ZachTheZip

Now that the Zips have gotten a verbal, now is as good a time as ever to start this thread. Akron's first verbal from the class of 2012 is defender Andrew Souders from Amherst, Ohio. He plays for the USA U-17 Men's National Team. Top Drawer Soccer has him as the #3 player in the class of 2012.

Notre Dame didn't need JUCO transfers, but maybe Wisconsin did? I know Arizona did because on the west coast JUCO is just as popular as high school for getting recruits.

http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2010MSOrpi1.html Still sitting pretty. Future opponents: WMU - 111 Creighton - 9 Cleveland State - 150 Michigan State - 7 Hartwick - 195 mostly improvements except for Cleveland State which took a big hit.

That was under Brookhart. I hope that Ianello's long years as a recruiting coordinator would give him the connections to find JUCo players who will actually pan out. And still, half is better than not getting any when you look at the returning talent.

This article is a good overview of everything going on right now. I hope his source is correct for this quote: "However, that likely will not tell the tale about the new recruits who will sign in February. It has been widely rumored that the Zips are switching gears and looking to add a large number of junior college recruits to provide immediate help." Six or seven JUCo players to go along with Michigan State transfer oren Wilson would provide immediate help for a team with very little talent currently and far less than that next season when you look at who graduates and who is supposed to replace them.

He's apparently consulting his mom on whether he should retire. When a grown athlete has to ask his mommy for help making a decision that should be obvious, dumb things happen. Just ask LeBron.

Our self-produced games can only be home games. We can't produce a road game. Also, I just dug up the ESPN schedule. Only one sure game, and it's also at home. I guess the JAR is just TV-friendly compared to other MAC arenas. or maybe they want to see the AK-Rowdies who are developing a strong reputation. - Sunday, Jan. 30: CMU @ Akron, 6 pm ET/ESPNU; - Saturday, Feb. 19: ESPN BracketBuster Saturday, TBD; - Saturday, Feb. 26: ESPNU 21-Day Wildcard selection, 11 am ET/10 am CT; - Friday, March 4: ESPN2 21-Day Advance Selection, 7pm ET/6 pm CT; - Saturday, March 12: FirstEnergy MAC Tournament Championship, 6 pm ET/ESPN2

This is just for STO. We'll have more games on ESPN, but those will get announced later. Women's schedule: - Saturday, Jan. 8: Ohio @ Akron, 12 Noon ET - Saturday, Jan. 22: EMU @ Akron, 5pm ET* - Saturday, Feb. 5: 21-Day Advance Selection, 12 Noon ET - Saturday Feb. 12: Ball State @ Akron, 5pm ET* - Saturday, Feb. 19: 21-Day Advance Selection, 12 Noon ET - Friday, March 11: MAC Tournament Semifinals (12 Noon/2:30 pm) - Saturday, March 12: MAC Tournament Championship (1 pm) Men's schedule: - Wednesday, Nov. 24: Cleveland State @ Akron, 7pm ET;* - Saturday, Jan. 8; Can't State @ Akron; 7pm ET;* - Sunday, Jan. 16: Akron @ Buffalo, 2 pm ET; - Saturday, Jan. 22: BGSU @ Akron, 7:30pm ET;* - Wednesday, Jan. 26: Akron @ NIU, 7:30 pm ET; - Wednesday, Feb. 2: 21-Day Advance Selection, 7:30 pm ET; - Wednesday, Feb. 9: WMU @ Akron, 7:30 pm ET; - Saturday Feb. 12: Ball State @ Akron, 7:30pm ET;* - Tuesday, Feb. 15: 21-Day Advance Selection, 7:30 pm ET; - Wednesday, Feb. 23: 21-Day Advance Selection, 7:30 pm ET; - Thursday, March 10: MAC Quarterfinals (12 Noon/2:30pm/7 pm/9:30 pm); - Friday, March 11: MAC Semifinals (7 pm/9:30 pm); * Denotes self-produced game. The advanced selection games might be Akron games, but they might not. STO gets to pick top match-ups during those weeks, the dates are just placeholders. Lots and lots of TV games for us. Most of them are the MAC's contract, but we do have six games on STO that are part of our individual contract. Add in the ESPN games and you can't complain about a lack of coverage.

Well, guess we need to go after his brother with everything we got. According to Rivals, we finally offered him. Interestingly, it seems that both Zack and Cole visited Wyoming at the same time but only Cole verbaled.

In a surprising bit of news, LeBron actually reads his Twitter account, including all the "hate tweets". Usually celebrities pay someone to do that kind of stuff for them.

$5 for youth tickets should be a permanent pricing strategy. Most complaints I hear about how expensive our tickets are come from people complaining about the cost of taking their family to a game.

+1, but I might give Matt a series or two to shake up the defense a little though. I've seen some teams win BCS Bowl games using two quarterbacks. Design a package for both and play to their strengths. Is that completely out of the question for some reason? That's something I assumed would happen, based off the coach's comments before the season. he said they would use both QBs. But the only time Rodgers has come in is when the game is completely out of hand or if Nicely is hurt. Why haven't we seen both QBs on the field at once in the wildcat? Why hasn't Rodgers played a drive or two against a defense that is weak against the run?

Browns fans do it year in and year out, why can't Zips fans? And how's that worked out for Browns fans?

Three years, max. If he doesn't begin to get things turned around next year, though, it will become clear that it will never happen. Four wins next year is reasonable for expectations. It's not like we play a BCS conference schedule. Then again, four wins was reasonable this year and I strongly doubt we'll see that.

In order to have that separation, we would need to have had a winning program in the past. I think we're seeing a separation between normal people and insane people. Why continue to give money to something that you don't like?

Recruits dropping like flies now. OG Robert Trudo verbals to Syracuse.

Looked like a benching to me. Nicely made a couple of decisions that clearly infuriated the coaching staff. One, early in Q1, was to throw the ball away, backwards, as he was being sacked on the 15 yard line. Obvious fumble that Akron luckily recovered, but at a loss of 8 yards. The second was an intentional grounding after leaving the pocket. He was yanked immediately after that call. Turns out he was injured. I shudder to think of how bad Matt Rodgers must look if Nicely is retaining his starting job. Coach's Press Conference Regarding senior quarterback Patrick Nicely, who sat out the fourth quarter of Saturday's Ohio game: "Patrick (Nicely) is fine, his injury isn't as serious as it looked at the time, but it was painful at the time. He is fine and we don't expect any setbacks with him practice wise. A lot of the positions I will say on this team are open after the way we played on Saturday, but Patrick will be the starting quarterback heading into Saturday's game."

Apparently we had offered Brunswick's Pat Forsythe, but he's going to WVU.

LaVon has a lot on his plate. He's a dad and works three jobs on top of playing football. Could have any number of things that caused him to leave. But I still stand by my statement that we'll see more players who will leave by the end of November.

Isn't that what all coaches say? Seriously, I think you have a point. About the ONLY positive recruiting angle to take from a season like this is the legitimate argument that a prospect could indeed come in and play immediately. Of course it's up to iCoach to convince them that playing right away for HIM can be seen as an "opportunity". I remember Ianello saying in several interviews that he never promises playing time to recruits under any circumstances. I think it's time to change that policy now that he's not working at a BCS school with great depth. In other news, OT Ray Ball verballs to Wisconsin.

I really, really hate the Big Ten. I hope the Zips destroy Michigan and dominate even more than last year.

Well, it's a good thing we don't have a fan base, otherwise they might get scared away.

Sign them for a home-and-home. Why don't we ever play more non-BCS teams?

Expect many similar announcements as the season progresses. While we only have 17 seniors, iCoach will have a full class of scholarships (25) to work with this recruiting season.

Youth tickets are now $5 for the WMU game. This should be made permanent.