LZIp Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Same discussion every year. Not worth the time to get into the debate for the umpteenth time, but all I know is that we had the most wins in D1 history and our first ever bowl win last season so I'll keep my mouth shut and let the cards fall where they may. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, Zipgrad01 said: Nice to see that our class ranked below Samford, Lamar, Bethune-Cookman, Yale, columbia, Austin Peay, Harvard, sam Houston state, Abilene Christian, uc Davis. Glad we just beat out furman and central Arkansas. What a joke. Recruiting rankings mean absolutely nothing. We had one of the worst recruiting classes last year...13 people? And yet we got to the BEST record we've ever had in D-I and the program's first Bowl win ever. If that's what we get with a terrible class, I can't wait to see what we do with a less than "terrible" class. What a joke. Edited February 5, 2016 by Balsy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy5 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 They might not mean everything but they sure mean something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 12 hours ago, zippy5 said: They might not mean everything but they sure mean something. Let's say those rankings are weighted towards Freshmen recruits, and don't do a good job of taking into account traditional transfers, grad transfers and JUCO recruits? If that were true, it would probably affect the Zips "ranking" pretty dramatically? The programs ZipGrad listed as above would get waxed by 40+ if they came to Infocision. That alone shows the "rankings" have no bearing on the quality of the Zips recruiting class. I think this class is excellent. It addressed all our needs...as best as is possible in one class. As has been the case for a couple years, there will also be another couple impact signees over the next few months too. Bowden always holds a few back for the Coe's and Monroe's that inevitably come across the waiver wire. If Bowden came in and signed 24 freshmen in each of his first four classes, he'd have won a handful of games, and Larry Williams first major move would have been to fire him. Bowden's not stupid. He knew he had to win, and JUCO's and P5 transfers are a way to become competitive quickly. No one waits 5 years for a coach to turn a team around now-a-days. Some may ask - "But when will we start getting classes that are only Freshmen, so we can get higher recruiting rankings?" Who cares. If we have 30...40...or even 50 percent of a given class being transfers, and we win...and there are no excessive police blotter appearances...who cares? Give me a 5th year kid from Wisconsin over a project from Hoban any day of the week. Several months ago ZipGrad posted an article from a newspaper stating North Alabama had stopped taking transfers. It mentioned that North Alabama had a reputation for accepting D1 transfers, and they were getting calls from 70+ kids looking to transfer to NA because of their reputation. Seems like a bold move by NA, but they're winning 9+ games per year. For a decade+. Dating back to his North Alabama days, Bowden has a reputation for welcoming transfers. And he gets the call when a lot of the better ones are looking for a new school. Especially ones with Florida roots. It's a huge benefit to the Zips that he has those connections. And it was a big benefit to Zips fans too, as it gave us 8 wins, including a bowl win last season. You need to be creative to go from 1-11 to 8-5 in three years. Bowden accomplished it. I look forward to what the next 3 years will bring. I guarantee it's a hell of a lot better than what Samford, Lamar, Bethune-Cookman, Yale, Columbia, Austin Peay, Harvard, Sam Houston state, Abilene Christian, UC Davis will do. Any ranking that lists those shit schools in front of the Zips is a joke. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Anyone that thinks recruiting ranking mean "nothing" is wrong. I usually look at offers over rankings but they often go hand in hand. If a 2-3* guy has offers from Bama, MSU, UM, OSU, FSU, Florida, etc, I assume the rankings are wrong. On the other hand if a 4* has only MAC. lower B10 or non P5 offers I also assume the rankings are wrong. You may notice that the same teams that have the highest rated recruiting classes are usually the same teams in the top 20 every year. No, recruiting rankings aren't the end all be all, but they mean something. As for taking JUCO and transfers, that is perfectly fine. No issue and understandable why it is happening. I have no problem only taking 10 freshman. However, when we are the best, and in many cases, the only D1 offer, that is an issue. Sure, there are a few exceptions here and there, Nelson for example, where they had other options, but for the most part UA is the best offer. That's a tad concerning IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoyalZIP Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Akron could win a national title with classes like these and people would still bitch. Some people just love attention, and if posting trash on an Akron Zips message board makes you happy, more power to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Z Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Buckzip said: Anyone that thinks recruiting ranking mean "nothing" is wrong. Since I'm an Akron and MAC football fan, recruiting rankings and "stars" mean very little me. I watch improperly ranked MAC players on Saturdays in the fall like Antonio Brown, Khalil Mack and Jatavis Brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LZIp Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 I suppose I'll throw in my 2 cents since this conversation is picking up steam. Would I like a bigger and better freshman signing class? Hell yes I would. I think the staff still has a way to go in that regard, and I think that is something that will come with more winning and more time. However, when you compare this years class to classes of year's past, I like this freshman class the best! All but 2 I believe had at least another D1 offer. It hasn't been like that in previous years. More importantly, I think all of these guys can play and contribute a the D1 level. I haven't thought that before. I would like more top end talent, sure, but if we aren't wasting scholly's (in my eyes), then I cant complain. I've watched the film on all of these guys with exception to maybe a few lineman, and I like what I see. Look at Shawn Featherstone's film (somebody nobody is talking about) and Tyler Gilchrist and try to tell me you think these guys can't be ballers at our level. When you look at transfers, which nobody does, this class all of the sudden looks a lot better. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 49 minutes ago, Buckzip said: Anyone that thinks recruiting ranking mean "nothing" is wrong. I usually look at offers over rankings but they often go hand in hand. If a 2-3* guy has offers from Bama, MSU, UM, OSU, FSU, Florida, etc, I assume the rankings are wrong. On the other hand if a 4* has only MAC. lower B10 or non P5 offers I also assume the rankings are wrong. You may notice that the same teams that have the highest rated recruiting classes are usually the same teams in the top 20 every year. If you are a Buckeye fan, the rankings mean something. If you are a Zips fan, they mean nothing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) I feel recruiting rankings carry more weight at the top and become more meaningless the further down you go. It's kind of easy to pick out those blue chip studs that everyone is salivating over. It's much harder separating the 150th corner from the 200th corner. Half of Akron's recruits weren't even scouted enough to be given grades. Whose to say some of those guys aren't 2* or 3* players that just happened to be overlooked? Edit: Let's hold off judging this class until we actually see some of these guys take the field. Edited February 5, 2016 by kreed5120 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Before the signing day press conference, Bowden was on the radio with Joe Dunn. I don't have the audio, but he said something along the lines of "everybody knows what a 4 or 5 Star kid looks like. Nobody knows what a 2 or 3 Star kid looks like. Once you get past the top 100 or so kids, there's thousands of kids rated 2 or 3 stars or not rated at all, and they mostly look the same on film. So we just go out and get the guys we want, and the ratings don't really come into it." Remember, Bowden worked for Rivals. He knows how recruiting rankings work better than anybody on this board. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K92 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrship35 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Dr Z said: Since I'm an Akron and MAC football fan, recruiting rankings and "stars" mean very little me. I watch improperly ranked MAC players on Saturdays in the fall like Antonio Brown, Khalil Mack and Jatavis Brown. Or more importantly, Bowden and staff have zero regard for the star ratings ...... So us judging recruiting classes based on a scale that the staff have no regard for is always going to create interesting dialauge ...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsoutsider Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 15 hours ago, LZIp said: Same discussion every year. Not worth the time to get into the debate for the umpteenth time, but all I know is that we had the most wins in D1 history and our first ever bowl win last season so I'll keep my mouth shut and let the cards fall where they may. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InTheZone Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Hey, remember all those bowl games we went to when Brookhart's "top ranked" recruiting classes came of age?? Yeah, neither do I. I'll take winning on the field over winning on Rivals.com. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Here's a good article from GoZips.com on the football/track dual-sport athletes on the team. Bowden mention he wanted to make this a recruiting niche for UA. http://www.gozips.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/20160205i5s179 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Section210Zip Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said: Here's a good article from GoZips.com on the football/track dual-sport athletes on the team. Bowden mention he wanted to make this a recruiting niche for UA. http://www.gozips.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/20160205i5s179 Why can't the local paper give us good articles like this? (I know ... its because this has a positive spin. I hate the Anti-Akron Beacon.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed5120 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 43 minutes ago, Section210Zip said: Why can't the local paper give us good articles like this? (I know ... its because this has a positive spin. I hate the Anti-Akron Beacon.) Because controversial headlines sell better than feel good stories. Sports news has turned into TMZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akronzips71 Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 We seem to have gotten some monsters on the O Line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueandgold Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 I can't wait to see Jamal Brown II and Brian Bell on the field together in the 2017 season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 9 hours ago, LoyalZIP said: Akron could win a national title with classes like these and people would still bitch. Some people just love attention, and if posting trash on an Akron Zips message board makes you happy, more power to you. I hope you are proven right someday. However, I doubt you will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 8 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said: If you are a Buckeye fan, the rankings mean something. If you are a Zips fan, they mean nothing. So, would you say NIU and BGSU mean nothing either, or is Akron the only team in CFB that recruiting rankings don't matter to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZippers Posted February 6, 2016 Report Share Posted February 6, 2016 4 hours ago, Buckzip said: So, would you say NIU and BGSU mean nothing either, or is Akron the only team in CFB that recruiting rankings don't matter to? If you pay attention, NIU fans constantly complain that their team can't recruit and that their classes are awful. It doesn't seem to have hurt the team much though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsoutsider Posted February 6, 2016 Report Share Posted February 6, 2016 I, for one, am glad to see more Bowden bobbleheards bouncing in the wind on ZipsNation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kangaroo Posted February 6, 2016 Report Share Posted February 6, 2016 7 hours ago, Buckzip said: So, would you say NIU and BGSU mean nothing either, or is Akron the only team in CFB that recruiting rankings don't matter to? Great counterpoint. If you ride a short yellow bus to school. NIU and BGSU have won 8+ games per season for a decade. They didn't have Rob Ianello or Tom Wistercill. Or JD Brookhard. And, and, and... Their recruiting structure plays into what yields high rankings, Good for them. Where's their February trophy? The Zips found a way to get competitive in short order, won the most games in program history, and won a bowl game, yet you and others harp on irrelevant recruiting rankings and stars. Unreal... How many stars did Jatavis Brown have? Nice win by KD's Zips tonight, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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