Is Akron already behind in the recruiting race?

[ZachTheZip]

Looking at the national recruiting lists, the average school has 6 verbals at this point. BCS schools are averaging 8 verbals. It seems to me like Akron is already fighting for scraps. We need to be ahead of the curve, not lagging so much behind it. With the stadium almost finished isn't it concerning that we only have three recruits?

[Hugo42]

Calm down its July signing day is in FEB. Clemson has 7 commits Florida State has 6 and USF have 3. So i really do not think we are behind.... and Henderson is an athlete i call him twinkle toes he is light on his feet...

[g-mann17]

Looking at the national recruiting lists, the average school has 6 verbals at this point. BCS schools are averaging 8 verbals. It seems to me like Akron is already fighting for scraps. We need to be ahead of the curve, not lagging so much behind it. With the stadium almost finished isn't it concerning that we only have three recruits?

No.From Rivals.CMU has 1WMU has 2Miami has 1BUGS has 2Can't has 0Buffalo has 1Toledo has 2Temple has 6 (which is disheartening, but again it's Temple)EMU has 0NIU has 1Ohio has 1Ball State has 10With Temple and Ball State. If any of those kids garner any bigger schools, they are gone. Of all the recruits listed there is only one that is a 3 star. If we are still lagging as the season starts or when visits start, then you can get your panties in a bunch.A stadium under construction, is just that, a stadium under construction, until the facility is complete and you can throw their highlight tape up on the video screen and play deafening cheers (recorded from some game) and a announcer calling their name, its really only a "cool, I can play in new digs and this school might care", not "WOW look at this, this school is no joke."Remember, as much pride as we all have in our school, it's because we have the experience of it. To these kids until there is something to experience, we are still just a mid level MAC school.

[johnnyzip84]

Calm down its July signing day is in FEB. Clemson has 7 commits Florida State has 6 and USF have 3. So i really do not think we are behind.... and Henderson is an athlete i call him twinkle toes he is light on his feet...

I agree that it's way too early to be concerned. And it's great to hear that about Henderson (although not surpising after seeing the clips of him returning kicks in HS)!! BTW, I am sure that all of us at ZN would love to hear any more inside info you might have on Chris. Please let us in!

[WinZip]

Looking at the national recruiting lists, the average school has 6 verbals at this point. BCS schools are averaging 8 verbals. It seems to me like Akron is already fighting for scraps. We need to be ahead of the curve, not lagging so much behind it. With the stadium almost finished isn't it concerning that we only have three recruits?

I worry, but I don't think we're really lagging behind. Mostly I just have big dreams of top recruits parading through campus.

[rocketfootball]

Looking at the national recruiting lists, the average school has 6 verbals at this point. BCS schools are averaging 8 verbals. It seems to me like Akron is already fighting for scraps. We need to be ahead of the curve, not lagging so much behind it. With the stadium almost finished isn't it concerning that we only have three recruits?

No.From Rivals.CMU has 1WMU has 2Miami has 1BUGS has 2Can't has 0Buffalo has 1Toledo has 2Temple has 6 (which is disheartening, but again it's Temple)EMU has 0NIU has 1Ohio has 1Ball State has 10With Temple and Ball State. If any of those kids garner any bigger schools, they are gone. Of all the recruits listed there is only one that is a 3 star. If we are still lagging as the season starts or when visits start, then you can get your panties in a bunch.A stadium under construction, is just that, a stadium under construction, until the facility is complete and you can throw their highlight tape up on the video screen and play deafening cheers (recorded from some game) and a announcer calling their name, its really only a "cool, I can play in new digs and this school might care", not "WOW look at this, this school is no joke."Remember, as much pride as we all have in our school, it's because we have the experience of it. To these kids until there is something to experience, we are still just a mid level MAC school.

I would not say Akron is behind at all. Rivals is not very accurate for Toledo though. Toledo actually has 4 commits. Not sure which two they have, but Scout has all four of Toledo's which are OL Josh Hendershot, OL Jeff Myers, OL Taylor Miller, and DB Keith Suggs.Bowling Green by the way, just picked up a commitment from three star QB Caleb Watkins.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Other factors that may rebuff the typical "sky is falling" Zips Fan paranoia --1.) We are aiming very high for recruits this year. If we wanted to have a combined 8 ot 10 kids committed as of today, we could do it. Believe it or not, UA is a very attractive program right now. There is no rush to rack up July commitments for our February class.2.) I don't know the exact scholarship count available, but the '10 class will be smaller than the '09 class. The staff is being more selective right now because we don't have a boatload scholarships to hand out. Also keep in mind Pierre Carr isn't presently eligible, but he'll be in the '10 class if he does well in the classroom this upcoming school year. He's not officially a "commit," but he'll enroll this fall and expects to play in the fall of '10.

[tim123]

we have without a doubt the best facilities in the MAC, along with the high profile coaching, we have nothing to worry about...we need to identify the positions we need to address and target them..GO ZIPS!!!

[zipboy]

I am not concerned at all. By the end of the year a few coaches will be fired and a few will move on to better things. Kids will reevaluate. In fact I would rather have less committs now and have recruits we are targeting experience a few game days. If it is Jan 1 and we still have 3 commits I will be worried.

[ZachTheZip]

Akron being more selective with offers shouldn't have much to do with the amount of verbals coming in. Akron has tons of offers out there but a low number of verbals to show for it. With the facilities and coaching staff, shouldn't we see less kids "holding out" for better offers and then verballing to Akron as a back-up option?

[ksu sucks]

Akron being more selective with offers shouldn't have much to do with the amount of verbals coming in. Akron has tons of offers out there but a low number of verbals to show for it. With the facilities and coaching staff, shouldn't we see less kids "holding out" for better offers and then verballing to Akron as a back-up option?

In normal situations, most kids who would verbal to us as a backup plan probably aren't the guys we need to be recruiting. I agree with everyone else, give it some time. If in a half year we still haven't seen any more verbals...panic(not going to happen).

[UA Fan]

I think we're waiting for a lot of players who are waiting for the BCS teams to make some decisions. When the B10 & BE teams start making more offers the dominoes will start falling and we'll see who we get. I don't mind waiting longer if it means getting better players. I know they like our new stadium & campus but they're still looking at overall programs and conferences and we are still in the MAC.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Akron being more selective with offers shouldn't have much to do with the amount of verbals coming in. Akron has tons of offers out there but a low number of verbals to show for it. With the facilities and coaching staff, shouldn't we see less kids "holding out" for better offers and then verballing to Akron as a back-up option?

Ask 100 smoking-hot girls to be your prom date. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Now wait a few months...after said smoking-hot girls have not received any concrete offers from guys who've been keeping them on the hook. All of the sudden you start looking a lot better. A few more "yes" responses start to roll in.Ask 100 "middle-of-the-road" girls to the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Maybe half?Ask 100 homely, butt-ugly girls top the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give Doug Martin an immediate "yes?" Get the picture?

[ZachTheZip]

Akron being more selective with offers shouldn't have much to do with the amount of verbals coming in. Akron has tons of offers out there but a low number of verbals to show for it. With the facilities and coaching staff, shouldn't we see less kids "holding out" for better offers and then verballing to Akron as a back-up option?

Ask 100 smoking-hot girls to be your prom date. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Now wait a few months...after said smoking-hot girls have not received any concrete offers from guys who've been keeping them on the hook. All of the sudden you start looking a lot better. A few more "yes" responses start to roll in.Ask 100 "middle-of-the-road" girls to the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Maybe half?Ask 100 homely, butt-ugly girls top the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give Doug Martin an immediate "yes?" Get the picture?

Your analogy works if you assume that you're an average guy. Akron should no longer be in that position. Akron should be the guy that those smoking-hot girls are waiting on. I know why that's not the case, since Akron lacks two things: winning and being a part of the "popular kids clique" in the form of the BCS. But that doesn't mean that Akron shouldn't be above average when everything else is at the top of the MAC and the facilities are better than half the BCS.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Akron being more selective with offers shouldn't have much to do with the amount of verbals coming in. Akron has tons of offers out there but a low number of verbals to show for it. With the facilities and coaching staff, shouldn't we see less kids "holding out" for better offers and then verballing to Akron as a back-up option?

Ask 100 smoking-hot girls to be your prom date. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Now wait a few months...after said smoking-hot girls have not received any concrete offers from guys who've been keeping them on the hook. All of the sudden you start looking a lot better. A few more "yes" responses start to roll in.Ask 100 "middle-of-the-road" girls to the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Maybe half?Ask 100 homely, butt-ugly girls top the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give Doug Martin an immediate "yes?" Get the picture?

Your analogy works if you assume that you're an average guy. Akron should no longer be in that position. Akron should be the guy that those smoking-hot girls are waiting on. I know why that's not the case, since Akron lacks two things: winning and being a part of the "popular kids clique" in the form of the BCS. But that doesn't mean that Akron shouldn't be above average when everything else is at the top of the MAC and the facilities are better than half the BCS.

Compared to the other suitors for our smoking hot girls, we are "an average guy." Our standards are now above the standards of most of the MAC programs you're fretting over. And July is too far away from prom to lower those standards.Say K.e.n.t. gets 20 verbals in August. What would that say about the caliber of recruit they targeted? They would have secured 20 kids who were obviously really...REALLY desperate for a date.

[tbozeglav]

Compared to the other suitors for our smoking hot girls, we are "an average guy." Our standards are now above the standards of most of the MAC programs you're fretting over. And July is too far away from prom to lower those standards.Say K.e.n.t. gets 20 verbals in August. What would that say about the caliber of recruit they targeted? They would have secured 20 kids who were obviously really...REALLY desperate for a date.

bingo. hit it on the head.the number of recruits that have given verbals does not directly correlate to the overall calliber of the recruits themselves. We've said this many times before: "Build it and they will come".... well, we've built it, now we just need to wait for them to come... and they will. Its hard to sell a recruit on a stadium that isn't done, that they can't experience with the fans and the game itself. I expect many more verbals to come in late into our football season once recruits are given the opportunity to truly feel what it would be like to be a Zip

[ZachTheZip]

So we're recruiting "above the MAC" now. Which teams are we competing directly against, then? Look at most of the offers Akron has given and a large majority are MAC recruits. The kids who are going to BCS schools have already verballed to those schools. We're not recruiting any better than any other MAC school. This is the problem.

[rocketfootball]

Akron being more selective with offers shouldn't have much to do with the amount of verbals coming in. Akron has tons of offers out there but a low number of verbals to show for it. With the facilities and coaching staff, shouldn't we see less kids "holding out" for better offers and then verballing to Akron as a back-up option?

Ask 100 smoking-hot girls to be your prom date. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Now wait a few months...after said smoking-hot girls have not received any concrete offers from guys who've been keeping them on the hook. All of the sudden you start looking a lot better. A few more "yes" responses start to roll in.Ask 100 "middle-of-the-road" girls to the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give you an immediate "yes?" Maybe half?Ask 100 homely, butt-ugly girls top the prom. Prom is 7 months away. How many give Doug Martin an immediate "yes?" Get the picture?

Your analogy works if you assume that you're an average guy. Akron should no longer be in that position. Akron should be the guy that those smoking-hot girls are waiting on. I know why that's not the case, since Akron lacks two things: winning and being a part of the "popular kids clique" in the form of the BCS. But that doesn't mean that Akron shouldn't be above average when everything else is at the top of the MAC and the facilities are better than half the BCS.

Compared to the other suitors for our smoking hot girls, we are "an average guy." Our standards are now above the standards of most of the MAC programs you're fretting over. And July is too far away from prom to lower those standards.Say K.e.n.t. gets 20 verbals in August. What would that say about the caliber of recruit they targeted? They would have secured 20 kids who were obviously really...REALLY desperate for a date.

I wouldn't say your standards are above most MAC schools, but yes above some MAC schools. There are many MAC schools that have the same high standards for recruiting. Look at the kids with offers from Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois. They are all offering better athletes like Akron is. That's 7 of the 13 MAC schools right there. I'm not sold on the recruiting efforts of Ball State, Temple, and Buffalo despite the fact that Ball State and Buffalo were in the championship game last year and Temple seems to be improving nicely. Ball State and Temple each have a lot of verbals already, but most of their commits only have an offer from them. Buffalo just isn't getting many commits and are not really offering a lot of higher profile guys. Then the rest of the MAC schools like Can't State and EMU are not doing much with recruiting, and it is not surprising.But you look at Akron and the other six MAC schools I gave and they are offering a lot of quality players. And for these MAC schools they are all just average guys competing against the likes of Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, Boston College, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, etc.

[GP1]

I have a feeling that when the recruits attend the first couple of games at a packed, spanking new stadium, there will be a rush of verbals.

[Zipsrifle]

I have a feeling that when the recruits attend the first couple of games at a packed, spanking new stadium, there will be a rush of verbals.

Yes, exactly. What game do you think would be the best? Morgan State or Indiana. I think Indiana as we'll have the kinks worked out and it will be a big win!

[Blue & Gold]

<br />

I have a feeling that when the recruits attend the first couple of games at a packed, spanking new stadium, there will be a rush of verbals.

<br /><br />Yes, exactly. What game do you think would be the best? Morgan State or Indiana. I think Indiana as we'll have the kinks worked out and it will be a big win!<br />

<br /><br /><br />I'm really looking forward to both the Can't and Ohio games as well. Excellent home slate this season!

[GP1]

I have a feeling that when the recruits attend the first couple of games at a packed, spanking new stadium, there will be a rush of verbals.

Yes, exactly. What game do you think would be the best? Morgan State or Indiana. I think Indiana as we'll have the kinks worked out and it will be a big win!

I don't think it is an either/or. Any game will be fine and will have an equal impact but in a different way.The Morgan State game should be an easy win for the Zips and could get out of hand early. It could be a calm day for everyone at the game. In fact, the stadium could be half empty by the end of the third quarter. Recruits could see the Zips really having a lot of fun during the game.Indiana could really be walking into a buzzsaw the second game. The stadium will be packed and loud, the Zips will be fired up and sometimes visitors come out flat in these circumstances. There is a part of me that thinks the Zips have a better shot at winning this game than repeating in Syracuse (although both games are winnable for the Zips).

[72 Roo]

Indiana is definitely the game to sell the program. But don't overlook the MAC opener with Ohio U. If we are doing well that also could be a big crowd. Before we get all excited about Indiana, let's remember we have a lot of question marks to work out such as:- Will good Jacq or bad Jacq surface?- Will Bowser stop his imitation of Braylon Edwards and catch a few?- Will the defensive secondary rebuild itself?- Will Bain ever see the field?- Will run stopping LB's emerge?- Will the OC discover we have a TE?- Will Alex return to form as a RB?We have our share of questions going into this season. I like our chances to solve them, but we are far from a lock to blast our opponents. Much to consider, but hopes are sky high!

[Zipsrifle]

Though part of me wants Can't to lose every game for the rest of time, part of me wants them to be doing well, along with Akron so there is a lot riding on that game. That will be another good one for recruits, probably the best atmosphere for recruits NOT also being recruited by Can't.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Though part of me wants Can't to lose every game for the rest of time, part of me wants them to be doing well, along with Akron so there is a lot riding on that game.

Personally, I hope K.e.n.t. loses evey game this season by 50 points, except for the Akron game, where they lose by 65. To me, that would be much better than K.e.n.t. doing well. But that's just me.

That will be another good one for recruits, probably the best atmosphere for recruits NOT also being recruited by Can't.

I don't think we're crossing paths with K.e.n.t. football recruiting all that often now-a-days. The few times that we do, if the kid wants to choose K.e.n.t. over UA...well...K.e.n.t. can have him. K.e.n.t. hasn't won anything in football for 35+ years...I highly doubt this will be the season they turn in all around. I highly expect the 2010 K.e.n.t. overall win total "over/under" to be 3. Give me the "under."