TennZip

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2017/01/06/31232282/us-soccer-grants-division-2-status-to-usl-nasl?ICID=HP_TS_2 I am very glad to see the USL awarded this higher status. That is good news for the former zips like Aodhan Quinn, Eric Stevenson and Victor Souto and others that will be playing in the USL in 2017.

one of the top drawer writers has a strong opinion on who should be starting in the midfield for the USMNT

I did not get a chance to add some more comments last night as I wanted to. I agree with Zip_ME87 that soccer is often underappreciated. We all remember the best and want that to happen every single year. We all remember years when Akron was signing 4 out of the top 10 US recruits in the country and some ask why Jared and his staff are not replicating that. The simple answer is that the college soccer and pro soccer worlds have changed. MLS has added home grown contracts and generation adidas offers and many of the top 25 recruits are bypassing college. Most MLS teams now have affiliated teams in the USL and many high school kids think that they will develop more in the USL than they will in a college environment. Wil Trapp was from columbus and loved his time at Akron. However, if Wil was a high school senior now, he would be offered a home grown and never would go to college. Dillon Serna never would have come to Akron in today's environment. Perry Kitchen also would have gone straight to the pros. The recruiting environment for Caleb was much different than the environment that Jared and Leo and company currently operated in The facts are that last year, only 6 of the top 25 high school players elected to attend college. Of those 6, one of those (Nick Hinds) chose to go to Akron. Also in the top 25 was a young man named Emmanuel Sabbi. He had committed to come to Akron but chose to pursue a career overseas. Jonathan Lewis did not play in traditional places in his junior and senior years of HS so he was not ranked in the top 25 but he was clearly a top 25 talent. If Sabbi had come to Akron, Jared would have been successful in bringing 3 top 25 caliber players to Akron while all other schools had 4 top 25 kids combined. Like all of us, I worry about who will replace Brad and Danilo as center backs and now I worry about who will replace Jonathan. The fact is that Akron had an outstanding recruiting class for the 2016 year and I trust that Jared and staff will scour the world to put a quality team on the field in 2017. As Zip_ME87 said, there was adversity last year. The team lost their emotional leader, who had been a starter for 3 plus years. I think everyone knows my feelings about Victor but I would like to join Zip_ME87 in thanking Victor for always giving 150% and for everything that he did for mens soccer and the Univ. of Akron. Every team deals with injuries but at season end, Danilo missed the last 6 games, Stuart could not play a full 90 minutes and Manel Cordeiro could not play a full 90 minutes. We all want to do better than winning one NCAA tournament game but ask yourself...when was the last time that that Akron U. mens basketball team won an NCAA tournament game? Don't even get me started on the money pit known as Zips football. Bottom line, Akron mens soccer is a true gem on the Akron campus and I like the group leading the mens soccer program. That being said, I worry tremendously that the gigantic financial mess caused by the board of trustees and the 2 past presidents could have a trickle down impact on the soccer program. I commented yesterday about the key loss of Oliver Slawson. We know that the coaching staff budget had to be cut. Did Jared and his staff also have their recruiting dollars budget cut? What is Jared's recruiting dollar budget now compared to the budget that Caleb had to work with(when everyone thought that Akron U. finances were solid while Proenza was building new structures everywhere)? Also, I was not happy with Larry Williams during the year. Scheduling an NCAA tournament game at 4:00 to accommodate a meaningless mens basketball non league game against cupcake U.....sends the message that mens soccer is a secondary sport compared to basketball and football. Larry also undercut Jared's authority when Larry dismissed Victor. That announcement should have come from Jared. Also, when funds are tight, the athletic department could be so much more pro-active in raising funds for mens soccer. How many season ticket holders know that there is a group called the goal club? What % of season ticket holders contribute money to the Z-fund or the goal club? If the recruiting budget was cut due to the financial mess, has the athletic department reached out to soccer alumni and season ticket holders to explain the situation and to try to raise more funds? The Athletic department should be doing so much more to help the true "gem" sports program on the campus. Larry Williams and his team need to do some stepping up. I appreciate Jared and his staff and the current high quality of the mens soccer program.

I think there are 22 or 23 picks in each round. I like Danilo but I would be absolutely stunned if he was chosen in the 2nd round. another site had Danilo being chosen near the middle of the 4th round. Since Brad did not receive an invite to the MLS combine, hopefully, he did well at the Midwest combine

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2017/01/05/31184002/feilhaber-beasley-and-frei-among-32-players-named-to-us?ICID=HP_HN_1 2 zips in the midfield

Zip_ME87....your post is excellent...... You made so many great points.... I will try to find time tonight to add to your positive comments. I will make one small correction. Tyler Sanda is truly a super student. In the All MAC academic announcement, Tyler was listed as having a 3.946 in Biology...so he is on target to graduate summa cum laude (joining Victor in that super achievement. summa is 3.8 and above. Magna is 3.6 to 3.79. Adam Najem was also listed as having a cumulative 3.751 GPA. Adam is on target to graduate magna cum laude and hopefully, we will see a home grown pro soccer announcement about Adam in the next few days. Tyler Sanda, Jr. (R), 3.946, Biology One quick point that I think is really important. I agree completely that Jared, Leo, Ger and T.J. did a super job in 2016. It is important to realize those 4 did the work that 5 people did in 2015. In 2015, the Akron Soccer staff included those 4 and Director of Operations Oliver Slawson. I know many of you are much closer to the program than I am but all of you were always super complimentary of the value added by Oliver Slawson. That position had to be eliminated due to the ongoing problems at the University of Akron ...caused by the Proenza reckless spending and the Scarborough fiasco. The loss of that key contributor to the Akron soccer program really hurt Akron soccer and further builds zip_ME87's case for the fine job done by Jared and staff in 2016.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/01/04/mls-announces-2017-generation-adidas-class-and-senior-signings 8 more seniors invited to the combine. Looks like Danilo Radjen will be the only zip at the combine.

http://www.onceametro.com/2016/12/30/14126404/new-york-red-bulls-chasing-louro-borges-for-homegrown-deals-adam-najem-being-shopped More comments about Adam and the Red Bulls. It had slipped from my memory that Bryan Gallego was once a home grown for NY.

http://www.draftutopia.com/2017mlsmockdraftround4.html this one guy does mock drafts for basketball, football and MLS he projects that Danilo will be drafted in round 4

Ives Galarcep of soccer by ives....is the person responsible for generating the speculation on adam and home grown http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2016/12/30/30983822/mls-talking-points-the-market-for-landon-donovan-the-next A source tells Goal USA the New York Red Bulls have let it be known they are open to trading away the rights to homegrown prospect Adam Najem, but as of now no team has stepped up to make an offer for the Akron playmaker.

this appears to be a relatively new twitter account not sure if this mls transfer/rumor site has any credibility see the 2nd item below about Adam Najem

The Riverhounds just became my favorite USL team. Victor will be #ForeverAZip Wishing Victor much success as he will soon start his pro career.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2016/12/28/30948032/yedlin-klinsmann-should-be-remembered-as-a-great-coach?ICID=SP_HN_1

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2016/12/the-tortured-demise-of-the-darlington-nagbe-celtic-transfer/#more-42866

http://dailyorange.com/2015/08/morgan-hackworth-leans-on-fathers-soccer-coaching-background-in-freshman-season-at-syracuse/

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2017-mens-division-i-transfer-tracker_aid41219 Good luck to robby as he continues his career at Pittsburgh. and no,I do not know anything about the young man shown as transferring from syracuse to Akron

there should be something special....at FES...to commemorate the achievements of the 2015 team Richie, Victor, Adam, Stuart, Jake, Andrew and many more contributed to an outstanding year.

I know that Jesus (Chino) will have tremendous support from his family as he continues his college soccer career in the chicago area. Best wishes to this talented young man.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/66/united-states/2016/12/21/30738642/rumors-celtic-closing-in-on-3m-nagbe-deal?ICID=SP

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2016/12/bobby-muusss-words-can-be-a-clarion-call-for-college-soccer/?utm_source=TopDrawerSoccer+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0277a606e5-TDS_Weekend_12_18_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8340315a79-0277a606e5-32963477 I agree completely that the NCAA does not care about college soccer

I think this Evans guy covers NY Red bulls II for a site called once a metro..that focuses on the NY red bulls

Brad Ruhaak and Danilo Radjen both graduated today while earning magna cum laude status. I think many of you wanted to see Brad's speech. I did not think it would be good to post a link to a 1 hour and 56 minute video on ZNO I have a link to the live page.... there are 3 places where it says click for on demand... choose saturday at 2... it is a you tube format...so you can page ahead very easily... go to 1 hour and forty five minutes...and 25 or 30 seconds....and President Wilson should come up to talk about Brad's accomplishments The prez talks for probably about 2 minutes...and then Brad probably talks for about 4 minutes https://www.uakron.edu/live/