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Everything posted by Captain Kangaroo
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Seems like some honest conversations were had between coach and players following the spring game.
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Latest I heard was UA will hold it on the soccer field, like they did in 2004. Just kidding. 😉
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I will be tailgating prior to the game. Not sure if, since the game is indoors, that Lot 8 or 10 won't be a better choice.
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BVP ends up at UVA Apologies if this was previously posted.
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Class of '22 Verbal Commits
Captain Kangaroo replied to Blue & Gold's topic in Akron Zips Football Recruiting
The former Nittany Lion appeared in 21 games over his career. After playing in every game of the 2020 season, Whigan was relegated to a smaller role and saw the field in 10 out of 13 possible games. Most of Whigan’s snaps came in a special teams capacity. Whigan committed to Penn State in August 2018 as a four-star recruit. He joined the team as a junior college transfer from Lackawanna College, which has been a hotbed of recruiting for the Nittany Lions in recent years. At the time of his recruitment, Whigan was the seventh-ranked junior college prospect in the country. The departure of another offensive linemen comes at a fragile time for Penn State football. Depth issues for the offensive line have been well documented this offseason, even prompting a format change for the 2022 Blue-White Game. -
580 career wins don't carry the weight it used to.
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Who knew Shocky Jacques-Louis was DJ Irons cousin?
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This does make you appreciate Kwan's mom. Several years after her son graduated still feels like she's a member of the Zips "family." Guys like Kwan Cheatham, Dru Joyce, Joe Jakubik, Eric McLaughlin, Len Paul, Zeke Marshall, Bruce Weinkein ...they're "Zips for Life." A guy that feels he's too good for the Zips program, and bolts it rather than elevates it, is just a ship we crossed in the night. Next man up...
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Ali who?
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6' 9", 225 lbs. Seems like a big upgrade over Aziz. Now we need to replace Ali.
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The spring game is never massively attended. Especially for a Program that won 7 games in the past 4 years. It will be a "Family and Friends" crowd on April 30th (not unlike most recent home games). For those that have kept the faith over the past 4 seasons, it will be a fun Saturday on campus. Once the new staff's work becomes evident to the general public in the form of MAC Championship expectations, the spring game will gain some traction. In the near future, if all goes as planned, a crowd of 4, 000 to 5,000 would be a hell of an achievement...but it's possible.
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2021-2022 Zips Women's Basketball
Captain Kangaroo replied to clarkwgriswold's topic in Akron Zips Basketball
The Big Lewandowski Stumbled across this Post Gazette article. My mom's family is from Butler (Knoch HS). -
Class of '23 Offers & Verbal Commits
Captain Kangaroo replied to Blue & Gold's topic in Akron Zips Football Recruiting
Meh...he'll be in the transfer portal after 1 season, and be back in Akron for the 2024 opening day kickoff. -
He bailed on Boals because he felt he was too good. Sounds like another Walton. I trust Groce will bring in a more team-oriented, less me-oriented, transfer.
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Position Preview (and updates) - Offensive Line
Captain Kangaroo replied to catdaddyp's topic in Akron Zips Football
Where is @Football grandma to chime in on the OL? -
Position Preview (and updates) - Quarterback
Captain Kangaroo replied to catdaddyp's topic in Akron Zips Football
You are correct. Assuming Irons is "the man," I still don't see either holding a clip board, patiently awaiting their shot in 2024. I guess we'll see how it plays-out. -
Position Preview (and updates) - Quarterback
Captain Kangaroo replied to catdaddyp's topic in Akron Zips Football
Valid concern! But the OL last season was atrocious and he could barely get past 1-Missisippi before someone was tomahawking his arm. If Joe can shore it up, I think Irons will be great. The entire OL returns and should be a year bigger and stronger. New recruits will provide depth and competition. And I think just by the nature of Joe's higher-level offense being less predictable, it'll greatly help the situation. If I'm wrong, feel free to bookmark this post and wave it in my face in early November. 😁 -
Position Preview (and updates) - Quarterback
Captain Kangaroo replied to catdaddyp's topic in Akron Zips Football
Other than Jennings, the "young guys" are sophomores. If DJI (Junior) is the man for the next 2 seasons, I'd expect Jankowski and Marousek will have transferred-out. Eager to see if what Marousek brings to the table. He's been really patient sitting behind Gibson and Irons. If Irons can get some protection I have to believe he'll be great. Strong arm, runs with purpose, tall, athletic, accurate. You never know what disenchanted P5 grad transfer QB becomes available after being leapfrogged by a younger guy. So one could show up at Joe's doorstep after spring ball. But count me among the many who feel Irons will be "the man" for the Zips when September rolls around. -
In another thread I mentioned a conversation with a friend who's a D1 coach. He mentioned that "culture" was the best way to combat the transfer portal. After seeing Ali depart it's pretty clear - great culture is like a COVID shot. It keeps you from dying. It likely keeps you from getting severely ill. But it doesn't provide full immunity. Note - if anyone hijacks this thread with political/COVID thoughts, their post will be immediately deleted, so save yourself the typing. Ali departing is a blow due more so due to his potential than his to-date production. It's widely noted that he was - * Offensively inconsistent - could score 32 points one night, and 5 the next * ISO Ali - dribbling ad nauseum, and putting up a shot regardless of the situation * A complete disappearing act for long stretches But he has a great turnaround J, length, size, shooters touch, and would only get better. If his head doesn't get in his way, his best 1-2 college seasons are definitely ahead of him. And we won't see them. Bandaogo departing is obviously a lesser impact. But he was a good shot blocker. And moved his feet well on defense, taking more charges than a 7-footer should. He also improved his FT shooting over the course of the season. He and Freeman seemed to have a solid friendship. And unlike Ali, Bandaogo didn't show flashes of anything this year that would get a P5 coach to attempt recruiting him away from Akron. I can only speculate the staff let him know his future role, as it played out at this season's end, would be diminished in 2022-23. And he might be best suited to try and hook up elsewhere. I guess we'll know for sure when he signs. I do trust that Groce will fill their spots with serviceable players. If he could get a kid like Duvivier to come from Oregon for a senior season where his team's destined for a sub .500 record, selling quality kids to play alongside Freeman, Casteneda, Dawson and Tribble...coming off a MAC Championship and a strong NCAA tourney showing, should be easy. There’s an old saying…”No matter how unbelievably smokin’ hot a girl looks, there’s at least one guy somewhere out there that got tired of putting up with her sh*t.” I think of that every time we pick up someone from the transfer portal. If we can land a Xerius Williams...a Casteneda...an LCJ...a Duvivier, Cheese or Banks...we're in great shape. If we lands a Trimble, Hester, Dailey, Guyue, Wynn (with all due respect), etc. we're not going to have a lot of fun at the JAR next season. I trust Groce. Just gotta have some faith and be patient over the next couple weeks. And hope the portal yields some team-oriented ballers with minimal baggage.
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How could Groce know a hs kid almost completely unrecruited would leave his program prematurely? We're had enough transfers that have been complete busts that I'm not sold on the portal to base my recruiting on it. There are evils either way. A shame a player in such a great situation would leave because he felt he was too good for it.
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You produced more meaningful Zips football content in the past 48 hours than one can traditionally expect from the Beacon over an entire spring.
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MAC Men's Basketball 2021-2022
Captain Kangaroo replied to LoyalZIP's topic in Akron Zips Basketball
Could he pull the dreaded “Reverse Bubba”?! -
MAC Men's Basketball 2021-2022
Captain Kangaroo replied to LoyalZIP's topic in Akron Zips Basketball
Everything you've written is 100% true, and I would LOVE for John Groce to think the same way as you. It just never seems to work out that way. Dambrot was an "Akron Guy." Here for 13 years. He said a million times to Steve French - "I ain't going anywhere." And, he went somewhere. You can live pretty good in Summit County with a $650,000 salary, and a whopper of a nest egg courtesy of his Illinois stint. Low pressure...the media hardly pays attention and you're not beholden to any meddling old money alumni. Assuming his super sophs stick around through their full eligibility, he'll be favored to take the Zips to the NCAA tourney three straight seasons. Coaching them has to be more fun than leaving to pick up the pieces of some broken down P5 program that just fired their coach. We'll see how it plays out. Next season should be a blast, and we'll take it from there. -
MAC Men's Basketball 2021-2022
Captain Kangaroo replied to LoyalZIP's topic in Akron Zips Basketball
It's good to know that, if this Ukraine thing doesn't play out well, Putin would likely still be welcomed by the Big Sky conference in some capacity.