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It's a forum. A place to exchange thoughts and ideas. That's going to occasionally involve criticism, e.g. Groce should mix in some zone; Arth needs to recruit more transfers and jucos; player B needs to control his emotions on the field... That criticism can result in a reasonable and productive adult discussion. What it shouldn't be and can't be is a place for juvenile name calling hissy fits when there's a disagreement and mods need to get that stuff quickly under control, and fast, or you'll see the decay of the site.

Kevin Koger - Packers Johnathan Cooley - Rams Shelton Felton - Tennessee Scott Aligo - Michigan State Davern Williams - Troy Possibly with the exception of Williams, who left to coach at his alma mater, the rest of these guys were on the staff since he's been at Akron who undoubtedly left for a promotion. I may even be forgetting one or two. There are also additional connections on the LA Rams that I believe have been on his staff. To me, it indicates that his "buddies" do have some talent and give me more hope than I otherwise would have.

Gentlemen, first I cannot believe Im reading such nonsense and the language spewing from some of your mouths. Calling out players and coaches etc.Shame on you ! After watching the team last year and so far this year this is my observance. First, Arth came in and demanded these boys go to class, study , make the grades and perform community service.Im willing to bet the boys that didn't make the grades and didn't want to contribute to the community went on their own way. Now remember: new coach = new system and some boys left because they did not fit the system .And the locker room poison was sent away. Last year was rough as Arth did not have the players for his system.Fast forward to now, Arth is starting to put some of the pieces to the puzzle together now. He has a young OL that is better than he had last year. We are loaded at WR and looks like we have some capable RBs.I am concerned with the QB position. Defensively, I think Feeney is more than capable but needs more talent in his secondary . Maybe right now we need to play more zone as Im not seeing any shutdown cover guys. LB play is very good considering all game long you got 300lb lineman crawling to them. In my opinion, we cannot run a 3/2 we do not have 3 280lb DL that can run stop or rush. Therefore, a 5/2 suites us better and enables our LBs to scrap and make plays free of OL crawling.My next question is “ Why y’all got some much against walk ons “ Just because they are the boys that didn't get all the hype doesn't mean they cant compete. Take Grimes for instance ,he is probably as good as those hyped up 4 & 5 star WRs. Stars are out the window when you get to this level. I understand Arth is very good about awarding WO scholarships if deserved. So how about you boys knock the crap off with trashing coaches & players. We lucky to just be able to watch them play now. The challenges & struggles these guys are going thru are real. We are better than this fellows !

I think this is the post were this thread started going sideways. This is a good post and I agree with most of it! I totally agree. Now the cupboard which Bowden inherited was sincerely bare. I'm still grateful to Bowden and always will be. He took Akron from the bottom and made us pretty respectable. However, I think he may have gotten lazy (?), because his recruiting classes were always rather sub-par (especially considering he could/should be leveraging the Bowden name.) and i do think he had taken Akron as far as he could... and there were signs of his losing the team during his last year. But that's a different rabbit trail. Anyway, Arth's cupboard wasn’t that bare, he just felt the necessity of taking the program in an entirely different direction. Totally agree. All these players seem to love each other and the staff, and haven't been tuning the staff out in the slightest. Their effort is still through the roof. I really respect all the players for that and respect the coaches for remaining encouraging and upbeat. It may be the intangible positive personalities that Arth is attracting. It would be all too easy for one or two players to become a cancer on this team, but I haven't detected the least bit of that. Total props from Coach Arth to the water boy. Again. Totally agree. Last night was rough for all of us and all of our nerves are kinda exposed after last night. But I see the team improving and have to remind myself that 1. they're mostly all freshmen and sophomores, and 2. this year is more of an exhibition year anyway with no one losing eligibility. Not losing a year of eligibility will benefit everyone in the MAC, but we're so young it's going to benefit us more than anyone. Go Zips!

Hello Fellow Fans! I thought I would update you on Kwan. This past year has been crazy, but despite the craziness Kwan has became a father to a little boy named Kyler James Cheatham. He also got married on Aug 7th to Emily Rose Correal. Lastly, Kwan will be playing in Israel this season. We are so proud of the man Kwan grown into. His career as pro baller has afforded him to see the world. God is good and we truly blessed!

At the end of the day, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. By the time the team hit the field under Arth in 2019, due to what little was left and the new system weeding out what was left from Bowden's tenure, very few or no experienced players remained on the team. As for recruiting, I think Arth was certainly hamstrung in year one by his late hire. As I recall, BG hired Leffler a full 3 weeks before Arth. The stretch they're on certainly won't help in recruiting but they wouldn't be the first team to build a team from the ground up. I still think it's tough to judge the staff given what they're working with. When you see them play, the competition clearly appears bigger, faster, stronger and more athletic and other than recruiting (admittedly another part of their job) the coaches can only do so much with the talent they have. To the coaches' credit, they are better than last year and I'm not seeing bad technique or a lack of effort.

I have watched this forum for 2 years and finally glad to join the discussion. 1st of all, if you don't see the improvement in the program over the last year and half you're blind. The offense is tremendously better and actually competitive. OL is gonna only get better with off season strength and conditioning. WR group is alot better than last year. More experienced and more talented. RB group is so far ahead of last year it's not even close. Last season we started a walkon 5'6 165lb RB. QB position is only gonna get better with reps. Gibson has a cannon and leadership qualities this team needs. You can see his passion that will equate to success in the future. He is a Freshman. Now defense is another issue. Tuesday they were missing alot of players. The scheme has to improve. We are not physical yet. Will take another year. But this year will allow us to catch up . Recruiting is the key. Period. Need pieces to compete at this level. But I assure you we are on the right path. Patience

This decision is another that is not good for Akron long term. Dillon looked like a top notch player. However, I do not think the Kent Akron game made this decision, but the opposite. If I was watching the game, I would think that I could get on the field very early based on the pathetic Kent performance. Let's hope he comes back.

If there were a city that could pull that off, it would be Indy. Between Lucas Oil Stadium, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indiana U's and Butler U's fieldhouses, and several smaller arenas for practice facilities, I think they could handle it. They could take notes from the NBA, MLS, NHL. Their bubbles were a lot more effective at keeping everyone healthy and playing than MLB and NFL business-as-usual have.

This needs to be addressed publicly. Announcers continue to blame the current roster that Arth and his staff inherited. Akron was good in 2017 and competed in 2018. Actually upset Northwestern and almost beat Iowa State. Terry Bowden and his staff had respectable talent throughout his career at Akron. The lack of scholarship players are 100% Arths staff to blame. Bowden players were not welcomed and the current remaining players left on roster show for it. I think Kato Nelson is “injured" this year because he took a beating last year and has no intentions of playing another game for Arth’s staff. I think he has plans of transferring from this program upon graduation and I would not be surprised if we get embarrassed by him next year by another MAC school. We went from competing in the MAC championship in 2017 to the laughing stock of NCAA D1 FBS football with a starting depth chart full of walk ons and freshman. Send these guys back to the OAC where they belong.

I was a Bowden supporter. I came to many games with season tickets over many years cheering for him. I supported multiple people on this forum that disagreed with Bowden. They were dismissed as part of this forum. I still will say that the cupboard was left bare. Actually, I have some John Carrol friends who do not speak kindly of Arth. They had sons playing for him that they did not support. Then, there were the parents who provided total support. I am just trying to provide a straight forward response. I am done with this argument. I have learned long ago that the fans who could not play, would cause issues. As a former D1 athlete, I will stop this thread.

Arth is 0-15 Avg Zips Score - 12 Avg Opp Score - 39 ?