Captain Kangaroo

Dylan Meeks video and info

Woodson aside, between Ramart, Nelson and Johns, we'd better have a starting QB for the next couple years, or someone really f'd up. If we have an open scholarship, we need a Coe, Grice, Marcus, Capi...etc. Hopefully not a QB.

Big Dog was dominant, and durable. He has as good a senior season as I've seen at UA. He was awesome.

Odd to hire a 68 year old softball coach as your new football coach. Was Wistercill somehow involved?

https://twitter.com/hashtag/HesterGotHops?src=hash

Long Beach State Transfers

If by "none of us expected..." you meant "I didn't expect...", then you'd be closer to correct.

Hudson's Ben Gedeon (Michigan) goes to the Vikings in round 4.

The one thing we'll probably never know is - how many were planning to leave had Dambrot stayed? I know the answer isn't "0."

Apparently he was unwelcome @ Duquesne?

It would be really risky, IMO. Sometimes you get Rodney Coe, and sometimes you get Jelani Hamilton... AD's don't give you 5 years to build a program now-a-days. If your program is at some level of being decimated (there are varying shades of decimation), then you go for the JUCO's & transfers. There's no alternative...3 bad/marginal years and you're gone. If you're a good HS recruiter at an established program, you should focus on the 4-year kid, while cherry-picking the one or two "non-traditional" kids that happen to fall in your lap every so often. On a scale of 1-to-10, KD's departure...,maybe not just the departure, but the last 2-or-so years of his tenure...rated a 6 on the Decimation Scale. Not only did he bail after the eligibility of the team's top 2 players expired, he also obviously had a large mix of either dissatisfied players (Noah, Antino, and I think you can lump Josh Williams in that group too), and ultra-loyal ones like Hughes and TDM. Misfires on kids like Agba and Gladden hurt too. It had been been a couple years since he recruited a "stud." I think Keith Dambrot saw the disenchantment... the graduation losses...and the lack of "impact" returning talent...and got the hell out of Dodge before "12 years of 21+ wins" turned into "14 years of 13+ wins." I really wonder how Joe Akron will evaluate Year #1 of the Groce Era. Will he be intelligent enough to realize Dambrot bailed on him when his program's stock was at it's low point? Can he deal with a Zips basketball team that might uncharacteristically struggle for a while? Was Joe an "Akron Fan," or a "Dambrot Fan?" I love the incumbent guys that have stuck with the Program. Bench guys like Utomi and Ivey have a fresh start and their chance to shine. I'm really intrigued to see what Groce and his staff can do to utilize Olijapoke's freakish athleticism. I look forward to seeing all the new faces taking the court @ the JAR. Dambrot's time had expired. I don't think an entrenched coach of 13 years could bring the program back from where it was when the 2016-17 season's dust ultimately settled. Keith Dambrot's departure was exactly what he wanted, and exactly what the Zips Basketball Program needed. Off we go! Go Zips!

Grad transfer Additional info This kid would be perfect for us. Hope he has a great visit.

I'm sure Groce knows about him from his time in Illinois. Physically, he looks like a drop-in replacement for Antino. #9-rated PG in Illinois is pretty impressive.

A Final Collins Note

Antino was a gritty player. Not afraid of the big stage. He was a spotty 3-point shooter who struggled to finish at the rim. His defense was marginal at best. Marginal assist guy too. Overall, and above-average MAC guard. But eminently replaceable. I look forward to using transferring his scholarship to a young, skilled player who wants to be a Zip.

Good for him. Making it out of Youngstown and ending up in South Florida is beyond Dorothy going to Oz.

He's late!

The countdown continues...

2 hours 30 minutes remaining.....

1.) He's a #2 guard and not a PG 2.) If he wants to attend a school where his teammates stink, so he can get get a ton of playing time, he probably shouldn't choose Akron.

The D-line is an obvious concern. But I see no way our front 7 aren't markedly better than last year. We lost no LB's from 2016, and King and Davis will be upgrades. The incumbents were young last season, and now had had a full year to adjust to the college game...and another full year in the weight room. We lost nothing on our D-line from 2016. Marcus never really played. Pittman was essentially invisible. Hamilton ditto. Venkus was a role player. Moore returns after a mostly-injured 2016, as does Boxen. Like the LB's, our DL should have a bunch of young guys with a year under their belts to adjust, and get bigger/stronger. There will be an unknown or two that will step up and contribute. Marques Hayes said DeAndre Brimage has D1 strength today, and it wouldn't surprise him if he made an impact next season. So yeah, the front 7 is a concern. But we lost nothing from 2016, and the incumbents will be better. We'll have some depth and competition. We won't match up with the P5 teams on our schedule, but we'll compete fine in the MAC. We surrendered 9 points and 299 yards @ OU to finish the 2016 season. Was that a mirage, or a sign the D was coming together?

Welcome to Akron, Torrey!

Not painful to me whatsoever. It's exciting. We have a chance to go from Lolla to Porter. It doesn't get any better.

I'd love to know what KD is saying to recruits to persuade them not to attend UA.

Who says he's not with the team? Please don't tell me it's only because he didn't show up on one of our <35.3% accurate rosters. Bowden told me 9 days ago that JD II is legit, and was slated for LB/rush DE in 2017.