The incredible shrinking roster

[zipboy]

I don't think the coach is removing only the dead weight, but also quality student-athletes in order to free up scholarships for recruiting, even though he hasn't proven that he can recruit any semblance of talent to a school like Akron. How do you sell a recruit on joining a team and playing under a coach who might at any moment go back on his promise and take away your scholarship? It doesn't look trustworthy and it sends a message to potential recruits that he's not a good enough coach to win with players that aren't perfectly suited to his system.

Many more defections are to come after Friday's game.

Zach, we already have slots well over the max allowed of 25 available next year and I believe the following year as well. Guys may be run off or leave on their own accord, but I can't see why Ianello would need to run anyone else for scholarships. At this point, he needs bodies.

[Zipmeister]

I don't think the coach is removing only the dead weight, but also quality student-athletes in order to free up scholarships for recruiting, even though he hasn't proven that he can recruit any semblance of talent to a school like Akron. How do you sell a recruit on joining a team and playing under a coach who might at any moment go back on his promise and take away your scholarship? It doesn't look trustworthy and it sends a message to potential recruits that he's not a good enough coach to win with players that aren't perfectly suited to his system.

Many more defections are to come after Friday's game.

Zach, we already have slots well over the max allowed of 25 available next year and I believe the following year as well. Guys may be run off or leave on their own accord, but I can't see why Ianello would need to run anyone else for scholarships. At this point, he needs bodies.

Zipboy, we generally don't make Zach think...it gets in the way of the rambling.

[ZachTheZip]

You probably didn't follow this, but the Syracuse coach released far more players when he first arrived than was necessary to have a full recruiting class. By the start of his second season, he was down to around 50 scholarship players (Yes, the start of that second season, which began at the Info. We lost to a team that had less than an FCS teams worth of scholarships.). Why did he do it even after passing the max recruit limit for open scholarships? Because he wanted to weed out players who weren't performing to his expectations. This could be what Ianello's idea is here.

Does anybody know if any more players left the team after the season ended? Or why we're even kicking players off the team who haven't even stepped on campus yet?

[Buckzip]

You probably didn't follow this, but the Syracuse coach released far more players when he first arrived than was necessary to have a full recruiting class. By the start of his second season, he was down to around 50 scholarship players (Yes, the start of that second season, which began at the Info. We lost to a team that had less than an FCS teams worth of scholarships.). Why did he do it even after passing the max recruit limit for open scholarships? Because he wanted to weed out players who weren't performing to his expectations. This could be what Ianello's idea is here.

Does anybody know if any more players left the team after the season ended? Or why we're even kicking players off the team who haven't even stepped on campus yet?

Your link is a pay site. What are you saying here?

[ZachTheZip]

You probably didn't follow this, but the Syracuse coach released far more players when he first arrived than was necessary to have a full recruiting class. By the start of his second season, he was down to around 50 scholarship players (Yes, the start of that second season, which began at the Info. We lost to a team that had less than an FCS teams worth of scholarships.). Why did he do it even after passing the max recruit limit for open scholarships? Because he wanted to weed out players who weren't performing to his expectations. This could be what Ianello's idea is here.

Does anybody know if any more players left the team after the season ended? Or why we're even kicking players off the team who haven't even stepped on campus yet?

Your link is a pay site. What are you saying here?

I'm saying that a day after one of our recruits verbally committed, his scholarship offer was pulled.

[Dave in Green]

Hopefully any Zips scholarship offer that might be pulled is due to having a higher level player commit for that scholarship. In the musical chairs game of teams looking to land the best players and players looking to land with the best teams, someone always gets caught out when the music stops.

[Buckzip]

Hopefully any Zips scholarship offer that might be pulled is due to having a higher level player commit for that scholarship. In the musical chairs game of teams looking to land the best players and players looking to land with the best teams, someone always gets caught out when the music stops.

It is bad to pull a scholly after a verbal is issued. That can hurt recruiting in the future.

[xu9697]

Hopefully any Zips scholarship offer that might be pulled is due to having a higher level player commit for that scholarship. In the musical chairs game of teams looking to land the best players and players looking to land with the best teams, someone always gets caught out when the music stops.

It is bad to pull a scholly after a verbal is issued. That can hurt recruiting in the future.

Agree completely. Hopefully this was not the scenario that played out with this kid.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Hopefully any Zips scholarship offer that might be pulled is due to having a higher level player commit for that scholarship. In the musical chairs game of teams looking to land the best players and players looking to land with the best teams, someone always gets caught out when the music stops.

It is bad to pull a scholly after a verbal is issued. That can hurt recruiting in the future.

It could be that the kid did something that merited pulling the scholarship? Since it happened at the end of the semester, poor grades are a strong possibility. Over the past few years I know of several recruits (various sports) that were dropped because their fall HS grades dipped below UA's requirements.

For an Eric Howard, you might make an exception. For a 5' 10" LB, you wish him well and move on.

[Buckzip]

Hopefully any Zips scholarship offer that might be pulled is due to having a higher level player commit for that scholarship. In the musical chairs game of teams looking to land the best players and players looking to land with the best teams, someone always gets caught out when the music stops.

It is bad to pull a scholly after a verbal is issued. That can hurt recruiting in the future.

It could be that the kid did something that merited pulling the scholarship? Since it happened at the end of the semester, poor grades are a strong possibility. Over the past few years I know of several recruits (various sports) that were dropped because their fall HS grades dipped below UA's requirements.

For an Eric Howard, you might make an exception. For a 5' 10" LB, you wish him well and move on.

Grades are a different story. Certain schools offer based on grades being achieved.

I understand that. But if they are pullling for any reason other than grades or legal issues, it could really be a negative for future recruiting. Even an injury, unless it's career ending, is not a good thing.

Never, ever pull a scholly because someone better came along. That is something that would get around to every recruit Akron is going after.

[MaxZIP]

Grades are a different story. Certain schools offer based on grades being achieved.

I understand that. But if they are pullling for any reason other than grades or legal issues, it could really be a negative for future recruiting. Even an injury, unless it's career ending, is not a good thing.

Never, ever pull a scholly because someone better came along. That is something that would get around to every recruit Akron is going after.

Do you know what is a real negative for future recruiting? Losing. Do whatever it takes to get better players even if some feelings get hurt.

[Dave in Green]

No team can offer only the exact number of players they want, because some of those players are going to go elsewhere. Say a team needs a fullback. They offer 4 or 5 fullbacks hoping to get 1 or 2. Once 1 or 2 commit, the offers are pulled for the 3 or 4 who were slow to commit. Obviously there are many different reasons why a team will pull an offer or a recruit will verbal and then change his mind. It's purely speculative to try to guess on a sports forum what may have happened.

[MaxZIP]

I think they pulled the offer because he is shrinking. He is now listed on ESPN.Com as being 5'9" 202. He probably is more in the range of 5'8" 190 as a LB.

[Buckzip]

No team can offer only the exact number of players they want, because some of those players are going to go elsewhere. Say a team needs a fullback. They offer 4 or 5 fullbacks hoping to get 1 or 2. Once 1 or 2 commit, the offers are pulled for the 3 or 4 who were slow to commit. Obviously there are many different reasons why a team will pull an offer or a recruit will verbal and then change his mind. It's purely speculative to try to guess on a sports forum what may have happened.

I'm saying don't pull an offer after the player has commited. It is very common to pull offers before that.

If you need 3 LB's, you may offer 7. You take the first 3 that commit. Everyone does that type of thing.

No team offers the exact number of schollies as they do spots available.

Well, maybe the SEC teams because they seem to sign 30 every year.

[Buckzip]

I think they pulled the offer because he is shrinking. He is now listed on ESPN.Com as being 5'9" 202. He probably is more in the range of 5'8" 190 as a LB.

Great to think that the staff didn't scout the guy and see him first hand.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Just out of curiosity...has a player ever backed out of a verbal? Said he was going to play for one school, then dumped them on signing day for another school? Bet is never has happened.

If this kid is any good, and has no troubles with grades or the police, Ianello did him a big favor by pulling the plug in mid-December. He has PLENTY of time to latch-on elsewhere.

[Sergeant Zip]

I don't see this "plan" yielding a 6-6 record. It's either insane, and we are going 4-32 over the next three seasons. Or the guy is a genius, and we're in a bowl in 2013. It's going to be one or the other.

I with you. The only thing I can hang my hat of hope on now is the fact that the Miamioh coach won one game last year and may very well go to a bowl this season.

Patience... "please let these people realize how foolish this impatient mindset is, and convince them to give Ianello a fighting chance to succeed."

[ZachTheZip]

I don't see this "plan" yielding a 6-6 record. It's either insane, and we are going 4-32 over the next three seasons. Or the guy is a genius, and we're in a bowl in 2013. It's going to be one or the other.

I with you. The only thing I can hang my hat of hope on now is the fact that the Miamioh coach won one game last year and may very well go to a bowl this season.

Patience... "please let these people realize how foolish this impatient mindset is, and convince them to give Ianello a fighting chance to succeed."

"Was Ianello really expected to turn things around and compete for a conference championship in his first year?"

Yes. Yes he was. At least according to our AD.

[Zipmeister]

Just out of curiosity...has a player ever backed out of a verbal? Said he was going to play for one school, then dumped them on signing day for another school? Bet is never has happened.

If this kid is any good, and has no troubles with grades or the police, Ianello did him a big favor by pulling the plug in mid-December. He has PLENTY of time to latch-on elsewhere.

I checked this out pretty thoroughly and it turns out it has only happened twice. Once, in 1950, by a guy who had verballed to Marquette. This event so shook the Warriors program that they subsequently dropped football and changed their nickname and mascot. The other occurred in 1943 by a guy who had verballed to Northern Kentucky. Instead he went to the Air Force Academy and later dropped an atomic bomb on Japan. The NK football program survived.

[ZachTheZip]

The 2011 roster is now up on GoZips.com, but until the Spring Game I wouldn't count on it for reliability. It appears they just took last years roster minus the seniors and put it up. Couple players who left are still listed, and some new ones aren't on it yet.

Out of the 66 current players 32 are sophomores, 15 are juniors, and 19 are seniors. No freshmen or incoming JUCOs are added yet as we're probably waiting for Signing Day to announce them. This might be the youngest team in the nation this season.

[ZachTheZip]

Seems like some more players are transferring out. It will be interesting when the spring game roster comes out.

CB Randy Greenwood has left the team and is looking to transfer

CB Nate Vidmar has left the team

FB James Heiss is transferring to IUPUI

LB Nolan Plate is transferring to Dayton

[Z.I.P.]

The 2011 roster is now up on GoZips.com, but until the Spring Game I wouldn't count on it for reliability. It appears they just took last years roster minus the seniors and put it up. Couple players who left are still listed, and some new ones aren't on it yet.

Out of the 66 current players 32 are sophomores, 15 are juniors, and 19 are seniors. No freshmen or incoming JUCOs are added yet as we're probably waiting for Signing Day to announce them. This might be the youngest team in the nation this season.

This is interesting! I remember back in (was it?) 2005, the year Akron was the only bowl eligible team left out of a bowl game, I checked it out then and as I recall we had 75 sophomores and freshmen on the roster. The only FBS school that came close to that was UCF with 72. Are we starting all over again? Do I need to ask this question?

[GP1]

Are we starting all over again? Do I need to ask this question?

We never stop building all over again.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Seems like some more players are transferring out. It will be interesting when the spring game roster comes out.

CB Randy Greenwood has left the team and is looking to transfer

CB Nate Vidmar has left the team

FB James Heiss is transferring to IUPUI

LB Nolan Plate is transferring to Dayton

Plate, Heiss and Vidmar - No one cares.

Greenwood is a disappointing loss.

[ZachTheZip]

Seems like some more players are transferring out. It will be interesting when the spring game roster comes out.

CB Randy Greenwood has left the team and is looking to transfer

CB Nate Vidmar has left the team

FB James Heiss is transferring to IUPUI

LB Nolan Plate is transferring to Dayton

Plate, Heiss and Vidmar - No one cares.

Greenwood is a disappointing loss.

All four are disappointing. We simply don't have the depth to sustain losses like this. We don't even have an FCS number of scholarship players and we're losing them at a rate faster than recruiting can replace thanks to the 25-person limit on signing classes.

I don't know, maybe it's Ianello's goal to cut the roster down to NFL size. He's going to leave the team in even worse shape than Brookhart did.