johnnyzip84

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.

It was nice to see Evan Bush give a strong showing in a friendly versus Olympique Lyonnais, especially since his only other action this year was a rough 90 minutes in a 3-0 loss to DC United earlier in the season. Hopefully, Marsch will rest Ricketts more often to give Evan more opportunities.

Here is another article on CM8's transfer. It's certainly understandable that he'd want to be closer to his ailing mother. I wish you the best in all of your dealings, Clayton.

It's awesome when a fellow Zip fan has your back! Let's get this season rolling.

Keener, this is the best explanation we have at this point, so I commend you for it However, didn't Nicely start as PN16 (Brookhart) and change to PN7 under Ianello?

No shame at all. Enjoy your vacation And when you get back, your 1st assignment is to find out why Jawon Chisholm switched from #44 to #7!

Could UA be opening with Coastal Carolina in 2012-2013? Hunter says he has "verbal agreement" for Zips to open Chants new hoops building this November.

The Linebackers I'm actually surprised we're as high as #10 here.

Already being discussed here

Nice find. Good for CM8. It'll be interesting to see if he can win the starting QB job there. I had never really thought about this before, but if he was intent on transferring down to FCS AND going back to Mississippi, he had no other choice but to attend an HBCU school. Maybe if things work out for him there, he could get a shot at Ole Miss in the future?

I agree. As is typical with these things, there isn't much in depth study and almost no consideration for transfers etc. I'm not expecting TB to be a miracle worker. But I'm pretty confident the Zips will perform better than most of these individual unit rankings (although punting concerns me a little, since we don't know how Paul will play in a game situation......could actually be lower than 8th).

The Secondaries The Zips are picked dead last at #13. Avis Commack alone should prevent that from being the reality in 2012.

That had me curious as well. Apparently, Jawon has a history of number changing since he wore both #3 and #11 in high school. In fact, take a look at this web site. It shows current Zip DB Anthony Holmes (#7, interestingly) pitching the ball to Jawon (#3).

Looking forward to seeing Nico on the field after he missed spring ball with an injury.

#7 gives a nice description of the pace of TB's offense and the need to be in top physical shape.

I was going through the GoZips roster a little more and I stumbled upon a player bio (James Price) that just might give the 'Meister a stroke.

That's excellent! But just out of curiousity, why is the Championship in 9th place when it has higher average attendance?

+1 (but that doesn't mean I might not decide to take up the trek anyway )

Nice

Media Poll It's no surprise that OU is picked 1st in East, but UT is a bit of a surprise (to me) in the West. The most ridiculous media representative has to be the guy who picked CMU to win it all

The Punters Zach Paul comes in at #8. Speaking of Zach, he put some time recently in a Parma Padua youth football camp.

Yeah, I'm not getting too concerned about any incoming FR who aren't on the GoZips roster at this point. But it is nice to see some guys like Commack already on it And he's listed as a corner for those of us who were curious a few weeks back. If Avis can be the large, shut-down corner I believe he is capable of being in the MAC, I think we’ll look back and see that getting him was the key to the 2012 season and that he personally accounted for 1 or 2 victories (even if the total is only 4 or 5 like many believe is about the most to expect).