Dr Z

From what I saw in his professional career, it would explain a lot. Good luck to him.

Discuss your answers below.

@ChrisTrapasso is the "guy on CBS" in the above post. He predicts Jamal getting drafted in round six. Out of the 256 picks in the draft, I would love to know how many Chris gets correct. I'll never cross reference the two lists, but I have a good guess. I'm on board with his 17th overall pick in the draft.

The Ties That Bind: Akron Expects New Coach Tom Arth’s Northeast Ohio Roots to Pay Off By Jason Kersey

KD interested in Utomi.

A couple of things I noticed from yesterday's practice. Practice is so up tempo and organized. I am amazed at how smooth and quick everything seems to run with coach Arth being in his first year. Coach Arth is very hands on. I see him running defensive routes while teaching receivers how to get out of their breaks, I see him teaching defensive players hand technique. He distributes his time all over the practice field. You can actually see how much he enjoys the teaching process. I’m starting to believe the "we are going to keep local kids local." It was junior day yesterday, I have never seen so many high school kids and coaches at a practice. They gave everyone a presentation on a big screen after practice. Coach Arth is not going to get out worked. I was told Kelvon Blackmon is new (walk on) to the roster. I saw Wofley and Alce make nice one hand catches on swing pass out of the backfield. I can't see why both won't play a part in any offense that the Zips run. For those that like the 3-4 defense, I can see the versatility that some on this roster have to offer in the scheme. Lots of different players rushing the QB from different angles. It seems like this scheme has the ability to pressure a QB with athletic ability and confusion. A sidelined Keyondre White and Deltron Sands gave Devanier Floyd a chance to run the ball, he sure was shifty in the open field. If I’m a QB, one of the first things I do when I get to line, is find #1 on defense, he still has the uncanny ability to get his hands on the ball. I thought Kato and Rob looked good many times today. Some quick decisions were being made in the seven on seven drills. I'm sorry to say I will be out of town for the spring game, I am depending on some good ZipNation reports to catch me up. I think ZipsNation will enjoy watching these guys. The buzz around practice is that the players are very excited about the staff, and have enjoyed #OurWay thus far.

Here are some photos from this morning.

@Captain Kangaroo and I went, we will have photos and notes later.

A few more Random thoughts from Saturday. Shawn Featherstone is almost cleared to practice. All his paperwork is in order to receive another year, but he hasn’t got the word just yet. Tyler Gilchrist was moved to safety late last week. Anonymous staff member “first impression was good” Nate Stewart looks like he is ready to contribute more this season. He had some nice plays showing strength, and quickness. I think this is the earliest practice that I have been to, but it was impressive for the little amount of time together, how quick and efficient it was run. Put this in the back of your mind. Coach Arth preaches that you win and lose many games late, he wants the Zips conditioned so that they are able to win late games. He referenced Kobe Bryant's (you could tell this wasn't the first time he spoke to the team about this) ridiculous dedication to his craft. He referenced another professional football player's work ethic. He preaches a committed work ethic is the difference. From an anonymous player after practice "I like the whole staff...they hold us accountable, and except nothing less...they bring the competitiveness out of everybody, you can see the difference" I know it's early, but this seems to be the attitude.

Meeks will play the 5 technique this year.

Food for thought. Last year Alvin played corner in a scrimmage. After the scrimmage I asked coach Bowden "Alvin at corner?", coach Bowden "yeah, we were a little short at DB today, Alvin is such a good football player, he can play any position in the secondary" Yesterday at corner, Alvin made two knockdown plays. He has such great instincts. Keep in mind the Zips have moved to a 3-4 base defense. In the sixth photo from the bottom, you will see Jonathan Neeley. Jonathan has been moved from the offensive line, to the defensive line. Dylan Meeks has also been moved to the defensive line.

Here are a few images from today's practice. CK will have some notes in the next 24 hrs, then I'll add a few things that I observed. You will notice a few (three if you're observant) position changes in the photos. Keep in mind, the staff is trying things out early. Blue is offense, white is defense, quarterbacks are in gold now, and the red are injuries.

I got to speak to Jamal at practice this morning, as you can imagine he was incredibly happy with his combine. He has 13 private workouts scheduled with teams already. He will not work out at Akron's proday, which is scheduled for 8 am Friday the 22nd. Most teams are telling him that they envision him playing outside linebacker. He is very optimistic about his draft position from what he is being told.

Kentucky is a great away game for Akron fans, Kentucky football fans are FUN! Great deal imo.

Hope to pound them by 50+

Defensive rating or defensive efficiency is a statistic used in basketball to measure an individual player's efficiency at preventing the other team from scoring points. It was created by author and statistician Dean Oliver. The formula is: Defensive Player Rating = (Players Steals*Blocks) + Opponents Differential= 1/5 of possessions - Times blown by + Deflections * OAPDW( Official Adjusted Players Defensive Withstand . This stat can't be influenced by the defense of a player's teammates. Source Teamrankings.com