Dave in Green

Here's a link to a story in which Euton's father lists the schools from which his son has offers, and that he planned to visit five schools before making his choice in November. It's a big plus that UA made his short list of schools to visit.Jerry Tipton on UK BasketballI also found another story where the father visited a UK sports forum where his son was being trashed. He says that he has now stopped reading all sports forums. I'd like to think he and other parents of recruits would be able to read Zips Nation without seeing the kind of offensive trash-talking that goes on in so many other sports forums. It's not an NCAA violation to gain a competitive recruiting advantage by impressing the parents of recruits with the civility of a school's sports fan base.Parents & Internet Forums

The competition for playing time among this year's guards is going to be outrageous.If Hitchens and Steward are both healthy, that doesn't leave many minutes available to a third PG. Hitchens proved himself last season, and many believe that Steward is capable of at least matching Hitchens' overall performance.I'm still curious how McNees would perform at SG without primary responsibility for distributing the ball. I still think he has the potential to hit lots of 3s if shooting is his focus.Roberts is the guy you want on the floor while nursing a lead at the end of a game and the other team being forced to deliberately foul. He's an all-star caliber free throw shooter.As the tallest of the six guards, McClanahan should have an advantage on both offense and defense at SG, especially against teams with taller guards. But he'll have to demonstrate that his learning curve has gone up after the kind of early freshman errors that Hitchens overcame last season. I'm sure it wasn't easy for McClanahan to adjust to losing his redshirt after the season was well underway.Sullivan is still a mystery until we see how he adapts to college competition. If he's really good and a quick learner, he could be the surprise of the season. Otherwise he'll be insurance for the future.

Let's not allow Zips Nation to officially become "out of control."

Pretty decent overall. But another thing they missed is thinking that McNees is primarily a point guard rather than a shooting guard who was forced to play point due to injuries to the true point guards.

I'll promise not to give any "take 'em one at a time" lectures in return for not getting any "must win" lectures. ;)But seriously, replacing a veteran QB with a younger, inexperienced QB a couple of games into the college season most often results in an initial dip in team performance. But it also positions the team for more potential growth as the QB gains experience. So while the odds are stacked against the Zips in their first couple of games with the new QB, there's a lot of potential to improve as the season progresses. Nothing's guaranteed. The Zips could completely fall apart, or Rodgers may grow quickly in the next few weeks and salvage the season. It could go either way, and I'm not smart enough to be able to predict which way based on whatever happens in the CMU game.

I think we should give each QB one full game to have a great performance. If they don't, ditch 'em and go to the next one. When we run out of QBs, start converting other players to QBs and give them each one full game to prove themselves. Then, off with their heads. And if they all fail, then we'll have to face the fact that the QB represents 1 of 11 offensive players on the field. Even the best QB is not likely to have a great performance without at least decent performances from the other 10 positions, and a good game plan for them all to execute.But seriously, folks, Rodgers or any other QB deserves more than one full game to prove themselves. He was part of the problem in his first start, but far from the whole problem.

Looked to me as if Zeke was very slightly favoring his right leg, something you almost wouldn't notice unless you were looking closely. Slightly twisted ankle, maybe? I don't think it's uncommon for athletes to get minor dings while practicing that quickly heal. So it's probably nothing to be concerned about.

No QB looks good if the guys in front of him can't control the line of scrimmage. When a QB is flattened by one of his own blockers being tossed into him by the defense, you know there's a big problem in the trenches.

Very disappointing, especially for someone who went through it once before and should have learned a lesson. Regardless of what we fans may think, it's going to be awfully tough for Jacq to come back as a team leader and gain the respect of the rest of the players. Even if the suspension is only for one game, there's good reason to consider not having him return as the starting quarterback. But that's all up to the coaching staff based on their evaluation of what's best for the team.

I'm OK with "OK" until the Zips prove otherwise.

It is big time that Zeke and the Zips are showing up on more national radar screens.There was more good stuff in a Sept. 9 column by Jeff Goodman, senior college basketball writer for Fox Sports, but the link is apparently broken. I'll include the link below in case it gets fixed, but will also include the portion of text from the column dealing with Zeke and the Zips as found in a Google search cache:Fox Sports LinkBIG MAN IS "X" FACTOR FOR AKRONBig guys like Zeke Marshall don't come along often in the MAC.Akron coach Keith Dambrot has been forced to go with undersized post players such as 6-foot-6 Jeremiah Wood and Romeo Travis in the past. Now he'll have a new dimension with 7-foot, 215-pound freshman Zeke Marshall. "We've never had anyone like him – someone that can cover our mistakes," Dambrot said. Marshall comes into the program as the most heralded and highly rated recruit arguably in the history of the school. "I've been impressed with him so far," Dambrot said. "He's better offensively than I thought. He's not strong in the weight room but is deceptively strong and can keep people off him.""He runs like a gazelle, but he's got a good touch and that was surprising," he added. "I think he's got a chance to be a pro."Akron may be the hip pick to win the league after taking the conference tournament last season and returning the McKnight brothers – Brett and Chris – and also its top four guards.However, Dambrot would like to see someone on the team emerge – potentially guard Anthony Hitchens – as a go-to guy down the stretch.

That's an interesting photo that shows a lot more than the video replay. It does look as if he's losing control of the ball just as his knee is touching the 1-yard line. But if his knee is going down at the 1-yard line, that means the ball should be within inches of crossing the plane of the goal line.Beacon Photo Link

The ball did hit the pylon, which would have made it a touchdown if his knee hadn't hit the ground first, which is what showed up on the replay. There's no question that Rodgers is a more explosive runner than Jacquemain, which adds an offensive weapon to the arsenal. If the coaches thought Rodgers' passing, decision-making and leadership were at least equal to Jacquemain's, there's no doubt he'd be the starter.

Even those who don't care much for football couldn't deny that this was just a fantastic day for the entire UA campus. The pre-game atmosphere and spirit across the campus was so magic that I enjoyed walking around and soaking it all in as much as I enjoyed the game. The student participation at the game itself took me back several decades to my college days in another state, a feeling I never got at the Rubber Bowl.The new stadium goes far beyond football. It can be a catalyst for making the whole UA student experience richer, as well as giving non-students a greater appreciation for what a jewel this campus is becoming.The next step is to ensure that the excitement of the grand opening doesn't fade away, but is carried over into future games and becomes a tradition before, during and after each game.

Exactly what I saw and thought.

Gee, I missed this thread because I wasn't looking for tickets. Anyway, thanks to everyone for passing on Hilltopper's offer. The extra space provided by the empty seat was much appreciated.

Black verbals to BGSU.PD Link

I never cease to be amazed at how internet forum discussions among people who appear to be mostly in agreement can polarize into epic battles over the minutest nuances of interpretation.

I visited GoZips.com as suggested. But instead of clicking on the large Game Day Central graphic, I used the drop down menu from the FanZone tab to select Game Day Central, which is not synched with the new stadium info.Most people will click on the main graphic and not be able to savor the nostalgic sidetrip as I did. ;)No big deal. I've just recently gotten into website building for my wife's business, and completely understand that the bigger and more complex the site gets, the more opportunities to overlook a bad link.

The Directions to InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field link takes you directly to the most up-to-date routing to the Rubber Bowl.

The antidote to cure any bad feelings created by any opinion piece we don't agree with is to simply search the many other opinion pieces out there until we find one we like.Bleacher Report , for example, ranks UA's 2009 recruiting class (Zeke) as 11th overall among mid-majors, and ahead of Ohio, Miami and all other MAC teams.

Outstanding report, CK! Many thanks for all the good info on many different BB issues.Among the key points to me include the continuing growth of Nikola. Based on his improved performance from beginning to end of his freshman season, I don't think anyone really knows how far he can go. We all know he has a passion for the game. If he channels that passion into physical conditioning and working on the finer points of the game, he could be a monster. I'd sure like to see him have the stamina to play with intensity for long minutes.On the negative side, Hitchens' lingering injury is all too reminiscent of Steward's injury-plagued early years with the Zips. This is why it's important to have a deep bench. Hopefully, Steward will start the season healthy and remain that way, and Roberts will be even more motivated by the scholarship. Obviously the other big negative is B McKnight's back. It's scary to think that he will play with it for the next two years, and wait until he graduates for the operation. It suggests at least the possibility that corrective surgery might not be guaranteed to immediately make him a better player. Whatever it is, I truly hope only the best for him and his future health.Finally, on the issue of the new arena, the fact that UA can't finance it on its own after investing so much in the football stadium is not surprising. Hopefully, both the city and county will find a way to make a strong economic case for contributing sooner rather than later. Main and Exchange may not be the ideal location, but it's OK with me -- certainly better than waiting for UA to pay off the football stadium and be able to go it alone. For those who can accept nothing short of perfection, life is tough.Can't wait to see the 2009-10 Zips play anywhere!

I agree that the cheap shot was not obvious. It was hard to see in the first, more distant replay, and I only developed a full appreciation for exactly what happened when I step-framed through the closer video angle. It was not a wild, roundhouse swing, but a short jab. What made it so effective was that the two players were at first moving together at the same speed. When Linhart left his feet to throw the pass, Singletary planted his foot and leveraged that with Linhart's forward momentum to make the blow much more devastating than it initally appeared. It had all the appearance of a veteran move by someone with a lot of experience in that area. Once I understood what had happened, it explained all the other players who've ended up rolling on the floor at Singletary's feet while he displays that wide-eyed look of total innocence.

Based on the following comment in the evaluation of Can't, it's obvious that College Hoops is totally out to lunch:Singletary does most of his damage by getting to the basket, or the free-throw line, but if he can hit the three-pointer a little more consistently, he could score 20 points per game.Everyone but College Hoops and the refs knows that Singletary does most of his damage with his right fist.

And another writer said that Miami had the strongest recruiting class in the MAC. I'm not sure how to fairly and accurately compare quantity versus quality, and I doubt that any of the prognosticators have an ironclad formula, either. In any case, each team will be the sum of what they lost, what they gained and how the veteran and rookie players execute together.