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It could, but frankly its all speculation. If he is getting feedback that he will get drafted, then good for him. He could have only improved his stock next season with Jojo gone. I think he will be drafted. He has size/speed and as good as he already is, has plenty of room for development. Many reasons why a player could decide or not decide to declare early. I can think of two players very recently who play for top programs in the nation that declared early and went undrafted. It clearly wasn't because of disappointing seasons. Not saying you specifically and as I said it is a bummer for Zips fans, but we should embrace rather than cry about it or put doomsday scenarios in our heads. Players leaving early for the draft is a sign of a good program, because you know..they are talented enough to do so!

Now that is a good one.

I haven't paid much attention to anyone in the MAC besides Akron yet, but I'd guess EMU will be right up there with OU as well. I'd throw in Buffalo as well because well...they own us in the tourney and Oats is good.

Certainly is unfortunate for the program, but best of luck to him. Quite an achievement for the program players are being developed quick enough that it enables them to leave early for the draft. Especially for a position the player never played until college. Will most likely have multiple players drafted this season with I think 4 guys who have a shot.

Add Kadeem Trotter from McKinley.

i can't help but to think what could have been if room was made for CJ McCollum...

Sorry old timers (no offense), but follow Balsy and I's lead on this one as we are two of the youngest on the board. As big of a Zips fan as he and I are, we don't give a crap about some OVC championship or some Nagy or Jakubick fellow. There is no name recongition there. If we don't give a crap/know who they are, the average Akron student sure isn't. They don't care about Trav or Dru either. Or Charlie Frye. Jason Taylor..probably because he is well, a future NFL HOFer. John Heisman would probably attract people too. I was just thinking today how much I miss watching Zeke, but his name doesn't mean anything to any current student either. The promo is targeted towards students and for it to work, it has to be someone the students can relate to. Akron hardly has anyone with name recognition that people care about, so they have to use Lebron.

I'm really liking this UA/Akron East pipeline being developed.

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/pj-fleck-western-michigan-keep-rowing/

That seems pretty crazy. I feel like we should've offered to Louisville OL, but we did bring many of them in last class. I plan on taking a look how many Stark/Summit kids we get this year compared to the rest of the MAC. I feel like we are faring well so far based on the number of commits, but its hard to tell. Hustlebelt's working list is not very accurate.

So I came across something pretty interesting that I think is worth sharing. There are generally two sides on this site when it comes to discussing recruiting. The side that thinks stars mean everything and the type that think stars don't tell the whole story/could possibly be inflated or deflated depending on who they have offers from. I like to think I'm somewhere in the middle. Stars do obviously have meaning, but there are certainly many players that get overlooked for one reason or another. With PJ Fleck hopefully gone at WMU after this season, I was curious as to what mutual players both Akron and WMU have offered in the case that some may decommit after Fleck leaves. So I pulled up WMU's commit list per 247. http://westernmichigan.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Commits Now Fleck is obviously heralded as some great recruiter. He's obviously a talented coach as well. I didn't look through them all, but take a look at those top 5 rated commits. All 3 stars I might add. There is a QB (who Akron has also offered) who looks a lot like you'd expect WMU to be pulling in. A handful of offers with a few decent P5s sprinkled in. However when you look at the other 4, you will see that 2 of them ONLY have an offer from WMU and 2 of them have an offer from WMU and one other G5 program. Does that not seem a little odd?? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say Akron's recruiting is on par with WMU's, but it doesn't appear as far off as I think most of us assume. Also, FWIW, Zach Terrell was a 2 star prospect with offers to WMU, Illinois State, and Kent St per Rivals. Corey Davis was a 2 star prospect whose only offer was to WMU.

WMU 17, Navy 19. I think the committee is trying to keep it interesting and wouldn't actually put 2 loss Navy in over WMU, but you never know. Go Temple, Go Army.

It is sort of like ESPN, but not as good IMO. Need to have a cable/satellite login.

I want that jersey.

BJ's by 20. No confidence in this Zips program getting over the hump until they actually do it.

Hill has had a nice rookie season. Might be their best WR option right now.

Akron joined the MAC in 1992. I'm also not sure its reasonable to permanently undo generations of suck in just a few years.

Posting this 1 because its crazy, and 2 because one of our outstanding offers, Uriah Gilbert, also apparently has an offer there.

Its a good thing Air Force held off Boise. Wyoming got steamrolled by New Mexico.

http://www.gozips.com/sports/fball/2012-13/releases/20121212wh262f

I'd imagine it was done because Milwee wasn't officially the OC yet. Bowden probably wanted everything ran by him in case he didn't agree/wanted to override the call. I've posted it on here in the past and was told by a friend who was on the team at the time. Not sure there would be any reason to make that up. I mean surely you guys don't think he was promoted to OC without any experience whatsoever.

The good ol' boys club mentality very well could be his down fall. Not that it really matters 4 years later, but people love to rave about that offense when Dalton was here. Nobody realizes that Milwee was calling the plays from the press box and Bowden just signaled them in from the sideline.

I totally forgot about Snodgrass myself. I am talking about Bryce Dixon and Freddie Simmons Jr. http://247sports.com/Player/Bryce-Dixon-75675 http://247sports.com/Player/Freddie-Simmons-41113

It was all a little odd. To be fair, Woody did look pretty bad when he played against OU the year before. There were a lot on here talking up Chapman as well.

I do think play calling could improve. I can't stand stand the slow developing counter that gets stopped for a no gain at best. I think playcalling was a partial result of the defense. As for the talent, when healthy, we had a top 3-4 QB in the MAC, two of the best WRs in the MAC, a potential all conference RB, and potentially our best OLine yet, all of which were 1st year starters. I'm not sure there is any debating any of the above. Chapman, as good as some think he may or may not be, won 2/3 games he started this season. I think its pretty unfair to realistically expect a converted WR to win any games for you. I think we can assume Kato was a better option. Would it have been wise to burn his redshirt to potentially only play 1 game? I think most would agree that would have been an incredibly short sighted move. I'm not sure if I'm really seeing where point #3 is coming from. We literally played QB roulette every week from Kent St on. Both backups had severe limitations. The offense was constantly trying to play catch up because there was no confidence in the defense to stop anybody. I don't understand why Milwee is getting so much criticism. The defense is the one who under performed when healthy. Nobody was complaining when we dropped 65 on Marshall. I think clock management is more of a Bowden issue.That is one of my biggest issues with him. 2 minute drills never look good. I never see Milwee calling timeouts and I doubt he has the authority to determine if the offense should take a few shots or just kneel it to end the half. My opinion is that the biggest issues this season were lack of depth and injuries. I'd take a look at the recruiting coordinator and S&C coach before anybody. Probably moreseo the S&C coach as injuries seemed excessive. I would like to see recruiting improve, but also think lack of depth is somewhat understandable considering the program was essentially starting from scratch when TB took over. I think recruiting is improving. There are more and more young players every year who are contributing. We lose almost all of the D backfield next season, but have players like Davis, Brown, and Featherstone who look poised to step in. Jest might have been our 2nd best DT and he was a true freshman. There are some talented, young 3 star WRs becoming eligible next season. Should have the QB of the future already on the team. Finally looks like we are getting some nice RBs coming in. Wouldn't be shocked to see one of them take Edwards' spot as Ball's (praying he gets the medical redshirt) reliever next season. As low as I am on Edwards, I still think he's much better than a Hakeem Lawrence. The program has had 4 different OL coaches in 4 years. 2 of them left for promotions. The current one may be the best yet. We lost a DB coach to Louisville who took some decent recruits with him if my memory hasn't failed me. Otis Mounds has done a fine job replacing him. There are negatives, but there are also positives. I'm as disappointed on the season as anybody. I think I am pretty critical and have been pretty critical. I'm just trying to keep a level head, be patient, and look at the big picture but I'm sure it'll be written up as making excuses. Patience doesn't last forever though and next year this staff needs to deliver.