johnnyzip84

He looks like the kind of forward we've been wanting for some time I don't know that I've seen much discussion here about the new rules that prevented UA from hosting these games again. We all knew the big schools would eventually do whatever they could to minimize KD's ability to use his Lebron ties.

For anyone who can't get to his blog. Football Rob Ianello's first season will have uncertainty because of the players lost, the new scheme and another training camp without a proven starting quarterback. His first spring was marked by bringing the returners up to speed on a new offense, defense, set of terminology, and — apparently most difficult — the snap from under-center. Here is my outlook for each position: Quarterback — With Matt Rodgers still recovering from a knee six months before, Patrick Nicelytook most of the competitive snaps. The good news is, Akron has depth with two players who have shown they're capable of playing. The bad news is, the Zips enter another season without having "the guy," which often retards offensive development. Nicely's spring was up-and-down. He struggled mightily with the under-center snaps. He made some good throws, but his weakness was clear: touch passes. It's hard for me to imagine Nicely not playing, at least some. The question, therefore, would be: Do the quarterbacks split time — a notion that Ianello refused to dismiss during the spring game press conference? Outlook: Bright Running back – This is a position of strength for the Zips. Alex Allen looked quicker and stronger than ever. Broderick Alexander and Dale Martin (if healthy) can take some carries as his eventual successors. None of these three backs is a bruiser, so the emergence of a pounding fullback will be important, not just for lead blocking, but also for short-yardage situations. Don't dismiss LeVon Morefield as that person. Outlook: Very bright Offensive line — You can't complain with how J.D. Brookhart kept the offensive line cupboard stocked. For the past three years, there has been a nice mix of experience and talent. Mike Ward (at either center or guard) and Corey Woods (left tackle) are the stalwarts and potential All-MAC performers. Run blocking and pass protection are great, but the team cannot afford fumbled snaps. I hope that gets fixed before August. Outlook: Bright Wide receiver — The Zips have a clear No. 1 target in Jeremy LaFrance. They have a hopeful No. 2 in Jalil Carter. If Akron's track record in converting players to receiver continues (Domenik Hixon, Andre Jones), he will be a good one. But that's more uncertainty than you want out of a No. 2. Also, there is a dropoff after Carter. Anthony Meriwether played well at times last season. Nadir Brownhas the physical tools if he toughens up and improves his hands. Curtis Brown has looked great in scrimmages, but he hasn't done anything when it matters. Gary Pride has not found his niche yet. The list goes on. Ianello might look to a true freshman to get serious minutes if these underclassmen don't figure it out by the end of August. Outlook: Dim Special teams — We have the usual suspects back at place kicker: Igor Iveljic and Branco Rogovic. They've both had their chance to claim the job, but neither had done it. Josh Couch orZack Campbell will punt. Campbell, a junior, showed a big leg at times last year, but he is a walk-on. Couch grayshirted last season. It appears Jeremy LaFrance and Nate Burney will be the primary returners, unless a true freshman steps in. Outlook: Mixed Defensive line — The 4-3 scheme will allow Akron to take advantage of its depth along the line and open more playmaking opportunities for players like Shawn Lemon and Almondo Sewell. At tackle,Dan Marcoux, Joe Rash and Cowles Stewart will see time, along with the anchor, Sewell. At end, Lemon is the best pass rusher, and you'll also see plenty of Shane Shead, Hasan Hazime and Deni Odofin. Outlook: Very bright Linebacker – Brian Wagner, Sean Fobbs and Mike Thomas make up the best linebacker corps in the MAC — and I'm not even bothering to look at other rosters. They are all big-time playmakers, and Wagner should be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Matt Little, Will Fleming and Troy Gilmer are more than capable of providing depth. Outlook: Blindingly bright Cornerback — Manley Waller is a shut-down corner by MAC standards. The other corner appears to be Diamond Weaver, who has played OK. Ideally, one of the younger players, such as Marvase Byrd, will earn time as the year progresses. Outlook: Bright Safety — Taking Carter from this position hurts. Only five players on the roster are listed as safeties (Kevin Davis, Thomas Miller, Jared Province, Doug Richardson, and Josh Richmond). By my count, only two are scholarship players. None has contributed significantly before. Three-star recruitAnthony Holmes might see playing time sooner than desirable. Outlook: Very dim Overall – The Zips won't be rebuilding next season. There is plenty of talent on the roster. The three critical questions are: 1) Whether a receiver or two will emerge to make the passing game effective. 2) Whether the weakness at safety can be masked by an uber-effective front seven and decent cornerbacks. 3) Whether Ianello can motivate the team to provide a consistent effort throughout the 12-game season. Outlook: Bright I think RI is merely suggesting a QB competition to make sure PN7 continues to work hard on "the little things". Does anyone know for sure if Igor or Shead are still with the team?

If a conference had Buffalo and Toledo in it, there's no way it would be a decent FBS conference I'll admit, I'd like to see U@B involved based mostly on athletic and market POTENTIAL. But I have no idea why some people of this board don't respect Toledo football. They are historically a winning program. They are one of the few MAC teams that routinely knocks off BCS teams, and this has pretty much always been the case. Don't be shocked when they beat Arizona at the Glass Bowl in 2010. If there's ONE MAC football program that should be clamoring to jump ship it's UT.

Nice find, Cap'n! This should be an excellent opportunity for the Zips. I think our gameplan for this one should be simple --> eliminate the gophers Hmmmm maybe someone does?

I like the line of thinking, but do believe it needs to get to 12 teams pretty darn quickly to make it work. The extra coin for the title game does matter. So from the MAC: UA U@B UT TU From C-USA Marshall ECU Southern Miss UAB From Sun Belt WKU MTSU It's hard to find 2 additional teams from the Sun Belt. At first, I thought that you'd need to have 4 teams from 3 conferences so that there's an initial balance of historical power, but it may be infeasible. I guess you could grab Troy .. but I'd think it be easier if you were finding one or 2 defections than finding 4. C-USA could be in shambles .. so those 4 are the eastern half of what would be left if Memphis and UCF go East. WKU & MTSU have a long standing rivalry, haven't been in the Sun Belt forever, and are on the northern end of the league. The MAC hosed that up big time several years ago when they could have drawn them in instead of Temple. None of these conversations would be happening if they had drawn WKU into the league for hoops and kept a balanced FB schedule. So this league (not my personal priorty BTW) would look something like this, with NO divisions, a full round robin 9 game FB schedule and 18 game home & home for hoops: UA U@B Temple Toledo UAB Southern Miss Western Kentucky Middle Tennessee East Carolina Marshall The geographic spread looks something like this. That's a lot like what I was envisioning. Maybe OU and Charlotte (starting football in 2013) would round things off nicely for a 12 team league?

I didn't vote because I want an "other" option. I want to join forces with Toledo, Buffalo, Temple as a minimum with possibly Marshall, ECU, and whichever remaining MAC/Eastern C-USA schools who are willing to make the necessary commitment to establish a DECENT FBS league.

Akron Defeats In-State Rival Ohio State, 10-7 I REALLY like the sound of that score

Nice find, Z.I.P.! I would venture to guess that the author is indeed Zip sideline reporter/color analyst Joe Dunn since he lives in Jackson.

I bet University of Phoenix has a potent air attack. And NO LEAD would be safe with them.

JT makes it official with the Jets. Link

"Will the Big East survive? If the Big Ten grabs Rutgers, Connecticut, Syracuse and Pittsburgh, that seems unlikely" I don't know why they say that. WVU, Cinci, Louisville and USF wouldn't want to go back to CUSA. Unless the ACC decides to also become a 16-team "superconference" and take them all in, it seems much more likely the Big East would just start adding Memphis, ECU, UCF... From the MAC they would probably be most interested in Temple and Buffalo (for its proximity and academics). If CUSA loses 4 members to the Big East, would they be able to get enough replacements from the MAC or SunBelt with their wide-ranging geography? They're the conference that seems the most vulnerable due to their high travel costs and limited revenue. I think the point being made is that even if the remnants of the Big East (in this scenario) look elsewhere for additonal members, the end result be such a watered-down, non-geographically based version that it might make better sense just to call it something else. If WVU were to go the the ACC, not one single traditional "Eastern Independent" would be left in the Big East (except for perhaps Temple if they get back in). Of course, the current WAC has been through this already. The "old WAC" (basically the Mountain West plus UTEP) is nothing at all like the new WAC. While I think it's unlikely the new Big East comes calling for any MAC school besides Temple and perhaps Buffalo, I DO think this upheaval could provide the opportunity for the more serious players in the MAC to leave the others behind. I hope the visionaries in the conference are working behind the scenes right now to develop contingency plans for what seems to be a likely Big 11 announcement to come at anytime. Why not head things off at the pass even. Toledo, Akron and Buffalo are the schools that I hope would lead the charge.

Some question whether the Big East will even survive after the Big-11 is done. ESPN Link NY Times Link

I agree. What's up with that? One day he's on the roster, the next he's off. Was/is he just a figment of JD's? A make-believe anathema of some frustrated UA mad-scientist professor? I mean who really knows. I've heard about him but I've never really seen him. Who has! He's on the sidelines. He's not on the sidelines. I don't know that we need to rack our human brains over such apparently mythical sightings of this Tonganator. Amy such sightings or belief in the existence of The Tonganator are surely beyond perceptual and/or intellectual apprehension but central to being and directly accessible by intuition. His seemingly mythological proportion precedes himself. I mean Monster/Schmonster, how big can his hands really be. Let's focus on the really important stuff. Who likes the new color unis? But then again.. How's that old Steven Tyler song go... "blessed are they that have not seen, yet still believe". GO ZIPS!!!! Bravo!!!

I must have missed him for some reason. Thanks for the correction.

Here are a dozen thoughts. 1) I liked that there wasn't a single false start or offsides penalty. The only flag I can recall is the end zone pass interference on Waller near the final whistle. Of course, the refs were probably letting some things go as well. Still, no obvious "poor focus" penalties is a good sign. 2) Nicely definitely was up and down and not very consistent. At least he didn't throw any picks, although there were a few close calls. He still looks far more comfortable in the 'gun. 3) Nicely needs a possession receiver to emerge. Carter showed some signs in the second half of having this ability. Dillard looked decent in this role as well, despite a drop or two. 4) AA looks very nearly like the pre-injury AA and I didn't see any reason to believe he won't be fully there come the regular season. He does need to work on his concentration on the dump off passes however. 5) Campbell's punting was only fair, if unspectacular. He was getting pretty good height on most of his kicks though. 6) We didn't see much in terms of placekicking, but I didn't see anything from Bronco to allay my concerns here. I didn't even see Igor on the sidelines. I know he's listed on the roster, but is he still with the team? It's been all downhill for Igor since the infamous post-Can't radio interview with Joe Dunn in 2008. Maybe TJ Marchese will compete? 7) Besides Igor, I failed to locate Tonga or Shead on the sidelines either. 8) Shawn Lemon didn't do anything to change my earlier prediction of him having a HUGE 2010 coming off the edge in the 4-3. The entire D-Line looked pretty good, even without some key pieces like Harvey sitting out. I really liked seeing coach Jackson constantly preaching technique to these guys every chance he would get. Mondo is still Mondo and should be an even bigger handful with fewer double teams. 9) It was awesome seeing LeVon Morefield playing FB. His indefatigable heart will suit him well in this role. 10) Weaver was burned deep twice by LaFrance. Maybe Byrd should see some more PT? 11) Among the lesser known players who showed me some potential are Troy Gilmer (started at LB with Fleming and Fobbs sitting out), Ben Bertsh (a sack and several near misses on Nicely) and Marquinn Davis (playing DE might suit him much better than playing in the interior). 12) There were no injuries from this scrimmage of which I am aware. That's the best news of all perhaps.

OK, I will admit I was a little harsh on Lee earlier. The weather wan't so great after all. I made the mistake of believing the forecasts that indicated only a slight chance of precipitation. It actually seemed to get a little colder as the game went along too. At least it never really came down.

This might be your most telling post yet. I was just out for a nice, slightly brisk, run and it's VERY acceptable football weather out there. We all know the old saying regarding people who fall into "glass half empty" of "glass half full" categories. I'd like add two more categories. Here are the four I propose. 1) Glass half empty - those of us who are generally somewhat pessimistic 2) Glass half full- those of us who are generally somewhat optimistic 3) Glass is overflowing - that rare breed who thinks that anything is possible (my last boss was like this....I don't wish that on anybody) 4) Glass is bone dry, on the precipice of shattering into a billion tiny shards before igniting into a massive fireball and finally being fused into a charred, horrific and grotesque remnant of itself. Go Zips!

It looks like a number of guys are going to miss the scrimmage due to injuries, including Harvey, Broderick Alexander, and a few offensive linemen. RI says he'd rather play a split squad format but the injuries are a problem. He expects to get there eventually, but I recall JD saying the same thing. Gaffney Article

The latest forecast seems to be calling for a cool, but partly cloudy day with only a 20% chance of rain. I'll take it! In fact, that's almost perfect football weather Weather Channel

I hadn't thought about this until this discussion, but all 13 football playing members of the MAC now play on some sort of artificial turf. I believe UB (2005), BG (2007), OU (2003) and Ball St (2007) have all switched from grass somewhat recently. Of course, that still leaves the possiblity of non-con games being played on grass. Edit: Forgot about Temple and the LINK. That seems like a major disadvantage when playing them there.

Gaffney covers the tennis team in today's Beacon. Link As a side note, Dan Satter has been named associate AD, filling the spot vacated by Hunter Yurachek.

Nice find! And the result of the Tampa-YSU game (go to page 35)? Eguins probably remembers it Result

I'm not too surprised if this is the case. Previous ZNO Thread.

I noticed that too. NIU is one of them. I believe Ault started the pistol at Nevada and Indiana picked up some of it last year. Indiana is now almost exclusively running out of the Pistol. So we'll get to see pretty early how the new defense holds up against it. Can't is also moving towards it. It's a little more widespread than I first realised (Wiki Link). Wiki Link

I noticed that too. NIU is one of them. I believe Ault started the pistol at Nevada and Indiana picked up some of it last year.