Lima Senior Mason McMillen LB Fr. 5-11 200 Wadsworth, Ohio | Wadsworth Shawn Naim WR Fr. 6-4 195 Rocky River, Ohio | Lutheran West Alex Robarge OL Fr. 6-5 325 Chagrin Falls, Ohio | Kenston Connor Shell LB Fr. 6-1 190 Bay Village, Ohio | Bay Village

I was listening to 1350 yesterday and they said Arth was going to be a guest today. I'm not sure on the time he's slated to appear.

It's very clear that our Zips are just an average middle of the road MAC team. On a good night they can challenge the better teams in the league and on an off night can lose to the worst. They're just not there yet. Improved from last year and going in the right direction but still short on the type and depth of talent to be at the top of the conference. I guess the only good news is that I have just described about half of the teams in the MAC.

247 has been compiling rankings since around 2005. Hayes-Patrick has the 6th highest grade ever for an Akron recruit since that time. Thomas has the 8th highest grade. Akron's class still isn't graded highly because it lacks depth due to a late start and many players already being signed in the early signing period. I'm excited to see what Arth can do with a full recruiting cycle. https://247sports.com/college/akron/Sport/Football/AllTimeRecruits/

Can someone alert the cameraman when there's about to be a graphic thrown up?

List of Signees: Adetutu Daranijo: DB from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, FL Michael Scott: OLB from Iowa Western Community College and Tallahasse, FL Jordan Daniels: OL from North Mecklinburg High School in Huntersville, NC Jarred Uran: LB from La Salle High School in Cincinatti, OH Caleb Herring: OL from St. Edward High School in Lakewood, OH Corey Thomas Jr.: DB from Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh, PA Bryce Wilson: DL from Parkview High School in Lilburn, GA Randy Cochran: DB from Norcross High School in Norcross, GA AJ Watts: DB from Carver High School in Columbus, GA Owen Murphy: OL from St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, OH Zach Gibson: QB from Johns Creek High School in Alpharetta, GA Kyle Romenick: P from Fort Mill High School in Fort Mill, SC Daniel Lavelle: DL from Mary Persons High School in Forsyth, GA Michael Mathison: WR from Newton High School in Covington, GA Keyshawn Swanson: DB from West Florida High School in Pensacola, FL Xavior Gray: OL from Jackson High School in Massillon, OH Tyson Mcdonald: DB from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Corona, CA Quevan Lawson: LB from Turner County High School in Ashburn, GA Kevin Walls: WR from Westlake High School in Westlake, OH Demetrick Watts: LB from Humboldt State University in Riverside, CA Peter Hayes-Patrick: RB from Winter Park High School in Orlando, FL Kyshad Mack: DB from Massillon Washington High School in Massillon, OH Julian Richardson: LB from Westover High School in Albany, GA

Are we going to get a streamed press conference?

So I went through and used the class calculator for 247 and corrected things based on how they presently are now. Note that this doesn't include Demetrick Watts (no profile), Kevin Walls (no profile), and Adetutu (counted towards last years class even though he shouldn't have), so the score is slightly understated. We should have a class score of 123.17, good enough for national overall of 120. Ironically enough, what we perceived to be Bowden's best class last year, was ranked 120th overall and only had a score of 114. That class also ended up having 3 non-qualifers in it. Prior to last year, TB never even had a score above 100...and he always had players who ended up being non-qualifers, so even those were inflated. I think its safe to say Arth and Co have done a heck of a job, considering history AND considering the circumstances of a short recruiting season.

From what I've seen we've won a handful of really nice recruiting battles. Hayes-Patrick and Corey Thomas are the 6th and 8th highest grade 247 has ever given to a Zips recruit. They've been tracking recruiting since the early 2000s. The class as a whole currently ranks 10th in the MAC, but that's more to do with the lack of depth in the class. As a whole I feel Arth has done a good job salvaging this recruiting class the best he could. https://247sports.com/player/quevan-lawson-46039289/

Hayes-Patrick signed. He was a 4 star a year ago

Walls hudl

I am thoroughly impressed with what Arth has salvaged from this recruiting class.

I’m on my phone, but Quevan Lawson has signed.

Committed guys (as far as we know) unsigned: https://247sports.com/player/tyson-mcdonald-46059370/ https://247sports.com/player/peter-hayes-patrick-76208/ Demetrick Watts - LB - Humboldt State "Warm" guys who it seems we would want unsigned: https://247sports.com/player/jaylin-bannerman-79554/ https://247sports.com/player/quevan-lawson-46039289/

I think right now he may have a higher shooting percentage from 3 point range than he has on one footers. New rule for Deng- try to dunk any shot taken within 3 feet of the basket.

And was technically a Bowden recruit (and non-qualifer) last year. Nice job of the staff to keep him. Need to get players from ST. A.

Toward the beginning of the game I noticed Ivey did the same - bounce pass to a moving Riak in the lane; came to Riak around his knees. Turnover. Of course. Haven't we yet learned we can't do that?

Diak does not know what to do with the ball when it gets it underneath. If we could fix that add 10 points per game and many wins.

WE shot 28% for the game and 14% from the 3 line. Our point guard had no assists. WE cannot make a 3 pointer and Jackson then launches a 3 point shot 20 feet behind the 3 line. He cannot make an open 3 from the baseline but shoots a 3 from the bleachers. It makes no sense. This team continues to struggle on offense. Cheese broke through in the second half. We should have kept feeding him the ball. That first half had to be one of the worst displays of offense. I expected better play tonight.

https://elitesportsny.com/2019/02/04/nycfc-winger-jonathan-lewis-2-usmnt-assists-closer-to-stardom/

I thought we looked good in the 2nd half when we were able to get out and run. The problem is Toledo quit missing so we were forced to play a half court game down the stretch. I really don't think there is a good solution to fix the half court offense. I'd like to see us Cheese more at the point. He seemed to create some offense for both himself and other. Perhaps taking some of the ball handling duties away from LCJ will set him up to get better looks. He seems to be trying to do too much at times.

Well that'll be all she wrote. Horrid first half and seemingly running out of gas in the 2nd was the difference. Seems like we really only have a 7 man rotation, with Poke and Banks the main subs.

These announcers are the worst.

Cheese can hoop

A few bad plays to end the half. Down by nine - and in this game it seems like a lot more than that.

20 points at the half. Amazing how this team can't even get lucky and shoot great one game.

The focus isn't there right now. Damnit. GIVE GROCE A CLIPBOARD! HE NEEDS SOMETHING TO BREAK!

UPDATE: Or maybe I should say correction....had a chance to sit with Dave Pearce again last night and I told him I had posted this, and he chidingly corrected me, saying something about an adult beverage. What he had told me was that they practiced at Firestone Stadium and the fans came out to watch, while their home matches were played in much more advanced facilities...the Rubber Bowl, and believe it or not, on the grounds at Stan Hywet! Said the pitch was wonderful. Anyway... Home of the Akron Zips!

Annnnnd so much for that

It's trying to keep up with the Zips quality of play.