johnnyzip84

Nice work once again, GT. "Camp Zippy" is growing on me! When you get a chance, I'd be interested in your impressions along the o-line and d-line so far. Also, I'm sure we ALL want to know when Jamel Turner makes his first appearance

The Beacon Journal's George Thomas on day 3 I'm really enjoying the things I've been reading and hearing about Pratt. 6' 5" with decent speed and good hands sounds like a MAC defensive back's nightmare to me!

Reeder was one of our original "mercenaries" when The University of Pacific dropped football. He's a burner. In fact, he had TDs of 86 yards and 80 yards in his one and only season with the Zips (4.6 YPC). I'd put Hendry more in the grinder category myself. I'm not saying he didn't have speed, but his longest TD was less than 70 yards (didn't make the top 20). But his career 4.7 YPC is impressive indeed. He had a great knack for only needing the slightest crease to gain positive yards. He almost always went for 2 to 3 yards, and his quick feet often got him 7 to 10.

While looking up Jimmie Gray’s (I misspelled his name also, CK) stats I happened to come across some general statistics that were sort of interesting to me: 1. While I’ll concede that Chisholm has not yet proven to be the home-run hitter Greg Lomax was, the statistics show just how big of a “go-the-distance” threat Lomax really was. He holds 2 of the top 6 longest runs from scrimmage in Zip history (92 vs. OU and 87 vs. K.E.N.T., both in 1997). His career yards per carry (YPC) was 5.6! 2. Jimmie Gray averaged 4.6 YPC in his senior season (2000). 3. Paul Winters is tied with Jack Beidelman for the longest run from scrimmage in UA history at 95 yards. Jack’s came against EKU in 1969. Guess who Winters has his against? Ha ha WAYNE STATE! 4. Part of these next statistics deals with the evolution of the game, but another part of them (to me) should clearly take some wind out of the “Jim Dennison should never have been fired” camp. I was fully aware of the over-emphasis of the running game during this period of Zips history, but even I was surprised to see that no leading passer for ANY Jim Dennison-coached UA squad EVER threw for more touchdowns than interceptions in a single season. And on top of that, here are the last 4 season completion percentages for Dennison’s leading passers (1982-1985): 0.510, 0.316, 0.388, and 0.448. This is not exactly a recipe for success in the modern era.

Fair enough. CMU obviously had some defensive issues last year. I just feel that, last year, Jawon rarely had a clear seem through which to even TRY to explode and take it all the way. For far too many plays, he was hit by 1 or 2 defenders before even getting to the line of scrimmage. I compared Chisholm to Greg Lomax after watching the spring game and other spring highlights from 2011. Lomax clearly had "Jimmy Grey" type of explosiveness. I still think the jury is out on whether my early assessment is correct or not. We'll find out prety soon BTW, I fully expect Chisholm's rushing yardage to go DOWN from last year in Bowden's spread offense. However I think his average per carry will be better, and his total yards will probably be around the same due to more effective screen passes and the like.

+1 Keep it coming! But I disagre about Chisholm's lack of breakaway speed. He didn't get many opportunities tp prove it last year (insufficient running room), but he did fly past CMU defenders on a long TD run. Although I am REALLY glad they're looking at trying to get the ball to some of the new speed guys by whichever means necessary.

I'm predicting 4-8, with home wins over Morgan St and UMass and a road win over CMU. I also think the Zips will win ONE of the 3 games versus Miami, BG and K.E.N.T. (the crystal ball ran out of juice before I could figure out precisely which one)

That is what I heard him say. He mentioned early on how this was his 1st chance to evaluate bith Nico and Griggs. In the same discussion he mentions concern over D-line depth. Apparently Dajour Morris was another academic casualty.

GT article on Avis Commack and Kurt "Dadgum" Mangum GT also notes that, unfortunately, Zach D'Orazio's shoulder hasn't healed as expected and he won't be able to play until at least the beginning of the season.

Thanks, GT! I really liked the following quote: Also, when you get a chance try to find out why Chisholm changed to #7. Keep 'em coming!

I propose that we close all nominations. We clearly have the winner of the "most ignorant post of the year" right here.

Thanks for the reminder I listened on Tuesday and one of his guests who covers Suburban League football was pretty high on Andrew Pratt. He talked about how Andrew ran the final leg of Green's 4x100 team and managed to catch and pass the Glenville anchor man. Of course, the guy gushed about Jake Snowball too. Sorry for hijacking!

You should have hammered me for my typo "dew questions" instead of "few questions" IIRC, you're not a huge hop-head. So their Cardinal Ale might be a nice place to start.

ABJ Beer Blogger asks OBC owner Chris Verich a few questions My wife and I stopped at the OBC tasting room at their production facility on Selle St between Broadway and Main the other night. We really enjoyed it, as they can now focus on the thing they do best and that is brew flavorful beer. Prices are not cheap ($4 per pint for most beers), but the product is pretty good. They also fill growlers for (I believe) $10. On the distribution front, they're now bottling all of their own beer that is currently sold in supermarkets. They HAD been farming a lot of this work out to Elevator Brewing in C-Bus, but now they have a brand new bottling machine to handle capacity. I've been enjoying a Witbier Seasonal (Buckeye Blonde) all summer long

This analysis misses a KEY point in the assessment of the 2012 Zip O-Line. The new SCHEME will definitely be their best friend. They simply won't be asked to hold pass protection for very long OR attempt to power run over defenses that overmatch them in size and talent.

Yeah! WE'RE decommiting from HIM!

Wah-wah-wah-wahhhhhh

Well I suppose the distance between Akron and Florida is less than the distance between Ft Collins and Florida.

We got the word from Scout that he had, but we REALLY appreciate the interview and you coming to post here! I'm not sure I like this last answer though:

An interview with Dominick from May of this year

I like the potential in this guy. I believe this high school is where the Zips recruited Dwight Smith. (Edit: nope, Dwight went to Detroit Central)

17-0 is the correct score. While I cannot directly corroborate RatFink's account, it sure seems believable to me. That game has always stood out as the biggest "opportunity lost" of the OVC years. After losing the 1985 opener at EKU, the Zips were rolling and in control of the OVC race coming into the late season tilt with the Blue Raiders in the Rubber Bowl. The weather was absolutely miserable, yet somehow a legitimate 17,000 to 18,000 showed up in what was mostly a steady downpour (that has always given me notion that Akron fans WOULD rally around a contender late in the season if given some hope of success). Unfortunately, the Zips were flat the whole game and never really gave MTSU any reason to be concerned. I believe the Blue Raiders had a defensive back playing that season who later played for the Dallas Cowboys. (Edit: his name is Don Griffin, and he played mostly for the 'Niners not the Cowboys....he actually spent a brief period in Cleveland as well before finishing his NFL career with the Eagles). I'm certain the "egg" that was collectively laid by the Zips that November night did not sit well with the administration.

The Kickers More of the same story here, since AJ Fox has left the team. The special teams really are a crapshoot this year. It would be a real shame if the Offense moves the ball like I think they will, the Defense steadily improves, but the Special Teams prevent the improvement in the win-loss column that might otherwise be possible. I sure hope coach Jeff Bowden has things under control here!

The Return Game Since both AJ Price (apparently) and Antoine Russell (for sure) are no longer with the team, I'm not sure how this assessment (#12) holds up. But whether it's Tyler Williams, Commack or another newcomer, the Zips will NEED to improve considerably in this area for the team to compete.