2023 Spring Ball

[Blue & Gold]

38 minutes ago, 94zipgrad said:

 

Oooh, a scrimmage! I’m expecting an insightful write up in the local paper tomorrow! 🤗🤗

[Zippy87]

On 4/12/2023 at 2:33 PM, GoZips86 said:

 

Utter joke. A D1 team in the city and the local paper and news couldn't care less. Then they all wonder why no one comes to games and such.

 

In any event, is the Spring Game inside again this year?

 

To be fair, I went searching for Spring Game info on the Zips Athletics site and their social media and couldn't find anything so I came here. Hard to blame local media when Athletics isn't getting this information out there well enough.

 

Anyhow, I see someone said 3 PM...any idea if there's a surplus sale this year?

Edited April 17, 2023 by Zippy87

[MarkWiley]

13 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

To be fair, I went searching for Spring Game info on the Zips Athletics site and their social media and couldn't find anything so I came here. Hard to blame local media when Athletics isn't getting this information out there well enough.

 

Anyhow, I see someone said 3 PM...any idea if there's a surplus sale this year?

It's scheduled for outdoor unless it rains.

[94zipgrad]

 

[GoZips86]

Glad it will be at Info! But...too bad I cant go this year. Blahhh friends getting married 😋

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, 94zipgrad said:

 

 

I swear they follow this forum 😂

[LZIp]

14 minutes ago, Zippy87 said:

 

I swear they follow this forum 😂

Now let’s get some interviews and highlights!

[ZippyRulz]

2 hours ago, GoZips86 said:

Glad it will be at Info! But...too bad I cant go this year. Blahhh friends getting married 😋

 

It's a conspiracy. Has to be.

 

[GoZips86]

Any word on Dijon Jennings and anything he has been doing in camp? I'm just so curious about him. I dont see him being a Zip for his whole college career. Who knows, maybe he will get playing time this season if Irons would go down? (Though I hope for a full healthy season from Irons) 

[ZZZips]

7 hours ago, GoZips86 said:

Any word on Dijon Jennings and anything he has been doing in camp? I'm just so curious about him. I dont see him being a Zip for his whole college career. Who knows, maybe he will get playing time this season if Irons would go down? (Though I hope for a full healthy season from Irons) 

How much further down do you want DJ to go?  I'm good with never seeing Irons again.

[GoZips86]

14 minutes ago, ZZZips said:

How much further down do you want DJ to go?  I'm good with never seeing Irons again.

I meant "down" as in injury

[94zipgrad]

 

[Ham]

PRACTICE 10!  OOO!    OOO!  The information overload is just driving my excitement meter so far .... down that I hardly care if the fall season ever arrives.

[LoyalZIP]

24 minutes ago, Ham said:

PRACTICE 10!  OOO!    OOO!  The information overload is just driving my excitement meter so far .... down that I hardly care if the fall season ever arrives.

 

It is quite disappointing. The short interviews with George and Martin were great, but were the only 5 minutes we've seen all spring. 

[MangoZip]

On 4/20/2023 at 9:06 AM, LoyalZIP said:

 

It is quite disappointing. The short interviews with George and Martin were great, but were the only 5 minutes we've seen all spring. 

It’s really frustrating. This program is invisible to The Akron Beacon Journal but in addition, very little media is generated internally from the program. Maybe they just don’t have the resources? But having said that, they could do interviews with an iPhone. 😡

[MarkWiley]

1 hour ago, MangoZip said:

It’s really frustrating. This program is invisible to The Akron Beacon Journal but in addition, very little media is generated internally from the program. Maybe they just don’t have the resources? But having said that, they could do interviews with an iPhone. 😡

I do know that this is the person taking a ton of photos at the practices. She is on the media team for the team I think.

 

https://www.instagram.com/kcookmedia_/?hl=en

 

 

[94zipgrad]

 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Heard through the grapevine-

 

Lingard looks to be a significant upgrade to the RB position. Very fast, North/South runner. Strong too. 
 

Wasel looks to be as good as advertised. He makes the expected Freshman mistakes but he has all the tools.

 

Dakota Thomas is turning heads at WR. He’s been a very pleasant surprise.

 

I know it isn’t much. Hope to get more tomorrow. 

[LZIp]

6 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Heard through the grapevine-

 

Lingard looks to be a significant upgrade to the RB position. Very fast, North/South runner. Strong too. 
 

Wasel looks to be as good as advertised. He makes the expected Freshman mistakes but he has all the tools.

 

Dakota Thomas is turning heads at WR. He’s been a very pleasant surprise.

 

I know it isn’t much. Hope to get more tomorrow. 

Anything is great. Thanks for sharing.

[catdaddyp]

10 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Heard through the grapevine-

 

Lingard looks to be a significant upgrade to the RB position. Very fast, North/South runner. Strong too. 
 

Wasel looks to be as good as advertised. He makes the expected Freshman mistakes but he has all the tools.

 

Dakota Thomas is turning heads at WR. He’s been a very pleasant surprise.

 

I know it isn’t much. Hope to get more tomorrow. 

All great news! Hoping to make the spring game to get an in person look. I was going to attend the Rivals camp in Cincinnati tomorrow to see some of the top area talent, but going to pass this year as the weather is iffy and I don’t want to make long(ish) drives back to back weekends.

 

Keep the intel coming!

[Captain Kangaroo]

I was able to stop by campus and take in this morning's scrimmage. Here's what I observed -

 

• Golden was the #1 punt returner (although punting in the low-ceiling Stiles Center is impossible). hen a punt hit the roof, someone would toss a high ball to the returner who'd run it back. No tackling.
• It was a full 4-quarter offense vs. defense scrimmage. Undercuffler took 60% of the snaps. Dijon took around 25%, and Wassel took maybe 15%?
• DJ Irons was in attendance. In good spirits, with no visible injuries. Just progressing through the long rebab from his shoulder surgery.
• Hester got a lot of carries. He had fun today. He's a good RB. Probably not in the Top 3 in the depth chart, but he wouldn't hurt us at the position if we had a decent OL. He also still seems like the #1 KR.
• Gathings made a few nice catches. He played quite a bit.
• Dijon is a tiny QB. He's a full 6" shorter than Undercuffler. He didn't have a great day. To be fair, he wasn't playing with the 1st stringers. Bu I can't see him pushing for the starter's job.
• Undercuffler threw a couple TDs, and also had a couple picks. To me he still looks like a very capable back up, but not someone who can carry a D1 team. 
• Walking out of the building, I overheard someone say "that was the worst our offense has looked all spring." 
• #22 Kellom got some carries, and two TD's (one, a 70 yard run). He's apparently has had a good spring.
• Neither #99 or #44 distinguished themselves kicking FG's. Granted it is tough to judge kickers indoors when their kicking into a net with taped goal posts. 6' 8" German import Bruno Dahl was seen trying a few 50 yarders after practice. He's obviously played some soccer in his day. 😁 
• Lingard #27 broke a nice 30 yarder early in the practice. He can go from a standstill to full speed on a dime. He was talkative and engaged the whole practice. Seems like a good kid. He also ran back a KO later in the practice. He could be a dangerous return guy.
• Wassel didn't look like he'll break any of Charlie Frye's records this season. If anyone was expecting him to push for a starting job in 2023, based on this scrimmage, I'd say you'll need to be patient. He has the tools, but will need time.  
• #20 Price was in sneakers and a tee shirt. He had a little limp. Didn't play.
• #93, #95, #97, #9 were our primary DL's. #99 and #54 played a lot too. It was difficult to get a gauge on the defensive line play. The stands were folded up to allow the baseball team to hit in a cage, so you had to watch the entire scrimmage at field level.
• KJ Martin made a nice high-point catch in traffic. 
• Jax Smith caught a pass from his HS teammate Steele Wassel
• Myles Walker got the nod as the #2 punt returner
• Wassel threw an endzone pick on a long pass to Dakota Thomas. Thomas told Wassel on the sideline "That was a great pass...not your fault." Thomas also had a potential deep TD catch ruled out of bounds (by a 1/2 step).
• Joe spoke to the team after the scrimmage and told them he was happy with the physical effort. He said it was the best he'd seen since he took over. "I'd rather ask you guys to dial it back than to beg you to play harder, so keep it up!"

I can't attend the spring game next week, so I look forward to reading everyone's observations!

 

[catdaddyp]

21 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I was able to stop by campus and take in this morning's scrimmage. Here's what I observed -

 

• Golden was the #1 punt returner (although punting in the low-ceiling Stiles Center is impossible). hen a punt hit the roof, someone would toss a high ball to the returner who'd run it back. No tackling.
• It was a full 4-quarter offense vs. defense scrimmage. Undercuffler took 60% of the snaps. Dijon took around 25%, and Wassel took maybe 15%?
• DJ Irons was in attendance. In good spirits, with no visible injuries. Just progressing through the long rebab from his shoulder surgery.
• Hester got a lot of carries. He had fun today. He's a good RB. Probably not in the Top 3 in the depth chart, but he wouldn't hurt us at the position if we had a decent OL. He also still seems like the #1 KR.
• Gathings made a few nice catches. He played quite a bit.
• Dijon is a tiny QB. He's a full 6" shorter than Undercuffler. He didn't have a great day. To be fair, he wasn't playing with the 1st stringers. Bu I can't see him pushing for the starter's job.
• Undercuffler threw a couple TDs, and also had a couple picks. To me he still looks like a very capable back up, but not someone who can carry a D1 team. 
• Walking out of the building, I overheard someone say "that was the worst our offense has looked all spring." 
• #22 Kellom got some carries, and two TD's (one, a 70 yard run). He's apparently has had a good spring.
• Neither #99 or #44 distinguished themselves kicking FG's. Granted it is tough to judge kickers indoors when their kicking into a net with taped goal posts. 6' 8" German import Bruno Dahl was seen trying a few 50 yarders after practice. He's obviously played some soccer in his day. 😁 
• Lingard #27 broke a nice 30 yarder early in the practice. He can go from a standstill to full speed on a dime. He was talkative and engaged the whole practice. Seems like a good kid. He also ran back a KO later in the practice. He could be a dangerous return guy.
• Wassel didn't look like he'll break any of Charlie Frye's records this season. If anyone was expecting him to push for a starting job in 2023, based on this scrimmage, I'd say you'll need to be patient. He has the tools, but will need time.  
• #20 Price was in sneakers and a tee shirt. He had a little limp. Didn't play.
• #93, #95, #97, #9 were our primary DL's. #99 and #54 played a lot too. It was difficult to get a gauge on the defensive line play. The stands were folded up to allow the baseball team to hit in a cage, so you had to watch the entire scrimmage at field level.
• KJ Martin made a nice high-point catch in traffic. 
• Jax Smith caught a pass from his HS teammate Steele Wassel
• Myles Walker got the nod as the #2 punt returner
• Wassel threw an endzone pick on a long pass to Dakota Thomas. Thomas told Wassel on the sideline "That was a great pass...not your fault." Thomas also had a potential deep TD catch ruled out of bounds (by a 1/2 step).
• Joe spoke to the team after the scrimmage and told them he was happy with the physical effort. He said it was the best he'd seen since he took over. "I'd rather ask you guys to dial it back than to beg you to play harder, so keep it up!"

I can't attend the spring game next week, so I look forward to reading everyone's observations!

 

Thanks for that! 
 

A few questions that may be hard to answer.

 

Do you recall seeing #8 T. Jones, #4 R.Johnson, #55 K. Thomas, or #7 J. Richardson? Just wondering if they were being held out or had some type of injury.

 

Was #2 A. Williams with the RBs or WRs?

 

Any chance to observe the redshirt freshmen OL #54 Tyhler Williams or #56 Keylen Davis?

Edited April 22, 2023 by catdaddyp

[Blue & Gold]

10 minutes ago, catdaddyp said:

Any chance to observe the redshirt freshmen OL #54 Tyhler Williams or #56 Keylen Davis?

You asked some good questions that we should watch for next week. You also mentioned these 👆two players whom I'm anxious to watch next week. 

Other players I want to take note of next week include:

OL's Colin Lyons & Jourden Hale-Frater

DT's Kiwan Murphy & Terray Jones (assuming he's practicing), and

CB's Devonte Golden-Nelson & Joey Hunter (assuming they're practicing) 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Blue & Gold

[Captain Kangaroo]

8 minutes ago, catdaddyp said:

Thanks for that! 
 

A few questions that may be hard to answer.

 

Do you recall seeing #8 T. Jones, #4 R.Johnson, #55 K. Thomas, or #7 J. Richardson? Just wondering if they were being held out or had some type of injury.

 

Was #2 A. Williams with the RBs or WRs?

 

Any chance to observe the redshirt freshmen OL #54 Tyhler Williams or #56 Keylen Davis?

I don't recall seeing any of the 4 defensive players you mentioned. They may have played, but I don't recall it. Dontae Pollard played quite a bit in the defensive backfield, and Darrian Lewis did too.

 

#2 A. Williams didn't play. The RB's I mentioned were the only ones to see the field today.

 

#54 Tyhler Williams did play. I like him! He's a tough kid...the kind that will get a push in goal line situations. I don't recall 56 playing, but he very well may have. I should have written down the OL groups. I'm out of practice.😡

[Captain Kangaroo]