So that's it??

[InTheZone]

While enduring a 1-11 season from hell, we held onto the hope that we had hired this whiz recruiter who was going to bring in so much talent in the next few years that it would be impossible for us not to win. Well, with by far the best facilities in the conference, and a great selling point of immediate playing time at all positions, RI brings in a middle of the pack recruiting class in our joke of a conference. Nice. Call me unimpressed.

[GP1]

While enduring a 1-11 season from hell, we held onto the hope that we had hired this whiz recruiter who was going to bring in so much talent in the next few years that it would be impossible for us not to win. Well, with by far the best facilities in the conference, and a great selling point of immediate playing time at all positions, RI brings in a middle of the pack recruiting class in our joke of a conference. Nice. Call me unimpressed.

I find myself scratching my bald head as well. I only hold out hope and try to find reasons for hope. Miami turned things around in two years, but I don't know where their classes were talent wise. Could the guy at Miami coach or did he just have underrated recruiting classes?...I don't know. What I do know is with all we have we cannot seem to get any momentum and some of our better sports teams are losing momentum. Something seems wrong in Zipsland.

[Zipgrad01]

While enduring a 1-11 season from hell, we held onto the hope that we had hired this whiz recruiter who was going to bring in so much talent in the next few years that it would be impossible for us not to win. Well, with by far the best facilities in the conference, and a great selling point of immediate playing time at all positions, RI brings in a middle of the pack recruiting class in our joke of a conference. Nice. Call me unimpressed.

You know nothing about recruiting. You know nothing about talent evaluation. You know nothing about building a college football program from the ground up. Basically, you know nothing when it comes to this. The guy isn't known as a whiz recruiter for nothing. If he doesn't bring in talent that results in W's he will ultimately be judged by that. Until then, I couldn't care less whether people on here or rivals are wowed by our classes. Frankly, I dont care if you are unimpressed because that doesnt mean anything. Lets see what these kids have before we brand them losers. Freaking unbelievable.

[Zipmeister]

While enduring a 1-11 season from hell, we held onto the hope that we had hired this whiz recruiter who was going to bring in so much talent in the next few years that it would be impossible for us not to win. Well, with by far the best facilities in the conference, and a great selling point of immediate playing time at all positions, RI brings in a middle of the pack recruiting class in our joke of a conference. Nice. Call me unimpressed.

You know nothing about recruiting. You know nothing about talent evaluation. You know nothing about building a college football program from the ground up. Basically, you know nothing when it comes to this. The guy isn't known as a whiz recruiter for nothing. If he doesn't bring in talent that results in W's he will ultimately be judged by that. Until then, I couldn't care less whether people on here or rivals are wowed by our classes. Frankly, I dont care if you are unimpressed because that doesnt mean anything. Lets see what these kids have before we brand them losers. Freaking unbelievable.

Ouch. You have been beat down In.

If you knew everything like 01 you would realize that this recruiting class is the first sign of the BIG turnaround. What have we done with those highly rated classes? So now we have a not so highly rated class. That can only mean one thing - good times are just around the corner.

[GoZips]

Two points:

1) Judging Ianello recruiting skills is totally premature. The proof will be in the pudding.

2) The highly regarded Miami of Oxford team of 2010 had a fortuitous interception/fumble (I don't

recall which) in the last minute of the game against 1-11 football team to win the conference championship.

[Dr Z]

Judging Ianello recruiting skills is totally premature. The proof will be in the pudding.

Right. It will be fun to look these posts up in two or three years to see what players are making an impact...and what posters had to say about them.

Should be able to see some immediate impact with some of the JUCOs also. That might provide a quicker judgment. If the Lone Ranger comes in and triples our win total, can you say the class was a success after 11 months?

[Captain Kangaroo]

I see what you're saying, ITZ...I wish we'd have stolen some marquee recruits from some BCS programs, or at least seen some "InfoCision Effect" that would make this reflect something to get excited about. But is looks to be pretty pedestrian...not any better or worse than classes of the past couple coaches.

That said, the coach addressed as many needs as he could in a single recruiting class. Other than Miami last season, no one really turns things around from cellar-to-championship in year #2.

I like that Nicely will be getting some real competition. It will either make him better, or make him transfer. Either is great for a Zips fan, since that means we ultimately end up with a good QB.

I think Rossi is a steal. I'm really excited to see him play.

I like that we'll have a Penn State-level athlete at WR. And I assume Suelo, who had an Indiana scholarship, will be there too. That gives us two big "BCS-scholarshipped" WR's, and a bevy of smaller guys to fight over what SHOULD be the #3 WR and slot WR. Potts could be our Edelmann in the slot...like Jeremy Bruce, but more durable.

We loaded up on both sides of the line with some big kids. We got the Michigan State kid for 2011. I'm happy there.

We lost a couple games last season, and several over the past 4 years because we didn't have a reliable kicker. I like that he focused on correcting that problem.

For being 1-11, I think Ianello did as good as he could. It won't be until he begins winning, that the combination of winning+InfoCision brings in the caliber of athlete that has a can't miss, "wow-factor" on Signing Day. At least, I hope.

I'm not sold at all on the guy that's kicking FG's when we need TD's, and kicking off twice against 1-AA teams. But I have no choice but to give said guy a chance.

I'll grade this class a B-. It addressed as many needs as can be addressed in a single class...but it was conservative.

A conservative class isn't sexy, but we can't jump from a butt-ugly 487 pounds, to sexy, with 23 scholarships.

Next season will be the defining season and recruiting class.

[xu9697]

CK said it right about the class we got coming off a 1-11 season. Tough to get a "undisputed best class in the MAC" coming off that kind of year with a coach that has not proven to be successful.

I think just 4-8/5-7 coupled with improved play (meaning they LOOK better as a team even without tons of wins) will be a sign that not only do we have top facilities, but also an improving young team and a coaching staff that is getting things moving in the right direction.

[RootforRoo44]

I'm one of the biggest anti-Ianello guys out there but I don't see this class as being that bad.

A few guys stand out big time because they can make an immediate impact:

- Clayton Moore: Originally this kid was a big time recruit. From what i've seen of him in videos and from who recruited him originally, you know he's the real deal. If he can buy our receivers time, he could be exactly what our offense needs to go from incompetent to effective in just one off-season.

- Nick Rossi: This is a HUGE pickup. Though a lot of his ratings on recruiting sites went down because he chose us, if he would have picked a bigger school, he would have been one of those guys you saw on ESPN all-day yesterday. He could legitimately play both ways, as a third down back and a starting linebacker. Wagner and Rossi? WOW.

-AJ Price: I think this is the guy everyone is forgetting about. He was recruited heavily by some BIG TIME schools (Oregon, Penn State, etc.). He signed with PSU, didn't get his chance, then spent a year at Dean college. Now he's bulked up to around 200 pounds, he's got fantastic height at 6'4" and i've seen his forty clocked as fast at 4.4 on some sites. I'm pretty damn excited just thinking about the potential with this kid. Though he's more like a Deryn Bowser in terms of only having a few years of eligibility, he could be huge for us in that short time.

There are a few more but you can read that on ASN . Point being: GET EXCITED.

[Dave in Green]

Of course, professional sports analysts know nothing compared with sports forum denizens when it comes to judging recruiting classes. But let's see what one of those dummies has to say, anyway:

''Akron's having an outstanding year. They're doing an excellent job in their area. Rob Ianello is an excellent recruiter,'' said Tom Lemming, an analyst for the CBS College Sports Network and one of the nation's best in his field. ''It's going to take him three or four years to get to the top of the Mid-American Conference, but they're going to do it.

''I was really impressed with the way they went about their recruiting. They really attacked it, beating Bowling Green, Ohio and Toledo to a lot of top players.''

ABJ Link

[Roo2]

DIG beat me to the punch! Tom Lemming has been doing this for a long time and is very well respected. If he says Ianello did a strong job with the incoming class, I tend to believe it. I think coach mentioned in the press conference yesterday that 34 kids made official visits to campus and they signed 23. I think that means they were able to close the deal pretty well. I'm excited, but we have to wait and see if it translates to the field in the fall.

[Sergeant Zip]

To look at these recruits now is nothing but fun discussion. Aaron Rodgers went to JUCO because he did not receive any scholarship offers from Division I football teams. Miami of Ohio was the only college that wanted Ben Roethlisberger to be a quarterback. How these recruits are coached up and put in positions to succeed matter more than the rivals.com rankings.

[InTheZone]

First of all to Zipgrad01, your post was pretty childish. I'm not going to respond other than to say I have more first hand knowledge of recruiting and what college football talent really is than you will ever have (which is none).

As to the legitimate points raised by Captain, Dave, and others, I guess I was just looking for more star power in this class. That was Ianello's whole selling point right? He can bring in the type of big recruits his predecessors couldn't. Based on his decisions, ability to gameplan, and make adjustments that I saw last year, he certainly couldn't out-coach his predecessors. His only hope to improve on their performance therefore would be that he could get the types of players in here that they didn't.

He has every recruiting advantage that his predecessors didn't in terms of facilities. Yet, he's not bringing in anything that they didn't. If he can't coach (which I'm sorry, but if you lose to a 1-AA team as bad as GW with ANY 1-A team, you can't coach), and he can't recruit any better than our previous coaches, what hope do any of us have that we're going to get any better results?

One thing I will say that gives me hope is that he went out and got a decent JUCO QB. There's no position on a football team that you can upgrade and have immediate results like the Quarterback position. Hopefully Clayton Moore keeps his head on straight and can be the redeeming grace of this otherwise pedestrian class.

[InTheZone]

How these recruits are coached up and put in positions to succeed matter more than the rivals.com rankings.

And thinking about some of RI's personnel decisions last year, and ability (or lack thereof) to extract the most from the talent he has as shown by last season, this gives you hope why??

[Sergeant Zip]

How these recruits are coached up and put in positions to succeed matter more than the rivals.com rankings.

And thinking about some of RI's personnel decisions last year, and ability (or lack thereof) to extract the most from the talent he has as shown by last season, this gives you hope why??

It doesn't but we still have a couple of years to find out if he can or can't.

[ZachTheZip]

You find out immediately whether a coach can coach. You find out quickly if he can market his team to fans. You find out years later whether he can recruit.

Ianello and his staff can't coach. Coaching in college is the art of getting the most out of a bunch of bunch of 18-22 year old guys who would rather be partying. If you can't coach another coach's players, you can't coach your own players because in reality the old and new players aren't that much different. If you make bizarre playcalls with the other coach's players, having your own won't make it any better because a fieldgoal is still only 3 points when you're down by 21.

Sometimes overwhelming talent can make up for a lack of coaching, but this class doesn't have that, even if they are better than the players they are replacing. Ianello's big sell for his hiring was that he was supposed to be the best recruiter around, but he isn't recruiting players that are a step above the rest of the MAC. And don't forget that even if his recruits are somehow all-MAC players, they're only 25% of the team so he still needs to be able to coach the other guys if he wants to be successful.

[Lee Adams]

Since it is doubtful that anybody here knows much about recruiting and has likely seen very few if any of these guys play on a regular basis nobody will know for at least 2 years whether these guys are any good. Of course by that time we will know if Ianello can coach. Relax.

[K92]

Did Miami fans know immediately in '09 that Haywood couldn't coach? Ianello and staff came in and changed everything. They didn't take over from where J.D.left off. They started from scratch. Last year was a write off. It sucked to see the depths the Zips sank to last year. Obviously.

I am no apologist for Rob Ianello. He needs to prove his and his staff's worth in 2011. If they can turn it around, will he then know how to coach? There was plenty of blame to be heaped onto the coaching staff last year. Some piss poor calls and some atrocious clock management. However, there was definitely improvement made toward the end of the year, as witnessed by the performance in the last two games.

The most obvious shortcomings of our ball club, according to my amateur observations, seemed to be secondary, placekicking, and quarterback. The coaching staff addressed those areas in this year's class.

I am aware that this staff can do nothing right, ever, in the eyes of some. I am through chastising them for sins of the past. This year's recruiting looks good to me. We have a QB enrolled right now that was good enough in high school to go to an SEC school! He clearly made some very poor decisions that were very detrimental to his career, but he is obviously trying to redeem himself. This could turn out very good for all involved. Time will tell. I am excited about it. Several of the other prospects are very exciting as well.

I hope RI turns this around and reinvents the program. Not because I love RI, but because I love the Zips.

[ZachTheZip]

Last year didn't need to be a write-off. Ianello didn't need to change the offense from a spread to a pro and then make an excuse that the players didn't know the scheme. He didn't need to run off a bunch of players and then complain they they didn't have the depth to run efficient practices.

He could have put in an offense that employed more things that the players knew, knowing that in a year or two he would move to a full pro-style with players that know the scheme. He could have kept enough players to run a proper practice around until the end of the year and then let them go instead of letting them drop like flies throughout the duration of the season and creating unnecessary locker room drama. But he created more problems because it gave him more excuses.

[K92]

Last year didn't need to be a write-off. Ianello didn't need to change the offense from a spread to a pro and then make an excuse that the players didn't know the scheme. He didn't need to run off a bunch of players and then complain they they didn't have the depth to run efficient practices.

He could have put in an offense that employed more things that the players knew, knowing that in a year or two he would move to a full pro-style with players that know the scheme. He could have kept enough players to run a proper practice around until the end of the year and then let them go instead of letting them drop like flies throughout the duration of the season and creating unnecessary locker room drama. But he created more problems because it gave him more excuses.

I am not going to justify anything done last year. I am neither condoning nor condemning Rob Ianello. You know, hindsight is always 20/20 and I am sure Rob would change some things given the second chance. To suggest that he purposely sabotaged the team in order to have an excuse for poor performance is laughable. If you really believe that you need help.

For me, the jury is still out. Let me ask you, Zach...Is there any way this staff can redeem themselves or are they condemned forever no matter what?

[ZachTheZip]

For me, the jury is still out. Let me ask you, Zach...Is there any way this staff can redeem themselves or are they condemned forever no matter what?

Winning would redeem them. They haven't done that. Recruiting is not the same as winning. As it stands, the staff is 1-11 and has lost to an FCS team. They have dug a deep hole to climb out of, deeper than need be.

[RowdyZip]

They have dug a deep hole to climb out of, deeper than need be.

As determined by who? What would JD have done with one more year? Played some slightly better offense (maybe) with some slightly worse (probably) defense? I'm sure that would've won much more than one game. I'm very satisfied with this class, as mentioned a few times above, needs of the team were addressed. There are a few guys out there that seem to be very impressive on the HS field and lets hope the talent evaluation is spot-on. I'd like to see 3-5 wins this season to prove adequate progress.

Next year-

2 wins or less-angry

3-5 wins - expected

6+ wins - ecstatic

It's amazing how an offseason returns some optimism for an angry Zip...

[Dave in Green]

Last year didn't need to be a write-off. Ianello didn't need to change the offense from a spread to a pro and then make an excuse that the players didn't know the scheme. He didn't need to run off a bunch of players and then complain they they didn't have the depth to run efficient practices.

He could have put in an offense that employed more things that the players knew, knowing that in a year or two he would move to a full pro-style with players that know the scheme. He could have kept enough players to run a proper practice around until the end of the year and then let them go instead of letting them drop like flies throughout the duration of the season and creating unnecessary locker room drama. But he created more problems because it gave him more excuses.

Really? Am I correctly understanding you to say that you seriously believe that Ianello deliberately created problems for the team for the specific purpose of creating excuses for himself?

[RootforRoo44]

They have dug a deep hole to climb out of, deeper than need be.

As determined by who? What would JD have done with one more year?

Won more than one game...i guarantee it.

He also actually understands how the coin toss works.

[goodthts]

Since it is doubtful that anybody here knows much about recruiting and has likely seen very few if any of these guys play on a regular basis nobody will know for at least 2 years whether these guys are any good. Of course by that time we will know if Ianello can coach. Relax.

+1

Relax folks. It is all just speculation for now. Let's see how the teams looks in October when MAC games start. If the team is still getting <200 total yards a game at that point, then start the mutiny.