Article from gozips about the 7th practice....

[timmyboy]

Day seven of Akron’s spring football practice had a scrimmage scheduled. Some injuries did not allow that to happen. However, the two-hour workout in the Athletics Field House did end with some situational team periods.First, the offense was backed up against its own one yard line and its goal was to get a first down, which is did on one of the two attempts. Then the team turned around with the offense having the ball on the 20 to work on red zone situations. Within that segment, the ball was placed on various hashes and yard lines and the drill came to an end after a nice touchdown run off left tackle by transfer back Andrew Johnson.While the drill ended with Johnson’s run, the defense had its share of success during Friday’s practice as well, including a 65-yard interception return for a score by Reggie Corner.Each practice shows evidence of the team implementing more into the Zips’ game plan. Not only are the offenses and defenses installing more looks and plays, but special teams adds more and more each practice as well.After talking with offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead yesterday, defensive coordinator Jim Fleming gives his take on spring drills to date: What are some positives through seven practices?“There is good chemistry and attitude with this team. We have had good leadership at each of the positional groups. The players are also working hard to meet the high expectation levels of performance we have put in place for them. I think we are a solid two-deep at safety and are close to being a solid two-deep across the whole secondary.” What are some points of emphasis for this spring for the defense?“Coming out of last year, we are focused on the defense doing more to win games. Our challenge is to score on defense, create more turnovers and be stingy. I have been pleased with the number of turnovers we have been able to force so far.” What does spring practice mean for this group?“We only have one proven starter along the defensive front (Jared Cecchetti) so the increased reps has been incredible. Also, while your upset a Kevin Grant gets injured, he is very knowledgeable and very experienced so you are pleased with the extra work an Al-Teric Balaam is getting. Also, we have the luxury of moving some players around to create different packages and put more speed on the field when needed. For instance, you could see a Mitchell Magloire on the defensive line, see a Chevin Pace play some linebacker or even see perhaps our best corner, Brandon Anderson, play some strong safety. The spring allows us to make these adjustments as we are not preparing for an opponent. Spring practice also is a time to continue improvement of fundamentals. We are striving for zero defects and no missed assignments.” Other than the “names”, who is having a good spring so far?“We are getting good leadership at each positional group on defense. I like what I have seen from Miguel Graham. Wayne Cobham has made real progress and Amin Kabir has shown some really good things.” Akron will take the next three days off before returning to practice next Tuesday. The Zips will hold its annual spring game on April 15 (Sunday) at 4 pm in the Athletics Field House. Prior to the game, the Zip baseball team will host Central Michigan at 1 pm. All the events of the day – presented by Sky Bank – will be released as details are solidified.WHAT HAPPENED TO GRANT?

[zipboy]

Between Rasor and the daily updates on gozips.com, this is the most information that I have ever seen from spring ball. Thanks guys I am excited for the spring game. Based off the tone of the articles depth at RB is better than I expected. The Johnson kid (for next season) seems like he can help. Alex Allen is on schedule and you never know with ACLs. I don't know Alex Allen and don't know how he is in the locker room, but from watching him on the sidelines last year, he became one of my favorite Zips. That guy was into the game as much or more than anyone on the sideline.I have a worry that the QB situation may not be decided all year. For those closer to the team, has any of the 3 stepped up as a leader? The other guys need to respect the QB. I wonder now if the move of Jabarri to WR 3 yrs ago was the right move. It is too late to change now, but from a leadership standpoint at QB, it seems like he has those intangibles. The D-Line scares the heck out of me. ITZ mentioned this in an earlier post. If we just get 1 guy coming in to play well on the DLine we will be lucky. I don't know what we do to hide that hole this year. Go Zips!

[skip-zip]

My observations...It's too bad Jabari didn't have two years left. If so, he could have possibly been moved back to quarterback. But, I don't think that is our problem area.I keep hearing about the secondary over and over and over. Yes, we know we have a great and deep secondary. And I'm thinking the linebacker crew is in pretty good shape too. But again, where's our defensive line? According to the starters listed on the depth chart, Robinson is probably the only legitimate defensive lineman, in terms of his size, speed, and ability. Fleming says that Cecchetti is a "proven stater", and I'll have to see that to believe it. That would be a HUGE surprise to me if he's developing into a good, every-down MAC defensive lineman.Here's the real area of concern for me...We had trouble running the ball last year with an experienced offensive line. And I'm just HOPING that guys like Tim Crouch, who appeared to be losing skills during the course of last year, were left in as starters out of respect for their career accomplishments, and not because they were far better than the guys backing them up. If the latter is the case, we're in big trouble.

[timsum1283]

i agree with the previous 2 posts but i wanted to know: Is Brandon Anderson really a better corner than Reggie?

[Captain Kangaroo]

i agree with the previous 2 posts but i wanted to know: Is Brandon Anderson really a better corner than Reggie?

I wish we had the choice of two guys of their talent level at every position. I like them both.