Leaderboard

Just getting on board a plane wearing my Akron hat with that giant new A. The PCCC basketball team is also on the flight with coaches and families and they have to walk past row 10 all looking at me 😆. They are headed to play Hampton

With the recruiting period soon to kick into high gear again, here’s a look at the past two recruiting classes and how they’ve performed (scholarship offers only). Keep in mind we have one more game to play so the final 2023 stats will change. The 2022 class brought in a few impact players and a wealth of upgrades throughout the roster. SJL, Anthony Whigan, and Alex Adams were all-conference players, while Victor Jones, Curtis Harper, Ravontae Holt, Tim Terry, Cam Wiley, Max Banes, Daniel George, KJ Martin, Nate Thompson, TJ Banks, and Ka’Marii Landers all became quality starters. STEPPING IT UP: 2023 saw former JUCO Antavious Fish and sophomore Bryan McCoy have breakout years at linebacker. Redshirt freshmen Tyler Williams and Keylen Davis (before injuries) became starters on the offensive line. Sophomore Bobby Golden, sophomore Jaharon Griffin, and senior Devon Robinson saw their roles increase. Sophomore Charles Kellom was a key special teams player. KJ Martin and Daniel George’s stats may not reflect it, but I thought they took a step forward this year as well. An argument could also be made for Jeff Undercuffler, but that probably depends on which game is being discussed. STATUS QUO: Nate Thompson wasn’t bad, but may have taken a step back as he was surpassed by KJ Martin and Corey Thomas on the depth chart and in production. TJ Banks was about on par with his 2022 year. Devontae Golden-Nelson had his moments and saw more playing time, though he was not necessarily that much better than the previous season. Caleb Anderson played about as much as he did in 2022, but he was caught behind George, Gathings, and in competition with a rapidly improving Adrian Norton. Redshirt freshmen Kiawan Murphy was limited in his snaps, while Dijon Jennings did not play. Kyle Thomas shined a few times before deciding to redshirt and transfer out. GOING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION/MISSES: Jaden Woods seemed significantly less disciplined in his play from the 2022 season and transferred out. Alex Adams and Clyde Price’s production regressed due to injuries. Cam Threatt has been a non-factor. (Marquell Darnell and Anthony Stallworth were misses in recruiting) 2022 Recruiting: Transfers: WR - Shocky Jacques-Louis - 2022 3rd Team All-MAC. Graduated. OL - Anthony Whigan - 2022 3rd Team All-MAC. Graduated. DE - Victor Jones - Started 11 games in 2022. 52 total tackles and 5.5 sacks. Graduated. DT - Curtis Harper - Started 12 games in 2022. 17 total tackles and 2.5 sacks. Graduated. DT - Ravontae Holt - Started 5 games in 2022. 18 total tackles. LB - Tim Terry - Started 7 games in 2022. 46 total tackles and highest graded player on the defense in 2022. Graduated. RB - Cam Wiley - Started 7 games. 486 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. Transferred out. OL - Max Banes - Started 7 games in 2022. Transferred out. TE - Caden Clark - Retired from football. WR - Daniel George - Started 12 games in 2022. 67 receptions for 793 yards and 2 touchdowns. <-> Started 11 games in 2023. 48 receptions for 508 yards and a touchdown. S - KJ Martin - Started 9 games in 2022. 53 total tackles and 1 interception. <-> Started 8 games in 2023. 41 total tackles, a sack, and 2 interceptions. S - Nate Thompson - Started 11 games in 2022. 72 total tackles. <-> Started 6 games in 2023. 34 total tackles and a sack. QB - Jeff Undercuffler - Started 2 games in 2022. 58.3% completion, 791 yards, 5 TDs vs 5 INTs. <-> Started 4 games in 2023. 61.9% completion, 1275 yards, 4 TDs vs 8 INTs. TE - TJ Banks - Started 11 games in 2022. 21 receptions for 175 yards. <-> Started 10 games in 2023. 19 receptions for 150 yards and a touchdown. CB - Devontae Golden-Nelson - Started 3 games in 2022. 11 total tackles. <-> Played in 11 games in 2023. 22 total tackles and 2 interceptions. WR - Alex Adams - 2022 1st Team All-MAC. <-> Played in only 7 games in 2023 and over 400 less snaps due to an injury. 22 receptions for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. DT - Devon Robinson - Played in 4 games in 2022. 5 total tackles. <-> Played in 11 games in 2023. 13 total tackles and half a sack. S - Jaden Woods - Started 2 games in 2022. 29 total tackles. <-> Played in 4 games in 2023 and Transferred out. RB - Clyde Price - Started 5 games. 349 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns. Missed 2023 season due to injury. JUCO: LB - Antavious Fish - Played in 10 games in 2022. 16 total tackles and 2 sacks. <-> Started 11 games in 2023. 78 total tackles and a sack. WR - Caleb Anderson - Played in 10 games. 5 receptions for 39 yards. <-> Played in 10 games in 2023. 6 receptions for 40 yards. DT - Kyle Thomas - Started 4 games in 2022. 14 total tackles. <-> Played in 4 games in 2023 and Transferred out. CB - Cam Threatt - Played in 4 games in 2022. 5 total tackles. <-> Played in 5 games in 2023 on Special Teams. Freshmen: OL - Ka’Marii Landers - Started 6 games. Went JUCO. TE - Marquell Darnell - Redshirt. Transferred out. RB - Anthony Stallworth - Redshirt. Transferred out. LB - Bryan McCoy - Started 2 games in 2022. 24 total tackles. <-> Started 4 games in 2023. 94 total tackles and a sack. Led the team in tackles. OL - Tyhler Williams - Redshirt. <-> Started 11 games in 2023. WR - Bobby Golden - Played in 7 games in 2022. <-> Started 2 games in 2023. 16 receptions for 134 yards. Also the starting punt returner. OL - Keylen Davis - Redshirt. <-> Started 6 games in 2023. Injured during the rest. LB - Jaharon Griffin - Played in 8 games in 2022 on Special Teams. <-> Played in 7 games in 2023. 14 total tackles. RB - Charles Kellom - Redshirt. <-> Played in 4 games in 2023. 4 rushes for 5 yards. DT - Kiawan Murphy - Redshirt <-> Played in 5 games in 2023. QB - Dijon Jennings - Redshirt <-> DNP in 2023. 2023 Recruiting: The 2023 class produced a number of starters and a handful of players that have all-conference potential. As far as the transfers go, Lorenzo Lingard panned out to be one of the better running backs in the MAC and may collect over 1,000 yards total (rushing and receiving) by end of season. Those numbers could have been much higher had Lingard received more touches earlier in the year. Terray Jones, Shammond Cooper, Lama Lavea, Ben Frank, Judson Tallandier, Tajh Bullock, Jacob Newell, Joey Hunter, and Josh Blanchard were all starters or started at times throughout the season. Drake Anderson was a key backup. Keon Kindred, Phaizon Wilson, and Terence Thomas all seem talented, but were not regular contributors. JUCO CJ Nunnally will surely be an all-conference selection. Punter Dante Jackson produced at a higher level than last year’s punter. LaJoshua Jackson and Antonio Smith flashed their pass rush ability and were solid backups. The other 4 JUCOs did not contribute much and will redshirt. All the freshmen will redshirt except Adrian Norton and Marcus Moore who became key rotational players this season. 2023: Transfers: RB Lorenzo Lingard - Started 11 games. 137 rushes for 612 yards and 4 touchdowns. 33 receptions for 313 yards and a touchdown. Highest graded player on offense in 2023. DT Terray Jones - Started 11 games in 2023. 40 total tackles and 1.5 sacks. LB Shammond Cooper - Started 7 games in 2023. 37 total tackles and 2 sacks. Highest graded player on defense. DT Lama Lavea - Started 10 games in 2023. 23 total tackles. OL Ben Frank - Started 9 games in 2023. CB Judson Tallandier - Started 11 games in 2023. 33 total tackles. QB Tajh Bullock - Started 2 games in 2023. 49.2% completion, 228 yards, 2 touchdowns vs 3 interceptions. 56 rushes for 134 yards and 3 touchdowns. TE Jacob Newell - Started 2 games in 2023. 13 receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown. RB Drake Anderson - Played in 11 games. 38 rushes for 128 yards and a touchdown. 15 receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. CB Joey Hunter - Started 2 games in 2023. 8 total tackles. OL Joshua Blanchard - Started 4 games in 2023. Injured, but did come back for 15 snaps vs Miami. OL Keon Kindred - Played in 5 games. OL AJ George - DNP in 2023. WR Phaizon Wilson - Redshirt S Terence Thomas - Redshirt JUCO: DE Clarence “CJ” Nunnally - Started 11 games in 2023. 58 total tackles and 7 sacks. Highest graded defensive lineman. P Dante Jackson - Starting punter and was also 2 of 3 on FGs. DE LaJoshua Jackson - Started 2 games in 2023. 17 total tackles and 2 sacks. DE Antonio Smith - Played in 11 games. 3 total tackles and 2 sacks. DE Kabbash Richards - Redshirt DT Tyler Carter - Redshirt LB Gage Summers - Redshirt CB Silas Proby - Redshirt Freshmen: WR Adrian Norton - Played in 9 games. 9 receptions for 71 yards. DT Marcus Moore - Played in 6 games. 6 total tackles. QB Steele Wasel - Redshirt WR Paul Davis - Redshirt WR Jean Louis - Reshirt TE Conner Cravaack - Redshirt OL Jonas Mann - Redshirt OL Jayvin James - Redshirt OL Delvin Morris - Redshirt DE Kameron Cheatom - Redshirt DE Bruno Dall - Redshirt LB Melvin Spriggs - Redshirt CB Zayden Laing-Taylor - Redshirt CB Catrell White - Redshirt S Darius Owens - Redshirt S David Jester - Redshirt WHAT CAN BE GLEANED FROM THIS? There is no doubt the 2023 season was a disappointment. However, there is also no doubt the talent level has increased since Moorhead’s arrival. The team is much deeper. Unfortunately, this program is not currently deep enough at every position to overcome key losses (in-particular QB and OL). That must be addressed. The OL problem will likely take care of itself through development. QB may do the same, but a proven and steady hand must be added to the room. The staff has done an excellent job developing the freshmen and will need to continue to do so. Overall, portal and JUCO recruiting has been strong as well. We know the 2024 high school class is mostly wrapped up, so now we wait and see what the portal and JUCO ranks have in store. As already alluded to, QB is at the top of the list. Key graduation losses this year are: QB - Irons RB - Lingard WR - George TE - Banks OL - Frank DT - Jones CB - Tallandier S - Nate Thompson (?) I think KJ Martin has another year if he wants it. We will also surely lose a handful of players to the portal that will be a surprise.

Or you could look 4 hours south of I-77. As a Marshall fan I would support a long term H/H with Akron. It could only benefit both programs. I think it would be some pretty entertaining games.

"Excuse me, flight attendant? Do we have any crayons and coloring pages we could give those boys to keep them entertained AND assist them with obtaining their degrees?"

Agree. You try to get one of their new conference mates, UCLA and Washington, both generally top 20 teams, to play at Cub Cadet while they are in “the neighborhood”. If we need to do a home and home, so be it. Akron picks up another game out west early in the season between 2024 -2027.

I love ESPN Feast week. All these tournaments with wacky matchups during the work and school day are just the best

Agree with your points @zippy-claws but I'd like to add that I have concern with academy bias...potentially overlooking very talented high school players because they didn't play for an academy. I've been surprised with recent successes of some of the local high schools that the Zips haven't had any recent recruits from them ... Medina and St Ignatius specifically come to mind. Perhaps players on Akron's radar chose to go elsewhere and / or there weren't others on our radar; I don't know the details. Just saying I'm surprised.

Someone's getting accused of something soon

Happy to join in the conversation. I recently started follow several “pundits” that scout and rate youth players, most from MLS academies and their pro and national team potential. I believe these guys watch a lot more games and put a lot more time into their craft than TDS and Prep Soccer. The US Soccer Collective is very informative and in depth coverage of US prospects (@chai_asc on Twitter). He has published positive info on Buebendorf and Held. Another example, USMNT Prospects puts a lot of information out there based on watching a ton of games. He recently went to a pay walled Patreon site (well worth the $5 a month)but his Twitter is still very informative @prospectsusmnt. Specific to our 2024 class, here some of what he has said about James Buebendorf in his evaluations. He recently ranked him as the #10 2006 prospect. ”10. James Buebendorf (St. Louis City)-LB: Buebendorf has a few things to work on, but has very high upside, and I would say as of now is the clear best of the ‘06 LB prospects for me” He also listed him as a potential call up for the 2025 U20 World Cup. There are other commits on Instagram that from a very small bit of research, look solid as well. A GK from Inter Miami academy, a MF from NYCFC and the local MF from Cleveland. I’m also optimistic about healthy Henry, Clapier and like you mentioned Ferguson, Borneo, and Bartels getting their chance to debut for the Zips. I also think there will be a new hunger in the team. Players don’t pick Akron to be home for Thanksgiving. If you were paying attention to the last game at Xavier, their students did the “I believe that we just won” chant. I think angry and disrespected Zips are dangerous Zips. My apologies for the lengthy post. Looking forward to the conversations.

Mr. Pinky does not use crayons. He uses a whiteboard (with permanent markers).

I dare you to look them in the eye and say "no videos please."

I absolutely love these maps this guy makes. Not playing until Sunday will probably give us some extra area without even playing

While I do love to watch high school sports, and mainly soccer, I might add that high school soccer doesn't always equate to what major college soccer coaches are looking for. There are many highly successful collegiate programs that weigh success by results from an athlete's club team performance. In fact, there are a lot of Top Drawer highly rated recruits that never touched a high school pitch, and we can look no further than some of our past success stories. I may be wrong, but our beloved skipper Will Jackson never played High School soccer, and Colin Biros, whose father was Massillon Jackson's head coach, never played for his dad, or for any high school team. Will Trapp fore went his last two years of HS soccer for the Crew Academy before coming to Akron. On the girl/women's side of the equation, most elite coaches, and I would venture Coach Simonetti might agree, are interested in a girl's club status than HS stats. I also recall a Stow-Munroe Falls boy who signed with Akron, that never played for the Bulldogs. Can't recall his name. Not disparaging excellent HS players here, just pointing out that it doesn't necessarily equate to greatness on the NCAA level.

Yup. The U wants to find a big regular season game to replace the Hoban-St. V game. Also would love to host the state titles, but logistically would be a big challenge.

There will not be 10,000 fans at the stadium. It will look like 20k, but that’s because fans of MAC sports programs no longer know how to judge actual attendance anymore. Also, the bag policy is the same now as it was for the two times that Hoban played at Akron last year in the playoffs. There’s a reason the schools and OHSAA love playing at Akron. They are the best host these schools get until Canton.

Maybe some enterprising students can save the $5 on their front lawn. Granted, the walk will be twice as long in a bad neighborhood, but the money will be saved. Seriously, people who send their kids to or graduated from these schools can afford $10 for parking.

One thing I am looking forward to seeing more of is that shift where Dawson, Scott and Thornton come in together. Those three teamed with Sammy or Nate with Enrique was as effective or more effective than Tavari, Tribble and Nate with Sammy and Enrique. Thornton is a very good distributor. Thanks to Xavier and Hankerson for helping to get him here.

Just wait until they realize the new parking company is charging them $10 to park. I think OHSAA allows the schools to charge $5, but who knows about places like UA.

RubberDucks education days are something else, in for quite the surprise if you don't know its happening

Preach It, Brother!!!! Welcome to the Team!

Same for taking the FG on 4th and 2 from the 5 at Indiana in 2OT. Poorly read situations by the staff.

It's only about a 3 1/2 flight to Grand Cayman. They arrive Friday afternoon and don't play their first game until Sunday. They should be well rested. I will make sure that none of them get pulled behind a boat on a inflatable banna this trip.

Drake is the only other team in the tournament without a loss thus far, but they've beaten 2 stiffs. Oakland is 1-2 but lost to OSU and Illinois and put a 19 point thumping on BG. Loyola Marymount is 2-1, beating two unknowns and losing to Yale. SAF is 2-1 with two wins over questionable competition and a 5 point loss to Middle Tennessee. Marshall is 1-1 with a loss to Radford and a win over Queens. Utah State is 2-1 with a loss to Bradley.

It took forever for UA to post it, but the attendance at the USM game was 2,432. That is the highest attended home opener in Groce's tenure since 2017, which from what I read was a double header.

Spent a very enjoyable evening at the James A. Rhodes Arena. Arrived after the football game started and left long before the football game ended.

The most frustrating part of the loss is Akron outplayed and out coached EMU for the vast majority of the game and still lost. They were extremely well prepared for the game. The offense was creative and the defense stood tall for most of the game. The guys played hard. I'm convinced Akron still has a huge talent gap that needs filled to win games against teams even as average as EMU, both in starters and especially back ups. The defensive line got destroyed at the end of the game. I thought our offensive line played much better but pass blocking still leaves a lot to be desired. As a whole the skill players need to improve. Secondary had a good game but gave up a big play late. I totally get the players are better now than before Joe, but there is still a long way to go to get to the top.

We can P!$$ and moan about the refs but the Zips are a two win team due to $h!++y football, not the refs. You can't give up a 59-yard drive for a TD to end the first half and a 66-yard drive for a field goal to end the second half to a team that lost to UMASS.

Good stuff from Thornton. Great veteran pickup by the staff. Could be a very important piece in how this thing plays out.

I agree that playing Big 10 teams....might help with attendance. However, it could also hurt the zips for RPI. The Big Ten this year has 1 lonely team in the 48 team field. Ohio State and Michigan have both had many losing seasons in the past several years. Akron's tie this year against Michigan (a 5-6-7 record) did not help the zips in RPI.

Pitt deserves to be in the tournament; Zips clearly do not.

THANK YOU. RPI, which includes strength of schedule, among other factors and therefore is not as biased as polls and a team's fans supports Pitt and Kentucky making the NCAAT ahead of our Zips. I wanted our team in the NCAAT as much as anyone, but they were not snubbed or overlooked. Their resume was not good enough.

Probably need to stop the over reliance on backward passing and monkeying around inside our own penalty area. Build forward, connecting through the midfield to creative wingers and forwards who more often than not get into the other team's penalty area taking shots and second chance rebounds.

Starting at Forward, standing at 6'1", they were indeed on a break... Ross Geller! At Guard, she'll "clean" your clock on defense... Monica Geller! At Forward, standing at 6', could he be any better at basketball? Chandler Bing! At Guard, I don't think the defense will have trouble keeping their eyes on her, Rachel Green! Finally, at Forward, he took of his eating pants for this, Joey Tribbiani! Your 6th man is none other than Miss Phalange herself... Phoebe Buffay! Let's take a look at how the post play is going...

it occurred to me that those who made a futures bet on zips wins under 3.5 may now cash in their tickets 😪

That was the style of offense I wanted to see all season. Somewhat similar to what we did against Kent State. Heavy focus on the run and an emphasis on getting the ball in Lingard’s hands. Lingard rushed 26 times and also had 4 receptions. I thought he was close to breaking a few runs, but have to give credit to the excellent tackling by EMU’s LBs. Lingard played 70 snaps last night. Nice job utilizing Bullock as well. Newell needs to continue to see the field. He and Banks played the majority of snaps with all the 2 TE sets. I’m excited to see how he develops over the coming years. JU usually had time to throw the ball thanks to the high amount of max protects and chips. 19 of 26 for 223 yards and no turnovers. Give me that any day of the week. Shammond Cooper had his best game of the season. He’s become our best blitzer and has a knack for knowing where offensive players are going to attempt their next move. 9 total tackles, a sack, and 2 TFLs last night. On the flip side, Darrian Lewis probably had his worst game of the season. I was concerned our run defense would eventually take a hit when T.Jones went down and Fish was later ejected. For a while, the defense held up well, but the departures were noticeable in OT. Robinson saw his most action of the season, while McCoy, Cooper, and Griffin filled in for Fish. It’s unfortunate we didn’t execute when needed to win the game. The opportunities were certainly there. I’m also frustrated the fumble wasn’t reviewed when it seemed (from watching on tv) it was actually a fumble. We had timeouts to call to force a review, yet didn’t use them. That’s now 7 games decided by 7 points or less, including 3 OT losses. A season that could have gone a number of ways. Hopefully, the team lays it on the line next week and can end on a high note. QB - Undercuffler (Bullock) RB - Lingard (Anderson) WR - Gathings (Norton) WR - George (Anderson) (WR) - Walker (Golden) TE - Banks TE - Newell LT - Chambers LG - Frank C - T.Williams (Georges) RG - Lyons RT - N. Williams DE - Nunnally (A. Smith) DT - T. Jones (Robinson) DT - Lavea (Moore) (Murphy) DE - Adler (L. Jackson) LB - Fish (Griffin) LB - Cooper (McCoy) NB - C. Thomas (Lewis) CB - Durant (Golden-Nelson) CB - Tallandier (Golden-Nelson) S - Thompson (C. Thomas) S - Martin (C. Thomas)