ZachTheZip Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 As I post this, we are two weeks away from National Signing Day. As far as I can gather, here is where we stand: Confirmed: Greyshirt from 2013, WR Anthony Lauro CB Kris Givens, Holmes Community College, Goodman, MS CB Bernard Willingham, Glades Central HS, Belle Glade, FL DE Brock Boxen, Beaver Falls HS, Beaver Falls, PA QB Chandler Kincade, Blackhawk HS, Beaver Falls, PA LS Hayden Grover, Spencer-Van Etten HS, Spencer, NY ATH Blake Dennis, Rittman HS, Rittman, OH LB Travonte Junius, St. Vincent-St. Mary HS, Akron, OH LB Newman Williams, St. Vincent-St.Mary HS, Akron, OH Unconfirmed: OL Leon Richardson, Walled Lake Western HS, Walled Lake, MI WR Jordan George, Archbishop Alter HS, Dayton, OH "Committed", but looking elsewhere: CB Kyron Brown, Boynton Beach Community HS, Boynton Beach, FL CB Trumaine Washington, Killian HS, Miami, FL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted January 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Still a lot of scholarships to fill, and the recruiting class is shrinking instead of growing. JUCO recruiting is notoriously difficult to follow, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a few names that we didn't know about show up on signing day. I also expect a 5th year transfer or two to come in. We seem to have pretty good success with them. Still, that makes for a fairly small recruiting class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Awesome. Sounds like we are set to have the worst recruiting class in the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted January 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Awesome. Sounds like we are set to have the worst recruiting class in the country. The players we do have committed are good. Kincade, Boxen, and Williams are all very exciting, and Grover is 3rd in the country at his position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 The players we do have committed are good. Kincade, Boxen, and Williams are all very exciting, and Grover is 3rd in the country at his position. I understand that, but we need more than a few good players to catch up to other schools in the talent dept. Also, it is hard to get excited about wasting a scholarship on a longsnapper. I feel like Browns fan when we drafted Ryan Pontbriand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipproud Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 I understand that, but we need more than a few good players to catch up to other schools in the talent dept. Also, it is hard to get excited about wasting a scholarship on a longsnapper. I feel like Browns fan when we drafted Ryan Pontbriand. I think the reason we are not seeing as many recruits is the fact that this coaching staff is using a high percentage of the available scholarships on transfers. The nice thing about transfers is they are ready to play when they come in, that will help us continue to be more competitive and put up more W's. How many scholarships do we have available? We shouldn't get upset until we know what is available and who we have transferring in. I have all of the confidence in the World in Bowden and his staff. If last year is any indication where the program is going we all need to be excited. We finished strong and should get off to a strong start. When was the last time Akron football expected to win games. It's a great feeling!!! Go Zips!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Honestly...I always try to follow recruiting and pretend to get excited about it...but ultimately I can't. Ranking schools "recruiting classes" from worst to best is shell game hogwash that, IMO, only exists for prognosticators to continually prop up "top" progams, while busting lower programs. Talent is important yes, but the coach is more important. The coach is (hopefully) recruiting players he can mold and train into his system. I mean we had to have had the "worst" recruiting classes in the past 4 years...Michigan has had significantly "better" recruiting classes...and yet we went toe-to-toe with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 Honestly...I always try to follow recruiting and pretend to get excited about it...but ultimately I can't. Ranking schools "recruiting classes" from worst to best is shell game hogwash that, IMO, only exists for prognosticators to continually prop up "top" progams, while busting lower programs. Talent is important yes, but the coach is more important. The coach is (hopefully) recruiting players he can mold and train into his system. I mean we had to have had the "worst" recruiting classes in the past 4 years...Michigan has had significantly "better" recruiting classes...and yet we went toe-to-toe with them. The crazy thing about recruiting is that you never know how things will end up until the faxes roll in. I wouldnt be completely shocked if our verbals that are "looking elsewhere" decide to stay with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UA1987 Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 For me signing day is a welcome time back to Zips football. I expect a decent class, but the Bowden network will keep looking for athletes that can play and want a shot with Akron past early February and right up to Fall camp. You all (y'all) know (dadgumit) that we need to supplement our roster and I'd be very surprised if we don't pick up some exciting talent for 2014. My guess is that Bobby and Tommy are and will be working the phones (talking to coaches) for Terry, Jeff, and the rest of the Zips. Let's win some big in 2014! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted January 22, 2014 Report Share Posted January 22, 2014 The press conference, held on the Press Level (7th floor) of InfoCision Stadium, is open to the public. If you were a Football season ticketholder in 2013 and attend the press conference, we will provide you complimentary tickets to our Men's Basketball game against Eastern Michigan that night at 7. You will be eligible for one basketball ticket for each football ticket assigned to your account. source Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyFan Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Let's get real. This list is very slim. We don't have many commits and most of them have only been offered by Akron. We're talking about 8 guys on this list. One guys a long snapper and the Dennis kid from Rittman is a joke. He is completely incapable of playing ball at this level.....or any level. I think Kincade, Boxen, Williams and Willingham are good gets. I think Junius is talented but undersized. I pray there is a lot more to this list then we're seeing. CB Kris Givens, Holmes Community College, Goodman, MS CB Bernard Willingham, Glades Central HS, Belle Glade, FL DE Brock Boxen, Beaver Falls HS, Beaver Falls, PA QB Chandler Kincade, Blackhawk HS, Beaver Falls, PA LS Hayden Grover, Spencer-Van Etten HS, Spencer, NY ATH Blake Dennis, Rittman HS, Rittman, OH LB Travonte Junius, St. Vincent-St. Mary HS, Akron, OH LB Newman Williams, St. Vincent-St.Mary HS, Akron, OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Bowden has earned my trust. His recruiting classes don't yet fit the Rivals/Scout format (5th year transfers, etc). We will be fine. F Scout and R ivals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Has Kincade or any JC's enrolled for spring semester? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 23, 2014 Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Has Kincade or any JC's enrolled for spring semester? I know Kincade has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted January 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2014 Has Kincade or any JC's enrolled for spring semester? Kincade is enrolled. I know Givens signed his LOI, which makes it official, but I don't know if he's enrolled yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 This is either the worst or the most hushed up class in the country. We are a week away from signing day and we (to our knowledge) have about 1/3 of a class. Frightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 we (to our knowledge) have about 1/3 of a class. Frightening. Why are you frightened of the unknown? What we do know is very good. There is no reason to believe the rest will not be the same if not better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Why are you frightened of the unknown? What we do know is very good. There is no reason to believe the rest will not be the same if not better. You are correct in that the class we do know about is impressive. I find it frightening because I dont see how we can continue to elevate our talent with a bunch of unknown guys. We had a fairly good idea of transfers last year. This year we dont know about anyone. I may be pleasantly surprised, but right now I am a little worried. We need to get to the point where our recruiting classes arent like this every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valpo Zip Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 It is hard to imagine that a 5-7 coach Bowden cannot recruit better than a 1-11 coach Bowden. My only concern would be if coach aimed too high and spent his resources recruiting major talent that didn't pan out and he ended up with nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted January 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Don't forget to add Se'von Pittman to this class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I'm a diehard football fan, but just a casual recruiting fan...I don't know much so forgive me. But judging by what departed and what we have coming in...I really don't think we're looking that bad. Isn't it the quality of recruits coming in, as opposed to the quantity that matters? If we don't lose Trumaine Washington and Kyron Brown, and despite having less recruits; this class would be a vast upgrade over the past couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted January 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 We're mostly OK at the skill positions. It's the complete lack of offensive and defensive linemen that concerns me. We're losing five defensive linemen and four offensive linemen. I know Bowden is good at getting transfers to come in and contribute on the lines, but it will take a lot more than what he brought in last season, and there's also a sustainability issue if down the road we're forced to rely on transfers because we never had any players developing in the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipgrad01 Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 Don't forget to add Se'von Pittman to this class. We knew about him last spring. I havent heard anything about any other transfers coming in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jalapeño Zippy Posted January 30, 2014 Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 From my understanding this is our full class. Many of the scholarships that were relieved by the seniors graduating are now going to those grey-shirts, Prop 48's or whatever you call them that we've heard about in previous years but we have yet to see. This class is going to be small with incoming freshman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted January 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2014 From my understanding this is our full class. Many of the scholarships that were relieved by the seniors graduating are now going to those grey-shirts, Prop 48's or whatever you call them that we've heard about in previous years but we have yet to see. This class is going to be small with incoming freshman. Unless we have a bunch of them that nobody was aware of, it still doesn't add up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.