CDMac

Athlon Sports Akron Preview I think they did a pretty good job summarizing the challenges the Zips face this coming season although I disagree with their prediction on our place in the MAC East standings.

I share in your agony, @LZIp I think they men report to fall camp August 1st or 2nd; less than 50 days now!!

Oh shoot. I created a new topic with this info. Didn't see you guys mention this in the recruiting thread. Didn't mean to steal your thunder (or try to). I guess stuff like this can't get enough exposure.

You have to read this account of Jason's run-in with a purse snatcher in Vegas!!

More about JM-L https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2018/6/8/17438036/dallas-cowboys-2018-offseason-film-review-linebacker-justin-march-lillard

Justin March-Lillard news out of Cowboys OTA's

I didn't know they were looking at making changes to the transfer rule(s). Thanks for the info. EDIT: Read they were due to make announcement on changes "in June"... They were considering the idea of guys having a 3.0 or better to not have to sit the year. stay tuned!

If you've never been to Nebraska for a football game and you have the time/money, make it a priority to get down for the opener this year. Even though Big Red has been down for a number of years, that fanbase is maniacal (in a good way). Travelled out there for a game when I was enrolled at CU (when they were both still in the Big12) and that place is a great college football town. We'll be there (and the rest of the away games this year) braving the sea of red.

Assuming Jonah has to sit out 2018 because, NCAA. Is that correct? Never mind; I see CK's post above mentioning him being a 2019 addition so unless we have some waiver magic, I think he'll sit 2018 due to transfer rules.

Outstanding article @Captain Kangaroo !!

I'd agree with this too. I think I've been more impressed with our overall running game this year than where it was as a unit last year (even with Warren). The OL and RB timing appears to be better and we seem to be getting better push up front (not sure if that's a plus for the OL or a negative for the DL). I just feel like the whole operation (scheme/blocking/running) is more efficient. They've been rather consistent in getting positive yards on the early downs to help take some pressure off the passing game having to come up with 3rd and long conversions all the time.

You're not the only one... Add me to the camp that was very impressed by Key.

Not sure where to put this so I'll drop it in here:

^ this Maybe the coaches will put in a couple of plays specifically designed to bait the defense come Saturday on which the offense takes advantage of them cheating a little to execute an explosive play or two. i.e fake the bubble, dip underneath and hit the backside post.

For those looking for specific player evals, one of those picks came from the DE position by Justin Sampson. He was upfield so fast and into the throwing lane before Ramart knew what had happened. Definitely a coaching point for the QB to adjust the flight of the ball to go over/around a charging-up-the-field DE which we saw Ramart do on another play last week. Chalk that one up to "helluva defensive play" but "need to protect the ball better". I agree that defense is usually ahead of the offense this time of year and TB mentioned this in the interview with Joe Dunn as well.

Looking ahead a bit, looks like we could benefit from Mother Nature speeding up the warming trend by a day or two:

I hadn't gotten to put my thoughts down yet, but my take is that these scrimmages are microcosms of football in general. Sometimes things don't work as planned; sometimes they work better than expected. I thought that the offenses (they primarily had a 1's and a 2's team with some guys mixing into both groups off and on) weren't as efficient as they had been the previous week. I'm not sure whether that means the offenses were worse or the defense was better this go-round, but it mimics the ebb and flow of football in general. In both last week's scrimmage and the one held this past Saturday, there were times that the offenses looked great; good runs on early downs keeping them ahead of the chains and passing game hitting key big chunks to move the ball effectively. Then there were miscues and turnovers that wiped out several drives. I thought both QBs were more effective on April 7th than they were on the 14th but I don't know the "why". TB mentions that they were running some plays that they hadn't worked on much in practice so maybe their comfort level with the plays and the timing for the offense as a whole was affected by the lack of practice with these plays. As TB stated, we have to eliminate the turnovers and I'm sure ball security will be a heavily weighted criteria determining who gets playing time and who does not going forward. The good news is that we've got an offseason and Fall camp to work out the kinks (I know they are working on it as there was a group of offensive players that went in to watch film together over the weekend). As TB stated in the video, during the Red Zone portion of the scrimmage, the offenses scored on every possession (he's taking some liberties with a couple of scoring plays that were not called as such by the refs, but I agree with TB that they were indeed scores despite what the refs saw). One specifically was on a seam route by Wolfley into the back of the end zone that the refs ruled out of bounds but it sure looked like he got a foot (maybe both) down before being pushed out by the defender. Overall, I've been really pleased with the efforts on both sides of the ball. The defense does appear to be outpacing the offense at this point but I expect that for every team early in the season. This is especially true because our offense (more so than the D) is looking to find the guys to step in and step up; they are having to replace more starters on that side of the ball. I didn't take notes this week but overall I am very excited for this year's version of the Zips.

GT is here today for another scrimmage so expect another article or two from him this weekend. I’ll take some notes as well.

DemBoys looking good man!! Brimage and Bubba on the double A-gap blitz is kinda nasty, right?

Have you ever seen the schedule for a D1 football player? It may not be "class" heavy but it's loaded Fall semester load is rather brutal to be honest. With the limited time the coaches can spend with the players (and are restricted from coaching them at times of the year), the guys take it upon themselves to get together and work on the things they need to work on. I'm sure there are varying degrees to the amount of work being done at different programs across the country but I know the QBs and WRs for Akron have put in significant time together this offseason. Where the heck is the fun in giving up Madden/bonding time?

Before spring camp opened, they were getting together as a group (QBs/WRs) to work on routes, etc. They continue to get extra work in when they can.

I think the timing/chemistry will come as they get more work in on those deep routes. I like his size and burst off the ball to gain quick separation. I don't think he's fully 100% yet, but I don't know if that's accurate. Either way, I think there will be some big-play potential there when he and the QBs get on the same page as far as where he likes them to place the ball on certain routes.

I don't have much information to add to what you detailed as far as personnel groupings. It looks to me like they are doing exactly what TB mentioned; trying to find the best 11 on each side of the ball and then the next 11 after that. I think we have a lot more options at the receiver position but it'll be long into Fall camp before we start to see those position battles settled I'd imagine. On paper, we have guys to plug into the holes left by the graduating seniors but we'll have to wait and see if they are "better" as a group than what they fielded last year.

Link to post-scrimmage interview of Coach Bowden by Joe Dunn

Thanks a bunch, Cap'n; Great write-up! I was going to say exactly the same thing so no need for my practice report Just a couple of things to mention: You questioned how many (8?) snaps in the first session. I didn't count so not sure 100%, but that was the plan as I understood it We were told warmups at 8:30, scrimmage at 9:00 so I'm glad they were running a tick late as momma and I got out of the house a little later than we would have liked. My abbreviated practice report (as to not duplicate what CK already covered) LOVED the work by Maverick and Johns. I agree with CK that Wolfley is really fun to watch; he punishes DBs as they try to tackle him. Kyron Brown has his side of the field on lockdown and Butler had a good day with a great PBU The change from silent snap count to QB calling the cadence resulted in converting a 3rd and 6 into a 3rd and 1 via hard count getting the D to jump Keyondre White brings a wallop - He runs hard and finishes forward AND... Van is still FAST (I think I mentioned this 2 weeks ago) Overall was excited by the offense and their progress from 2 weeks ago Team tempo, energy, and camaraderie seem to be quite good When they ran the wildcat, it was Keyondre taking the snap, Maverick in the backfield with him, and Kato split out wide Davon’te Jest is very quick off the ball; he broke up several plays getting into backfield Can't wait til the 21st - see you all there! Thank you for detailing the QB competition from an outsider's perspective. I know my bias and I have refrained from commenting in detail lest I misrepresent the situation. I thought they both looked markedly better than they did 2 weeks ago but that was expected as they're digesting quite a bit of new info and getting used to the timing with new receivers.