Captain Kangaroo

Asking around, here is the general consensus of the Zips status as we roll into Game #1 - The Zips will be "alright" this year. The offense should be in the top 1/3 of the MAC. This should be the best Zips OL in Joe's tenure. There are 7 or 8 guys playing really well right now. Last season there might have been 3 or 4. Finley is a top 3 MAC QB. His accuracy has improved. He's bulked up a bit. He's a team captain. Gant and Gee are dinged up. Redshirt Freshman Sean Patrick is a quick kid with good running instincts and will see a lot of PT on Thursday. The WR group is thought to be better and deeper than last year, even with the loss of Norton. Mason may turn out to be the best of the bunch. Marcel Williams (Marshall) has fit in very well. Alex Adams, Polk, Walker, Monteiro (Pitt) and Grear (Fresno State) will all see appreciable PT. If fully healthy, Grear could be a big addition. Ruggow has also been dinged up. He'll be the 2nd or 3rd QB depending upon the situation. Johnson has good legs and size, and a little better arm than the now-departed Bullock. He'll probably be slotted for a similar role as Tahj this season. Cibastion Broughton could show up anywhere, at any time. Ronald Hull stands out as the most capable DL. There are a slew of other big bodies that really haven't distinguished themselves. They'll rotate until there's some separation. LB is a similar situation. We have a lot of bodies, but no one is really standing out. PT is there for the taking to whomever shows well. Markus Boswell could turn out to be a surprise impact player as the season progresses. The secondary is the strength of the defense. White, Reed (Kentucky), Anderson (Washington State), Branch (Sr. and former Kent team captain) all had excellent camps. Not sure who will be the kicker on Thursday. It's a positional battle that remains up for grabs. The Zips were able to get their training table returned, but at the expense of some recruiting tools. Our budget is what it is... Wyoming has won 5 of their last 6 games against MAC opponents for a reason. They've played in a slightly better conference and had slightly better players. Deeper budgets, bigger staff, etc. On paper they should beat the Zips. Are they a little jet lagged from the long trip from Laramie? Are they overconfident in facing a Zips team that's been a regular in the Bottom 10 for seemingly forever? Or, can Finley light it up...the Zips secondary generate a few turnovers...and the Zips start the season 1-0? Gimme a 41-40 Zips victory. Finley gets the Gatorade bath. Can we get a Wallenda to tightrope from high above the Infocision faithful at halftime?

If, 4 games before the home opener, the article subtext shows someone is interviewing Joe Moorhead about family, movies, music and happy people, what additional details are needed regarding the frivolity? It sure makes me pine for the good old days of George Thomas.

Lot 9 along Exchange street is the best tailgate lot. I'd expect you can enter for $20. Lot 10 would be your alternate. Across the street (on Exchange) is Europe Gyro. It's probably the best place to get something to eat/drink immediately around the stadium. I'll assume there will be roughly 10k at the game if the weather is ok. You'll have no problems finding a ticket.

Он не верује у тимизам

New Mexico and the Transfer Portal On Football: "To fill the losses, New Mexico football has added 129 new players over the past two years after back-to-back coaching changes, including 72 new faces this year. Just 15 players from the 2023 team are still here, according to the school." On Basketball: "Lovo hired Eric Olen from UC San Diego off an NCAA Tournament appearance, and every single player on the 2025-26 Lobo roster is new to the team. “I joke that Coach Olen walked into his first team meeting and there was nothing but chairs in the room”

I believe there is, but I won't be able to attend. 😡

Starting DL was- Dall Hull Laventure Durham

Cibastian Broughton wore #11. He played a bit early-on, but the bulk of the QB time was allotted to Johnson and Finley. Expect to see Broughton on the field somewhere in 2025. If not QB, then WR...returns...he's too athletic to redshirt. Mike Johnson Jr. had a nondescript day. He played a lot. But didn't show much. He's a big kid. But looked either rusty, or unpolished. We'll see how he improves, and how Joe decides to utilize him, as the weeks progress. As Ben Finley goes in 2025, so do the Zips. He exhibited his typical deft touch on deep balls over the middle, hitting Alex Adams and Myles Walker for long TD's. He also tossed a couple of picks. Based on what I saw yesterday, Owen Wiley seems to have a leg up on the competition with Matt Schramm for the kicker position. Wiley was perfect on the day. Schramm would have been too, but missed from 43 yards out. Matt Schramm hits a 32 yarder. Justin Anderson, a Washington State transfer, pulled in an INT on an overthrown ball by Mike Johnson. Too bad it happened a stride or two out of by camera's view. 🤬 Isreal Polk has a quiet day. Here, he pulled one in from Mike Johnson. Marcel Williams, a Marshall transfer, couldn't get credit for this nice catch, as his foot landed on the sideline. Williams did have a legit 30 yard TD catch from Finley earlier in the day. First time I'd ever seen Johnny Brookhart on the playing field? No sign of Brayden Ruggow today. Not sure if he was injured? Cam Macon (Walsh transfer) took the next handoff into the endzone. It was his only carry of the game. The bulk of today's running game was handled by Jordan Gant, the Tennessee State transfer. Gant looks like a strong, serviceable back. #13 Sean Patrick also saw a fair amount of action. The scrimmage ended with Myles Walker snaring a 15 yard TD courtesy of a Ben Finley toss. #99 Owen Wiley puts pressure on Cibastian Broughton. Just kidding...that's something the Beacon Journal would do. 😁 THIS #99 is Jaiden Brown-Demery, a 6' 4", 310 pound true freshman from West Mifflin Pa. Big kid. Played with the 2nd unit. #4 Justin Anderson snagged an errant Finley pass and made a nifty return. A few photos above, he also picked Johnson. #21 Catrell White (DB) also had a nice day in the secondary. He had a couple break ups in addition to a Finley pick. General observations - Good energy today. For an 8 am start, all the guys were whooping it up and having a good time. After the scrimmage Joe gathered the team as midfield, and immediately stressed the importance of the guys getting their schoolwork done. One odd occurrence - #34 Braydon Johnson is a Grad transfer punter from Indiana State. He absolutely skyed a 42-ish yard punt, which hit the turf and jumped another 20 yards down field. I have to assume the 2025 punter job is Castle's, but he does appear to have some strong-legged competition. Wyoming is 2 1/2 weeks away!

Bring in a couple food trucks and make an event out of it. Bring in some pop-up restaurant people. Get rid of the stale popcorn vendors.

Reminder? Who knew?

I'll add one more note regarding Akron and NIL - A goal of the Zips between now and December is to reach $1,000,000 in NIL money. This would be spent to keep the best players in the fold and stem the "talent drain" we witness every season. I don't know how they'll get there considering where our NIL balance sheet stands today. Time will tell.

I was busy Tuesday and Wednesday, and we had technical issues with the board through this morning. Here is my overview of Monday’s event – Like in all sports, the fun associated with college football is being sucked out the game. No longer are we talking about incoming freshman, and who might see playing time. We’re not talking about the team’s growth from 2024 to 2025. We’re talking Transfer Portal, and NIL. The fun and interesting stuff is now parsley on the plate. One thing is abundantly clear – the Zips ain’t got no money. We have the smallest staff in D1. We have the smallest budget in D1…by a longshot. Our coaches weren’t even permitted to travel and recruit in the spring. I don’t think any Division 2 schools prevented their coaches from travel-recruiting in the spring, let alone D1. Said Joe Moorhead – “If you wonder why some schools have 15 or 20 kids committed, and we have 3, there you go.” Our players once again have no training table. In 2024 a booster was able to generate $18,000 to get a training table returned. But this summer, and looking into the fall, our guys get a flat $91 per month, and 5 meals per week in Robs (Robertson to the old guys). We’re basically banking on parent care packages to feed the team. At some point soon UA is going to need to decide if it wants football, or not. The situation as it stands right now is not sustainable. Regarding the academics – Joe said when a player hooks up with another program, you get your “point” back. But if they drop out completely, you don’t. We had a lot of terrible football players who hit the portal over Joe’s first 3 seasons, and too many of them dropped our completely. So here we are. The new AD spoke for about 10 minutes. He seems like a nice guy. He has a good rapport with Joe and is a strong supporter of football. He wants to get the community re-engaged with the Zips. He has a lot of work to do. If were him I’d focus on branding. That seems like what any great AD would do in this situation. Matt Kaulig was there. He didn’t speak, but it was nice of him to make a showing (there were maybe 40 total people in attendance). Someone asked if the Zips would take back a player who’d overestimated their worth in the portal. Joe said “Yes, if they want to be a walk-on.” I’ll guess the reference was to Jordon Simmons who would have been Akron’s starting RB this season, but instead flamed-out at Ole Miss, and is now at Georgia State. The same Georgia State that just signed a 4-star transfer RB from Georgia. I'll guess Jordon doesn't see much PT this year. A coach was overheard saying – “Don’t ask me about any players until about week 2 of camp. There are probably at least 15 kids who will receive appreciable playing time…and who I’ve never seen on an actual field.” Coach Tibesar told a story of a phone call he received from Louisville regarding a Zip that was in the portal. Now that you can provide money to walk-ons, Louisville is trying to build the strongest scout team possible and was asking if the kid was any good. So on the surface it might look like the Zips lost a player to a bigger school like Louisville or Tennessee, but they may just be there for the cash, prestige, and to make scholarship guys work a little. Crazy times we live in. Colin Lyons and AJ George spoke for a bit and answered some questions. Both outstanding young men. Both will become teachers when all is said and done. They’ve been leading the unsupervised workouts this summer. They said all players are participating. Joe was bullish on his team’s attitude and effort. There should be no culture issues this season…even with the influx of new guys. Culture-fit within the program was stated as a high priority in the recruiting process. We’ll see how 2025 plays out. I know the Nebraska kids aren’t eating ramen noodles and Food Club Mac-n-Cheese though…

Bump, since the event is this evening. I'll be there. Worth $20 to hear Joe, and see what the new AD is all about.

Celtics had the 54th pick...4 after the Pacers in last year's second round. I have to believe they'd have taken Enrique with that pick had he been available. Instead they picked Antwon Watson from Gonzaga...a slightly thicker, slower version of Enrique. They cut Watson half way through last season.

Saw John Groce sitting alongside Brad Stevens at the Celtics Heat summer league game tonight.

Looks like he was at unc for three seasons and never saw the field? Should have 2 years of eligibility remaining. 6’3” 235 lbs. Can’t complain about that.

I agree with you. New AD’s always bring in “their guys.” If you are a Guthrie underling your resume and profile was updated the day he bolted for Fordham. i thought the guy had potential. It’ll be interesting to follow his career over the next several years.

Team Captain with a 3.82 GPA. Need 20 more of him.

Good for you.

While not Zips-related, I though this was an interesting college football article. Whoda thunk Randy Moss' kid would have his head screwed on straight? Kudos to him...wish his character wasn't an anomaly nowadays. Turns out any temptation to play elsewhere was no match for an increasingly scarce characteristic in college sports: loyalty.

I’m sure he thought the same thing. When you enter the portal there’s a decent chance there isn’t a pot of gold at the end. Sometimes it’s a smelly old CSU jersey.

Wonder 4…5…6 years after the Arth era how many kids graduated, and if they didn’t, who it reflects poorly on? This is a good litmus test for our new AD. Will he have a knee jerk response and be swayed by collegejocksniffer.com’s click bait and memes? Or will he perform a real investigation and make meaningful changes? If tomorrow he says “Hey, I didn’t hire that coach” be very afraid.

If this was 2014, I get it. But nowadays...how do you even calculate who is credited for a player's graduation after they've been at 4 different schools? We get 40 new kids every season and the NCAA is complaining about them not graduating? Who knew? When Joe signed on, at his press conference he stated "I don't just want kids to get degrees...I want my kids to get meaningful degrees (not just major in eligibility)". That noble goal lasted about 47 minutes, then the portal concept blew up and put the kibosh on any football-academic fantasies. The bulk of today's players are no longer in college for an education. It's a job. Their goal at UA isn't to get a degree, it's to perform good enough to get noticed by a bigger program. Along with the training tables being cut last year, was the academic support staff reduced too?

I overheard Guthrie designed our OV background? Just a rumor tho...