Dr Z

No fancy ESPN+ subscription required this week.

Kirk Herbstreit picks his favorites for the 2018 season, from superstars to coaches, hotels and restaurants, plus predictions for conference champions. His best tandems include Tyree Jackson/Anthony Johnson, Buffalo. He picks Ohio over Northern Illinois and calls Buffalo his sleeper in the MAC.

Yesterday was picture day. Here are a couple of photos taken from instagram (@bankroll_jest, @brandonjunk45, and @austinsample)

One of the biggest question marks coming into this season was the receiving corp. Wouldn't it be ironic if this becomes one the teams strengths? I wasn't at the scrimmage, but an anonymous source informed me that the offense was having some success running four verticals from the doubles formation yesterday. Not that every college team doesn't run this concept, but nice to hear that this group is getting comfortable with it.

Summer goals.

"Andrew Bunch being in the mix raised some eyebrows, considering he is a walk-on. After a Sunday scrimmage and two more practices completed this week, the coaches have hinted Bunch at least, has dropped out of competition for the starting job. That means the race is down to the two players we all knew would be in the race the longest. The only way Scott Frost or the rest of the offensive coaching staff would have bumped Adrian or Tristan out is if they had some real problems picking up the offense." Zero college passes attempted from either.

Agreed, nice piece. Most interesting part to me: In the offseason, Bowden brought in former St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Marcus Wattley to coach defensive ends. Wattley, they said, brings with him experience and techniques they’d not used before. “He’s really like a specialist in teaching you to play with your hands and how to get around offensive linemen with speed,” Reinke said. I am interested in what those techniques are.

I'm guessing this was yesterday's practice.

A fan in Colorado set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help the team release Paxton Lynch. He has appeared in five games while going just 1-3 as a starter, producing a 76.7 quarterback rating. He has four career touchdowns to go with four interceptions. Seems as though he will having a tough time making an impact in this league. Goff and Wentz ranked in the top five in scoring drive efficiency last season:

Hard to argue what Frost did at UCF. I hope your are correct though. Is Frost playing the space and pace offense? The last time the Zips faced that type of offense (FAU), it didn't turn out so well. I hope a hand or two on their QB will be the difference with this years defense. And more than 11 first downs.

Scott Frost is a Rock Star

What a nice article. I didn't know this?...it wasn’t easy being from the United States to make a CFL roster. They had a 37-man roster and they had to keep 20 Canadians and three quarterbacks. Everyone else was fighting for one of 14 spots.

Refresh, and look up in this thread.

This reads "FOX", so I imagine your local fox channel. WJW in Cleveland. The guide on goes to Aug 25th right now, but we can probably check next week to know for sure.

I'm pretty sure he caught passes in warmups. I might have a photo. I don't remember him in the scrimmage.

CK has more notes when he gets time, but I'll start. Interviewing coach after the scrimmage he mentioned that "we have a real QB competition going on." I saw the same as he did, both QB's looked good to me. Grad transfer Walter Brady was in uniform and played some. According to coach he will play defensive end. He is wearing #56 and is in the first photo here. I think our defensive line might surprise some this year. I think we are going to have a nice rotation. Dylan Meeks had two tfls. The offensive line of Sample, Ritz, Peterson, Council, and Brown were opening some inside holes for some nice runs on first down. Akron track hurdler Brandon Michell has apparently been working hard on catching balls. He came up with some nice catches yesterday, and looks to be a big tall 6'7" target that runs well. He is wearing #81. Others I noticed playing WR yesterday included McGriff, Scippio, Stewart, Dixon, Williams. MTB was in uniform, and warmed up, but didn't play this week. Keyondre White runs hard. Deltron got some carries yesterday. Van looked good. Suggs played well. Abraham Alce didn't play (minor injury). Redshirt freshman TE Maverick Wolfey is going to be active in the offense, he has a talent that can't be ignored. Denzel Butler was out this week, but was very active helping the younger guys on the sideline. Alvin Davis played CB to fill in. An anonymous coach told me Alvin was just playing there because they wanted to get there best 11 on the field for now. "Alvin is such a good football player, he can play anywhere." Redshirt freshman db, Jordyn Riley is impressive in my opinion. He stood out to me. Freshman DB Rich Hall is a physical player. The defense caused multiple turnovers yesterday. Not a good day for field goal kicking.

Additions to the summer roster:

This years posters.

This article was the first thing that come up when I googled "Let us reflect on the depths that a program can fall with one bad hire"

I have never seen Brady play before, but I would be slightly surprised to see him "beat out" a guy that knows the defense as well as Brian does. I'll get a real answer soon, but I'm guessing that Brady will be in a rotation. Just not sure what position(s) that may be. For him to come in and be a starter would really speak to his skill set and knowledge of the game. The way Davis finished the season, I expect a big year from him. The guy that started the season was far from the player that he developed into. He should be playing as much as possible. Getting to the QB is one of the most important things every team desires to do. If healthy, it sounds as though Walter should help that effort. Hear him tell his story. He says he's 6'3" and 265 right now. He says "I can play heavy or play light, hand in the dirt, or stand up. I'm versatile."