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Another fantastic article. Some extremely encouraging & endearing quotes from both Bubba and DJ. Definitely give it a click! Go Zips!!

NHL Points system has come to NCAA soccer. It's not so bad over the course of a long season, but for these mini seasons that could really throw things off. No-draw soccer seems a little odd, I can't stand PKs because it turns a team game into an individual skills challenge.

Yes.

I'm willing to bet all three will be at Seton Hall next year.

You are probably right about Gross. As far as our John Groce is concerned he has already turned done offers.

I despise PKs. Soccer has a perfectly good point system and tiebreaker system. Why make up a new system that rewards teams for parking the bus and taking a game to PKs. Beyond awful!

Agree. I think we all want best players available at every position and I trust new coaching staff will not have any bias for any player and each position will have to be earned. Would love to go watch a practice session.

April 30th can't get here soon enough! Just hope its an actual scrimmage rather than whatever Arth did (mostly just drills and maybe very little 11 on 11 with no tackling IIRC).

Great culture is infectious. So much so I think we have George Thomas believing in this team! I know I certainly do. Awesome to hear that the player are sold on Akron!

Not a ton to be gleaned here, but it looks like: - Irons and Marousek are throwing together, most likely as the #1 and #2 at this point. - Another highlight of Cam Wiley. He’s running with the first team there. - First team OL looks like Cambers at LT and Daniels at RT. Beckman and Banes on the interior. Can’t tell who the other interior OL is as he has his man pancaked. Chances are it won’t stay that way. Someone might be held out for precautionary reasons and it’s the next man up. Who knows? - On defense, CB Ronald Jackson is the read man for the QB, transfer Victor Jones at DE, transfer DT Curtis Harper getting turned out by Banes, OLB Julian Richardson crashing in on the edge, Jalen Hooks at CB, and KJ Martin at S.

Catdaddyp, I love the position analysis you are providing. They are first class and addictive for any Zip junky. FWIW I'd like to offer one suggestion. Can you include the player's year and if he is returning or a transfer. There is such needed and welcomed change to our roster I am unsure of which players are new (high school and transfers) and which are holdovers from previous years. Just a thought. Thanks for joining the board.

Why wouldn't they be content? They vote for it.

Great write up as always. I wonder if we will run a 3-4, 4-3, or if its situational. Remember Nick Toth was the DC, something happened there, then Tibesar was brought in to replace. I'd think Moorhead would want to replace Toth with someone who is planning to run a similar scheme, but I haven't dug into it really. My general thoughts on both the DL and OL: Not really super high on personnel across the board, but for the first time in a long time, we have both depth and experience on both sides. I'd think we can find some lineups that will stick and be formidable.

Thanks. Very insightful.

The center spot is the one spot they will give up the height & length for a good bull like football player that can hold his ground. The further out the more important the arm length becomes to push the guy who is just faster around the edge

For what its worth, I have a great example of an exception to the rule. You may have heard of Dave Rimington. He was a pretty good center back in the 80s. He was listed at 6'3" while a Cornhusker and as a Bengal. I'm 6'1" and had occasion to stand next to Dave on numerous occasions. He was at least twice as wide as me, but an inch shorter. Maybe in cleats and helmet he was 6'3", but when the Bengals broke their huddle and the offensive linemen trotted up to the line of scrimmage together, he looked like a midget.

That’s a tough one. I think we’ll see a different starting 5 by the end of the season than the 5 we see at the beginning. To start the season, Im guessing we see something like this: LT - Chambers LG - Beckman C - Georges RG - Banes RT - Murphy The line (I think) I’d like to see by end of season: LT - Chambers LG - Kilbane C - Lyons RG - Banes RT - Landers It’s too bad we don’t have access to any spring film. We’d have a better idea of where things stood and there are certainly a number of different combinations that could be made. I suspect one or two of last years main contributors may find themselves on the outside looking in by the time 2022 concludes.

Was curious, so I went through the verbal commits portal real quick and slapped together a very non-scientific analysis of the 117 listed transfers with new landing spots as of this morning. Compared the conference prestige with old/new teams for the player. If a conference was within +/- 5 ranking spots, the move was considered lateral. 61 (52.14%) moved down in D1 or to a lower level. 29 (24.79%) moved laterally, to a conference with similar prestige or within the same conference. 27 (23.08%) moved up a competition level or to a higher prestige conference in D1. Moral of the story: Lots of movement still to happen, but if we see similar numbers to this I think a lot of kids will realize it's not worth starting over when they have a >75% chance of moving laterally or down in their final landing spot.

Prior to this recruiting cycle, all offensive linemen on the Gozips roster were listed as a So or R-So. So, with the covid year, this means that this year would be their 3rd or 4th season as a college football player. So, we cannot use youth as an excuse any more. Also, signing Banes should be a huge improvement in the line as he will be a plug in starter. As I stated other times, we need one more experienced lineman from the transfer portal for 22. This would solidify the line for this year and allow the youth to continue to develop. It looks like we signed several top notch OL as freshmen, but they would probably need to redshirt a year. This group should start to become a position of strength, especially with one more transfer. The one guy that I do not like is Gray. Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane. I cannot wait until we have the best OL in the MAC for year after year. In Joe We Trust!!!!!

I'm taking that as an April Fool's joke. We're lucky... LUCKY... LUCKY to have such a popular mascot. Don't mess with Zippy.

I continue to be amazed at how folks up there in the Akron area are basically content with continuing to be subjected to mediocrity in regards to how that region is ran by the local government.

Moving was the right choice. That said, it was a cool stadium and a fun time. Not many better tailgate setups than that

Neither is Gross ...

Zippy is an amazing mascot-- off the charts, best in class (not just a statement but an actual designation that Zippy won). It is perhaps the single best known and loved element of UA in the community. I think the branding should revolve around "Akron" because that is who we are and no one knows us well- abstracting a little known brand is a terrible idea. I also think the nickname "Zip" is terrible and frankly has always been embarrassing. The only good thing about it was Zippy the mascot. Putin is going to do all he can to corrupt "Z" and make it a symbol of evil in the world. They are using it throughout Russia to rally them to this horrific cause-- and the Russian people are responding. It would be the height of branding stupidity of the highest order to use "Z" as a symbol right now. After Russia is crushed, it will just be confusing and weird so to me still reason to not overly focus on it. Make it AKRON. And make it known.