Captain Kangaroo

I think he's second from the left.

Former Zip #"X," thanks for checking in! As you obviously know, it is difficult for supporters of the program to find Zips info anywhere else but here, or maybe gozips.com. We appreciate the insight. To some extent I think everyone that's attended U of A over the past 2 decades can feel your pain regarding the facilities. In my era (insert Grampa Simpson's voice here) the Zips football players were blindsided by the replacement of Dennison with Faust. I draw the parallel here not for the coaching change itself: Dennison was a very capable coach who was replaced by one who essentially brought Notre Dame to it's knees. Bad hire. Coach Owens and staff, in my opinion, had brought the program as far as they were capable of doing and was replaced by HOPEFULLY a staff capable of coaching talent to the upper-MAC echelon. Good hire. Back to my point...there was no "plan" to upgrade the Zips a 1-A team in the mid-80's. There was no natatorium weight room. I think they had a few universal machines in Memorial hall, and that was it! The guys had to then go out and compete with Oregon State, Auburn, Florida, etc. Bad things, man. Undersized players and bad coaching were a bad combination. For a student that played nothing but intramural sports like myself, the facilites were a joke too. Memorial hall was under renovation for a couple YEARS...hardly any open gyms. When it was open...the baseball or volleyball teams usually occupied it. The JAR was open a couple hours a week to "ball," IF the lazy JAR MF'ers there got off their butts and set up the cross court hoops! The pool, racketball courts...what little is there now came after me. My buddies and I often drove to Can't State to play in their open gyms (6 full indoor courts) because there was no alternative at Akron. Appaling for a 24,000 student University. For ANY graduating student now it must suck knowing next years Freshman class are going to have all those new rec facilities! But, what the hell can you do about it? In the long run, I went to school for the education, and it worked out great for me. I deal with engineers who graduated from every school imaginable on a daily basis, and I've never once felt like any of them was better schooled than me. From my desk at work I can hit about 12 U of A graduates with a half-sandwedge or less, so the U of A education is woking out well for a lot of others too! Off "the rant-that-no-one-cares-about..." on to football stuff... Like a lot of guys on this board, I felt bad for the way the 2003 seniors went out. Mounting the monster comeback vs, OU...winning season...scads of offensive records...only to have the HC you knew for 5-6 years get canned 10 minutes after the game finished. What a punch in the gut that must have been. Despite how things played out on the "business end" (for lack of a better term) I assure you that the guys on the board have the utmost respect for what you guys did on the field and in the classroom. I know Matt and Nick a little bit, and they're fantastic guys on and off the field. My son and I will miss them (if anyone has suggestions on telling a 3 year old why #9 and #2 aren't Nick and Matt anymore, please let me know)! Jessie Smith was a class kid. I wish he played a "tighter" corner..but I respect him for the effort he put forth, especially in returning from the injury. Jud Cummins was a punishing run blocker. I loved watching him flatten the opposing LB's once he got beyond the line of scrimmage. Mike Brake was so solid. I remember when he was a frosh and he killed Dwight Smith on a run-after-catch! A bit later, Dwight got some payback, but I loved the frosh putting the big-hurt on #15! The OU TD catch was a great way to go out! Johnathan Gill stuck with the program for 5 years and earned a scholarship in 2003. At season's end, he was the #2 QB. Being #2 to Charlie Frye will be a nice thing to brag about in a bar in a few years, trust me!! Bobby Hendry ran down hill so damn hard! My favorite moment with him was the Wisconsin game: The guy behind me said "Hey, what is it...1942? Don't you guys know running backs aren't 'white' anymore?" I told the guy "I guarantee he puts up 100+ on you." I think Bobby ran for about 120(?) against the Badgers...and I let the guy know it after the game. The way he blocked in the backfield was awesome. Ditto the had yards to grind out the win vs. Marshall. I loved how Rickie McKenzie just got better every year. Had a great 2003! I met Marques Hayes at Signing Day a few years ago alongside Brandon Payne. He's a great guy. I wish he had better coaching because I think, with his strength, he could have done some serious damage in the right situation. I wish him the best in the future. His heart really seemed to be with the program, and he was a great Zip. Micah Fahler wasn't the best QB, but as a holder, he handled snaps with ease. It was nice not ever having to worry about bobbled holds on FG's. Bryan Shaw's mom and dad were always at the home and away games. You could always see the #70 jerseys in the parking lot! Nice people. Bryan had somewhat of an up-and-down career, but I liked him. Miquel Irvin probably thought when he transferred form Toledo that he'd be "THE MAN." How'd he know that guys like Nick and Matt were the players they were? Miquel accepted his role as the #2/#3 guy and really gave us a three-headed monster" at the WR position! "#20...YOU a BITCH"...a great quote from Miquel to a UCF player last season! Kyle McDuffie transferred for just one season. He had a great game against Wisconsin. I think that game alone should merit his decision to try 1-A ball was a worthwhile gamble. He proved he belonged here! If I forgot anyone, I apologize. I did this off the top of my head, and it's getting late. Time for bed! I just wanted to let any seniors know that, despite what you might think by your lack of media coverage...or the firing of your coach...or anthing else like that...that there were a lot of Zips supporters who really appreciated all your efforts, and who will remember your "era" in Zips football with a lot of pride. Best of luck, 2003 guys! I hope to see some of you on Sundays this fall! And if you're in town for a Zips home game on a Saturday in 2004, look for the wooden Zippy on a Stick along the fence by the blimp hanger...I'll have a beer on ice for anyone that stops by!!

Man, I thought I was hard-core...you're an animal! :blink: I'm going to the game, but I'm doing a Friday/Saturday Charlottesville stay with the wife. If I get a divorce between now and May 1st, I'll be giving you a call!

There are plenty of hotels available on campus, but they all seem to require a 2-dight stay, and cost between $139-$299/night. There are a couple hotels in Milesburg, which is 12 miles from campus, that allow single night stays. "Autoport Lodging" (whatever that is) is $99.00/night, and the Holiday Inn is $148.00. I am still looking for a single-nite hotel on campus...I don't want to drive 12 miles after drinking what I'll be drinking on the evening of September 3rd. Note: Penn State had the best pregame night atmosphere of all the BCS campus' I've visited I give Va Tech the nod over Wisconsin for #2. Most disappointing was OSU. UVA was a great time, but like OSU, a disappointing number of pregame nite revelers.

Click here for stats

A popular Akron barber shop had a new robotic barber installed. A fellow came in for a haircut. As the robot began to cut his hair it asked him, "What's your IQ?" The man replied, "130." So the robot proceeded to make conversation about the Zips, Charlie Frye , the "West Coast Offense" , the merits of the 4-3 vs. the 3-4 , and so on. The man listened intently and thought, "This is really neat." Another gent came in for a haircut and the robot asked him as it began the haircut, "What's your IQ?" The man responded, "100." So the robot started talking about Can't State, Josh Cribbs, the legalization of pot and so on . The man thought to himself, "Wow, this is really cool." A third guy came in to the barber shop. As with the others, the robot barber asked him, "What's your IQ?" The man replied, "70." The robot then said, "So, David Lee, how 'bout them Buckeyes?"

Click Here for Levert Bio Walk-on Willie Cook: 6'1, 395!!! :blink: Holy Moly. He makes Shippy look like Bryan Hipsher! Levert is a shotputter on the track team. 6'3", 337! It would be nice if he panned-out!

With the Hanson scholarship available I thought Hairston's recruitment might heat up? Then again, because of his grades, he wouldn't get a scholarship until 2005-6 anyhow... James Hairston, Connellsville (Western Pa.) Hairston, a 6-3 senior guard and a two-time Fabulous 5 selection, finished his career with 2,245 points, 11th best in WPIAL history. This season, Hairston averaged 26.3 points a game and led Connellsville to a spot in the WPIAL Class AAAA championship game for only the second time in school history. Hairston has scholarship offers from Robert Morris, Eastern Michigan, Akron and North Carolina-Wilmington, but might attend a prep school or junior college for academic reasons.

I will settle for the following: Take us to The Gund! I really can't take another season of missing out on the party. Win a game at The Gund! This is a quantum leap beyond anything we've seen in 15 years. We win one at The Gund, I'm a happy camper in 2004-5. Note: I reserve the right to get greedy and ask for a second win should we get the 1st I want to see the team be better at season's end than they were at the beginning. Again, something we haven seen for years. I want to see players "grow." I want to see Futch be a "banger." I want to see Wood improve his free throw shooting. I want to see Travis hit a 12 foot jumper if left open. I want to see Joyce play "D" like a young Jimmal Ball. I want to see some picks set for McFadden. I want to see enthusiasum from the bench! I want to see floor burns! I want to see well designed plays after TO's. I want to see, with 5 seconds left in the game and we're down by 1...POISE! I don't want to see a half court shot with 4.1 seconds left. I want to see people with "AKRON" shirts on in the stands...not ones that say "TARVER." or any other individual's name. I want to see a packed JAR once or twice during the year. I want to truely compete with a BCS-conference school (like the other quality mid-major programs do) Make my wife want to come to the games! Getting my wife to come to mid-February Zips games, when the team is bad...and losing...and lacking enthusiasum...I've done it for several years. I can't hold on much longer. I need her to start looking forward to games again (this happend for a brief stretch during the Ball/Bosley era, and it was fun). If I get that, I'm a happy camper. Oh...and on a non-team related rant: I want the food menu on the OUTSIDE of the concession areas! Every time I was in line I was behind at least 3 people that waited 8 minutes, only to be told "Ummm, nachos are over there (pointing to the right, where there is another 8 minute nacho line awaiting)." Ok, maybe this is a minor point, but I swear every time I was in the main concession line there were numerous people who assumed there were nachos there...and those people got pissed when they weren't! They also got pissed when they waited 8 minutes in line only to find out that there was no pizza left - Memo: If you run out of pizza (which happend several times too), put a sign up! And, how about beer at the JAR? Can we set up that Zipsfest tent outside the JAR too?! Better basketball...better concessions...happier Kangaroo

Looking at the "Spring Prospectus" on GoZips.com (a very nice piece of work, I might add) it appears the major "missing" players are accounted for. Beard, Wilkes, Gonzales, Higgins are all there. Interesting one: "Chuck" (formerly Charleton) Lewis. Sat out for grades in 2001, Hurt his shoulder and sat out 2002. Was redshirted in 2003? Wow...three years into the program and hasn't played a down! I give him credit for sticking with it. Hope he sees the field in 2004.

Initial thoughts are: 1.) JD said that the initial depth charts would be a crap shoot until he actually sees the guys on the field. It makes for fun reading, but in truth there's going to be a lot of changes occuring over the next several months. 2.) Dominik Hixon at WR? Not only that, but #1? Wow...interesting move taking one of our better secondary guys and moving him to offense? Then again, his main attribute was running-down opposing WR's just before they made it into our endzone. He saved...or at least postponed...a lot of TD's last year. He never got much of a chance to actually play the safety positiion, at least from a pass-defense standpoint. If our corners are improved, and our DL gets a better rush, then Dominik won't be missed on D. To me this was the most interesting move on the chart. 3.) Having a healthy Donaldson back will be nice. 4.) Mike Schepp up to 292??!! Going strictly from memory, I though he was a lot smaller when he was recruited...like 245? 5.) Dennis Basch appears to be the heir apparent to the nice legacy we have going at the TE position. Things are really slim behind him, however. 6.) Jabbari #2 QB. Was the rumor of him going to WR just that...a rumor? 7.) Jason Nedd moves from secondary to HB. Again, we're really thin at HB. 8.) Mark Tetzel will do well as Basch's back up. I'm surprised to see he's a Sr.? I thought he was a Jr? 9.) LeFall @ 260. Hope that gets up to 270 by September. 10.) Mike Berry #2 behind LeFall? I thought he never even made it to campus due to grades? He was a Rivals 2-star recruit, so hopefully his grades are good and he's ready to go in 2004. We need a dark horse to emerge on the DL. 11.) Brian White behind Joe Radich. I predict that one will change over the spring...assuming BW is healthy. 12.) Chase to DE!!?? The second biggest surprise of the chart! Dr. Z stated Chase's ability to both rush, or drop back into short coverage made this move possible. We'll see what kind of defense JD's running and comment later, I guess. Chase will make plays wherever you put him...we're deep at LB and thin at DL...so it makes sense. 13.) Jay Rohr #1 on the chart! Grades must be ok? I will LOVE to see what Jay can do as a full-time starter! Yeow and Smith behind him...MLB is the deepest position we have at the moment. 14.) Fuller to "Rover." I've always liked him against the run...and not liked him so much against the pass. Maybe the "rover" position is a good fit for him? 15.) Dionte Henry #1 CB. Good. 16.) Chevin Pace has the edge over Jino Vitale at SS??!! The battle for starting SS should be really interesting. If Pace really is a better SS than Vitale, our secondary just got a dramatic upgrade. 17.) Best name on the 2-deep: "Razi Penny." Penny is from Twinsburg and attended prep school at Morrisville College. That's all I know. 18.) Break out the champagne!! Dion Elie tops the FS depth chart! Dion has a nose for the ball. Although Owens didn't have much faith in him, Dr. Z and I love him. Happy to see that move. 19.) Reggie Corner #2 behind Agyeman? Again, if this is legit, we're much better off at CB than we were last season. Reggie Rules! Let the Games Begin!!

Did anyone notice that there were no sappy odes to Dan Hipsher once he was "reassigned?" That, as opposed to the love-fest that accompanied Lee Owens' "reassignment." Even the sappy, gushing love-master herself, Tammy Pluto, had few words to say on Hipsher's behalf? It is debateable as to who was the more effective coach...Owens or Hipsher. Their Akron career ups and downs were eerily similar. After the beating that MT took after Owen's reassignment, it had to be a relief for him to actually have people lauding his decision. Hipsher HATED the concept of a "Midnight Madness." I wonder if Dambrot brings that back? I always liked such events. What do you do with the last scholarship? JUCO PG to give us some experience in the backcourt? Seems like were pretty well set at the #4 and #5 positions? With Peterson and Preston returning. the #3 spot seems solid too (what is Preston...#2...#3...#4...#5?) I say either a top HS or JUCO PG. If we're going to run, we need depth there.

Click Here

Tommy G does a nice job. I like him too. I like Frency too (seems like people love him or hate him). I agree that his football glasses are HORRIBLE. Can he get some sort of spotter in the booth to help him out this fall? If you hate Frenchy...take a listen to Bill Needle doing the Can't games sometime. Dunn - I won't beat on the guy much longer. His "Suzy Sunshine" approach when things are going in the crapper really grates on me. As I stated previously, if the Zips' teams WERE actually "great" he wouldn't be nearly as annoying. Hopefully JD and KD can help out there? As far as Joe Dunn or Steve French experiencing "exponentially more pain" than me when things go in the crapper...not a chance in hell. If they felt that much pain they'd be dead. I disagree that their careers are pinned to the success of their teams too. Frenchy has his full-time gig at WNIR and I'm sure Dunn has/had something going on too. And, as unsuccessful as the Zips marquee teams have been over the past 15-or-so years...and through at least 4 AD's and Marketing regimes...Frenchy and Dunn's radio side-jobs seem to have stayed relatively secure. Just a counter-point, Z-P. You know I luv da man wit da Apple Pie.

Brown was "the heir apparent (local) to Ricky Powers." He was one of those guys the Zips got the seemed "too good to be true." With his grades, Akron was the only school willing to give him a shot. He had some good games as a Zipper, but had struggles on/off the field. Emmanuel Smith (Ohio Mr. Basketball) was another Zips recruit that seemed too good to be true...and he too was recently on the wrong end of a gun. If I'm Marcus Sanders (similar bio: HUGE HS career...attend Akron due to on/off field struggles...kicked off the team...fade to obscurity) I'm investing in a flack jacket. Seems like guys like that end up in serious trouble.

I believe it said something like "he's welcome to be on the team." I would expect my minutes-played for the Zips in 2004-5 will be within 10 minutes of Bryan's (and I'm not on the team). If Nick Dials is transferring from OSU, maybe Bryan tries to walk-on for the Buckeyes?

He's from Willard a la Charlie, right? If Irecall he was heavily recruited by MAC schools, but wanted to prove himself at a "higher" level, so he walked on at OSU. He wouldn't require a scholarship until 2005, so there's plenty of room for him. I'd take him!

Hipsher brought credibility to a down program. I'll give you that one, but that is a pretty "soft" opinion. Is that the best you've got? He did not perform well in the MAC Tournament but Akron had never been in a MAC Tourney game before he got to Akron. How many years were the Zips even in the MAC before Hipsher? Three? I guarantee if you'd have given Coleman Crawford 9 more years to try and get to the MAC tourney even he'd have made it at least once! Huggins won in the lowly Ohio Valley Conference. The OVC was a tough conference in the mid/late 80's. Middle Tennessee won games in the NCAA tourney, and I believe Murray State did too. Do your homework before typing that crap. Face the facts Zips Fan's Akron and Buffalo are the armpit of the MAC. There are about 10 teams in the MAC that would kill for the talent the Zips and Buffalo return in 2004-5. The Rubber Bowl and The JAR are 2nd rate. The Rubber Bowl and the JAR would need severe upgrades to reach the lofty status of "second-rate."

JD mentioned during his show that "the defensive coaches are going to get first crack at the talent pool." What I "read" from that is we may see some guys that were recruited as offensive players...or who were on the offensive side of the ball last season, on the defensive side in 2004. Any inside scoop on potential guys moving from offense to defense?

Click Here

If berating players causes eating disorders, Bruce Weinkein must weigh about 26 lbs. now-a-days? :blink:

I would say he wasn't the best Zips football player I ever saw. He would have been if he could have stayed healthy, but he was ALWAYS injured during his Akron years. Obviously he gets the edge regarding his pro career. What happened to Dwight last season? Probably the same thing that happened to the entire TB team in 2003, I guess? Hopefully there are a few more Zips in the NFL in 2004 to give JT a run for his NFL-Zips supremacy title!

I interpreted it the same way. My respect for Ellen drops with every column she scribes. I guess we'll have to wait until our new coaches/teams start winning some games before she changes her tune.

Beautiful post.