GP1

Don't sweat it. It's a 32 game season. Everyone is going to have one bad night. Think of it like this....One game is only 3.1% of the season. If a player struggles for 3% of the season, that's a pretty good player. "Some days you get the bear. Other days, the bear gets you." - Unknown

Welcome! Some really good new members have joined recently.

Millett was built as a multipurpose arena for basketball and other events.

College teams tend to shorten their bench in conference play. Now that the MAC schedule is upon us, who will get hit hard with less playing time? How short will the bench be?

It's especially lacking behind the basket. The sides are about as good as a multi-purpose arena can be. Not sure how to fix that other than not having a multi-purpose arena, which I'm not for. If the Zips are looking for a new place to call home, I want it to be their own and not a rental, or even worse, a time share.

Gwinnett Arena Take 3,000 seats out of it and it would be perfect for Akron. Multi purpose arena for basketball, hockey, wedding receptions and corporate events in the arena alone. All the other stuff at the complex isn't needed. Google it and you can see images. Take out the seats above the suites and it would be enough for Akron. Saw a concert there once and was extremely impressed. Hotels, restaurants and the Braves AAA baseball stadium all within walking distance.

These players need to be taught to take the nickle if caught.

I think we now have coaches on our staff who know how to handle at risk players. The guy went to FSU for a pretty long time without anything happening. My bet is nothing happens at Akron. Guys steal items of much more value out of the book room where scholarship players have to turn their books in at the end of every semester and nobody ever finds out about it.

18 is pretty far down the list. My guess is the after the first five or six, nobody really takes a close look at the players. A lot can change between now and next year, but what won't change is he is only 6' tall. He is going to have to really impress on special teams...something he has never stood out in at Akron. Blackburn was a very good special teams player at Akron and got his chance because of it. CB was also a huge guy who could fight it out in the trenches of the NFL once he got his chance to play LB. Not getting drafted isn't the worst thing that could happen to Brian. He'll get his shot. A non-drafted marginal player can select a team instead of being forced to play for one that picked him. There are no guarantees for draft picks. Brian is going to have to be smart about his choices and he will have several to make in the next year. The first smart choice he can make is staying at Akron for another year and play for Amato.

The draft isn't something someone should take a shot at. A player is either ready or they aren't. Frye stayed for his senior year because there was a good chance he wouldn't get drafted. Even after his senior year, he was a third round pick to the only team stupid enough to draft him. Frye was a more attractive NFL player than Wagner after his junior year and he might not have gotten drafted. There is no way Wagner gets drafted this year. He would be a fool to try and I think he knows that. A lot can change, but I don't see him getting drafted after next year regardless of where he plays.

Good points. Maybe he can get the Browns up to 6-7 wins a year in the next three year.

If I was TB, I wouldn't care less how someone did in another offense. I'd care more about how they do this spring in his offense when they get a chance to show what they can do.

I was a little skeptical of your position here, but after looking at the stats, I can't put up much of an agrument against what you said other than that he pitched for a long time. Went five years without a winning season at the start of career and only had two 20 win seasons. I had no idea and would have thought the numbers would have been better. The baseball HofF rewards guys who can play for a long time as it is a statistical driven sport more than most.

Sure enough. However, NE Ohio writers have an ability to come up with the most extreme bad ideas formed into words (See Pluto's "idea" that LO should be on TB's staff). Flynn is one of those examples.

This is what is wrong with NE Ohio sports writers. They are as desperate as the fans. Like Newt Gingrich, they think all of their ideas are good ideas and feel the need to put them out in public. Most ideas aren't very good and shouldn't be said. Flynn being the starting QB of the Browns is one of those ideas. Why? I saw this comparison on Deadspin the other day and it fits well. If a .500 journeyman pitcher throws a perfect game, does that make him a Hall of Famer, or does it make him a guy who had a really good day on the mound? Flynn is the journeyman pitcher who threw a perfect games. Making him something other than that is desperation thinking. As a Steelers fan, I can say I like the idea of the Browns picking up another QB who won't do anyting because the entire franchise is crap. So YES Browns, give him $10 million a year. He's worth every penny...look what he did in that one game and you know he will do that every week. Ignore everything else.

Pays a lot better than most jobs.

No, I don't think he is delusional. I think he is a guy with a unique opportunity to look at a college season beyond the ones he singed up for when he was 18 and wants to explore his options. He is breaking no ncaa rules and has completed his course requirements for graduation so in a technical sense, his obligations to UofA are over. I believe his best option is UofA, but there isn't anything wrong with exploring. The NFL? Who wouldn't want a shot at the NFL if they had one?

I don't know the answer to this, but how many NFL LBs did WVU produce while Rich Rod was the coach? Brian is the kind of undersized kid Rich Rod looks for in this type of defense, but that may not turn into NFL success. The most logical step Brian should take if he is interested in the NFL is to stay at Akron and play for the new staff.

I'm torn between Wexner being a neoconservative and giving us this.

Bingo!!!!!!!! Dave provides us with one of the best comments on this board in a long time. Good analysis.

It is the smart decision and that's what they intend to do if he goes to osu. They don't have any confidence in their current LB group. Nothing to do with red shirting or saving anyone for the future. OSU can't have another 6-6 season next year or Les Wexner will string the rest of their Athletic Department up by their privates.

If he decides to go to OSU, it will be on a full scholarship that will be offered to him in the near future if not already.

If I could ask Brian Wagner any question, it would be the following. "Given the current make-up of the Zips coaching staff, where do you think you will learn more about football that will make you better prepared for a possible NFL career....OSU or Akron?" His talents are his talents and that won't change at either school. What he knows will help him be more presentable to an NFL team. The answer to the question is Akron.

No news. I'm confident he is going to get an offer. My post made an assumption I shouldn't have.

I believe you are right. The current players will do well. However, they are going to need some help. If there was a way to measure average talent level on a team, the Zips wouldn't score well right now (I guess how badly we were beaten in the MAC would be a good measurement, but I'm looking for something different). That doesn't mean what they have can't be worked with. They need some stars around what they have. A team on the rise needs six good players. Heck, a good MAC team only needs six good players...look at OU. We have Wagner so that is one of six. Maybe there are two more on the roster and we'll find that out this spring (Diamonds in the rough might be a good topic fellow board members). Three more need to be brough in. I don't expect all three next year, but the following year I expect us to be very good if we can round out what I will refer to as the "key 6" from this point forward. The key 6 are, in any order, RB, QB, WR, DE, LB and CB. This is how Jim Grobe has winning records at a school where winning hasn't happened all that often. It's simple. Find six good players and be creative about how they are used. We can be good, and quickly. I'll go as far as to say we will be good, and quickly.