2011 Spring Football Game

[ZachTheZip]

Quite a showing by the Offense in the first half. 47-11 Three touchdowns and a field goal. All three QBs looked good and the running game showed some signs of life. The one player that stood out the most was #44 Jawon Chisholm. He showed some good speed and a good instinct for where the hole was. He was the starter and I can see why. The Defense had a couple of good stops, but no one player stood out. Overall I feel a little better about where the Zips are headed.

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40.

[K92]

I think it was a terrible showing.

Shocker.

[MaxZIP]

Quite a showing by the Offense in the first half. 47-11 Three touchdowns and a field goal. All three QBs looked good and the running game showed some signs of life. The one player that stood out the most was #44 Jawon Chisholm. He showed some good speed and a good instinct for where the hole was. He was the starter and I can see why. The Defense had a couple of good stops, but no one player stood out. Overall I feel a little better about where the Zips are headed.

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40.

I think they wil be better when the chains come off and they can hit at game speed. The o was playing at full speed but the d was forced to play in scrimmage mode.

[ZachTheZip]

I think it was a terrible showing.

Shocker.

Coming off an 11-loss season, I have to believe that any good thing shown by a player or unit is mostly caused by the failures of the unit opposite them.

[xu9697]

I think it was a terrible showing.

Shocker.

Coming off an 11-loss season, I have to believe that any good thing shown by a player or unit is mostly caused by the failures of the unit opposite them.

And within these quotes we find great reason for playing a team other than itself in the spring!

[MaxZIP]

I think it was a terrible showing.

Shocker.

Coming off an 11-loss season, I have to believe that any good thing shown by a player or unit is mostly caused by the failures of the unit opposite them.

And within these quotes we find great reason for playing a team other than itself in the spring!

Wouldn't matter at all becuase both teams would be playing their entire 3-deep to get playing time. Measure results in the fall when the games count.

[skip-zip]

Quite a showing by the Offense in the first half. 47-11 Three touchdowns and a field goal. All three QBs looked good and the running game showed some signs of life. The one player that stood out the most was #44 Jawon Chisholm. He showed some good speed and a good instinct for where the hole was. He was the starter and I can see why. The Defense had a couple of good stops, but no one player stood out. Overall I feel a little better about where the Zips are headed.

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40.

That's the problem with feeling impressed with what the offense does in a Spring game. It means the defense wasn't good. And that was the case today. Same problem as before, our poor ability to bring down a ball carrier. I hope Chisolm and Moore are the real deal too, but I think our defense made our offense look good today.

[johnnyzip84]

Appearance by MDZip - 1,000:1

If I can get those odds, I'll put $20 down and come on up. I'll watch the Zips spring game for $20K.

Although it's always great to have the fine MDZip visit, these aren't the only odds that could have lost me a fortune. Thankfully, nobody took the offense -7 and the over!

I'm officially on the Chisolm bandwagon. Sure he piled up the yards against a D that 1) needs to make us forget large portions of last year, 2) had numerous starters injured, and 3) played (wise decision) mostly without B Wags. But he showed me what he could do when he gets a seem. Some of us were impressed by the speed of him on film back when iCoach made him an 11th hour addition to the 2010 class. His burst is for real, and he runs a LOT harder than I imagined. If the O-Line can play reasonably well, #44 will be a joy to watch in 2011.

[Zipgrad01]

Quite a showing by the Offense in the first half. 47-11 Three touchdowns and a field goal. All three QBs looked good and the running game showed some signs of life. The one player that stood out the most was #44 Jawon Chisholm. He showed some good speed and a good instinct for where the hole was. He was the starter and I can see why. The Defense had a couple of good stops, but no one player stood out. Overall I feel a little better about where the Zips are headed.

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40.

Why am I not surprised by your comments? They could have dressed the Green Bay Packers in Akron uniforms and you would have gone into a tirade about how bad the team sucks and how the coach has to go. You are beyond a broken record.

[skip-zip]

Quite a showing by the Offense in the first half. 47-11 Three touchdowns and a field goal. All three QBs looked good and the running game showed some signs of life. The one player that stood out the most was #44 Jawon Chisholm. He showed some good speed and a good instinct for where the hole was. He was the starter and I can see why. The Defense had a couple of good stops, but no one player stood out. Overall I feel a little better about where the Zips are headed.

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40.

Why am I not surprised by your comments? They could have dressed the Green Bay Packers in Akron uniforms and you would have gone into a tirade about how bad the team sucks and how the coach has to go. You are beyond a broken record.

They gave up 550 yards to OUR offense. And had the benefit of only having to touch the QB to record a sack. It's hard to argue with such an assessment, don't you think?

[ZippyforPresident]

Chisolm was definitely the most notable player of the spring game. Hopefully he proves to be an exciting back. The scrimmage was pretty run heavy, but the secondary was still the most notable area for improvement. Those guys need all the help they can get. I surely hope a great deal of focus is spent there when practices resume. They made the 3 QBs look a lot better than they really are. Otherwise, I had fun and good luck to the team in their 2011 campaign!

[RootforRoo44]

I have to agree with the few people who weren't too impressed.

I saw a mediocre offense play a defense that looked terrible....nothing to get excited about yet.

[johnnyzip84]

Elton Alexander's take on spring games for both Zips and F.l.a.s.h.e.s.

Look who's playing RB for K.E.N.T.

[Spin]

Elton Alexander's take on spring games for both Zips and F.l.a.s.h.e.s.

Look who's playing RB for K.E.N.T.

nice...

[gozips19]

Chisolm looks like the real deal. hits the hole hard, is very fast, and just big enough size to take on tacklers. he's going to be fun to watch and if Alexander can get healthy (still looked a bit slow) Akron can have a nice 1-2 punch. while the o line is really thin they looked light years better than this time last year. the team in general looks light years ahead of last year. much more crisp getting in and out of huddles. not a ton of blown assignments. not a lot of coaches shaking their heads. suel looked nice and on d Williams and Miller were nice surprises although Miller needs to add weight.

haven't read too much about the qb's but Moore looks the part. Nicely's stat line was respectable but he was high on a lot of throws. i didn't see much difference from him last year. Moore on the other hand had a better tempo and is a much more accurate passer. i know it's just one practice but I'll be surprised if he isn't the starter. many people i talked to during the game agreed.

the secondary is a mess. with Holmes out and Richardson blowing out his acl the secondary is stretched very thin. i did like the switch of Cunningham to safety and was told he's had a nice camp. talked to a parent of a player who was moved to safety from corner just 2 days ago due to the Richardson injury.

curious about where the team will play Rossi. i'd have to think that with Chisholm and others at rb he's due to start at lb. that excites me as Akron has talent but players like Little and Gilmer never seem to stay healthy. he'd be perfect to get some snaps on the strong side.

went into this game with no expectations and came away both optimistic and concerned. looks like they have some play makers on both sides of the ball but are really thin at all positions. i do feel better about this team at this time than the same time last year.

[Lee Adams]

Chisolm was definitely the most notable player of the spring game. Hopefully he proves to be an exciting back. The scrimmage was pretty run heavy, but the secondary was still the most notable area for improvement. Those guys need all the help they can get. I surely hope a great deal of focus is spent there when practices resume. They made the 3 QBs look a lot better than they really are. Otherwise, I had fun and good luck to the team in their 2011 campaign!

Chisolm at least was making medicore talent look bad. Thats what good players are supposed to do. There may be hope there. The receivers are all midgets but may be at least faster. Can't tell anything about Nicely except that he appeared to be farther along than the other two. That figures. The secondary still looked lost. The D-line wasn't making too many stops at the line thats is very troubling. When the 3-4th game of the regular season rolls around we will know more.

[Doug Snyder]

Chisolm was definitely the most notable player of the spring game. Hopefully he proves to be an exciting back. The scrimmage was pretty run heavy, but the secondary was still the most notable area for improvement. Those guys need all the help they can get. I surely hope a great deal of focus is spent there when practices resume. They made the 3 QBs look a lot better than they really are. Otherwise, I had fun and good luck to the team in their 2011 campaign!

Chisolm at least was making medicore talent look bad. Thats what good players are supposed to do. There may be hope there. The receivers are all midgets but may be at least faster. Can't tell anything about Nicely except that he appeared to be farther along than the other two. That figures. The secondary still looked lost. The D-line wasn't making too many stops at the line thats is very troubling. When the 3-4th game of the regular season rolls around we will know more.

Lee,

Why do you think the WRs are midgets?? I compared the Zips roster with OSU and found this: Zips 5'11" OSU 6'0". The first 3 for OSU are 6'0" while the Zips will be 6'1", 6'3" and an incoming JUCO 6'4" (not in average of 5'11"). The starters will be above average I think but the back-ups will be small. Unless something happens, all three will be with the Zips for 2 more years. I think the prospects are good.

I have read here many criticisms about the receivers from last year dropping balls (reason for Ncely's lack of success). I only saw one catchable ball dropped Saturday...and it would have been a difficult ball to catch (high from Nicely). I think the receivers will be a pleasant surprise this year. But we can't afford any injuries, academic or other issues.

Also...if Nicely can't get the ball effectively to the receivers, I believe we now have others who are capable of stepping in. I am not one who believes you can coach accuracy or arm strength. You can improve accuracy to some degree with improved technique. I also believe some people are born to lead and make others around them better. I have not yet seen that from Nicely. There is some indication that Moore may have those qualities. Either way...having Moore on the team makes us better.

Go Zips!!!

[Blue & Gold]

Did anyone recognize any of the recruits a the Spring Game?

[Dr Z]

Thanks for the updates guys, I was out of state and couldn't attend. Surprised nobody mentioned Suel's production???

Receiver Marquelo Suel, had eight receptions for 80 yards and one TD.

[BirdZip]

I think it was a terrible showing.

Shocker.

Coming off an 11-loss season, I have to believe that any good thing shown by a player or unit is mostly caused by the failures of the unit opposite them.

I guess that explains why I'm thinking Keener'92 is such a great poster right now...

[cornbread]

Our linebackers look scary this year.

[Dr Z]

Mike's full write up on the game.

The offense played a clean game, committing no turnovers. There were a total of 550 offensive yards in 69 plays. The Zips had 13 offensive drives, and Patrick Nicely and Clayton Moore piloted five each. Zach D’Orazio ran the offense for the other three series. “I thought all three quarterbacks were very efficient,” Ianello said. “We are heading in the right direction. No interceptions. Took care of the ball. Managed the team. Percentages are good. I thought they were very efficient.”

You didn’t see the defense at full strength. Four potential starters sat out with injuries: defensive back Anthony Holmes, lineman Oren Wilson, and linebackers Matt Little and Troy Gilmer. Ianello also limited his blitzes and kept it to the base package, in part, because it’s an open practice where opposing coaches could watch. “I did handcuff the defense,” Ianello said. “I think the spring games are about running your base offense and base defense, because if you can’t run your base offense and base defense, you’re in trouble anyway.” Despite those limitations, Ianello told his players to focus on hitting hard in the Spring Game. “I want people in the stands to know they were at a football game today,” the coach said.

Several players emerged as key members of the program in the past few weeks. The two freshmen running backs perhaps top the list. Also included are defensive backs Seth Cunningham and L.T. Smith, receiver Marquelo Suel, and linebackers ShelDon Miller and Jamar Williams. “We’re certainly a much-improved football team from where we were a year ago and from the Buffalo game,” Ianello said.

Interesting poll on Razor's site: 72% of fans are encouraged by spring practices and the Spring Game

[g-mann17]

Interesting poll on Razor's site: 72% of fans are encouraged by spring practices and the Spring Game

Apparently that other 28% post on here.

[johnnyzip84]

Our linebackers look scary this year.

well done! And here I figured iCoach was just being smart in limiting #34's time on the field to prevent a senseless injury. Now I realize he wasn't out there very long due to all the time spent in make-up.

Some additional thoughts have come to mind regarding the spring game:

1. I've been trying to recall the last Zip RB in memory who hit the hole as fast as Chisholm. This one goes back a ways. The guy was Greg Lomax. Sure we've had better all-around backs since then, but Lomax hit the hole at full speed. Jawon does very much the same, but he looks like a more complete back IMHO (check out his HS youtube highlights...he has very good hands) who will likely play bigger than Greg by the time he's done.

2. It's true that we won't know for sure how much the offense has improved until a real game. BUT, I did like the execution I saw. They didn't shoot themselves in the foot, and that's definitely a step forward.

3. Dr Z seemed sort of curious as to the lack of conversation around Suel. I think part of it was because the earlier clips from camp of him showed some of his potential, and had a number of us thinking he looked to be pretty good. His play in the spring game did nothing to detract from that.

4. Keener and others hit on this and I completely agree. The defensive backfield is clearly the #1 area of concern for this team. With Richardson likely out for the year and Holmes nursing some sort of injury, we're going to need LT Smith, Seth Cunningham etc. to mature quickly for the rest of the defense to have a chance.

[Dr Z]

....I've been trying to recall the last Zip RB in memory who hit the hole as fast as Chisholm. This one goes back a ways. The guy was Greg Lomax. Sure we've had better all-around backs since then, but Lomax hit the hole at full speed. Jawon does very much the same, but he looks like a more complete back IMHO (check out his HS youtube highlights...he has very good hands) who will likely play bigger than Greg by the time he's done.

That comparison makes me excited. I have a kewl photo of Greg and I at Steeler's camp.