Early morning thoughts

[Big Zip]

I read the article about the first scrimmage on gozips.com and wondered what it says about the Zips. Defense played well in first scrimmage -- is the defense really getting better or has the "veteran" offensive line not gotten any better than they were last year. Has losing all of the skill positions outside of Charlie been too difficult to overcome. Or will we simply be surprised by the defense this year.

I'd like to think we'd be surprised by the defense this year, but I'm much more concerened if our offense can't move the ball on our defense. At the bottom of the article it lists Dan Basch as out for 3+ weeks -- that can't help the running game. For Charlie's sake I hope the skill position players are on the fast learning curve -- he deserves an opportunity to excel in his senior year and it's going to take an able running game, strong offensive line and sure handed receivers.

16 Days till kickoff!

[zipsbandman]

That's why I hate these scrimmages. They don't tell you anything. When one side of the ball shines, fans tend to wonder if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I wish college football teams could scrimmage other teams in the preseason. Then we could probably get a better idea of what we can expect at Penn State.

One thing that worried me with the scrimmage on offense was the lack of a running game. We cannot have a repeat of last year where we cannot punch the ball in the endzone when the opportunity is there. With all of the talent we have at running back, you would think we would be doing better in this area. Also, who else is stepping up in the receiving corp besides Goodwin and Hixon? Sounds to me like these are the only two making plays. Will depth be an issue here?

As for the defense, I give them props. They are putting pressure on the qb and apparently shutting down the offense. Its good for them to be able to scrimmage one of the best qb's in college football on a daily basis. If its a matter of our defense being THAT good, then I think we are going to have one heck of a football team.

[Captain Kangaroo]

At the bottom of the article it lists Dan Basch as out for 3+ weeks -- that can't help the running game.

That sucks. Hope Tetzel or the kid from Woodland Hills can pick up the slack.

[Hilltopper]

Basch has been an enigma during his UA career. As big as he is, he is way to injury prone. To me it looks like he has small feet for a guy carrying the pounds he does.

[Guest RooDude]

With all of the talent we have at running back, you would think we would be doing better in this area.

Where is all of the talent at running back? I have watched about 5 practices so far and here are my observations.

Dan Basch is out for a month. He has also been hurt in 2001, missed all of 2002, and limped around for most of 2003. He cannot be counted on.

Jerrell Ringer has never had a good game except against 1-AA opponents and the dregs of the MAC. He cannot pick up any blitzes from the opposition and as a result is a major safety risk. The Zips gave up 32+ sacks last season, due in large part to no depth on the OL which has not gotten any better in the off-season. But at least 10 of those sacks belonged to Ringer and the running backs (other than Hendry) who could not block to save their lives.

Mark Tetzel was little more than a special teams guy last year. He is slow and is a 50/50 blocker.

All others are brand new to the program. Biggs is a JUCO transfer and Kennedy is a true feshman. If you see Kennedy on the field as a true freshman the Zips are in MAJOR TROUBLE.

The offense will be mostly a one back set because there a no runningbacks on the roster who are proven reliable. There are no receivers of note who are proven reliable. The offensive line is pourous and terribly thin. If one guy goes down it's a CODE ORANGE alert. If two starters go down in any combination Frye's parents should take out extra insurance.

5 games in the win column this season would be a success. To be honest I cannot see Akron winning any of its first 5 games against Penn State, Middle Tennessee, Virginia, Can't, or NIU. Maybe the team will be better the second half of the year, if Frye is not in a body cast by then. The worst part of this team is the OL - they may be veteran but they are overweight and are getting whipped by a bunch of mites on the defensive side of the ball on almost every drill in practice.

Akron's DL is tiny compared to the Penn States, Virginias, and Marshalls of the world. It's amazing that there is no depth at all on this team.

This is not a very good team, Akron is a mediocre team with a great quarterback and a series of awful recruiting classes the last three years. If this program can string together 12 wins over the next 3 combined seasons I would be surprised. I'll bet Brookhart is wishing he would have stayed at Pitt. The folks who sold him on Akron being a sleeping giant as a football program hoodwinked him something wicked.

[Guest Guest_RACER]

i thought all practies were closed. unless your a spy how do you know these things? if the o line was so bad how did we end up avergage 35 points a game.how did c.frye throw for 8k + yards over the last three years. i keep hearing how we could not get short yardage last year. the Can't game everybody in the stands along with the other team knew when we were going to run and where. in the wisconsin game the linbacker for the other team even admitted he knew what play we were going to run on the goal line from watching our films.guess what .he was right.

[Captain Kangaroo]

RooDude, you seem like a "glass-half-empty" kind of guy. I will offer a reply that lies somewhere between "middle-to-half-full glass."

Where is all of the talent at running back? I have watched about 5 practices so far and here are my observations.

Dan Basch is out for a month. He has also been hurt in 2001, missed all of 2002, and limped around for most of 2003. He cannot be counted on.

REPLY: True. Luckily, this isn't his knee (like before)...it is his ankle. When he's healthy he's a punishing runner/blocker. Hope he gets healthy...we need him.

Jerrell Ringer has never had a good game except against 1-AA opponents and the dregs of the MAC.

REPLY: That's only because Owens never played him! Jerrell can tote the ball. He looked great in the few opportunities he got against Wisconsin.

He cannot pick up any blitzes from the opposition and as a result is a major safety risk.

REPLY: Hendry was needed to pick off all those defenders last season because everyone in the stadium knew what the Zips were running! If JD mixes thing up an keep the opposing DL's guessing, Ringer's blocking deficincies will not be a problem.

The Zips gave up 32+ sacks last season, due in large part to no depth on the OL which has not gotten any better in the off-season.

REPLY: Too early to say this.

But at least 10 of those sacks belonged to Ringer and the running backs (other than Hendry) who could not block to save their lives.

REPLY: Not true. The sacks were primarily due to the obscene predictability of Owens/Winters play-calling. It makes the DL and LB's jobs a hell of a lot easier when they know exactly what's coming.

Mark Tetzel was little more than a special teams guy last year. He is slow and is a 50/50 blocker.

REPLY: You're probably right. We'll see.

All others are brand new to the program. Biggs is a JUCO transfer and Kennedy is a true feshman. If you see Kennedy on the field as a true freshman the Zips are in MAJOR TROUBLE.

REPLY: If we see Kennedy on the field that means he's better than Biggs and Ringer, and I'm happy as hell if that's the case.

The offense will be mostly a one back set because there a no runningbacks on the roster who are proven reliable.

REPLY: Yes, the one-back set is going to be the majority, but that's what the "west coast offense" calls for. It doesn't bug me if we run a lot of 1-back sets.

There are no receivers of note who are proven reliable.

REPLY: Somewhat true. Hixson can do the job. He was by far our best athlete in the secondary last season and he looked great in the spring. Goodwin is fast, can jump, and has great hands. He's a solid #2 guy. Montgomery had 4 TD's last season if I recall correctly? He's fine. Between Ellington and the new guys, someone will step up as the #4...or maybe even the #3 guy. Jabari will be awesome. Mark my words. I like our WR's.

The offensive line is pourous and terribly thin. If one guy goes down it's a CODE ORANGE alert. If two starters go down in any combination Frye's parents should take out extra insurance.

REPLY: I can't speak for "pourous" until I see them play. But, you are correct in saying we're really thin at OL. I couldn't imagine what would happen if 2 of the seniors went down.

5 games in the win column this season would be a success. To be honest I cannot see Akron winning any of its first 5 games against Penn State, Middle Tennessee, Virginia, Can't, or NIU.

REPLY: If you "can't see Akron winning against Can't or Middle Tennesse" you've lost some major credibility. The other games will obviously be much tougher.

Maybe the team will be better the second half of the year, if Frye is not in a body cast by then. The worst part of this team is the OL - they may be veteran but they are overweight and are getting whipped by a bunch of mites on the defensive side of the ball on almost every drill in practice.

REPLY: Everything I've heard is that the OL's are in great shape? Body fat #'s are much improved from 2003?

Akron's DL is tiny compared to the Penn States, Virginias, and Marshalls of the world.

REPLY: True. But if we run some better schemes we'll be able to stop people. The talent of the defense is no worse than in Owens' tenure. We'll see what JD can do with it.

It's amazing that there is no depth at all on this team.

REPLY: Not if you've tracked Owens recruiting classes. The retention rate under Owens was very high the first 5 years of his tenure...then it began to drop. Seems like he felt the need to take a lot of risks to "take the program to the next level" and many of those backfired. We have depth at LB. Other than that, we're pretty top-heavy.

This is not a very good team, Akron is a mediocre team with a great quarterback and a series of awful recruiting classes the last three years. If this program can string together 12 wins over the next 3 combined seasons I would be surprised.

REPLY: A mediocre team with a great QB can fare pretty well in the MAC. I don't expect any miracles, but I expect better schemes on both sides of the ball. I expect a minimum 6 wins too.

I'll bet Brookhart is wishing he would have stayed at Pitt. The folks who sold him on Akron being a sleeping giant as a football program hoodwinked him something wicked.

REPLY: I bet you're wrong. This guy is 100% dedicated to making the Zips a contender. He inherited a "good" team. He's assembled a GREAT staff. The kids love the staff. The new facilities will reap HUGE benefits...but probably 3 or 4 years down the road. He's smack-dab in one of the best HS recruiting areas in the nation. Hell...he's got 2 nationally televised games this season, a monster Marketing machine that actually got a budget to work with in 2004...Marshall and Miami @ home this season, and he's got a Heisman trophy candidate QB!

Compare that to what Owens had....a 1-10 Faust team and crap facilities. I think JD is thinking he's pretty damn lucky to have the Zips' HC job.

[Guest Guest_RACER]

i have to agree with the last comments. he inherited a 7-5 team with a great qb.

lets face it most of these new hire coaches are taking over teams that have fared terrible over the last few years. while we are no powerhouse the cupboard is not bear.the new facilites are better than alomst all the big ten facilities. he has in his 100 miles radius enough talent to build a winner without going anyhwere else.