K92

You know B&G, you're a good poster and although we have never met I can tell you're a good guy. We just don't agree. There is no doubt that the overall talent level of the roster has improved under Bowden but that's not due to high school recruiting. It's due to transfers. It is my contention that this philosophy is unsustainable. High school kids are the life blood of your program and we just signed a very small class and 4 of them were from last year. I hope you of deeper faith are right. Believe me, I don't want to be right. I pray I am wrong and I will get on this board and say thank God I was wrong if that's the way it pans out but it certainly the exception and not the rule that kids with one offer pan out. To think that our big list of kids thst no one offered other than us are going to have a high percentage of basically "proving everyone else who didn't offer them wrong" is foolhardy at best. For every one offer guy like Dri Archer there are 9 that never see the field. I forsee the dependance on transfers deepening not waning and God forbid, if Bowden & co. leave town I will damn sure guarantee the next regime is not going to be able to bring in these transfers and we will suddenly be back to reality. Then we will all see what a real rebuild from scratch looks like. Respect to you, B&G.

No one has responded to post #70 yet. Why not?

You are very kind to say something nice about me Doc and Ship. I'm really just a Johnny come lately who had his Zip pride rekindled in 2009. While CK, JZ, the good Dr., Zips Win! and many other fans of my age group were closely following the Zips, I was going to NASCAR races upon my graduation in 1992 through the '09 season. They and many other unnamed fans have been loyal supporters through years of bad Zip football. They are the real true blue fanatics that deserve kudos, not me. But I always loved this place. It was my father, God rest his soul that decided I was going to attend UA. I wanted to go to Cincinnati but I was over ruled. I never regretted his decision and I have had the greatest times and made the best friends at the place I used to call Zip Town Party U when I was a student. UA had a huge part in making me who I am today and I will never forget that. BTW, even though ZipGrad01 is quite a bit younger than I am, I love that dude like a freakin brother and he loves the Zips as much as any of us do and I would vouch for him any day of the week.

LZip, I have grown beyond tired of the rotation for rotation's sake also.

I don't think you fully realize where I am coming from. I want the Zips to win so damn bad I can taste it. I love this freaking school so much I have a tear in my eye typing this because I'm all worked up and I'm very worried. I put all my eggs in the Bowden basket like everybody else did and I was all in at first but the warning signs are too ominous to ignore. We are in big trouble. If you want to say that the rankings are bollocks, fine. You win. But these facts are facts. We offered a bunch of kids that were offered by a bunch of other schools as well and we lost head-to-head with everyone we were battling with. Kids with offers other than Akron chose other. That hurts. High school kids are avoiding this place like the plague. Is it because so many transfers have been brought in that h.s. kids have cold feet now? There is no way in Hell a kid with an offer from Akron should take an offer from Eastern. That is personally offensive to me.

My bad. I'm hitting wrong buttons and shit.

Oh, by the way Zach. Back to the NIU spat. The guy who really did more with less at NIU was Jerry Kill and he not only did it at Northern. He took a rag tag bunch of scrubs at Minnesota who and turned them into a pretty decent looking football team. Zero tradition there and when he took over the program was at its all-time low. It's what good coaches do.

But I guess that counts as good recruiting? Fill positions that aren't a pressing need? Got it. Thanks. Along those lines, I fully expect to see three more transfer Linebackers announced between now and September.

What part of NIU smokes Akron in recruiting don't you understand? YOU are the one who wasn't even talking about how Northern compares with Akron but how they compare with lower level P5 schools. Don't put words in my mouth. I am pretty clear with what I am saying.

Bottom line is this folks. For all you recruiting apologists, I say this. JZ posted the list. Please point out for me the names on the list that I am supposed to feel good about. I will cede you Brown, Hundley, Scott & Lane. I also hold out hope for Ericksen. Beyond those 5 who gives you warm and fuzzy feelings? Show me the error of my thinking. I eagerly await your responses.

I don't care how doormat P5 program rankings compare to NIU. NIU has done a great job by developing high middle ranked MAC classes. They have never been ranked hind tit in the MAC like we are. It doesn't get my rocks off that NIU beats bad Big10 teams with lower ranked recruiting classes. Means jack shit to me. What pisses me off is EMU UMass and Can't recruit better than us which is a joke. I haven't done the analysis yet on how those 3 joke programs compare to Purdue, however. Shame on me.

I am all for redshirting linemen to get them a year of strength and conditioning along with technique development. We need playmakers at offensive skill positions who can come in and play immediately. We don't have any. That's the point.

Fixed it. I'm pretty sure you knew I meant day but then again I was talking about PJ Fleck.

Jatavis Brown is the best Bowden recruit. Conor Hundley is the 2nd best Bowden "high school" recruit. They are Seniors. That's a mighty short list for year 4 if recruiting has really picked up like you say it has.

Oh yeah, just one more thing. . . (I feel like Columbo here). Western increased their win total by 7 games in 2014 from year previous. How'd they do that? My former uneducated self would have said their #1 rated recruiting class was responsible for that turnaround. I now realize those rankings are meaningless. PJ must be a great xs & os teacher and game day guru.

Also Jrship35, I don't know what I can say about the talent level of the class of 2014 other than none of them saw the field on a 5-7 campaign. Meanwhile, true freshman Jarvion Franklin was MAC offensive POY on an 8-4 squad.

Don't know but somehow Can't coaches sell some kind of line of bullshit that recruits buy into to outrecruit us year after year after year after year after year and their history is one of woe.

After reading the rationale on this thread it has become abundantly clear that I came into the discussion knowing absolutely nothing about recruiting. Now because of the insight offered me through these sundry posts of enlightenment, I only now realize that the class of 2015 was merely missing a cherry on top such as the re-emergence of Blake Dennis to be forever cemented as the greatest recruiting class of all time. Thanks for making me see the light, guys.

I couldn't care less how NIU compares to P5 doormats. Meaningless. What I care about is the Zips being ranked at the bottom of the MAC. Below UMass. Below EMU. Below Can't Freaking State. When it comes to what these rankings measure, which is by and large the rating of your class of high school kids who enter the program in the traditional period, Akron has got to be a legitimate DEAD LAST. If this was the only way Akron was filling the roster we would be in deep shit. However, this Bowden regime has got to be the most unorthodox recruiting staff of all time and we all need to wait and see if there will be any fifth year guys who will come in and play. I'm sure there will be another list of transfers that will surface one by one over the Spring and Summer who will have to sit a year. The real discussion we should be having is about the Bowden recruiting philosophy. It certainly is different, to say the least.

You guys knew Jacob Harrison was a stud before he verballed to the Zips, right? I mean, you have been following his career since 7th grade or maybe peewees? You surely didn't draw the conclusion that he was a great player from his 4* ranking I hope, because those stars don't mean anything.

Why such hate for the full size roo? I think she's dead sexy.

Pretty hard for any qb to look good when his receivers can't get open or catch the ball. The only guy that could consistently get open and catch last year ain't comin' back, either. All the energy focused on the quarterback situation might perhaps be best rechanneled into daily prayer that Donnell Alexander is the real deal because if he isn't, we're in big trouble.

Whassamatta with chick thighs?

I have a sneaking suspicion that the recruiting rankings perceived correctness amongst the ZN.o faithful might be given a lot more credence if the Zips were ranked higher. Just a hunch.