zipsoutsider

Why is having Chapman play another position even a discussion? He wasn't being considered for that at Pitt, didn't do it at Ashland and Bowden has made zero reference to doing that here. No one is suggesting Pohl play receiver or another position. What I am describing is reality. You don't stick a kid at another position if you want him to be a future qb. You either keep him on the sidelines to learn the position or cut him loose to play somewhere else.

Kyle Pohl's numbers in 2014 were nearly identical to Tommy Woodson in terms of Completion %, TDs, and interceptions. He failed to score in the red zone from very early in the season (Penn State) on and seemed to lack urgency. He seems like a great kid, but the Zips won't be bowl eligible without major improvement at QB, whether it behind, or someone else. The reason that there is real competition for his position, is his failure to deliver and be the vocal leader on the field.

My guess is people would feel differently about throwing him out there at other positions is he were their kid. You don't just throw a kid out there at another position because he is a "special athlete." That's a good way for a tale ted athlete to to suffer a career ending I just. It isn't good for the kid or the program. Coaches who don't care about kids get reputations for that. Thankfully, that is not the reputation TB has.

Roster moves rarely happen in spring ball. Generally, the starting job goes to the incumbent in Spring ball and going into fall camp. Glad to hear there is healthy competition with the RBs and that the D looks solid. The offense still has time to gel. Chapman will have to do better than "ok" to win the job. I don't see us having a solid sense of his potential before fall camp. I did like hearing Chapman scored going deep. That was fairly absent last year. Sounds like the D has the potential to be as good if not better than the D we had for the first half of 2014.

TB on WAKR http://wakr.net/personalities/sam-bourquin/item/158595-audio-zips-spring-football-in-full-swing

Looks like a local preferred walk-on Corner for the 2015 class: Alec Tarter from Mogadore https://twitter.com/KyleCallihan/statuses/581574971924844545 http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4095002/alec-tarter

Hudl has him at that, too. http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1454234/newman-williams

Bowden had mentioned some players playing both ways, including Williams:

I think Coach Bowden has been clear about 3 things regarding the QB scenario: The starter cannot turn the ball overHe is looking fir a vocal leaderHe is looking for a dual threat QBI think thinly thing Pohl can realistically improve us the turnover issue. It's time to move on. From what I could understand about Chapman at Ashland, he didn't even have the chance to go to camp and was literally learning as he went along. Saying he "stunk it up" seems pretty unfair. From the film I have seen on him, and the reports of his play against our D on the scout team, there seems to be a lot of potential and he didn't seem to struggle with turnovers. It sounds like there are those who have decided not to like him before we see him take a snap, even in spring ball.

It sounds like ongoing investigations into his HS and WVU somehow played into it, but the articles were not clear.

2013 was the first non-1-11 season in 3 years. Why would a top QB want to come to Akron? Kids who are used to winning have a harder envisioning themselves with team with a losing record. Bowden has been pretty resourceful getting "second chance" kids and raised the profile of the team significantly where we are finally at a point to recruit some of the better talent. But I think your expectation are a little unrealistic. Kids have different priorities but among them are (and order of priority varies) Playing for a winning programHow soon they will see the field/opportunity for personal successThe way the fit "feels"Their parents' preferencesFacilitiesWe seem to have it sewn up with facilities and seem to score well with the "fit" category and even parental preferences. Where we struggle is the winning and opportunity for personal success categories. We are starting to make up ground, but it is a harder to sell on what has not happened yet and it takes the right kid to want to be a part of a turn-around versus jump into the success of a winning program. Furthermore, I think a lot of folks forget the talent that has not been recruited that will really start to be first realized this year. Bowden's first class was the 2013 recruiting class, who mostly red-shirted during 2013 and was the second string last year. That class was recruited off of a 1-11 team. The next class, also recruited off of a 1-11 team, will be sophomores this year. There is a 1-2 year delay between the time the kid signs and when we, for the most part, will start to see a difference. The kids have to mature, both as players and personally, and get stronger during that time. Great example of this is John Rachal who came in at the end of EMU (I believe) and delivered a crushing hit that caused a fumble. Hakeem Lawrence shows a lot of potential in terms of speed and footwork. He fumbled a few times, but appeared to be out-muscled more than anything. He never had a chance to develop this year due to a hip injury. I don't think it is realistic to expect any more than what we have, to date. I understand you are impatient, but it doesn't change reality. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken_________.

Maybe, maybe not. Hard to say unless you followed the team. Maybe the o-line stunk, maybe the whole offense stunk, maybe Chapman was just OK. Per GT, it looks like he showed potential last year at Akron, however: Considering he was up against our defense, I find that encouraging.

I think we don't have much of a clue beyond the fact that it appears as though a very athletic Tra'von Chapman is the likely starter. If I am correct, he never took the field for Pitt and had one year at Ashland, which would give him 3 years left to play for us. Based on his 2013 performance, It makes sense that Bowden had hopes that Pohl would be the field leader that the team needed him to be and that his experience and maturity would translate to more wins. In big games, at times, Pohl has looked like he was coming into his own (Michigan, even Penn state.) I think the insertion of Tommy Woodson into the equation last year was a tip of the hat that not only was Pohl not delivering what Bowden wanted but perhaps, even that we might be moving towards a different model, where the QB is more of a dual threat. Pohl's stats were only a little better than Woodson's. Both had one more TD than interceptions and Pohl;s completion rate was 54% and Woodson's 53%. Overall, per GT's articles we were 49% in the red zone last year. At the end of last season, Bowden talked about getting the ball into the end-zone and needing to look at every component of the game. It's clear they have done that and it is likely why Chandler Kincaide is looking for a new home. I think this happens pretty often with QBs and it is not necessarily a sign of anything good or bad about the program. It just happens. RE: Matthew Hoyer. I don't think he has ever been a contender for the starting job. If this article is accurate (articles often get these things wrong) he asked Bowden for a chance to walk on, not so much a case of Bowden recruiting him. This article, spotted Coach Bowden at an OSU practice recently. Why was he there? Is he shopping for more QB competition? Interviewing assistant coaches?

Hard to recruit top notch QB's when you have been the perennial cellar dwellers. Teams collect them like a dog collects fleas. Look how many we have that will never see the field. Let's hope that Chapman takes us to the next level so we can get better recruits at that position in the future.

From GT on Twitter: "For @ZipsFB fans Terry Bowden on QB this spring (1/2): I think without a doubt with Trayvon Chapman having been ineligible last year... and him being eligible, I believe the position deserves to be wide open."

Looks like more QB competition is on tap.... https://twitter.com/JUCOFFrenzy/status/575400263030292480

A couple places we grabbed some press: Yahoo Lost Lettermen Hustlebelt Bleacher Report

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't players from other schools have to approach us, versus us approaching them? I think the point is sort of moot. I don't see B. Miller leaving OSU for Akron. If he leaves, it will be for another Power 5 school. He could probably start at any school in the country.

Truthfully, this whole business of ranking recruiting classes is silly. Some schools will need more recruits than others from losing kids to graduation. Second out of the thousands of kids who play high school sports, a couple of recruiting websites are entrusted with telling coaches who the best players are? Those websites don't give kids in smaller schools the time of day and size of the school might determine the quality of the program, but not the talent and athleticism of the kid. The Lemming Report was the go-to source before the era of web-based recruiting, but honestly, good coaches know what they need and what kind of player is the right fit for their team and systems, and even then, the chemistry between the coaches and players can make or break a recruit of any star level. It is not all the different front he NFL draft. How many teams go after these high dollar players only to have them bust? Look at a successful NFL team, like the Steelers and see how many MAC players they have on the roster: a bunch of them. This year seems like a very nice follow up to last year. It seemed to me that there was more of a sense of urgency and fire into he belly when Coach Bowden spoke yesterday and he seemed quite confident in the recruiting class.The breadth of his knowledge about our conference and the types of kids we can land and should land is reassuring. Our classes will improve as our record improves. He has done a very good job selling the, "be part of the Akron turn-around story" and he made mention of rebuilding generally being a 3-4 year process and the difference is very noticeable in that fourth season. It seemed, and perhaps it was just because they did a better job of marketing, that Coach Bowden himself was more involved in recruiting this year. He is the best salesman we have. One thing you hear from current players and recruits over and over is that they believe the coaches at Akron genuinely care about the kids. I think that speaks well of the program and if it is true, they are building a reputation of that within the schools where they are recruiting. And let me throw this out there about the uniforms and Tuesday nights - both are for the kids first, and the fans second. I get that we agreeing to build a fan base and the Tuesday nights really stunk for most people. However, when you recruit from FL and a kid can tell his friends and family they can watch his games on cable vs. ESPN 3, it makes a difference. RE: uniforms, we are all going to have our preferences and be convinced we are right, but it is really a matter of what the kids like and the coaches are pretty in tune with that, probably more than most of us are. If you have seen, both last year and recently when the pictures of the new uniforms and helmets hit Twitter, they generated a ton of buzz, pretty much all positive. For a school without a ton of money, I think they are doing a pretty good job making the most with what they have to make the kids happy and generate interest. What recruit doesn't want to Tweet a picture of a uniform considered cool by his peers?

Maybe he is a preferred walk on?

http://twitter.com/iamcjmaybin/statuses/562278675890962432Looks like Joe Riggins has decommitted.

It's called a"grey shirt".

I love them. I love the resurgence of the Roo.

How many of them had preferred walk on from PSU?

Most kids from PA would prefer a preferred walk on to PSU to a scholarship, it is just whether they can afford it. This kid lives in the heart of PSU country. PSU was probably his dream pick.