catdaddyp

Thanks @94zipgrad and @Let'sGoZips94 JUCO OT Darell Johnson has been added.

Edge Roosevelt Andrew to Miami of Ohio.

We are not going to land many more players on this list, but JUCO OT Darrell Johnson was just added. Looks like he picked up a Zips offer this morning.

I was a little taken aback by his response. We know 15 players are committed, so either Joe misspoke about the numbers or 3 of the players’ offers are not being honored. The second part I’m confused about is I thought for 2023 and 2024 FBS schools could sign as many players as they wanted as long as they were at the 85 scholarship limit for the start of the reason. Maybe that does not kick in until 2024? Joe said we could take up to 32, which was the case for the 2022 class, so IDK at this point. Great info about how the classes will be structured. As I figured, the thread about outstanding offers is pretty much useless at this point, haha. But who knows, maybe we get 1 or 2 more of those guys? I can’t wait to see the caliber of players the staff brings in from the portal in year 2. Home runs this year with Harper, Jones, SJL, Adams, George, and Whigan. Thomas and Thompson have been steadily improving. And we’ve seen some good things out of Golden-Nelson, Terry, Banes, Wiley, Banks, Price, Fish. That’s a pretty high batting average and leads me to believe the 2023 transfer class will be as good or better.

It’s usually available immediately after the game. If using the app, go to the ESPN+ section and search in that search bar.

It’d be great to have him back as it seems the staff has found a solid combination in the middle with Harper and Thomas, but it doesn’t seem likely.

I don’t believe so. He redshirted in 2017 and should be a grad transfer, so this would be his final year.

I don’t know if the SEC media hated him. From the sounds of it, he did not have full control over who was on his staff. That will never work out.

That’s one way to look at it. If you put any stock into preseason awards, BG had 8 players on some type of preseason watchlist/team while Akron had none (to my knowledge). That’s supposedly a talent gap. Keep in mind I don’t buy into that and think we are just as good as BG, but pointing it out as another perspective. Also, yardage was nearly equal at 422 to 408. The main difference was turnovers - 3 to 1. Someone had to win and someone had to lose. Overcoming 2 turnovers with a team we are currently evenly matched with was too much this past Saturday. That was probably BG’s best squad in Loeffler’s tenure and I’m certain this will be Moorhead’s worst during his tenure. A lot to look forward to and the staff is getting more out of many of these players than a slew of people expected.

100% agree. Those two look to have progressed the most. Credit the staff for recognizing their potential and getting in early. Owens looks perfect for boundary safety (where Thompson is currently playing). Miller will probably stick at WR, but he could be productive on both sides of the ball as he’s just a playmaker. Ill be interested to see if Bowen is bulked up and slotted at DE or if he stays at LB. Moore reminds me of Thomas in the way they are built and move. Although Thomas is obviously more advanced and fires off as quick, if not quicker, than any other DL we currently have. Im not crazy about Norton playing QB, but I understand the thought process about having the ball in your best player’s hands every snap. And whoever #6 is he’s pretty good too.

Snowballs chance to beat a team that only has close wins over FAU and Fordham? I could be wrong, but that doesn’t scream powerhouse program to me.

My favorite quote “We’re out of the redshirting business.” Looking at the highlights it’s impressive how far along this team has come from last year. We’re close. Maybe this week will be the week?

We may want to keep both those games on the schedule. I suspect Indiana’s win over Illinois was a fluke and they won’t win many more conference games. If that turns out to be the case, it will probably lead to a new HC in 2023.

DT Marcus Moore mid-season highlights. LB Joshua Bowen mid-season highlights. WR Lester Miller mid-season highlights. WR Adrian Norton mid-season highlights. S Darius Owens mid-season highlights.

When is the next “Zips Live Behind the Mic”?

Disagreeing with your opinion isn’t missing your point. If you think 3-3-5 is a great defense that’s fine. I 100% disagree and I’ve already given several reasons why. Using West Virginia’s defense as an example doesn’t help further your point. I’ll toss one back to you. Check out Texas Tech’s defense last year (3-3-5) against Texas. Texas was not a good team but ran all over Tech and they weren’t running anything out of the ordinary. In fact, it was mostly just zone runs. I don’t feel the need to rehash what I’ve already said as it seems to have gotten glossed over. If we are putting our experiences out there as a reason, I coached in two football dominate states in South Carolina and Louisiana. I have over a decade of head coaching experience while also being an AD. I’ve spent countless hours with college coaches and high school coaches going over drills, schemes, best practices - you name it. I’ve seen just about everything. That’s why very little you say will change my mind on this. But again, it’s ok to disagree.

We’ll have to disagree about the 3-3-5. There are more reasons why I dislike it than I listed above but the main ones are the issues of stopping the run and also needing a special kind of player to fit that “Spur” position (as Carolina used to call it) to make it effective. I haven’t seen anyone run a 3-5-3 base at the college level unless you’re referring to a goalline/short yardage package?

I thought he did really well with what he was given. His one cut and get downhill style seems to be what this offense needs at this time. Honestly, I’ve been pleased with the majority of the transfer class. We weren’t going to hit on all of them, but the majority are contributing and seem to be progressing each week.

If you’re banking on a TJ Watt (or multiple players of that stature) to make your defense go, probably isn’t the best defense to run.

Is it just me or are there times where Joe is so flabbergasted with George’s questions he’s unsure how to respond? George must not be watching the games if he doesn’t know which OL are entrenched. It’s clearly Whigan and Williams….despite what PFF thinks.

I remember Charlie Strong running it at South Carolina under Lou Holtz and that was the first time I saw it used extensively. It was all the rage at the HS coaching clinics, but I never saw a HS actually run it effectively. I believe Joe Lee Dunn was credited with developing the 3-3-5. He ironically also coached at South Carolina - in the late 80’s. They called it “the fire ant defense” at the time because he blitzed like a madman.

OL play in general has dropped off some due to the younger levels across the nation dropping tackle football and going to flag. As far as not being good run blockers I’d have to disagree if we are talking in terms of run vs pass blocking. 99% of HS OL are more advanced in run blocking than pass blocking. Every defense has weaknesses, it’s part of the game. But if we want to specifically talk the 3-3-5 defense, it requires a hybrid defensive back that can play the pass and run equally effective. The issue at LB is they are based stacked. You have to shift one way or the other to not give up the edge. When that’s the case you’re asking those LBs or the Hybrid DB to essentially play like a DE. So in my opinion might as well just go to a 3-4 or 4-2-5. 3-3-5 has always felt gimmicky to me and just didn’t make sense. I even went to a coaching clinic on it and came out feeling the same way.

I’m not a fan of the 3-3-5 either, unless it’s a spin off on passing downs from a base 3-4. I’ve seen too many teams get ripped apart in the ground game from a 3-3-5 based defense.

My guess is the problem is three fold with secondary right now. Either the DBs have a lack of experience, the staff is coaching some bad habits out of them, or they just don’t have the physical stature to stay connected to their man properly. I think both our secondary coaches have an eye for talent and the talent level will increase in the coming years, but this is also their first time coaching as position coaches at the FBS level. I’m certain they know their stuff, but it may take them a little while to figure out how to best coach these players and also what best fits their coaching styles within this staff. I think the secondary will be solid by the end of the year, just going off the improvement we’ve aleady seen. Unfortunately, that sentiment has not helped us the past few games. A consistent pass rush would be the biggest help outside of technique development. Speaking of “warts,” (about to be alot of “buts” ahead) we try to play a good amount of man, which I like to see, but it’s also hurt us at times. I’ve been critical of Hooks’ play, but I also think he has the size and physical ability to make an NFL roster someday. For that to happen, he has alot to improve on. I like Durant, but he needs to add about 10 more pounds to not get shoved off when in coverage or at the LOS. Hence is the same way, but probably needs about 20 more pounds. Golden-Nelson was solid for us, but he seems to be hurt. Lewis is a great fit at Nickel but has struggled as an outside corner and safety. Amakwaa may help us once he gets acclimated - if yesterday’s game was any indication. Threatt seems like a fish out of water when he isn’t play on the outside. Our 3 man rotation at safety has P5 ability all over it, but those guys have been so inconsistent to date. If the safety play continues to improve, a chunk of our run defense will be cleaned up and we shouldn’t have too many more over the top busts in the passing game. A lot of “ifs” and “buts” above but there is enough talent to win us some games this year. As far as the weight issue goes, that won’t get addressed during the season and is something I’m sure our S&C coach will handle in the off-season. Assuming the recruits are being honest about their height and weight, almost all of the incoming DBs have the size to be ready to play immediately. That in and of itself will clean up some of the issues.

I have a lot of thoughts this week. Number one, that was a frustrating game to lose and one I felt we should have won. I’ll give credit to BG in that they have some playmakers and If the ball bounces their way they have enough firepower to beat some above average teams - as demonstrated in their win over Marshall. On the flip side, they tend to give up big plays and if their QB is not playing, or even having an off game, I can see how they could lose to just about anyone. With that being said, we lost this game due to a number of our own mistakes. OFFENSE QB - As we suspected in the preseason, the offense (this year at least) hums at the rate Irons can take it. He hit some big passes and also had some well thrown balls dropped. Conversely, Irons missed on some open receivers and held the ball too long at times. Irons looked gassed on the last drive and that probably played a part in his accuracy and decision making. RB - It was refreshing to see Price get downhill and do some things we expected to see when he was recruited. Still not sure why Norrils has not seen much PT, but one thing is clear, we are missing an explosive running back and this offense will need to continue to rely on Irons’ running ability. WR - It seems Adams is due for one big drop a game, but outside of that he was impressive creating separation. SJL continues to have an excellent season. I was disappointed in George. For whatever reason, he did not seem to be fully immersed in the game and did not attack the ball like he has in previous games. TE - Banks is obviously a big target and creates mismatches in the passing game, but we need more out of him. I believe it was Brank who dropped a perfectly placed ball down the seam by Irons. JoeMo has been excellent in the past exploiting the TE mismatches, but so far we are not getting the consistency we need from that position. OL - Looked like Landers started at LT along with Robarge at LG. Daniels and Banes came back in after a series or two. Pretty sure Lyons and Kilbane saw time throughout the game as well. The OL coach is clearly trying to find a combination that works, but inconsistency has been the theme here. Whigan and Williams have been solid on the right side, except Williams continues to collect holding penalties. DEFENSE DL - I thought Thomas and Harper were excellent. I noticed Thomas hustling down the field in an attempt to clean up missed tackles by others. I’m pretty sure I saw Holt get a few snaps. The other DTs that played did not seem to have much effect on the game. Jones, Morton, and Johnson each had their moments at DE, but I expected to see a higher level of play from them. LB - Not sure what was going on with Bubba, but he did not start (although he did play). Behm started and there was a clear drop off in production. McCoy was the other starter. Regular rotation of Fish and Boateng, who had their moments against the run. Terry finally saw action in the back half of the game and looked good. Again, not sure where he’s been. Richardson was back this game. I noticed him play, but I don’t recall seeing him do much noteworthy. CB - Hooks and Durant started at CB again. Durant was the target of choice by BG. What has happened to Golden-Nelson? I thought he had that spot locked down after the first two games. He’s gone MIA and in turn that CB spot has become a position of weakness. Threatt played and did not look good. Amankwaa played his first game on defense and looked solid. I expect Amankwaa will receive more PT as the year goes on. Lewis and Hence played the Nickel, but Hence struggled in pass defense again. S - I believe Thompson and JKP started while Martin rotated in. Again, hit or miss in this area. Thompson came down to make a number of tackles but his run fits weren’t always the best, which has been the case throughout the season. It was good to see an opportunistic interception by Martin. Too many missed tackles by this group and the entire defense. SPECIAL TEAMS I’m not going to rehash the obvious goofs on ST yesterday. I will say not having a kicker with a strong enough leg to put the ball through the end zone is tough. Our tackling was not up to par when we needed to consistently cover kickoffs, therefore giving BG excellent starting position on most of their drives. The team definitely showed resolve and fight to the end, but had far too many mistakes. The missed tackles were infuriating. I can understand a handful of missed tackles against P5 teams, but I’m fairly certain we missed more tackles yesterday than any other game this year. What made the missed tackles even more disappointing is the majority of time our DC called the right play/alignment to put our players in a position to be successful. There is probably going to be some doom and gloom in our fan base after this loss, especially after we beat BG last year, but last year has little bearing on this year. This team is close to getting over the hump. As much as we’d all like it to be, progression is not on a linear upward trend. It’s choppy and sometimes requires taking a step back before two steps forward. I’m disappointed that we lost, but more so in the sense that we are so close to moving up the MAC ladder and did not take advantage of the opportunity yesterday.