ZachTheZip Posted August 2, 2007 Report Share Posted August 2, 2007 http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/zips/2007/08/0...-choosing-zips/We need him to come to Akron, badly. If he won't come here even with his father as a coach, it says some pretty pathetic stuff about Akron, and could influence top talent from Hoban to avoid choosing us in the future. I am sure Fleming is, at least slightly, influenced by Tyrell Sutton's decision to avoid the MAC at all costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 i don't think it makes a difference if he comes or not.akron has never got the best players in ohio.they go to osu/penn state ect.once the new stadium is built ,and i stress if akron has some decent years the top kids will come.one kid's decision not to come to akron means nothing. do you actually think tryell sutton decision influences kids.five years from now.they won't even know who he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 If he is a higher-level player, he likely will not go to a MAC school, even if he is one of the asst. coaches kids.I agree that it has no impact on our future ability to recruit kids from that school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted August 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 i don't think it makes a difference if he comes or not.akron has never got the best players in ohio.they go to osu/penn state ect.once the new stadium is built ,and i stress if akron has some decent years the top kids will come.one kid's decision not to come to akron means nothing. do you actually think tryell sutton decision influences kids.five years from now.they won't even know who he is. True, Akron has never gotten the best players in Ohio. The stadium and a few good years will change that.I'm not saying that one kids choice will influence all the local talent to leave the area, but there is no doubt that Sutton's decision has influenced Fleming a little bit. They were at the same school on the same team playing on the same field. They both have had the exact same football coach. I have personally talked to both of them, as I was also there at school with them. Sutton was determined to not go to a MAC school. He made this clear to everyone he met that brought up his scholarship offers. I am positive Fleming heard it, at least in passing.If Fleming comes to Akron, it means that our team will have a more little bit more of a local flavor to it. More people are willing to come to games if they know who the players are on the team. High school standouts that received press coverage before college will likely continue getting that coverage in college if they stay in the same region where they grew up. Fleming can be a playmaker for the Zips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiel Fleming Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 For the sake of his last name I hope he comes to Akron. Though lord knows if Hawaii offered me a full ride ... hell if they offered me a job scrubbing toilets ... I'd probably have to say "sorry pops, I'm going to go live on an island for the next 4-5 years." Though every time i hear his name announced and I'm not paying attention I'll probably look around like an idiot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted August 3, 2007 Report Share Posted August 3, 2007 Your much close to the situation than me, but I struggle with comparing the Akron Zips 5 years ago vs today. We have one of the best facilities in the country, will have one of the best stadiums in the country where next years class will play 4 years if they redshirt in 08, and an entirely different coaching staff from 5 years ago.A kid needs to pick the school that is right for him. Who is to say that JD has a couple of great years and leaves and Fleming goes with him. If the kid is only going to be here because of his Dad, then it may not be the best decision for him.I know that I am biased, but Akron is a great place to go now if you are a football player. Akron kids go pro, there is TV exposure, the facilities and campus are outstanding. Northwestern averaged about 25K last season. With the new stadium, we will average more than that. Tyrrell Sutton made the right decision for himself. Hopefully guys like Larry Dawson see what the Zips are becoming and want to be part of making this area great. I am excited to see what Bryan Williams does this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 zipboy...I agree with your points about the improvements at Akron.But the fact remains. If a kid is Big Ten level talent, your chances of getting him to go to a MAC school are remote. For the most part, a 17 year old kid is going to try to go as big as he can. We're still hard pressed to find a situation where a kid says "I could go to Penn State/Ohio State/Michigan, but Akron has some nice facilities, so I think I will go there".We need to be realistic and understand that our recent upgrades in facilities are likely intended to help us compete better against MAC schools. Our best chances to land those Big Ten level kids will remain when their situations do not work out, and they look to transfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 skip zip i agree 100%.the new mac stadium will help us recruit the best kids that do not go to osu penn state ect.still we have seen what top level mac teams can do with good talent.big ben's miami team is a good example.no more excuses about our facilities holding us back.jd needs to start winning now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z.I.P. Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! What is all this talk about young Mr Fleming (not you Kiel), being a Big-Ten level recruit? He has two scholarship offers -- neither from a BCS program, and Akron has outrecruited the Hawai'i football Warriors the last three years of JD Brookhart's efforts.The facts are -- for those who aren't familiar (don't you wish!) The University of Hawai'i football program, while having multiple newspaper articles written about it each and every day of the year, has practice facilities about as good as Akron's were thirty years ago, when I started school there (remember my story -- my first instructor was Jim Tressel). Their home stadium, while seating fifty thousand (but averaging just 30k), is rapidly deteriorating to the state of the Rubber Bowl (again the bowl of thirty years ago --pretty crummy).I'll be sitting in Aloha Stadium the day after Thanksgiving, when Fleming gets his Hawai'i vacation on the sideline -- and UH and Boise St. play off quite possibly for a BCS bowl bid. I can't lose -- I'd love to see an Akron kid play within walking distance from my house. But if JD moves UP, his father could very well be the next head coach of Zip football. That possibility may come into play -- but I'm not sure how it factors in.Aloha means goodbye! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyzip84 Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 If a kid is Big Ten level talent, your chances of getting him to go to a MAC school are remote.I think it can depend on the position. Big Ben certainly could have gone to a Big 10 school, but the opportunity to start right away at Miami was enough to get him in the MAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 We all know that being a Star at a MAC School could get you into the NFL. 17 year old kids don't think about being a star at a MAC school, they think about being a star at a Big 10 school and will take that shot. A lot of the end up getting a lot of time on the bench. I agree that we aren't going to draw many heavily recruited Big 10 recruits. Hopefully, we can start grabbing the heavily recruited CUSA and MAC talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckzip Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Ben wanted to be a QB. Most big time schools were recruiting him as a TE IIRC.Also, quite a few players fall between the cracks. Many players come from MAC schools or Conf. USA or other mid major conferences. But there are quite a few more from the SEC, B10, ACC, etc.The facilities and new stadium will help us recruit against other mid majors. it will not help us against the big boys. We will not beat out USC, Florida, Oklahome, OSU, Michigan, Penn State, Notre Dame etc. for many recruits. Sure, we may get one here or there, but few and far between. Now this may help up with the lower BCS conference schools like Indiana, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Cincinnati etc. But anyone that thinks we will be able to lure recruits away regularly from the major powers will be terribly dissapointed.Sure these guys will like the facilities and new stadium, but the other schools have nice facilities too. Have you seen the new Hayes Center at OSU? Yikes.Also, these guys will take playing in front of 75-100k week in and week out while also being on TV every week. Plus many of these other schools are NFL factories.UA still can't offer that and probably never will.I am as excited as everyone else about what is going on, but to think we are ready to be considered a big boy is quite premature.Maybe if we can do what Boise State did, by going undefeated and then beating a top 10 team in a BCS game we will get there. But not yet.Remember, we always lose games we shouldn't. That goes for bball and fball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Well put BZ. We need to focus on dominating our confrence and winning bowl games. Then the talent will take us seriously. If we lose, a spanking new stadium won't help us much (Take Buffalo as an example). I disagree that we always lose the games we shouldn't....we wouldn't win any games then. I would say we aren't as consistent as we should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 I agree with what you are all saying. What I meant was we should be able to compete well against top tier mid majors and lower level BCS schools. Fleming has an offer from Akron and Hawaii. I give Akron the advantage.Recruiting against schools like Northwestern (where Sutton went), Indiana, Cincy, etc, I don't see why we can't get kids a reasonable percentage of the time. I hear what everyone is saying and don't expect to get kids if Ohio State, Michigan, etc offer. But I do expect to get some kids that Indiana and Northwestern offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmyboy Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 I agree with what you are all saying. What I meant was we should be able to compete well against top tier mid majors and lower level BCS schools. Fleming has an offer from Akron and Hawaii. I give Akron the advantage.Recruiting against schools like Northwestern (where Sutton went), Indiana, Cincy, etc, I don't see why we can't get kids a reasonable percentage of the time. I hear what everyone is saying and don't expect to get kids if Ohio State, Michigan, etc offer. But I do expect to get some kids that Indiana and Northwestern offer. we were close to getting a player from northwestern last year ( david arnold) he really liked the facilities and coaches, but felt NW was a better fit an he could play earlier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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