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OFFENSE QB: Finley Bullock - We are one of the few teams (maybe the only team) in the MAC returning their starting quarterback. Bullock will be the backup if he returns. If not, Roggow should be QB2. RB: Gant (Portal) Gee (Portal) - Transfers Gant and Gee should be the top backs initially. Redshirt freshman Patrick is the dark horse and may push for starting snaps sooner than later WR: Granger Mason WR: Polk Davis WR: Walker Hills (Portal) - The development of Granger and Polk in the back half of the season gives reason for optimism. Those two seem primed for a big year. If Adams returns (and is healthy) he’d be a nice boost. I really like the pickup of Hills from the portal. He’s the type of receiver who can excel in this offense and I think he’ll quickly work his way into the rotation. Redshirt freshman Mason is another one to keep an eye on. TE: Newell Cravaack - Newell was on pace to be 3rd team All-MAC before injuries sidelined him for a few games. However, Newell’s absence allowed Cravaack to gain substantial snaps. Cravaack became a fixture in the rotation once he had an opportunity. This duo should be one of the best in the conference. LT: Shor Johnson (Portal) LG: Archer (Portal) Fox C Morris McManus RG: Davis Mitchell RT: Jones (Portal) Mann - It’s really anyone’s guess who will be starting come kickoff. We lost some key players to the portal, but this group still has the potential to be solid. Coach JRod has had the OL on an upward projection regardless of who has been slotted along the line. We have some talented young players and a number of this year’s linemen will have previously spent time at JUCO. DEFENSE DE: Durham (Portal) Cheatom DE: Dall Frazier - Replacing Nunnally won’t be easy. That said, Durham ought to immediately be able to pick up some of the workload. The young players that are expected to play heavily into the rotation have high ceilings. DT: Murphy Hull DT: Brockington Madden - This position should have produced more than it did in 2024. Moore and Kapongo ended up being the only truly productive DTs once Lavea went down and we really didn’t have much of a pass rush from the interior. The DTs collected only 3.5 sacks as a group. The best talent here is the younger players. This position still needs addressing and 3-4 more interior linemen will be added. LB: Hollobaugh (Portal) Benenge LB: Spriggs Boswell - Similar to DE, this is a talented group, but most of the talent is younger and lacking experience. Hollobaugh should be an immediate starter and if Summers returns, that would help. I think Spriggs is in line for a breakout year. He has the physical tools and seems close to putting it all together. NB: Lewis Greenwood - Lewis and Greenwood return and will rotate at safety when needed. CB: Reed Branch (Portal) CB: Kamara (Portal) DeWalt - Reed was our best CB besides Golden-Nelson. Kamara should immediately slot in as the CB opposite Reed. If DeWalt can become more consistent, that would give us an incredibly long and athletic group to match up against opposing wide receivers. S: David Hunter S: Anderson D. Johnson - This group was inconsistent, at times, due to lack of experienced depth. David and Anderson will likely be the starters. Redshirt freshman Hunter may push his way into starting snaps. SPECIAL TEAMS K: Wiley Schramm P: Castle LS: Rhoades Special teams listed are returners and I’m assuming will step into starting roles. However, I imagine a few more specialists will be added.

A little over a week and a half ago, there were four undefeated teams in MAC play: Akron, Toledo, Ohio, and Miami. In that span, Akron has beaten the other three.

The MAC runs through Akron. Outstanding performance.

Excellent round up of this week's action. In the "bread and butter" section are some good stats comparing the Akron Groce Era teams. https://open.substack.com/pub/akronzippedup/p/zips-mens-basketball-weekly-update-96e?r=4gotw8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

The MAC is actually 3 spots lower than the Horizon according to KenPom.

Excluding that first year, I might have agreed a month ago. I know the MAC is down, but they've really really improved over the past month or so. Princeton is a top 5 mid major and we should have won at their place, at least forced OT. This is a pretty good team

I don't think I can move on with my life until I know what conference is taking on the NIU basketball programs.

Hella fun game. 1. It's still January, but this team is REALLY starting to figure it out. They are a lot of fun to watch. To do that to the other best team in the league right now? Goodness 😂 2. Miami is likely going to be there at the end of the season along with Ohio, Kent, and Toledo. Every day is an opportunity to improve and they are all treating it the exact same way. Always respect to Ohio, Kent, and Miami. They've made NCAA runs, we haven't. 3. With apologies to Andrew Callaghan - All Gas, No Brakes!!!!

Without football the MAC will terminate their membership. Football is one of the requirements to be a MAC member (along with men's and women's basketball and volleyball). Their other sports will not go to the Mountain West but will likely end up in a conference that doesn't sponsor football. So yes, probably our last road trip to DeKalb.

They haven’t figured out that Reghi is our weapon of mass distraction. And I personally liked; “Stole little Bro’s lunch money”.

Appears we still own this conference

My advice is, rent, don't buy.

The Zips will head west to DeKalb, Illinois to face the Northern Illinois Huskies Tuesday. The Huskies are 5-14/1-6 and are coming off of their first MAC win of the season, a 76-66 win over Ball State. 6’5” sophomore guard, Quentin Jones, a Cal Poly transfer, leads the Huskies at 15.9 ppg while also contributing 4.2 rpg. 6’5” senior guard James Dent, a Western Illinois transfer, is the second leading scorer at 12.8 ppg while adding 5.1 rpg. Terry Copeland, a 6’9” freshman, is the team’s leading rebounder at 6 rpg. The Huskies were chosen to finish 11th in the MAC and so far are living up to that projection but the MAC has seen some strange happenings happen in DeKalb over the years.

Further proof of the coaching mastery of John Groce.

You might be right. I think initial discussions had MVC in the speculation, and that has shifted to the Summit. Ironically, the Summit is currently two spots higher than the MAC in KenPom.

The northern Illinois road trip trap game of all Northern Illinois road trip trap games

Love than Evan had a moment like that! Got chance to whip the rowdies into a frenzy! He’s a good player…if he’d have gone the division 2 route he’d have had a respectable college career, scoring-wise. Love how he’s looking to score the moment he hits the floor. Hope he starts on senior day. 👏🏼

Uhhh... A photo has been released... He definitely deserved the T. Haha.

Only the football program is leaving the MAC as I understand it.

The bank eventually did get default judgment against old Kenni. Before that ever happens, you get multiple chances to work things out. The judgment is for $23,852.09 plus interest of 13.5% per annum. This for a guy who makes $500K plus a year. It's remarkable that a guy who makes that kind of money couldn't work out a $24K debt. It's nearly as remarkable that a coach of the only D1 athletics program in a county doesn't have somebody running interference for the head football coach. It's all a sign of something very wrong.

He got called for a foul just as they went to a timeout and he came out of it with the ball at the Miami end. As he walked to the Akron bench he carried the ball and lazily dropped it at half court, not giving it to an official. Groce saw it as it happened, retrieved the ball and yelled back to Sharron who had made it to the Akron huddle, demanding that he come back to half court where he convened a meeting with himself, Sharron and the official. It was a really bad look for Sharron and he was immediately brought back to learn the lesson. It was well done by Groce.

Pretty good crowd for girls. We got two groups of chanters doing our best

Zips won as many MAC games that year as they already have this year.

Miami-Hamilton hijack the Redhawks bus today?

Travis Steele has the expression of a guy who just realized he got off at the wrong train stop.

Romeo and JD Brookhart are in attendance.

You said a mouthful. It's barely football anymore. Bad tackling. Bad coaching. Gimmick kickoffs. Bad QB play. Players can't be physically anymore. Nonsensical "dancing" after routine plays. Too many replays. Too many commercials. Only drunks and degenerate gamblers can enjoy this nonsense, which are the base demographic groups now.

Best start imaginable. My scouting report of Miami at the start of the season is holding true. They do not have the athleticism to overcome poor shooting vs athletic, good shooting teams.

Maybe because, other than the Sun Belt Challenge, Miami may be the only decent opponent we see until March.

On behalf of the fans who enjoy a couple beers and some wings before a Saturday night home game, I say “nay” to standardizing on Saturday afternoon games.

Four new additions to coach Simonetti's incoming recruiting class available for Spring soccer. Especially excited about Taylor Allen, transfer from West Virginia who prepped at IMG Academy and was a top-150 national HS player and looks to be a scorer from the #10 spot (attacking mid). Scoring is a need for this team... https://gozips.com/news/2025/1/24/akron-womens-soccer-adds-quartet-for-2025-spring-campaign-A?fbclid=IwY2xjawIAsE1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQV6vYqtXckHGpiJIeuJDyfDda9l8HCEB1dbTKLWDuCCdxdd9KNslBgmYQ_aem_LDQos2TpnbchkM6cvsmEIg

The JAR sucks, worst in the MAC. No bleachers behind the baskets makes it look like a HS gym. It’s amazing we’ve been as successful as we’ve been. KD left because of it and Groce will likely leave for the same reason.

I think part of the issue lies in the inferiority complex psyche of the area in general that bleeds over to the University. The residents of Summit County never much appreciate what they have here, looking to other areas' cultural attractions and sports. Part of that is an underlying propensity of Joe Akron to think it's "just Akron basketball", not "real" D1 basketball like they have in Columbus and Cincinnati.

Sadly, for this season, the marketing department should have been laying the groundwork in August. Everybody knew they would be good. But looking back does no good. This team has a heck of a highlight reel thus far this season. They need some slick videos that get blasted out on social media and sent directly to season ticket holders, alums, faculty and students. Promote EF as one of the best players in country (which he is). They should be running an all-american campaign for this kid. He is treat to watch. Throw in some ticket deals - Buy one, get one 50% off for January home games, whatever. Send good quality video highlights to the cleveland tv stations after every win. When they 'do' show highlights, it's grainy espn+ garbage. Get people in the door and show them a good time. They will be back. This is a good product and has been consistently for years.