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What a great quote from special teams coordinator Allen Tucker!: "From a coach's perspective, watching these guys even enter the building, is different. There is an excitement. We have to kick them out sometimes because they want to get extra film, they want just hang out with us and hang out with each other. ... The look on their faces and the light in their eyes is different when they walk into the facility."

Alright, since we’re not getting an official depth chart here’s my final guess: OFFENSE QB: Irons Bullock RB: Lingard D. Anderson WR: Adams Golden WR: George P. Wilson WR: Gathings C. Anderson TE: Banks Newell LT: Chambers Frank LG: Kilbane Robarge C T. Williams Georges RG: K Davis Blanchard RT: N Williams Kindred DEFENSE DE: R Johnson L. Jackson DT: Lavea Robinson DT: T. Jones K. Thomas DE: Nunnally A. Smith LB: Fish Behm LB: McCoy Cooper Nickel: Lewis T. Thomas CB: Tallandier Durant SS: Thompson Woods FS: Martin C. Thomas CB: Hunter Golden-Nelson SPECIAL TEAMS K: Perez Wiley P: D. Jackson Castle KR: Hester Golden PR: Hester Golden

Looking forward to seeing him getting sacked, just like the groceries his old man used to handle.

Beyond sending his son to UA, I know JD made a sizeable donation to the Zips football program as well.

So on last night's Coach's show Coach Moorhead mentioned the only special teams player on scholarship is Dante Jackson. So I removed the LS and PK scholarship holds from the chart, this puts us right at 85... Zips Football Scholarship Chart.xlsx

Zips weekly notes: OFFENSE: RB Clyde Price likely out for year with injury Jasaiah Gathings and Caleb Anderson will make a big impact in the passing game, filling in for SJL’s departure Norton, Louis, Paul Davis could get some reps at receiver OLine still working on figuring out a lineup, could be a bit like last year but working itself out faster Much more competitive and physical team compared to a year ago DEFENSE: Coach loves the DB unit of course, many familiar faces who improved greatly throughout last year LBs McCoy and Fish along with the newcomers are cause for cautious optimism, some depth here On the line, Coach likes the depth here but notes that chemistry issues can arise with so many new faces. Still working on finding the right combo. SPECIAL TEAMS: Dante Jackson will punt and kickoff Noah Perez and Owen Wiley on FG kicking duties, Perez a little bit ahead in that battle On kick returns, Blake Hester will be here again for the 3rd season Bobby Golden, Adrian Norton could get some reps at kick/punt return A LOOK AT TEMPLE: Owls moved the ball and put up points well at the end of 2022, much like UA Warner (QB) gets rid of it quickly and they protect him well, will be a challenge for UA’s defensive front Lots of returners all over the field for the Owls, will be a great challenge for week 1

Akron football is soooooo back.

Love that they put these on Youtube, because nobody is watching it on Ballysports!

I want Cedarville or Muskingum! Please post the final schedule when it drops. Thx

That does seem harsh for a 1-0 loss. I could see it if Vermont had been demolished something like 5-0. But then again that is life outside of the blue bloods. Somehow Marshall has stayed in the Top 15 since week 9 of the 2019 season. Thankfully only 2 of our losses since then have been to non ranked teams. Marshall plays Xavier at home on Friday and then they travel to #8 Pitt next Tuesday which should be the game with the 2 highest ranked teams going at it this year. On opening day we had #8 Creighton vs #7 Stanford. Last year #11 Marshall 2 #2 Pitt 1 in Huntington. Good Luck to Akron on the week ahead.

Akron was 22 in the coaches pre season poll. Vermont was 12 in the pre season poll. Their drop to number 22 seems kind of harsh. There are not 21 college soccer teams that are better than Vermont. That is one very good college soccer team. September 11 Zip opponent Florida International was number 21 in the preseason poll. FIU jumped up to 7 after a 2-1 win over Oregon State and a 4-0 win over VCU.

The schedule has been finalized. The staff did a great job. Added a well known opponent for what could be a fun road trip. Expect an official announcement soon.

Episode #1 Episode #2 Episode #3 Episode #4 Episode #5 Episode #6 Episode #7 Episode #8

Should be an interesting year in the league, as they all are. My tiers of the MAC teams so far look as follows: Tier 1: Toledo Tier 2: EMU, Ohio, Miami Tier 3: Akron, Ball State, BGSU, Buffalo, CMU, NIU Tier 4: WMU, Kent While I am optimistic about Akron, I would not put them on the level of "contender" yet, but that could change after an impressive first four games. It wouldn't shock me to see anybody in the first 3 tiers representing their respective division in Detroit. Kent and WMU are way down there for obvious reasons, though I feel WMU has much more talent. However, the bodies that remain in Kalamazoo will be playing an entirely different style than before, so its a natural rebuilding year. It's far more likely that WMU is better than Kent than vice-versa. I'm really unsure of the whole Kent-Grit thing. Playing the Flash Fast style still? But Kent Grit? Does not make sense, as Burns is from a ground-and-pound background. But anything is possible, I suppose. Ohio, with Rourke, is as close to Toledo as anyone can get. Their receiving corps is also one of the best in the league, and Bangura is one of the best backs in the MAC. For some reason, Albin let their backup throw something like 40 passes in their loss last week. We'll see what Rourke's health is like going forward. He takes them from average to championship good. That Ohio defense is the real deal no matter what, though. NIU's success hinges on staying healthy. I am not going as far as most MAC followers and saying they will win the west, but I do expect them to be much better--as long as Lombardi is healthy and can have a big impact. With that said, 2021 was certainly an outlier year for Hammock after going 5-7, 0-6, and then 3-9 last year. After all, their 2021 was essentially the opposite of Akron's 2022. They won all the close games 2 years ago, Akron lost them all last year. If I were to break down into more tiers, I would put UB, BSU, CMU, and Akron in the same boat. All of them with decent floors and decent ceilings. All brought in some decent talent too. BG, on the other hand, is all over the place. Their 2022 was a lot like the 2017 Zips. They weren't that good, but somehow came out with a lot of wins--at least a lot more than expected. I expect this to be Loeffler's final season there if they do not make a bowl game. Some interesting week one matchups, here's the full list Thursday 8/31: Kent @ UCF, WMU vs. St. Francis (PA) Friday 9/1: EMU vs. Howard, CMU @ Michigan State, Miami U @ UMiami Saturday 9/2: Ball State @ Kentucky, Ohio vs. Long Island, NIU @ Boston College, BGSU @ Liberty, Akron @ Temple, Buffalo @ Wisconsin, Toledo @ Illinois

Pretty sure Joe interviewed John Heisman when he coached the Zips.🤣

Did not realize EJ Warner (Temple QB) is Kurt Warner's son.

🔥🔥🔥

Looks like the boys will be wearing white helmets in Philly

Speaking of Stanford, they have had quite the start to the season.

Great read, great questions from Beaven What has that been like to coach freshman walk-on Johnny Brookhart, the son of former UA head coach J.D. Brookhart? "It's been great. Coach [Brookhart] is the reason this building [the field house] got built and the stadium got built. He won the only [MAC] championship in school history and we have stayed in touch. It is pretty neat, considering the circumstances by which his tenure ended here, which was ridiculous, that he thinks enough off our program and myself to want his son to come here." Love the honesty from coach. I hope JD is around for a couple games, I'd love to run into him. He deserves a proper thank you for doing what he did at Akron--2005 was magical and who knew we'd have to endure what we have in the 18 years following.

Concerning the DT's, From Zips Weekly it sounds like DT Kyle Thomas is banged up. Sounds like the starting DT's are going to be Terray Jones & Lama Lavaea And of course it could have just been an oversight, but JoeMo didn't mention Kiawan Murphy.

Congratz on the Top 10 ranking. Akron has been MIA far to long. Just one thing left to say:

NO WAY. In 2026 this game will have been played 3 years ago.

*We have a roster* All newcomers expected appear to be here. Only one I didn't see from this years cycle, who I believe was here in spring, was Ahmad Rabah (DE from D2 or D3). Also notice some number changes and Darius Owens listed as a RB, but I think that might be an error as I don't think he even played it at all in high school. Saquan's brother is here. I'm still having us as 2 over the limit, when I believe Cap'n mentioned Coach said they were two under the limit (which I assume would be reserved for specialists as we aren't adding new players at this time). Honestly not sure at this point who is on the team that we have down as being on scholly that isn't. AJ George would be my only guess as he was also a walk on at Cinci. Zips Football Scholarship Chart.xlsx

Here is a depth chart from a source that claims to have spoken to every school’s coaching staff. Not going to say the source’s name because it’s behind a paywall. This source was almost 100% accurate on the depth chart to start the season last year. In any case, take it for what it’s worth as we all know some of this will change. Plus a few additions to the roster were made since this came out. Good offseason chatter though. QB: Irons Undercuffler RB: Lingard (TP) D. Anderson (TP) WR: Adams Walker (surprised this wasn’t Golden) WR: George C. Anderson WR: Gathings P. Wilson (TP) TE: Banks Newell (TP) LT: Chambers (Landers was listed here, but since he’s no longer on the roster…) Frank (TP) LG: Kilbane Stopiak C T. Williams T. Georges RG: K. Davis Robarge RT: N. Williams AJ George (TP) DE: A. Smith (JUCO) L. Jackson (JUCO) DT: K. Thomas K. Murphy DT: T. Jones (TP) D. Robinson DE: R. Johnson CJ Nunnally (JUCO) WLB: McCoy Behm MLB: Fish (was Bubba…) Griffin CB: Hunter (TP) Durant CB: Tallandier (TP) Golden-Nelson NB: D. Lewis T. Thomas (TP) SS: N. Thompson Woods FS: KJ Martin C. Thomas