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And if Kareem was 19 you could see no reason why Groce couldn't get him here (along with Bill Walton, Elvin Hayes and Artis Gilmore).

Artis went to Jacksonville. I think we could have had a shot at him. ?

Shh @akronzips71 might hear you

Brian Quinn will enter his third season as head coach of the San Diego men’s soccer team in 2020, and few men have impacted the sport in the city more than Quinn. Brian Quinn: San Jose Clash Head Coach 1997-99 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Quinn_(soccer) Caleb Porter: San Jose Clash player 1998-99 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleb_Porter

https://www.collegesoccernews.com/index.php/articles/1439-2020-recruiting-classes College soccer news....has the zips ranked at #9....for 2020 recruiting class Top Drawer soccer(TDS)....their recruiting rankings...are a premium subscriber only article...also has the zips at #9 college soccer news....mentions Dyson Clapier from the Portland Timbers academy. To my knowledge, there has not been a mention yet of Dyson on this recruiting topic College soccer news...also mentions Connor Lee. Again, I don't think that he has been mentioned on this recruiting topic. I believe that Connor Lee....went to CVCA article shows Ryan Combe...as playing on a Brazilian team I think they have him confused with Gabriel Ramos(who is not mentioned in the article) I believe that Ryan Combe is from Maine...or somewhere in the Northeast also, top Drawer soccer also shows a young man named Remi Smith as being a zip recruit. He is a midfielder for Atlanta United...and his commitment has been featured on this topic Remi is a 3 star recruit and is rated #177 in the country according to TDS https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-player-profile/remi-smith/pid-74578

Buflobo, your writeup on the CDM position is incredible. Your analysis is excellent. I loved how you told the story of Perry Kitchen and his leadership qualities. I have never seen an 18 year old seem to be always where the ball was going. Will and Perry were tremendous college players and have gone on to shine in MLS. Buflobo, your writeup is clearly from your huge zips soccer loving heart. Your passion and heart shine thru with every word in your writeup. Thank you for your fair words on Victor Souto and for recognizing that Victor was clearly one of the 3 best CDM's to play for the zips from 2010-2019. Victor hated to lose and the 2015 team would not have advanced to the NCAA college cup without Victor's passing and ball hawking skills in the midfield. Victor also graduated summa cum laude. That is an incredible accomplishment for any student athlete.

Well with those enlightening words, I who have not chimed in for months got bored so here I am. I am bummed. I fear there may not be any season as we know it. It will be very tough for the schools of the world like Akron to make any progress for a couple of reasons. A number of assistant coaches went elsewhere I understand.Much of the new staff will be unknown to the players and vice versa. When you are trying to rebuild from an 0-12 you need reps,reps and more reps. No practice, no reps. If there is a season in any form the experienced teams will have an advantage. And, I was actually planning on going to the New Mexico State game in Las Cruces! Have a relative in the area and my wife and I were going to visit and go to the game. And, thats not to mention going to the widely famous New Mexico Hatch Chile Festival. Oh well, hope this doesn't more adversely affect the program in the future. I was hoping maybe 3 wins in this schedule.

I was told by faculty at the STEM school (where at least the good Livingston attended) that he wasn't going to make grades to play, which is the reason he/they transferred. Didn't seem to have anything to do with the coach, but I'm not sure simply transferring to a private school could skirt grade eligibility requirements, so there may be more to the story...

Futch to CVCA

@zipsmsoc CDM Kitchen, Trapp, Tojaga, Belana Perry Kitchen confidently strode onto the Schrank Hall practice pitch at Akron like a man among boys. In the Summer of 2010, he was a freshman joining an Akron squad that was 2009 runners-up. Perry was there to fill the enormous vacuum at CDM left by the graduation of team captain Ben Zemanski. But if the Zips’ previous success impressed Kitchen, it failed to noticeably register. He deferred to no one except Zips coaching staff, and even that was sometimes strained. From the first day, he barked out defensive assignments in small sided scrimmages. Always organizing! And everyone usually obeyed, because he was willing to himself follow his own orders. And he would prove it. Every drill. Every day. To many he was a bit aloof, perhaps stand-offish. Perry Kitchen was All. Business. In his one season at Akron, Kitchen scored six goals, assisting on one. But most of these stats occurred at key moments in important matches. See goal at North Carolina at his first match as a Zip. He scored what should have been match winning goal vs. California in 2010 Quarter-Final. (After 2OT, Perry sank his PK.) How about that blast vs. Michigan at the College Cup? But Perry Kitchen’s calling card was (and still is) ball winning. He is the guy who will take the ball from the other team. He will get his head on the Goal Kick. He will make the counter-attack-ending tackle. And he has always won a high percentage of these individual battles. In 2010, Perry Kitchen physically dominated the middle of the park like few Zips had done before him, and like none have done since. Wil Trapp has always been a superb distributor of the ball, before and after his 2011-2012 seasons in Akron. 2010 National High School Player Of The Year? Trapp is where Attack begins. He is the pass before the pass before the assist to the goal. He does this with such efficiency, it sometimes looks effortless. But this is deceptive. It requires work and disciplined technique to make this look easy. And this efficiency is technical. There is textbook technique to any physical activity, whether it be playing clarinet, or changing a car tire, or typing on a keyboard. For each of these activities, there are countless individual styles and methods. But only one way is the textbook technique. Why is that? Its because the textbook technique has been proven over time to be the most efficient. That is Wil Trapp in a nutshell: Efficient. He is technically flawless. Even on the professional level, players often stray from textbook form to get the job done. It sometimes works to pass the ball 30 yards in the air to your left by using the outside of your right foot. But often times it fails. This sort of thing does not happen with Wil Trapp. Textbook technique requires said pass be struck from the inside of the left foot, big toe underneath the ball. And that is exactly the pass Trapp will make. Trapp will likewise receive the ball with impeccable and repeatable technique. EXAMPLE: While typing I frequently make a capital Z by depressing the left shift key with my left pinky and then depressing the Z with my left middle finger. It works. But is it the most efficient? Is it optimal? Not according to the typing textbook! I doubt Wil Trapp would ever make a capital Z the way I do. From 2013-2015 (partial 2016) Victor Souto prowled the middle of the pitch. Kitchen was a relentless ball-winner; Trapp was a technical distributor. Souto was a bit of both (to lesser degrees), with an element of Samba flair mixed in. He shined brilliantly. He also behaved shamefully now and then. Problem with Victor was controlling his temper. His lack of impulse control erupted into extracurricular violence on several occasions. Head-butting an NCAA official after a tournament match? Yeah, that really happened. There are many other examples of Victor acting badly. And it is truly unfortunate. Victor plays the game with an exuberance infectious to even casual bystanders. Sadly, Akron Men’s Soccer have expunged the memory of Victor Souto from program tradition. He was dismissed from the team after the second match of the 2016 season, and he was officially removed from the team months later. Whether this banishment resulted from one huge transgression in private, or this was an accumulation of egregious incidents out in the open, few can say. Those who really know this answer refuse to talk about it. But Souto was among the best CDMs in Akron MSOC history, certainly over the years 2010-2019. It is a minor tragedy that Victor’s career ended as it did. FINAL ANALYSIS: I will take Perry Kitchen’s physical dominance over Wil Trapp’s smooth distribution. Both enjoyed stellar (if short) careers at Akron. Sam Tojaga is a hard worker with good endurance. His improvement at the end of 2018 was a key element to Zips’ title challenge. And Sammy may yet improve still. But a compilation of only the highlights of Sam Tojaga’s two seasons 2018-2019 do not compare to Kitchen’s magnificent 2010 season. Not even close.

I think we should offer this kid. If he can make palm trees grow in Missouri, think what he could do for Akron in November. Plus if this is a recent event and he was in the 2014 high school class he has to be around 23 years old and much more experienced than your typical freshman .

Lake Erie League Player of the Year.