Leaderboard

Four years ago I had the opportunity to speak to Jeff Bowden and Todd Stroud at a Zips golf outing. I asked them who they felt was the biggest impact player from the 2016 class. Stroud immediately said “Trevor Brown.” Bowden said “Kato Nelson.” After a short, friendly debate they agreed both were worthy of being #1. Since Trevor arrived at Akron I’ve always enjoyed watching him play. So it was cool that I got 10 minutes to interview him after a recent practice. Hope you like it. Thanks as always to Dr. Z for the great photos and professional layout!

Fair assessment - 'a winnable game for either team' https://www.hustlebelt.com/2019/8/28/20811034/the-arth-era-of-akron-zips-football-begins-as-akron-travels-to-illinois-to-take-on-the-illini

Before the end of the year.

need to turn the sound all the way up, it’s hard to hear

This is the deepest Zips squad I can recall. Just like the professional teams to which most of our boys aspire, Coach Embick can interchange personnel and/or systems to fit match situations. I believe this squad has been coached on changing formation/system, in mid match. Not even sure I agree with that, but pro teams do it all the time,

The Ice Cream Social was a nice event. The attendance wasn't great but OK. About 10 of the players were there. Some were in class. Spoke a little to Xeyrius, Dailey, Walter, Sayles and Roscoe. All very nice kids. Told Jayden it was nice to see him without a cast to which he responded with an emphatic "me too!" Maishe Dailey makes a great impression. Eloquent, makes eye contact and couldn't be friendlier. Coach Groce did a great job of working the room while not rushing anyone. From what I heard, Dawson is not a part of the team at this point and another potential contributor will not play this year. I don't want to openly air their laundry on here but feel free to message me for any details. The schedule is finalized but the MAC won't let them release it until after Labor Day as it is ironing out TV details.

I like these two things mentioned in the Hustlebelt article. • The GPA for the first full semester under coach Arth improved dramatically when compared with the Fall 2018: ‘as a team, the spring roster combined for a 2.954 gpa, up from 2.466 from Fall 2018.’ • Akron’s offensive line is poised for significant improvement after the trial-by-fire that was the 2018 season. Redshirt freshman Hunter Corne and Shawn Muldowney played in 24 games last year while first-year Zip Bryce Petersen started 12 games. Given that the biggest jump in performance occurs in the second-year, I would expect to see significant progress.

Pretty good assessment overall and the score prediction makes more sense that what Vegas has out there.

Chuck Frye on CMU offensive scheme

"No Liability Once Injured" (releases the university from financial liability if the player is injured.

I personally wouldn’t put to much into the depth chart. I could type for days but I think you will see on Saturday. They have so many packages both offensively & defensively. The other OLB didn’t even make the chart because they used nickel. People like Sampson, plenty of times you will see Lako & Bubba both out there, on offense they use a lot of motion & there are times Scippio or Burkhart will be in with 1’s depending on package & I think you will see some more RB’s i guess what i’m Saying is you won’t see the same delayed handoff over & over again, the WR won’t run the same route tree over & over, a lot of motion to pick up different fronts & man to man or zone the defense is versatile to any situation instead of every situation being a version of the 4-3 with different personal packages based only on run or pass situation like we’ve seen in past