zipboy

Roger had a breakthrough scoop on Sunday. According to yahoo.com, Jeff Faine is a really good center. Appreciate the insight Roger. I imagine that Roger is scouring the web trying to find one that says Charlie Frye is not the best QB in the MAC. I can see it now, "sources say according to herdtalk.com, Stan Hill will be the best QB to come out of the MAC this year not Akron's Charlie Frye. As I have stated numerous times, Akron's new west coast offense totally is not the right fit for Frye. He should have gone pro." Can't wait for Roger's break out scoop on his alma mater John Carroll and how inside sources say the Blue Streaks are a close knit group who play really well together.

Thanks ZP. Interesting comments about the MAC tourney. I like the idea of having everyone come. I don't like the idea of limiting to 8 teams or doing what the Horizon League does by only having the championship game at a neutral site. Keep the tourney in Cleveland! North/south region, hmm does that mean truth to the WKU/Middle Tenn St rumors? If we expand, those would be my top 2 teams to get.

I love that we are doing the 2 for 1 if we can get it. Hopefully this won't be at Browns stadium either but a bonafide home game. I realize that you have to give a certain guarantee to get a 2 for 1. But I hated the excuses when asked, football and bball that it did not make sense because you end up on the road all the time. Hipsher always said that. When you play 0 for 1 against a different team each year, what is the difference? As for YSU, maybe this is a classic type game and we will have 12 games that year. We still need 5 home games against D1 teams. Maybe the Zips are in the Patriot Classic that year against a military school at Browns stadium and that "counts" as a home game so YSU can still replace North Texas.

Walt Harris on the hot seat, JD here for 5 years. If Walt gets canned in November, we may have a decommit.

Nice topic starter ZW and good summary CK. I worry about the backcourt most of all. Joyce can't go 32+ minutes all year long. It is tough for any PG and his body still needs to develop. Mario had me pretty worried when he had to bring the ball up the court. I hope tht Middleton can give us quality minutes and take the pressure off. I shudder to think of Collins and McFadden bringing the ball up against the Buffalo press. This team still needs some shooters. Peterson coming back is huge. He and McFadden may open things up. Otherwise I pack it in and make Akron shoot jumpers. Hopefully everyone is working on free throws. With Tarver gone, there should be better ball movement. Dambrot likes to play a lot of guys, so maybe the defensive intensity picks up. I don't know what predictions to throw out right now. This team should be above 500 and will probably be called a darkhorse in the preseason.

Ringer to transfer? What's the story behind that one? Maybe one of the new guys gets to start, but we need depth.

Are there 12 games in 05? How can we play YSU if we need 5 home games?

The best of Roger Brown 1. Sources say that Ilgaskus has a career ending bone problem and will never play again. The Cavs go ballistic and 2 days later he apologizes for making it up. 2. Ronnie Belliard is a big fat tub of lard and several scouts say that he won't hit above 250 this year. 3. Insiders say that Paul Silas can't get along with anyone and will ruin the Cavs. 4. According to the most obscure website you can find, the Cavs/Browns,Indians, take you pick will finish . . . 5. Scources say that Mike Garland is very enthusiastic and will be a great recruiter. Honest, he did write that once. 6. Insiders say that Pete Ritzma will not be back next year. He had that one in there twice. What a scoop! I love reading Roger but of all the reporters, he has the least credibility of anyone that I know. About 5% of what he says is accurate. I would not be surprised to see a blurb in the future, according to zipsnation.org, Drew Schifino is transferring to Akron.

Glad to hear that Brewster will probably play defense. A 270 to 280 LB DT who can move is something that we have not had in a long time.

I was at the state track meet semis on Friday. The Glenville kids dominated. Fuquoa is only a step slower than Ginn. Cloud looks to be a legitimate 205 and can run. The kid looks like a football player. Howard ran on Saturday so I missed him. Andre Walker from Reynoldsburg ran in a few races. He is small. And the bball recruit from Dayton won the state high jump.

With softball biting the dust, here's where I see the non revenue sports right now. Mens Soccer - The marquee program of the MAC. Lolla continues to win big year in and year out. A strength in our program. Baseball - Zips were not very good Fross's last few years. Does Berenyi get them back at the top? Right now they are where most Zips sports are, 8/9 out of 13, mediocre record, and can't win at the end when it counts. He got them back to this level the last 2 years. He needs to go one notch higher. Track - I love Dennis Mitchell. Both and men and women's track were horrible when he took over. The women's program is top notch. The men are atleast even with the middle of the pack now and qualify people year in and year out for the NCAA championships. The Glenville connection can only help. CC - Again, great with the women, men are near the bottom but at least not way at the bottom. Jones has built a solid women's program. Golf - Is Parker the next guy on the hotseat? Bigzip has brought this up in the past. Underachieving program with top notch facilities now. Time to get respectable! Tennis - Another bottom feeder. Atleast with Fox we lose 7-2 instead of 9-0. Why do we blow so much in tennis? Volleyball - Very solid program, one of the cornerstones of the athletic dept. Sweitzer does a nice job. Usually can count on the Zips for a top 4 finish. Rifle - They seem to win championships, are ranked in the top 20, and beat columbus state's a$$ every year. Womens bball - The women's marquee program. If anyone had a harder job than Lee did when he took over, it would be would be Coach K was given. The jury is still out, but if she can just get us to mediocrity in 3 more years, that would be a win in itself. Womens soccer - Too early to tell Swimming/Diving - Vereb seems to be building something. Improvement every year, already at the middle of the pack, I think they are ready to break through in the next 2 years.

I agree, Proenza is the MAN. I was there during the Peggy years as well. Talk about free fall. We had Peggy, Gerry, and Coleman during my era as a Zip student. Quite possibly the darkest days in school history.

Good point about the fear factor. It's not like we are going to Oklahoma. The close game at Wisconsin has to help too. By all accounts, last year's WI team is going to be better than this year's PSU team. The D is the key.

Sweet 16 or Zips in the new BCS bowl game for the underserved conferences, I take the BCS game. Sweet 16 vs MCB, I take sweet 16. Final 32 vs MCB, I take MCB.

I agree, a great addition. It would be nice to have 5 questions every week. And I really like Tommy G as well.

Great posts. ZP, I meant to stop by later, but could not find you. I now know what ZFF looks like at least from the back side! My thoughts on the scrimmage. 1. Zips are a work in progress. The scrimmage was rough, lots of offsides, etc. That does not worry me much either at this point. 2. Particulary noticeable, was the struggles by the offense and Charlie with the receivers. If there is 1 thing that I know will get better over the summer, it is those guys getting on the same page. Hixon is still learning the position, but he is the best athlete on the team, is smart, is a hard worker, and has a guy who developed 2 of the best receivers in college football. He is a playmaker. Goodwin and Garrison looked nice as well. I assume that Mo and Jason Montgomery were hurt? We will be ok at receiver. 3. Zips should run the ball better. Jerell looked good, this JUCO kid may add something, I like Vince Vaughn, and one of the FR may contribute. The bigger thing is having #5 under center more which will help the running game. No one replaces Hendry and we need these guys to protect #5, but there is more talent here than I thought. 4. Gut feel from 90 minutes of scrimmage, the O won't put up the gawdy numbers like the last 2 years, but they will be able to get a first down on 3rd and 2, they will be able to score better in the red zone, and they will be able to run out the clock at the end of the game. I think the O Line will be a strength this year. 5. Jabarri looked good. He is the heir apparant. 6. #2 O was way better than #2 D. #1 D was a little better than #1 O. 7. I was encouraged by the D. Our secondary looked good. I love Reggie Corner and Dionte Henry. Dion Elie played well. The D line is small. I don't know if our running game is better because the D line is small or because the O Line returned to their punishing style. I suspect a little of both. Zips will blitz and camoflauge things. Again based on 90 minutes of scrimmage, I think the D will be much better and much better agains the pass. Teams will be able to run on us. But if the league is as wide open as in past years, that may not be bad. I think the D improves to 7th or 8th in the league. 8. I like Fleming's comment, I want the best 11 guys on the field. Good to see Jay Rohr on the field. I never understood why he and Henry did not play more last year. 9. Just an observation, Fleming did not single out Chase when talking about who played well over spring ball. He definitely did not shine as usual last night. New postion, is he hurt, guys keying on him? 10. Mike Berry is raw. He is quick and if he fills out, could be a player. 11. It was nice to see Charlie throw the deep ball. 12. Virtually no big plays given up by the D. They made the O work. 13. On Goodwin's first TD, Nelson (#3) and someone else got beat. Zips coach I think Alford pulled him over, put his arm around him and talked about what he did wrong. Nice piece of coaching. And he took the time to talk to a kid that probably won't play much. 14. Where was Jino and Ageyman? 15. Zips look like a close bunch. No one has quit with the transition, guys looked eager to learn, there are a lot of high quality guys in the programs, guys you want to see suceed. Overall, I am encouraged. I think the Zips are much better in week 4 than in week 1. A lot of work ahead, but the future is bright. ZP, I agree about JD connecting not only with the community but also with the former players. Not so much me, but he should have acknowledged the seniors who showed up last night..

Two great posts. I saw Dalvin Hill play a lot in high school. Mayfield had 2 1000 yard rushers, Dalvin and and a 5 ft 6 inch guy who played at Harvard. I think Dalvin was prop 48 and never made grades. My mind is not the best, but I seem to remember Hartville being from Euclid. I don't remember if he ever made it down. Lee was from the same school as Butchie and was a great basketball player. I don't know if he made it down either. Johnson was from Buchtel, but I think grades got him too. I remember seeing Williams on the sideline his FR year. He was redshirted, from the same school as either Jake or Brandon. From what I remember, Akron wanted Hendry to walk on instead of going to Mt Union. At the last minute, they gave him a scholarship. That may have been the coup d'etat for Lee. Brake, Cherry, Hendry, Cummins, and Hayes, those were the stars of that class. I agree, looking back, there seems more talent there than the records they had.

I have been traveling the last week and am just getting caught up. Great posts on the depth chart. I will be there for the Friday game, 50/50 on the 24th. Go Zips!

Dwight had the most impact his senior season than any Zip over the past 10 years, hands down. If it was not for Dwight, we may have ended up 3-8 instead of 6-5 that year.

Joe Dunn said that he reminds some people of Jimmal Ball, Allen that is not Joe.

Good post ZW. Hipsher gave it his all, he cared about the program (he could have wasted DP this year and did not), and he brought a semblance of order. AS JP said, he burned out pretty quickly. Everyone agrees that it was time for Hipsher to move on but for the most part everyone wishes him well. I think one of his biggest downfalls was always staying too long with the veterans when they did not produce. Off the topic, I am listening to the Joe Dunn/Fred Mowery show. Fred just brought up the heat that Joe took for saying how good Buffalo was. I like Joe, but the problem is Joe said how good of a basketball team Buffalo was the last 5 years. In the past, Zips lose at Buffalo to a 2-16 Buffalo team and we hear, "Buffalo is a tough place to play." It is dead up here, no energy, a long bus ride, blah, blah, blah."

Sullivan has the leg. If his release is quicker, I think he can rewin it. I love his punting.

Great responses, thanks. To clarify #15, I know that #44 is the leader of the D. I definitely did not mean to disrepsect him. I love that guy. My take was always Hayes and Earl were the 2 other leaders on the D. You always need 3 to 4 guys. I imagine that Hixon becomes a captain this year?

Off the topic, but it reminded me about a post I was going to have regarding the ladies team. I went to 1 game this year. It was the only Zips game where I actually score an Akron team score off an inbounds play.

With spring ball just a few weeks away, here are my top 15 questions that I have. I doubt that the majority will be answered in spring ball but here goes. 1. Is Ringer eligible? If not, which one of the FR gets the nod? Or do we scrap and go to the no back? Just kidding 2. Who emerges as the #2 behind Charlie, Arthur or Ferguson? 3. Who gets the open OL slot? 4. Will the run blocking be better? 5. Is Jason Montgomery recovering well? 6. Is Drew Higgins the next emergring WR star? 7. How much of the offense is in? How has the team picked the offense up? 8. Who stepped up in offseason workouts? Who did not step up? 9. Will there be changes in positions on D? 10. Is Reggie Corner around? 11. Is Shippy practicing? Is he in shape? 12. Who is in grade trouble? 13. Will the D be improved? Almost certainly yes. Will they be improved enough? 14. Does Dwayne LeFall show signs of the breakout year that we have all been waiting for? 15. Who steps up in leadership on D with Hayes leaving?