Spring Practice Notes

[Dr Z]

All Comments from Mike's Blog Can be found by here.

Here are some of Mike's comments:

With the departure of Jared Wackerly, Akron found its third quarterback in Marc Pedro, a walk-on from Kettering, Ohio. Matt Rodgers participated some, but Ianello still considers him to be injured. So for now, until Rodgers is ready and the two true freshmen arrive in the fall, Pedro is the No. 2 quarterback.Passing-wise, Nicely looked a lot like last year. He was throwing fastballs for strikes with that big arm of his. One weakness still persists: He has a difficult time on passes that require touch.

Rodgers participated in some throwing drills. He has a brace on his left knee. You could tell he was not quite able to roll out with the ball. Brian Wagner picked him off on a one-on-one drill where the linebacker must come up and cover a back out of the backfield. Wagner would have taken the ball in the other direction for six points.

Alex Allen looks explosive. He is not sporting a knee brace. Nor does he appear to be limited in any way. With him and Broderick Alexander, the Zips have a nice tandem at running back. Alexander made some nice catches coming out of the backfield, too.

Zack Campbell did all of the punting. Jeremy LaFrance seemed to be the primary returner, with Nate Burney helping out.

I spoke with Almondo Sewell after practice. He said Ianello runs the program a lot differently than J.D. Brookhart. "It's a lot more strict," Sewell said. Ianello said he has four simple rules: 1) Do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it. 2) Be early to everything. 3) Communicate. 4) Do what's right.

Ianello has not considered who might serve as team captains. Sewell, a likely candidate, told me that the defensive line is working to adapt to the new 4-3 defense. "We're taking it step by step every day," he said. "Most of us played in the 3-3-5 for three years of our lives." Sewell added that he believes the new defense will allow him to make more plays because he'll deal with single blocks, rather than doubles.

[skip-zip]

Appreciate you posting the updates. Especially this off-season, where so many uncertainties will exist.

[indiandad4]

Josh Couch (greyshirt punter ) was just cleared on Tuesday. Should see him do alot of kicking and punting next week

[zipboy]

Best news is hearing that AA looks good to go. He should thrive in a pro style offense if healthy.

[RACER]

if allen is back that would help the rb postion alott.he is the only back with some power that akron has.

hopefully the new defense 4-3 will help stop the run,and get some presure on the qb.

after watching the boise state/texas tech bowl game there is huge difference on team speed.

the back seven of both teams defense made akron look like they are in slow motion.

i realize both teams were playing in a bcs bowl.if akron wants to get anywhere that level

they need find faster lbs'-dbs'.i just don't think jd left much talent for this coach.the good thing is we play in the mac.

[GP1]

i realize both teams were playing in a bcs bowl.if akron wants to get anywhere that level

they need find faster lbs'-dbs'.i just don't think jd left much talent for this coach.the good thing is we play in the mac.

Akron does not now, nor have we ever had the ability to compete at the BCS level. Same goes for the entire conference. If the goal in the next four seasons is to be a BCS level team/conference, the goal is not going to be met. I'd settle for the league being entertaining. I'd settle for my laugh-o-meter not going off when watching MAC games.

JD left enough talent to win in the MAC. I saw the dreaded "build" word in an article not long ago. I hope we are not in for another four-five years of "building". I've had all of the building I can take. I know how much the "building process" excites some of you. If you are one of those people, sorry if you feel insulted.

One last thing and I hope this doesn't insult anyone as well. AA gets hurt and misses games. If history is any indication of the future, he will miss a lot of games next year as well. I just don't know how motivated/interested a guy would be going into his sixth year of college. In my sixth year of college, I was in my second year of graduate school and had a Masters Degree at the end of the year. My interests were vastly different than an undergraduates. I just don't know what AA is trying to get out of this. I certainly hope he would have graduated by now.

[Buckzip]

Any word on Dale Martin? Is he playing or is he hurt again?

[RACER]

i guess there are few ways fans look at the team.jd was bad coach,but did leave talent to compete right away in the mac.

jd was a decent coach,but did not recruit well the last few years. i don't know if you could to say he was a bad coach,and

cold not recruit.he did win a mac championship;so he had to have done something right in the first few years he was here.

i personally don't think he left much talent on this team to compete next year.i hate the idea of waiting four years to be

competitve,but we may not have any choice.hopefully we will see alott of improvement every year.we lost almost all

the recievers.not really sure what to expect out of the rb postion.plus we are changing both offense,and defense.

gp i hope you are right and we can complete right away.i just think the occ schedule is not going to easy.

maybe when the mac rolls around we can be competitive? even a 6-6 season would be great for this team.

[GP1]

he did win a mac championship;so he had to have done something right in the first few years he was here.

One thing JD had going for him his first years was a better coaching staff than what he had at the end. This happened to Owens as well as Faust. Aaron Alford, now at Utah, was on staff early and was an excellent coach. We had a guy who played at KS State who is now at Air Force who was the guy who really understood the 3-3-5 defense JD ran. There were others as well.

Owens had two guys early who are on staff now at tOSU. Hell, one thought it would be better to go to Miami before going to tOSU. That should have been a huge red flag to anyone who followed the program closely. Faust had guys who are coaching in the NFL or have coached in the NFL. Mike Woodford is still coaching at Illinois. The DC Faust's second year, Bob Shaw, left to be the DC at WVU and was on staff when they played ND for the national championship. Late in Faust's tenure, there were a bunch of poor assistants.

We don't talk much on this board about the importance of assistant coaches, but the inability of Faust, Owen and JD to bring in good assistants late in their stint at UofA hurt as much as anything. It's only natural if you think about it. What young coach wants to be associated with a losing program after the HC has been there a few years and is probably on the ropes?

If Coach I has some success early, assistants will leave and he should leave (look what happened to JD when he didn't leave). If he doesn't have success early, assistants will leave and it will be hard to get quality assistants because the buzzards will be circling.

[zippy5]

We're in the MAC. There is not much talent needed, and no reason to have to rebuild for four years. A good coach will be able to come in and win, in the first two years. No rebuilding process necessary. It's not like we're DePaul playing Big East basketball...

[cornbread]

If Coach I has some success early, assistants will...

I see many people using "Coach I" or something like it to describe Ianello.

In order to make it sound as cool as possible for the thousands(millions?) of potential recruits that read these forums, and to keep pace with our rushed, abbreviated culture, as a community, we should adopt a standardized moniker to cut down on the lexicon.

I propose...

iCoach

thoughts?

[Dr Z]

iCoach

Nice, I like it.

Maybe I can get a podcast of icoach and put it on my iphone!?! That could be the name of the fictitious coaches show on STO too.

[Buckzip]

icoach...LOL

[Blue & Gold]

iCoach. Brilliant!

[vmd9]

iCoach. Brilliant!

NO...this makes it seem like he's some robot built by Apple. And everyone knows that anything built by Apple is doomed to fail. We have to think more positive and not associate Coach I with the iPod and the brand new iMaxiPad!!!

[Blue & Gold]

<br />

iCoach. Brilliant!

<br /><br />NO...this makes it seem like he's some robot built by Apple. And everyone knows that anything built by Apple is doomed to fail. We have to think more positive and not associate Coach I with the iPod and the brand new iMaxiPad!!!

Lol. Yeah, I want the new iPad. I just can't decide whether to get the nanoPad or the maxiPad. Lol.