Spring Game 2017

[Balsy]

Spring game is next weekend, here is a thread to discuss all things spring game.

 

From the Zips:

 

Zips Fest, including inflatables and activities for the kids, will open in the Field House at 11 a.m. Please enter through the Football Helmet on Vine Street.

 

The stadium gates open at 11 a.m. with kickoff slated for Noon between the Blue and the White squads. Team rosters will be announced next week.

 

Additionally, fans will have the opportunity to purchase authentic Zips' gear during a Surplus Sale on the main concourse. Available for purchase are: old game jerseys (including football), t-shirts, polo shirts, jackets, winter jackets, pants, shoes, football cleats, track spike, and more.

 

Has anyone purchased the surplus stuff before?  Is it good?  I'm interested in checking it out this year...do I need to bring cash with me?  Or do the accept cards?

 

[zippyfan34]

13 minutes ago, Balsy said:

Spring game is next weekend, here is a thread to discuss all things spring game.

 

From the Zips:

 

Zips Fest, including inflatables and activities for the kids, will open in the Field House at 11 a.m. Please enter through the Football Helmet on Vine Street.

 

The stadium gates open at 11 a.m. with kickoff slated for Noon between the Blue and the White squads. Team rosters will be announced next week.

 

Additionally, fans will have the opportunity to purchase authentic Zips' gear during a Surplus Sale on the main concourse. Available for purchase are: old game jerseys (including football), t-shirts, polo shirts, jackets, winter jackets, pants, shoes, football cleats, track spike, and more.

 

Has anyone purchased the surplus stuff before?  Is it good?  I'm interested in checking it out this year...do I need to bring cash with me?  Or do the accept cards?

 

Last year, I didn't think the clothes were the greatest but the deal on cleats was really good.  I got a couple pairs for my nephew.

[K92]

20 minutes ago, Balsy said:

Spring game is next weekend, here is a thread to discuss all things spring game.

 

From the Zips:

 

Zips Fest, including inflatables and activities for the kids, will open in the Field House at 11 a.m. Please enter through the Football Helmet on Vine Street.

 

The stadium gates open at 11 a.m. with kickoff slated for Noon between the Blue and the White squads. Team rosters will be announced next week.

 

Additionally, fans will have the opportunity to purchase authentic Zips' gear during a Surplus Sale on the main concourse. Available for purchase are: old game jerseys (including football), t-shirts, polo shirts, jackets, winter jackets, pants, shoes, football cleats, track spike, and more.

 

Has anyone purchased the surplus stuff before?  Is it good?  I'm interested in checking it out this year...do I need to bring cash with me?  Or do the accept cards?

 

The polo shirts were Adidas.  60-70 dollar shirts for 10 bucks last year.  They take plastic.

 

Edit:. I wonder if they will be selling baseball jerseys and caps???

Edited April 12, 2017 by K92

[kreed5120]

I'm not a big fan of preseason in any sport, but I'll make an effort to stop by to pick up some office wear swag (is that the hip term kids use these days?).

[Balsy]

8 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

I'm not a big fan of preseason in any sport, but I'll make an effort to stop by to pick up some office wear swag (is that the hip term kids use these days?).

 

I work with teenagers everyday...so unfortunately I'm exposed to their, language, on a daily basis.  Swag they do use on occasion, but now they most use "on fleek".  So you've got to go make sure to grab yourself some swag, so you can be on fleek in the office?  Or something like that...   I'm always scratching my head...and I'm relatively young...

[LZIp]

I believe I also read something about it being a Zip football alumni weekend as well? Looking forward to getting some swag on the cheap as I wasn't able to make it last year.

 

For any UA Athletics employee reading this: Consider streaming the game on ESPN3. Would also be good practice for the students.

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Balsy said:

 

I work with teenagers everyday...so unfortunately I'm exposed to their, language, on a daily basis.  Swag they do use on occasion, but now they most use "on fleek".  So you've got to go make sure to grab yourself some swag, so you can be on fleek in the office?  Or something like that...   I'm always scratching my head...and I'm relatively young...

 

God have mercy. At least summer is right around the corner for you.

[ZipsVoice]

A few seasons ago I bought a game-day football jersey that I loved...heavy, and lots of room for my belly to grow into as the FB season went on!  It dod still have a faint odor to it, that Wifey didn't like....

 

Is it implied in the GoZips piece that more than just football stuff on sale?

[kreed5120]

15 minutes ago, ZipsVoice said:

A few seasons ago I bought a game-day football jersey that I loved...heavy, and lots of room for my belly to grow into as the FB season went on!  It dod still have a faint odor to it, that Wifey didn't like....

 

Is it implied in the GoZips piece that more than just football stuff on sale?

 

I was wondering this too. The below leads me to believe there is, especially since I'm not aware of a surplus sale after the basketball season ended. I wouldn't be against buying an 'Akron football' polo', however, I hope there is just general Zips gear that I can wear year round. I couldn't go last year as I was in Vegas for a bachelor party that weekend so maybe someone else can provide a clear response.

 

"old game jerseys (including football)"

[K92]

8 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I was wondering this too. The below leads me to believe there is, especially since I'm not aware of a surplus sale after the basketball season ended. I wouldn't be against buying an 'Akron football' polo', however, I hope there is just general Zips gear that I can wear year round. I couldn't go last year as I was in Vegas for a bachelor party that weekend so maybe someone else can provide a clear response.

 

"old game jerseys (including football)"

I don't know what this year's will be but last year's had a boatload of t-shirts and polos for apparel and about 400,000 pairs of shoes at 10 bucks a pop.  If there were any jerseys last year they were sold before I got there.  There were not a whole lot of smaller shirt sizes.  A friend of mine called it the "fat ass sale" which worked out great for me.

[LZIp]

They did this a few years ago for a soccer game. Specifically for OSU, though. Good to see them doing it again..

 

[Balsy]

Overall I had a fun day.  I left a little early unfortunately.  I absolutely loved the surplus sale, and was kinda blown away that there was a long line to even get in at 11.  I got a nice real Jersey, a couple of Zips Baseball t-shirts and the Z gloves for like $60.  Totally worth the wait, but by the time I got there the vultures (yes you damn zips fans are vultures) had already picked over the good sizes in jackets/polos.

 

I thought overall the game was unimpressive,  I don't think that's outside the norm.  They basically ran a few base plays out of the same formation pretty much the entire game it looked like.  There were a lot of really talented players who weren't playing today, so very difficult to guage the team either way.

 

 I thought Nick Johns had better decision making and field vision than Kato, but I think Kato had a better throw.  At this point I'd honestly say that I that Woodson is still the top.  I felt after watching the game it's Woodson - 1, Johns - 2, Nelson - 3.

 

 

[Spin]

On 4/12/2017 at 11:49 AM, K92 said:

I don't know what this year's will be but last year's had a boatload of t-shirts and polos for apparel and about 400,000 pairs of shoes at 10 bucks a pop.  If there were any jerseys last year they were sold before I got there.  There were not a whole lot of smaller shirt sizes.  A friend of mine called it the "fat ass sale" which worked out great for me.

Just the opposite for me. I wanted a baseball jersey and couldn't find my size.

 

Skinny little twerps...

[72 Roo]

27 minutes ago, Spin said:

Just the opposite for me. I wanted a baseball jersey and couldn't find my size.

 

Skinny little twerps...

From what I heard all the baseball jerseys were your size but they all shrunk in the laundry. The twerps paid off the equipment manager. 

[skip-zip]

Here's my problem, for the most part, with evaluation Spring games:

 

First, I spend way too much time reuniting with Akron-fan friends, and chatting.  Especially with so much to talk about with what's happened with basketball over the last month. 

 

Secondly, there are so many things that have no clear explanation since it's head-to-heard on our own team.

Did a guy have a great block?  Or was he just blocking an inferior defender?

Did a guy have a great ball carry?  Or, was the tackler the problem?

etc.

etc.

etc.

 

I tended to focus on ball flight towards receivers because that's the kind of thing that you can see that's mostly unaffected by the player matchups at the individual positions.  

 

In my opinion, Kato throws the best ball, and appears to get them where they needed to be pretty consistently compared to the others we saw,  I was happy to finally see his potential after all of this time.  And of course, I couldn't help but to have 20/20 hindsight and wonder how we might have been able to close the last 4 games of last year by pulling his redshirt instead of resorting to a WR at QB.   

[Dr Z]

Being out of town, I was not able to attend, but I did listen to the broadcast. Steve and Brad really didn't do a typical game day broadcast. They had a lot of interviews from the sideline from Joe. All the interviews were pretty entertaining. Apparently a lot of ex Zips played a flag football game Friday night, sounds like all the participants had a lot of fun. I thought the most interesting interview Joe did was with Woodson. He described his injury as, an injury that started to heal on top of the injury. This is why it was hard to know if he was ready to play each week. Apparently they had to remove what was healing on his labrum and then fix. He said he felt good. Coach Bowden watched from the box. He mentioned that MTB got dinged, but no other injuries. I heard from a reliable source that he will be just fine. Speaking of MTB, I see he won Spring Offensive MVP. 

 

Spring Football Awards

 

Offense MVP– Senior TE Mykel Traylor-Bennett / Most Improved– Sophomore OL Trevor Brown & sophomore TE Brandon Junk / Unsung Hero– Sophomore RB Chuck Turfe

 

Defense MVP– Junior CB Darian Dailey & senior LB Andrew Hauser / Most Improved– Junior DL Brennan Williams / Unsung Hero– Sophomore CB Denzel Butler & redshirt freshman Andrew Siegman

 

Weight Room Awards Offensive MVP– Senior WR A.J. Coney / Defensive MVP– Senior S Zach Guiser / Most Improved– Sophomore OL Trevor Brown, junior CB Jordan George, senior LB Andrew Hauser

 

 

[skip-zip]

5 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

Unsung Hero– Sophomore RB Chuck Turfe

 

This guy really played with some fire.  We noticed him.  

[zipsoutsider]

52 minutes ago, skip-zip said:

In my opinion, Kato throws the best ball, and appears to get them where they needed to be pretty consistently compared to the others we saw,  I was happy to finally see his potential after all of this time.  And of course, I couldn't help but to have 20/20 hindsight and wonder how we might have been able to close the last 4 games of last year by pulling his redshirt instead of resorting to a WR at QB.   

IMHO, the best case scenario for the Zips and Kato is for Tommy to experience an unbelievable recovery and be able to lead them all season long to give Kato one more season to learn the system and develop the mental awareness to play at this level. This is in no way a knock to Kato. I think we all remember the 2014 season, when Tommy struggled. When he played in 2015, it was a night and day difference in his decision making. The harder Kato works in the film room, the quicker he will be game ready. 

 

The fact that Stewart is injured now, and couldn't play in the spring game is enough reason not to get too excited about his potential. It's not a knock him - injuries happen, but it's a reminder that you can't have your eggs in one basket, especially in a position that receives punishing hits. I think the worst thing that could happen, would for us to revert to the level of play we saw from WR's in 2014. TBH, it was painful to watch them drop pass after pass. The receivers have 4 months to really step up their game. 

 

I have little expectation of the defense being little better than it was in 2016, which is depressing. We have some legitimate talent coming up on D, but they probably need another year to develop. It's not what people want to hear, I believe that is likely the true state of the D. However, I think there is a way for offense to be somewhere between where we were against Marshall and where we were against Buffalo. If the offense can achieve that, we can be at .500 play. If the offense can't play to that level, it's lights out on the season. Without landing some big time transfers, I have serious concerns for the 2016 and I am usually the eternal optimist. 

[Blue & Gold]

 

[Dr Z]

1 hour ago, zipsoutsider said:

The fact that Stewart is injured now, and couldn't play in the spring game is enough reason not to get too excited about his potential.

I saw Stewart the week before, he looks the part, and caught everything thrown his way. He stood out. The receivers will benefit when Woodson starts playing again. Playing against the Zips secondary in practice is going to make the receiving corp better too, they won't play against too many better groups this year. 

[Fre5hington24]

he will back by training camp nothing serious just playing it safe unseen footage he posted over the weekend he's really a legit high flyer as far as goin up for jump balls 

[LZIp]

1 hour ago, zipsoutsider said:

I have little expectation of the defense being little better than it was in 2016, which is depressing. We have some legitimate talent coming up on D, but they probably need another year to develop. It's not what people want to hear, I believe that is likely the true state of the D. However, I think there is a way for offense to be somewhere between where we were against Marshall and where we were against Buffalo. If the offense can achieve that, we can be at .500 play. If the offense can't play to that level, it's lights out on the season. Without landing some big time transfers, I have serious concerns for the 2016 and I am usually the eternal optimist. 

Dang this is concerning hearing this from you. We return a lot and the fact that Brennan Williams was named most improved is encouraging for the D-Line. Apparently losing J Davis probably hurts, but King looked solid. The D backfield should be solid. Gilbert will be back for fall AFAIK, I find it pretty hard to believe that we won't be improved at all from last year. Who do you have pegged as up and coming talent?

[Captain Kangaroo]

13 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Apparently losing J Davis probably hurts, but King looked solid. 

Who says he's not with the team? Please don't tell me it's only because he didn't show up on one of our <35.3% accurate rosters.

Bowden told me 9 days ago that JD II is legit, and was slated for LB/rush DE  in 2017.

[LZIp]

10 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Who says he's not with the team? Please don't tell me it's only because he didn't show up on one of our <35.3% accurate rosters.

Bowden told me 9 days ago that JD II is legit, and was slated for LB/rush DE  in 2017.

Yea I recall you saying that and I hope its still the case. He was not on the roster handed out at the spring game and has been mysteriously removed online as well.  I didn't see him playing and zxx or whatever his username is said he was off the team. I think is was posted in the spring game attendance thread.

Edited April 24, 2017 by LZIp

[zipsoutsider]

44 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Dang this is concerning hearing this from you. We return a lot and the fact that Brennan Williams was named most improved is encouraging for the D-Line. Apparently losing J Davis probably hurts, but King looked solid. The D backfield should be solid. Gilbert will be back for fall AFAIK, I find it pretty hard to believe that we won't be improved at all from last year. Who do you have pegged as up and coming talent?

Gilbert is 100% legit, but you need another legit guy or it becomes too easy to focus on him. I think Hauser can be good enough to prevent Gilbert from being the sole focus, if he is healthy, but our DL is just weak and DE position is not really strong, either.  I think Jest has the most potential at DL on the current roster to improve, but he is small. I am looking to the 2017 recruiting class to be where we build, and that puts the D out 2 years, at least before we really see a turn-around. Our secondary is strong, but I am not sure a strong secondary is enough to make up for the deficiencies at DL. The DL made it too easy for teams to pick up 5 yards a pop right up the gut last year.  

 

We really need a couple of good DL transfers, along with possibly a DE transfer to make up competitive on D. There just isn't enough for Chuck the Chest to work with, here, as things stand, today, and I don't think the true freshmen are strong enough to walk into starting roles. 

 

I see the film by Stewart, but the season takes its toll and I hope he is sturdy enough to take the punishment all season. The great occasional catches are made by them all. I will be more impressed when he catches nearly everything thrown to him in game situations. Believe me, I sincerely hope he lives up to the hype, but I haven't seen him yet, so he remains a "maybe" in my mind. 

 

With the little I have seen of Ball, I think we could find some really nice success at the run, as long as the passing game can be good enough to force D's to defend both.