more offers....

[timmyboy]

Below is a list of more offers that we made to players, with one local being offered.Tyson Gulley RB/DB Akron Garfield (Seen him play a few times last year and he will be the next in a long line of great players out of akron garfield)http://scoutingohio.com/index.php/view-pro...40sbcglobal.netBraylon Heard RB/DB Cardinal Mooney (also seen him play, he wasent the full time starter, but still managed over 1,000 yards....very fast and shifty)http://scoutingohio.com/index.php/view-pro...ILL11%40AOL.COMalso, a few other players i mentioned before got offers from other schools andre givens got offers from illinois and BG, and his teammate Hubbard also got an offer from BG

[g-mann17]

This has been discussed a bit over the last month or so.The truth is (and this coming from someone who used to be heavily involved with the local teams) coaches look at who their talent is and if it's real D1 talent, they are pushing them to go to any school but Akron. Why? Some of it is they assume that Akron is some horrible campus. Some of it is for the ego of the coach. And very little of it is to give the kid the best opportunity. Akron has made face to face offers to several real D1 talent players, Ringer, Wiley, Dawson, Torrence the list goes on. I fully believe that JD and Geno make every effort to go through Akron and Northeast Ohio for that matter looking for talent. Unfortunately Akron maybe produces 10 people a year that can play D-1 (including Hoban and St. V) and when these coaches are asked by the players they are told "forget about Akron". I actually got in a fight once with the coach I was under. He was mad that we wouldn't look at a couple of (at best Muskingham or Marietta caliber kids). I asked him, how many times have you pushed a top prospect towards Akron? And he said "I would never do that" and I simply said "and you wonder why they won't give your scrubs a little bit of a look?" Bottom line is that coaches in and around Akron don't see the University as a viable choice. Part of that can be fixed by Alumni talking up the school and through exposure to campus that playing friday nights in the new stadium will give. JD would be well served to do as many coaching clinics as possible with the area coaches, give them a tour through the facility and let them meet some of the coaches we have. That is how you gain support of the community and get players like Wells, Ringer, and Wiley to see that the path to the pros also runs through the University of Akron.

[Dr Z]

This is from CK found in this linkIn the signing day presentation I asked Coach Ferri - "What will you say if a local HS coach complains (in the Beacon) that his players weren't recruited by his 'home town' school?" He replied - "Give me their name and I'll call them. I recruit this region. We made offers to every D1 caliber kid (with grades) in the area. Sometimes kids just want to go away from home. Sometimes they're intent on playing for a BCS school. If they had grades and were good enough, we actively recruited and offered them." He also added that the 2010 talent was much deeper than '09, and he expected to see some more local names in next February's class.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Braylon Heard RB/DB Cardinal Mooney (also seen him play, he wasent the full time starter, but still managed over 1,000 yards....very fast and shifty)

This kid is AWESOME. It would be nice if Coach Ferri's Mooney Alum status carried some weight in recruiting him. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I can always dream.

[akronad]

This has been discussed a bit over the last month or so.The truth is (and this coming from someone who used to be heavily involved with the local teams) coaches look at who their talent is and if it's real D1 talent, they are pushing them to go to any school but Akron. Why? Some of it is they assume that Akron is some horrible campus. Some of it is for the ego of the coach. And very little of it is to give the kid the best opportunity. Akron has made face to face offers to several real D1 talent players, Ringer, Wiley, Dawson, Torrence the list goes on. I fully believe that JD and Geno make every effort to go through Akron and Northeast Ohio for that matter looking for talent. Unfortunately Akron maybe produces 10 people a year that can play D-1 (including Hoban and St. V) and when these coaches are asked by the players they are told "forget about Akron". I actually got in a fight once with the coach I was under. He was mad that we wouldn't look at a couple of (at best Muskingham or Marietta caliber kids). I asked him, how many times have you pushed a top prospect towards Akron? And he said "I would never do that" and I simply said "and you wonder why they won't give your scrubs a little bit of a look?" Bottom line is that coaches in and around Akron don't see the University as a viable choice. Part of that can be fixed by Alumni talking up the school and through exposure to campus that playing friday nights in the new stadium will give. JD would be well served to do as many coaching clinics as possible with the area coaches, give them a tour through the facility and let them meet some of the coaches we have. That is how you gain support of the community and get players like Wells, Ringer, and Wiley to see that the path to the pros also runs through the University of Akron.

This is the past mentality of Akron coaches, including SVSM & Hoban. In fact, I know one former Akron coach that wouldn;t even let his player take a look at the U of A, because the coach had a in with a couple of the Pitt coaches. As it turns out, this particular player did not have the quaalifying scores to attend Pitt immediately and proceeded to go a military school for 2 years. He then ended playing for Akron. Yes, that player is Bryan Williams.I know all of the current coaches in Akron would be ecstatic if the Zips gave them a look. But, Geno is correct. They might not have the grades or test scores to qualify or they just want to get away from the Akron area and play somewhere else.

[timmyboy]

Braylon Heard RB/DB Cardinal Mooney (also seen him play, he wasent the full time starter, but still managed over 1,000 yards....very fast and shifty)

This kid is AWESOME. It would be nice if Coach Ferri's Mooney Alum status carried some weight in recruiting him. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I can always dream.

IMHO i seen both him and erik howard of North Canton play....i would take him over howard anyday. Howard is a powerback who has some speed. this guy is an all around athlete who can play in all phases of the game, offense, defense,Special teams.

[zippyfan34]

One local kid that I would like to see the Zips look at and has great size is 6'6, 210 pound wide receiver Derek Orr from Smithville. His junior season he had 52 receptions for 798 yards and 12 TD's. Very solid numbers for a historically strong running program. I don't know how heavily he is being recruited, but he will probably be under the radar as he incurred an ACL injury at the begining of the basketball season. He is also a very solid basketball player, but I don't think D1 caliber, he will probably get some D2 and NAIA basketball offers. Of note the basketball team is coached by Mike Snowbarger who was an assistant at St. V's for 1 or 2 years under Dambrot and the team has not missed a beat without him going 20-0.Are there any other locals out there you think the Zips should look at?

[gozips19]

Braylon Heard RB/DB Cardinal Mooney (also seen him play, he wasent the full time starter, but still managed over 1,000 yards....very fast and shifty)

This kid is AWESOME. It would be nice if Coach Ferri's Mooney Alum status carried some weight in recruiting him. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I can always dream.

IMHO i seen both him and erik howard of North Canton play....i would take him over howard anyday. Howard is a powerback who has some speed. this guy is an all around athlete who can play in all phases of the game, offense, defense,Special teams.

another Mooney kid that has interest in Akron click megot to talk to him for a few min. while he was on campus for the akron bgsu game. huge kid! very nice. also, there were a ton of high school kids there many were "local"

[akronad]

Out of curiosity, I just checked the most current spring roster and out of the 85 players listed, 20 are from the NE Ohio area.That's almost 25% of our players. Do I want more? Yes, but looking at that the current numbers, this is really not so bad.

[Still-a-zip]

Although we do not want to admit it Akron is still considered a commuter school by most people around here. Many people still call it Akron U. The further away you get from Akron the better the perception of it. Until that perception changes you are going to see Akron still recruit many players from Georgia, Florida, etc. In the last couple of years with the new stadium and a MAC title the perception is starting to change. As it continues to change the more you will see local prospects stay in town.

[akronad]

I agree. I'm an old timer and I still catch myself saying Akron U. It is not as often as it once was, and I try to correct those that still refer to it as such.