Captain Kangaroo

It was my fault, Jrship. I mentioned he was an Az State recruit a few days ago. For those who don't know Woodson's Story, and more so that of his former HS teammate, here it is.

Is a better RPI going to help a MAC program more in getting a CIT, or a CBI bid? I know it means nothing for an NCAA bid. I WISH MAC basketball was really at the MVC's level instead of only at their RPI level. I'd pay twice as much for my season tickets.

This will be his 2nd spring practice, since he graduated early. I look forward to seeing a lot of him this spring.

Great game by multiple Zips tonight. Pat, Big Dog, Kretzer, Robothan...all were exceptional. K.e.n.t. is really weak on the interior. I've never seen the Zips have such and easy time with dribble penetration, and seen such soft defense once we got the ball in the low post. Ibitayo was a bundle of energy tonight. I love him in the post game. If he stayed in Akron after graduation, the Zips would do well to have him do color commentary. Low crowd energy for an Akron / K.e.n.t. game. Weeknight tip-off probably is the main culprit. But overall, there just seems to be something missing, excitement-wise this season. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's just me... Congrats to the students for showing up in force tonight. Hope they had fun and come back before the next K.e.n.t. game. K.e.n.t. quit too soon. They never tried to foul within the 2-minute mark? What's up with that. KD said they were tired. I don't buy it. Have't they seen the Zips shoot free throws? No excuse to roll over and quit like they did with so much time left on the clock, in a rivalry game. Great ball movement tonight. Lots of open looks from the 3 point like. Kretzer and McAdams looked like I remember them from last year. If we win at K.e.n.t. this year, I'll predict Robotham never loses to K.e.n.t. I think the one shot the Flashes have to beat him comes in 2015. After that, he runs the table.

Did he vote for it, or against it? If Duke picked a Wednesday night to play UNC so they could get their game on ESPN3, you have a valid point. The Zips have one marquee home game per year - K.e.n.t. That should be a weekend game. Duke has 14 marquee home games per year. There's only so many home game Saturdays...a few have to be held during the week. Sucks to be a Duke fan.

I agree with you. It would be freaking awesome if Caleb Porter were our AD.

This game should always be played on a weekend night, where I can get to the bar 3 hours before game time, talk about the match up with my buddies, get some food, and get in the mood. There's no excuse that an Akron / K.e.n.t game is held on a Tuesday. And please don't give me any crap that "It's on National TV." It's on ESPN 3. That's a joke. On Wistercill's long, long epitaph, one of the many passages will read; "I sold my soul for ESPN3." At the bottom will be: #TeamOhio

I buy that it is disappointing to have so few kids from W Pa and Ohio in the class. To some extent. Generally-speaking, the Zips name doesn't carry much weight locally. Yeah, he attended West Virginia, but he's always coached in the South. His Dad is a legend in Florida...not so much in East Liverpool. Bowden can walk into pretty much any Florida High School and the resident HS coaches get all weak-kneed. Not so much in Monroeville Pa. I doubt there is a high school coach in Florida that's going to tell a "Bowden" that he has a legit D1 kid that he wants him to sign, and that kid actually sucks. By the same token, the high school kids we've seen thus far from Florida have not made an impact. Most of them are still pretty young, and all were recruited off the epic string of 1-11 seasons, so I don't think you can condemn this Florida-based class because of their predecessors. For the most part, the signing day event was uneventful. Coach spoke for a long time when answering most questions, and in the end didn't say much. But those in the audience that were perceptive caught on to his interspersion of passion when the QB situation was brought up, and the fact that year #4 of the Bowden Era needs to be a leap forward. He was adamant about it. Zips recruiting is tough to follow. It is a completely different animal that almost anywhere else. You can't rely on Rivals or Hudl or Scout or 24/7 or anywhere else. These guys don't research squat. Some post nice videos, and they get the scoop on recruits commitments from the HS coaches. But recruiting sites just don't look into the kids the Zips recruit beyond the surface. Especially the transfers, who by necessity have made up the bulk of the impact players we've seen under Bowden. I have faith in the guy. The retention of the young recruits is my barometer that the program's health continues to improve. Having the aforementioned 3 "BCS Commit Quarterbacks" on our roster is an unbelievable thing for a MAC program...even if the local papers don't know it. Next year's QB situation should be light years ahead of 2014. RB too. If Bowden delivers the goods in 2015, I think the Ohio and Pennsylvania kids will take notice, and we'll see a few more next February. Until then, let's hope Ray Ray Smith gets his ACT scores up. If he does, look out.

Wish in one hand, poop in the other... 5th year QB's have shredded the MAC, like Hendrix, Frohnapfel and even Dalton Williams. But they do it for pathetic, loser teams. We need a QB that will shred the MAC for two or three consecutive years. Chapman has to be The Man this year. Or Kincade. Chapman's numbers at Ashland are a concern, but obviously he didn't want to be there. The Bowden staff speaks very highly of the kid, so I'm optimistic he'll amp-up our lethargic offense. Kincade is a wild card. Big, strong, and with a year of learning the system under his belt. Maybe he's a baller and we're set at QB through 2019...maybe he's the second coming of John Fergueson? Woodson has that rifle arm. But Bowden says he has a zero tolerance for turnovers this season. That doesn't bode well for him. On a tangent...I saw a stat this year where the Vikings Cordarryl Patterson led the NFL in "Interceptions when Targeted." He ran crappy routes, so the balls that went his way got picked. I wonder which Zip led the team in "Interceptions when Targeted?" You'd like to think the job is Pohl's to lose. But he really needs to show something in the spring to have any sort of edge. We have 2 QB's that were Pitt commits, one that was an Arizona State commit, and one that has 20+ Division 1 starts under his belt. That SHOULD be an embarrassment of riches, not a reason to hunt down a 5th year, mercenary transfer. If we can't find an upper-echelon MAC QB out of that lot, we never will.

I loved the "Z." I hate the full-size kangaroo.

I dunno...I look at the hole the guy has had to crawl out from, and I think he gets whatever time he needs to get the job done. The schedule is set for a winning season, and I expect 6-6 as a worst case scenario. But if he went 5-7 again, he should, without hesitation, get another year. Bowden's proven he can win. He's retaining players. He's played competitively against upper D1 competition. He's a great "face" for the program, and enthusiastic about UA. He has too much going for him to not succeed. It's just such a damn big hole... Hopefully the offense takes a big leap forward in 2015 and the rest will take care of itself. Lots of promising new faces on that side of the ball. The defense will be fine.

I will disagree on my esteemed friend Keener's assessment. I think measuring ourselves versus the competition for kids recruited by MAC programs is a minor indicator of recruiting success. Bowden has ties to Florida. That's where he recruits. That's where he knows the high school coaches. And I don't know that you run into MAC schools regularly in Florida. If he were hitting Ohio and Pa harder, then it might be a better indicator. As much as everyone wants to know TODAY where this recruiting class stands, you can't. What I do think you can do is look at the retention of the 2014 class. Whether they grey- or red-shirted, 90+% seem to have stuck with the program. That's what Akron needs - Filling the urgent needs with 'mercenary" 1- or 2-year transfers, and building a base of Freshman that will play for 5 years. Brookhart was a great example of someone who had great "multi-star" recruits, who couldn't stick with the program. His classes in February looked awesome, and by the following February they disappeared. That puts you in a hole. The you have Ianello, and the hole widens exponentially. Look for the 2014 class to make an impact depthwise this year. And expect that 90% of these 2015 kids will likely {insert color} shirt. If 90+ % of those who "shirt" in 2015 are still with the program and ready to play in 2016, then you know the plan is working. Bowden knows we need help at WR. He's giving every DB and "athlete" he recruited a crack at the position this year. That will be something to watch closely this spring. Hopefully Donnell Alexander is the answer at RB. I know that's the expectation.

Regarding Ray Ray Smith - Per Bowden, he has some "ACT work" to do in order to be eligible. He was the most electric player of all those shown at the press conference. I could see him becoming the game-breaking kick returner we've lacked since...Andre Jones. Hope he can get eligible. All 11 players on Tyler Shipman's State Champ defense got D1 scholarships? I thought that was an impressive feat.

Moving Van to the Middle American Conference

For the 98th time - Josh McNeil got arrested days after he was offered. He is NOT coming to Akron. Mansfield, maybe. Akron, NO. Tupta and Lockett are preferred walk-on's at this time. You will not see anything about them until they receive a scholarship. Bowden was not publicly allowed to comment on them yesterday.

Article on Commitments and "Flipping"

You can't redshirt until you are enrolled at a college.

While there is truth to the statement that player commitments come and go through signing day...it is absolutely untrue that that's an excuse for the local paper not covering Akron Zips Football Recruiting. Personally - I don't care whether the abj covers Zips recruiting. Those who participate in this forum do an excellent job of keeping everyone here up-to-date. But - the lack of coverage is yet another slice of the pie in "Reasons Why the Zips Local Following is So Weak." There as an Arizona Republic Editor years ago who stated "WE tell the people of Arizona what to think." I see it every day in this forum...many people don't believe something unless they see it in the PD or abj. Those people are dying off, but it still holds some truth. Enthusiastic coverage of the Zips would get the public excited, and sell some papers (or e-subscriptions). Michael Holley did a great job covering the Zips in his short tenure as an ABJ Zips beat writer roughly 20 years ago. Man was he enthusiastic...even if he could care less about the team. George would do himself a favor if he went into the bowels of the ABJ basement, dusted off some microfiche and saw how Holley wrote. I've already written too much. Out.

David Lee Morgan's shoes are tough to fill, but he's done an admirable job trying.

I read some of those Tweets and just cringe...

I would be surprised if that is true, considering his arrest a couple weeks ago.

Zero.

We played Ball State on a Tuesday night in January. Getting 3000+ to show up on a school night, under that scenario, is fine. No one should be grousing. I couldn't make the game. My youth basketball team was assigned a practice slot on Tuesday night, and I got screwed. I'm sure many others had similar issues...many do during the week. Those of you with an attendance fetish - Deal with it. Peters was an awesome guy. My son had a relationship with him through the summer basketball camps. I wish he could have attended, but it didn't work out. He touched hundreds of kids through that program. It's a crime he's gone at 60. To those of you with a <insert whiny voice> "Why don't the absent season ticket holders give their seats away?" fetish - FU. Try to give away tickets to see Ball State on a Tuesday night in January. Tell me how it works out.

Because we're all #Teamohio

Brad Stevens passed the torch to Greg Marshall as my #1. Mike Krzyzewski is over-exposed, over-hyped...but there are a million coaches out there who have great talent and lose. Duke is in the mix every year. And if you look at the NBA, Duke players aren't all that prevalent and mostly 2nd-tier guys like J J Reddick and Trajon Langdon. He's not winning the way Pitino does. I like Sean Miller too.