MarkWiley
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Posts posted by MarkWiley
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9 hours ago, catdaddyp said:
Does anyone have any insight into what day this was filmed?
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13 hours ago, DCPoke said:
Wyoming alumnus and fan here. Another UW alumnus is accompanying me from Virginia and we’ll be pulling into town a few hours before kickoff.
Question No. 1: What’s the parking situation on game day — where’s the best place to park?
Question No. 2: Any recommendations on places to eat before the game?
Any recommendations for places to stay, good restaurants, and sights to take in while in Akron?
Thanks in advance. Looking forward to the game.The player families and football alumni usually set up to the left of the scoreboard if you are facing the stadium in lot 9, near gate 1. Look for a larger group of people with some akron flags. Please stop by and say hi and have a few drinks and burgers, we love when visiting fans hang out before the game.
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2 hours ago, catdaddyp said:
Not sure if anyone else has posted this, but here are a few nuggets from Phil Steele:
He’s projecting our most wins since 2017 despite the portal and graduation losses. That said, he has us ranked 10th in the MAC—an improvement from being tied for dead last in 2024. (For reference, we finished 8th last season with 3 MAC wins and 4 total.)
Coaching staff got a bump—he ranks them 5th in the conference, up from 8th a year ago.
He’s not buying into our OL, DL, DB, or ST units though. He’s pretty down across the board on those groups.
Preseason All-MAC selections:
QB: Ben Finley (4th Team)
WR: Alex Adams (2nd Team)
TE: Jake Newell (3rd Team)
LB: Gage Summers (3rd Team)
CB: Elijah Reed (4th Team)
My take:
As far as preseason All-MAC goes, I think it’s wishful thinking for Adams after what I saw in the spring game. He didn’t have the explosiveness he had a few years ago. Hopefully he will get some of it back by the time 2025 kicks off. I think it’s more likely Mason lands as an all conference WR.
I also think we’ll be fine at DB and on ST. I’m more concerned with our quality depth on the OL and DL. Hopefully we’ve done enough in the portal and through JUCO to shore up those groups so that injuries don’t drastically alter our performance when the backups have to step in.
Where can we read this?
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What about the idea that if a player enters the portal in december or april, the team that picks him up will take on the academic stats of that player from the fall semester. that way if a kid knows they are leaving, they still have to maintain academic quality to get picked up by another team.
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2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:
These ringers you speak of don't have to be non players. Just fill out the roster with guys who did well in school, but were maybe a few inches too short or a step too slow. It's not like all HS players are stereotypical jocks. Those guys can still contribute on special teams or in practice.
I think the bigger problem is we just brought in too many JUCO or players that got by in high school because the school wanted them to play football on Fridays.
This is what backup specialists are for!
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26 minutes ago, egregiousbob said:
Akron can't win the MAC this year because it is barred from the league championship game, a point overlooked by the esteemed ABJ writer covering this story.
At least we have the, uh, "Action Plan." That makes it all better. Can't wait for them to come up with Action Plans for the several other issues ailing the university. Interesting that Nemer didn't identify a single element of the Plan. Could it all just be another PR move by the BOT? Likely.
Do you have a source for that? My understanding is Akron can still participate in the Championship.
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Once a kid mentally decides to enter the portal, whether that's actually in December/April or weeks or months before the window opens, there is nothing the program can do to control that kids actions anymore. If an education is not important to that player, they check out entirely, often not bothering to finish their courses. There is nothing the program can leverage against the kid to enforce his actions. Meanwhile, the kids who stay suffer collectively due to their actions. Once the portal changed, this education requirement should not be enforced. The programs who are still maintaining the requirements are rich enough to fake it. The problem isn't all on the kids currently in the program, it's the kids who check out mid semester because they know they are hitting the portal.
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2 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
The wording on his tweet is so bizarre. Another account confirmed this is a commitment.
The wording is strange, I didn't understand he actually accepted the offer.
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We currently do not have a LS on roster. There is a freshman coming in this summer as well.
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1 hour ago, MangoZip said:
I get the point but this is quite an exaggeration. So you’re saying a 3 star recruit should turn down a full D1 scholarship and head to D3/D2 or NAIA? That makes no sense. They have to have some confidence in their abilities and coaches to succeed at the D1 level. I’m sure there are plenty of players at the lower levels that have success but still never get that shot st D1
Yeah you are probably more right than I am, but I'm even seeing 3 stars take the scholarship and keep getting passed over. It's sad.
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On 2/7/2025 at 3:01 PM, ZipsBBjunkie said:
This is for me the most disheartening outcome of the new era and where I find myself getting sentimental about the loss of the 'way it was' being a fan of a program and seeing the growth and maturity pay off with championships and the core/program stars basking in what those years of hard work delivered ... the Enrique experience for fb or bball is / will be few and far between. That's what many of us grew up appreciating and where the true fan experience came from, but alas...here we are. We root for a second year with Ben Finley. Go Zips!
HS level coaches, parents and kids need to start being honest in their own assessments. Unless you are a 4-5 star national recruit, you need to go straight to D3-NAIA-JUCO-D2-FCS to a place you can build film, then transfer. If you watch closely, you've seen countless kids who are on the traditional development path get leapfrogged by transfers when it's their turn. Coaches are incentivized to give a transfer every opportunity over a long term recruit. Too many kids are holding on to a dream of a path that doesn't exist anymore, they need to suppress their ego and take the path that is laid our for them. I'm not saying this is right, or doesn't need changing, it just is so they need to adapt.
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36 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:
Why do they all post all of their offers on 'formerly Twitter'? Is that meant to raise their profile with other coaches/schools?
yes. It's marketing, you'll be surprised how much programs pay attention to who is recruiting who. Get one good offer at a top school in a conference then you can expect other schools in that conference to offer as well. FOMO is real.
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garrison Smith to FAU.
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2 minutes ago, LZIp said:
Kellom is in the portal to pick up and post offers from D2 schools..
To be fair, Mercyhurst JUST went up to FCS for football, starting next year. Why? No idea...
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36 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:
According to 247, he had 2 offers - Kent and Eastern Kentucky. So often in Ohio these types of accolades don't yield much FBS-level interest. I'm sure he made the right choice as Kenni Burns and his staff have a track record of coaching up their players...
I'm sure the closeness of Kent to home is a big factor as well. Being from Ohio and having kids in the MAC is awesome.
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9 minutes ago, MangoZip said:
The athletic dept is caught in a whirlpool that they can’t get out of. I think they truly do want to improve the football program but they are so desperate for the money to keep the entire athletic department afloat that they can’t resist the big payday games. Vicious cycle
I hope they have the guts to give it one year, give the team the chance to get out of OOC with 2 or even 3 wins and get a bowl game. Then see how that chargers the program. Here's hoping.
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47 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:
It's easier to grab a Big 10 or SEC welfare check to stay afloat than it is to put thought and work into new ideas and grow them. MUCH easier.
It's also great to blame your facilities, which are too nice and shouldn't have been built if <insert UA official's name here> were in charge.
My fear is that our OOC schedule is going to get reworked over the summer for budgetary reasons.
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7 minutes ago, MDZip said:
As they say don't hate the player, hate the game. They didn't create this mess, but, like just about everyone else, they're trying to take their best advantage of it. I don't feel much loyalty to college football any more. I would not feel like my life was impacted at all if it disappeared.
And that’s the sad reality of the environment.
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2 minutes ago, LZIp said:
I don’t disagree with general premise of this, but coaches (at least head coaches) are penalized for this in the form of contract buyouts. Yes I know it’s customary for hiring school to pay them, but still a technical hurdle.
No sort of detriment to the student athlete comes to mind offhand.
You could argue people ripping them apart online and criticizing their moves and announcement language is just as slightly damaging as a contract buyout they will never have to pay.
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4 minutes ago, GP1 said:
Can't they show an ounce of original thought?
so if your complaint is you don't like the language of their announcement, I can't argue with you. But is that alone why you called them "f-ing a-holes"? Because their announcement was too wordy?
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Just now, MarkWiley said:
well, keep in mind they are 18-22 years old and grew up in the world of social media. We are just old curmudgeons from a different era.
If you really want to complain about the current state, blame the NCAA, blame the MAC for the TV deal robbing the in game experience, blame the university for not doing enough to make the program attractive, the university for terrible on campus promotion... plenty of blame to go around, but blaming the kids for taking advantage of the system they are giving is not fair in my opinion.
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2 minutes ago, GP1 said:
I'm blessed to have read this.
well, keep in mind they are 18-22 years old and grew up in the world of social media. We are just old curmudgeons from a different era.
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Game #3 Zips @ UAB - 8:30 pm September 13th: Catdaddyp July Preview → Official Game Thread
in Akron Zips Football
Posted
What happened can’t tell here. All we see if Joe Mo is screaming at some coaches.