Class of '22 Verbal Commits

[Blue & Gold]

ROOCREW22:

Cameron Wiley, RB, 6-2, 210 Las Vegas, NV, Minnesota transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Devon Robinson, DL, 6-5, 300, Memphis, TN, Miss. St. & Memphis transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Cam Threatt, DB, 6-0, 170, Lewisburg, MS, Mississippi State & Miss. Gulf Coast CC transfer (3 yrs. eligibility)

Kerry Martin Jr., DB, 6-1, 185, Charleston, WV, West Virginia transfer (3 yrs. eligibility)

Curtis Harper, DL, 6-2, 285, McKeesport, PA, Syracuse transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

TJ Banks, TE, 6-5, 255, Duquesne, PA, West Virginia transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Dijon Jennings, QB, 6-0, 180, Reynoldsburg HS, Reynoldsburg, OH

Charles Kellom, RB, 6-0, 190, St. Xavier HS, Cincinnati, OH

Tim Terry, LB, 6-2, 230, Central Catholic HS, Pittsburgh, PA, Buffalo transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

Shocky Jacquez-Louis, WR, 6-0, 190, Dunbar HS, Fort Myers, FL Pitt transfer (2 yrs. eligibility?)

Max Banes, OL, 6-5, 310, St. Thomas HS, Houston, TX University of Houston transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Vic Jones, DE, 6-4, 245, Inderkum HS, Sacramento, CA Wyoming transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

Alex Adams, WR, 6-1, 195, South Pike HS, Osyka, MS, (LSU transfer, 3 yrs. eligibility)

Clayton Bone, WR, 6-1, 190, Avon Old Farms HS, Avon, CT

Kiawan Murphy, DT, 6-3, 330, East Hartford HS, East Hartford, CT

Noah Gettman, P/K, 6-5, 205, Mainland HS, Daytona Beach, FL, Sacred Heart transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

Bobby Golden, WR, 5-9, 180, Miami Palmetto HS, Miami, FL

Tyhler Williams, OL, 6-4, 305, Milton HS, Alpharetta, GA

Ka'Marii Landers, OL, 6-5, 300, Fordson HS, Dearborn, MI

Keylen Davis, OL, 6-4, 298, Ben Davis HS, Indianapolis, IN

Niko Paxos, P/K, 6-3, 195, Jackson HS, Massillon, OH

Bryan McCoy, LB, 6-0, 225, Joliet West HS, Joliet, IL

Jourden Hale, OL, 6-6, 330, Sycamore HS, Cincinnati, OH

Marquell Darnell, TE, 6-7, 210, Central HS, Erie, PA

Anthony Stallworth, RB, 5-11, 185, Farrell HS, Farrell, PA

Stefan Monahan, OL, 6-8, 320, McKinley HS, Canton, OH

Nate Thompson, S, 6-3, 200, Southern Lee HS, Sanford, NC, Duke University transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

Clyde Price III, RB, 6-0, 210, North Kansas City HS, Kansas City, MO, Kansas State transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Anthony Whigan, OL, 6-5, 300, Great Mills HS, Lexington Park, MD, Penn State transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

Caden Clark, TE, 6-4, 255, Archbishop Hoban, Akron, OH, Alabama transfer (4 yrs. eligibility?)

Daniel George, WR, 6-2, 205, Oxon Hill HS, Fort Washington, MD, Penn State transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Noah Perez, K, 5-8, 160, Desert Vista HS, Pheonix, AZ

Jaharon Griffin, LB, 6-0, 225, Neshoba Central HS, Philadelphia, MS

Ravontae Holt, DT, 6-4, 293, Sheldon HS, Sacramento, CA, Wyoming transfer (1 yr. eligibility)

Jaden Woods, DB, 6-0, 200, South Gwinnett HS, Decatur, GA, Eastern Kentucky transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Jeff Undercuffler, QB, 6-5, 230, Holy Cross Academy, Burlington, NJ, Albany transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Devonte Golden-Nelson, CB, 6-0, 190, Memphis University School, Memphis, TN, U. of Memphis transfer (4 yrs. eligibility)

Caleb Anderson, WR, 6-4, 210, Brandon HS, Brandon, MS,  Northeast Mississippi C.C. transfer (3 yrs. eligibility)

Antavious Fish, LB, 6-0, 220, Jackson HS, Flovilla, GA, Coffeyville C.C. transfer (3 yrs. eligibility)

Kyle Thomas, DL, 6-3, 295, Oscar Smith HS, Chesapeake, VA, Butler C.C. transfer (2 yrs. eligibility)

Deontae Williams, ATH, 5-11, 192, Woodland Hills HS, Woodland Hills, PA

 

CLASS BREAKDOWN:

 

TOTAL COMMITS: 41

 

Offense: 22

QB: 2 (Jennings, Undercuffler)

RB: 4 (Wiley, Kellom, Stallworth, Price)

WR: 6 (Jacquez-Louis, Adams, Bone, Golden, George, Anderson)

TE: 3 (Banks, Darnell, Clark)

OL: 7 (Banes, Williams, Landers, Davis, Hale, Monahan, Whigan)

 

Defense: 15

DT: 5 (Robinson, Harper, Murphy, Holt, Thomas)

DE: 1 (Jones)

LB: 3 (Terry, McCoy, Griffin, Fish)

DB: 5 (Threatt, Martin, Thompson, Woods, Golden-Nelson)

 

Athlete: 1

ATH: 1 (Williams)

 

Special Teams: 3

P/K: 3 (Gettman, Paxos, Perez)

Edited July 22, 2022 by Blue & Gold

[Blue & Gold]

Got our first verbal commitment of 2022 and it's a big one!  The game is won in the trenches!

 

[John Ward]

Way too early to get excited!!

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, John Ward said:

Way too early to get excited!!

Says the guy using two exclamation points?

[Blue & Gold]

Van is one of the top OL in NEO going into his senior season.  

 

Stow actually has 2 of the top OL in NEO, the other being Mason Mennell.  

Both 6'4" - 6'5" and ~ 300.  

Stow is going to be tough.

[John Ward]

On 3/2/2021 at 10:42 PM, Captain Kangaroo said:

Says the guy using two exclamation points?

Glad you heard me Donkey.

[bigjim]

21 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Van is one of the top OL in NEO going into his senior season.  

 

Stow actually has 2 of the top OL in NEO, the other being Mason Mennell.  

Both 6'4" - 6'5" and ~ 300.  

Stow is going to be tough.

very good start.  Let's keep it going and continue to add to the list.  Go Zips

[Zipmeister]

On 3/3/2021 at 8:31 AM, Blue & Gold said:

Van is one of the top OL in NEO going into his senior season.  

 

Stow actually has 2 of the top OL in NEO, the other being Mason Mennell.  

Both 6'4" - 6'5" and ~ 300.  

Stow is going to be tough.

 

If he is that good, I wonder if we are just a placeholder.

[LZIp]

Staff seemed pretty excited about this commit last night. I am able to find an offer from Troy and a few FCS schools on his twitter. Tough to find much more on him.

 

[72 Roo]

LZ and others closer to the program..... what the hell is going on with football's promotion, or better yet, lack of it? I don't get it. There is nothing positive coming out of the SID's office or from Chad Welker. That is not a knock on him. I know he would love to hype the program, but is being held back. How can no publicity be a benefit to the growth and return of a competitive program? I am proud of women's lacrosse and enjoy seeing Christie Mitchell's post game comments. Why not a daily comment from Arth and staff? I don't care which UA sport you passionately support we all need football to compete for championships. That will help every program and stop the drain on resources. Our athletic leadership is crying out for a major overhaul top to bottom. This is nonsense. I know others have raised this issue, yet there has been no explanation. Please comment ZNO.

[RowdyZip]

29 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

LZ and others closer to the program..... what the hell is going on with football's promotion, or better yet, lack of it? I don't get it. There is nothing positive coming out of the SID's office or from Chad Welker. That is not a knock on him. I know he would love to hype the program, but is being held back. How can no publicity be a benefit to the growth and return of a competitive program? I am proud of women's lacrosse and enjoy seeing Christie Mitchell's post game comments. Why not a daily comment from Arth and staff? I don't care which UA sport you passionately support we all need football to compete for championships. That will help every program and stop the drain on resources. Our athletic leadership is crying out for a major overhaul top to bottom. This is nonsense. I know others have raised this issue, yet there has been no explanation. Please comment ZNO.

I feel most of this will be pinned on "the budget"  but there are TONS of things that can be done, virtually for free, to engage fans.  Granted, with football's slide back to terrible, it may not be as effective outside of a select group of core fans, it should still be done.  Increase AWARENESS.

 

• 30-60 sec daily videos from coaches/staff/players.  
• Birthday posts for all players (we seem to get a few here or there).  Probably not much engagement to be had here, but AWARENESS is key as well.
• Put team managers or grad assistants in charge of the social media accounts. 
• Post scores and updates frequently.  I recall a few basketball games this last season where games were close and there were one or two updates of the score during the game and then.... no final score posted until a gozips dot com release at 1am.  Basketball wins a lot.  Soccer wins a lot (maybe not this spring...).  Track and Field wins a lot.  Rifle wins a lot.  Brag about it.
• Put polls out on social media.  Attempt to engage. 
• Ask for photos of your favorite zips memory.  Or your favorite road game.  Or what you're excited about for the upcoming season(s).  

 

This is something that the MAC does AMAZINGLY well at on social media.  They tweeted an engagement score where I believe they were 2nd in the nation in engagement/interaction to only the SEC or ACC.  Follow the conference social media team's lead!  This is not hard.

[94zipgrad]

Anyone know who?

 

[94zipgrad]

 

[94zipgrad]

Wonder if it’s Hightower?  Maybe he wanted to come home

 

[94zipgrad]

Nope 

Hope he does better than his brother did, want to correct myself, i guess they are cousins

Edited May 19, 2021 by 94zipgrad

[LZIp]

25 minutes ago, 94zipgrad said:

Nope 

Hope he does better than his brother did

First East player in the Arth era I believe. Who was his brother?

[94zipgrad]

18 minutes ago, LZIp said:

First East player in the Arth era I believe. Who was his brother?

I believe Domonick Holley, never made it, like all the kids from East but in his defense looks like Eric has good grades, will see, i wish him the best

 

Correction - I guess they are cousins

Edited May 19, 2021 by 94zipgrad

[clarkwgriswold]

I thought fencing was the only duel sport.

[94zipgrad]

8 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I thought fencing was the only duel sport.

Lol, i didn’t catch that

[72 Roo]

If coach Wilson is announcing an addition to the team that will be a bomb for the community I'm not sure this fits the bill. Nonetheless welcome to Akron. Hope you make this team far better.

[Blue & Gold]

Holley's the best all-around athlete in the area.  By a long shot.  He average 28.4 ppg in basketball this year.  But I don't like it when college athletes attempt to play more than one sport.  I've never really seen it work out.  He's a great shooting guard.  He's also a really good QB, but there's no way he'll play QB in college unless he's 100% committed to the position.  I guess Charlie Ward of Florida State pulled it off back in the day.  He's also a talented WR, so the staff may be thinking of moving him there.  Who knows.  I'm amped he's going to be a Zip but, for his own sake, I do wish he'd pick one collegiate sport.

[Zipmeister]

15 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I thought fencing was the only duel sport.

 

I think he may have intentionally used the wrong word to distract you from noticing his faulty verb usage and unusual capitalization.

[94zipgrad]

5 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Holley's the best all-around athlete in the area.  By a long shot.  He average 28.4 ppg in basketball this year.  But I don't like it when college athletes attempt to play more than one sport.  I've never really seen it work out.  He's a great shooting guard.  He's also a really good QB, but there's no way he'll play QB in college unless he's 100% committed to the position.  I guess Charlie Ward of Florida State pulled it off back in the day.  He's also a talented WR, so the staff may be thinking of moving him there.  Who knows.  I'm amped he's going to be a Zip but, for his own sake, I do wish he'd pick one collegiate sport.

My guess is if he is able to contribute it will be in football.  Has anyone seen anything from Groce?  The Akron City Schools other than Buchtel right now is awful basketball.  

[LZIp]

Tough to find too much out there, but looking at his twitter, had an offer from FIU and some FCS teams from JUCO. A couple more FBS offers coming out of HS.

 

[Blue & Gold]

@LZIp, since Ryan’s a JUCO, that means he’s a ‘21 commit, right? Or is he committing with a year of JUCO ball left?