zips live/ spring game

[gozips19]

was curious if anyone else listened to coach brookheart on zips live today. listened on the web and will share the major info...1. very happy with the qb play. said jac is performing better than he had hoped and rodgers was pushing him. he also mentioned rodgers was still building up arm strength.2. the andre jones move to wr and b will to ss experiment had gone well. said that b will can take it to the next level on d and jones has shown flushes and will be exciting. 3. d line has been a strength. bain and mondo along with rash and hassin have impressed.4. starting secondary should look like: anderson and graham at db with b will and carter at the safety spots. kabir and coben at rover. also mentioned that expects newcomers in the fall to compete for time.5. wants more out of the punting game and kick off coverage (no big surprise there). igor will be kicking off this year. 6. still need to sure up the o line depth wise and wants to push others. not sure who he was referring to there. 7. the spring game will be a full game with the team splitting up instead of the o vs d format of the past. side note: love that the format change this year. should get more entertainment value and shows that there is enough depth on the team to make this happen. that's all i could think of but if i remember anything else i'll update later

[blueandgold]

I have a question. I've never been able to make it to the Spring game, but may be able to this year finally. Do I need tickets or what do I need to do exactly?

[HOLLYWOODZIPPY]

I have a question. I've never been able to make it to the Spring game, but may be able to this year finally. Do I need tickets or what do I need to do exactly?

Just show up. Everything is free this year. There is a soccer scrimmage, baseball game, softball game and lots of festivities.Check it out herehttp://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_...;ATCLID=1418433BTW....Scooby Doo is going to be there, which I find ironic because during the VCU-Akron bracket buster the announcers said that Zippy looked like Scooby Doo with a beanie on. Boo ESPN.....Boo

[gozips19]

thought i'd add my thoughts to the spring game. hope to hear other's who attended.1. great day and the festivities were great!2. was hoping to see more from cj but looked much the same. some really good and some what the hell was he thinking. j.d. said that two of the three picks he threw weren't all his fault but he certainly didn't help.3. rodgers looked better than i was hoping. arm strength was there and kept his cool. only mismanaged the clock once. he's the starter in my opinion. 4. dk and k grant look in much better shape. both must have lost 10 lbs. each and looked much faster. still think pinky will start but dk should be the back up.5. allen looked slow but heard he hadn't practiced all week. i'll give him a pass.6. bain looks as good as advertised. he'll be tough to stop in the mac.7. b will and a will will both upgrade the d. speed and toughness. the only thing missing was......8. the secondary. paper thin and they only have 3 corners who could play. (barnes, graham, anderson). anderson looked good but they need the newcomers to come in and contribute 9. o line looked ok but was a little concerned with the play of bates. wouldn't be surprised to see rossman fight him for time at center. the line was banged up all spring so i'll give them a bit of a pass too. 10. bruce and jones are electric with the ball in their hands. they need to hone their skills but will be an upgrade. they have to have bowser step up on the outside if this team is to have true balance 11. merce and cruz both looked good at te. just hope they use them this year12. had the pleasure of talking to some parents and they talked of better team unity and how well liked the new players were. they also said pinky is the real deal and rodgers has more talent than cj. overall had a blast! great to see the change in formate as it shows this team finally has enough depth on both sides to be an elite team. pumped about the stadium and love the idea of 2 year season ticket plans. all i have for now.....would love to hear other peoples thoughts.

[RACER]

just wondering did a.johnson play at all.i looked on the stat sheet,and he did not have any carries?

[RACER]

if cj is our starter this year i think we are in big trouble.i did not see the spring game,but saw enough last year.if we had a good o-line maybe we could get by with him,but we don't.all teams have to do is get any kind of pressure on himand were done.hopefully jd is just keeping things competitive ,but not naming rogers the starter yet.

[ZippyAlum]

No, Johnson did not play.

[gozips19]

pinky did not play but have heard that he's looked the best of the backs so far. i agree about cj. he looked like the same qb from last year. he'd get in a groove and look good for a time then make a play leaving you scratching your head. still doesn't keep his feet set. rodgers will either win the job or take it over by week two. i agree with you racer that the line wasn't great last year but they were young and the offense was one dimensional. i fully expect them to get better especially if they have a passing threat. bowser could be the key to the season on o.

[ZachTheZip]

JD won't name a starter for QB yet, or for any position, really. The idea is to get a competition so that the players push each other further by trying to outperform the others.

[gozips19]

i agree. j.d. needs to be really careful with the qb situation. if he does go with rodgers he can't name him the starter until fall as cj could possibly transfer leaving akron with only 1 qb on scholly and another coming in from hs (still don't think k.c. is on scholarship). he needs both this year. either cj steps up and takes the spot (not likely in my opinion) or he backs up rodgers and will need to be ready in case of injury or if rodgers doesn't produce. egos will be very important with this spot as well as others on the roster.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Some additional notes from the spring game:CJ11 starting off the game with 3 INT's in approximately the first 21 seconds brought back bad memories.The offense seemed to move forward rather than sideways. THAT was my favorite part of the day.The Blue vs. Gold "real" format was great. The old "offense vs. defense" scoring format sucked. Nice change.Nice to finally have the depth to have a full-blown spring game, rather than a weak exhibition of walk ons and guys that will never see the field in the fallB Williams laid a nasty hit on someone in the 3rd quarter. He's already at home in the secondary...I think he can have a "Dwight Smith-esque" game changing affect on that side of the ball this season.Hassan Hazime looks like he knows what he's doing. He's going to play this year, and be effective.Curtis Brown looked really good. Really tough running after the catch. I wonder if he'll get a shot at WR this year?Dennis Kennedy looked great...but there's no way I get too excited about him. He's pretty much been in hibernation since the NC State game.Matt Rodgers looked "ok." He seemed to make good throws...no horrible mistakes...but I didn't see anything "special" in him either. Time will tell...but he looks to be the starter to me.It would have been interesting to see KC Patterson toss a ball. You can tell that the coaches wanted as much tape as possible on Rodgers and CJ11, since Wagner got 1 series and the #1 and #1 guys got all the remaining snaps.If Aaron Williams can put on about 10 lbs of muscle this summer, he'll be a terror.Overall I thought we looked really good. Good depth, good size. Good team speed. CB is a concern, but we'll get help there in the summer. Ditto WR. QB? We're better of than last year, but by how much? I don't know.

[Big Zip]

Lets be honest -- for the majority of the folks on this board CJ can throw for 300 yards and 4 TDs and you'll all come on here and talk about his incompletions. One of his interceptions was a result of 6 guys in the back field before the ball got to him and Kennedy not reacting quick enough and the annother bounced off the receivers hands. Matt Rogers looked about as good as I thought he would, but he looked smaller than I thought. Not sure if I'm the only one who noticed, but I don't recall pressure being but on Rogers the whole game. I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but I fairly impressed with three receivers -- A Owens, Jeremy Bruce and Flannerty.Only problem with the format is you don't get to see the first team against the first team. Nice to see Chevin Pace at the game with his big honking MAC Championship ring on!!! I think he could be a nice special teams player at the next level if given the chance. He hits hard and doesn't seem to shy away from cracking helmets. Heck Kenny (I can't outrun the cops) Wright only made six tackles on special teams for the Browns -- I'll bet Pace could match that. Overall great day!

[GP1]

This is all I want to know. Are they running the same offense as last year? If yes, is the QB at least keeping the ball every once in a while and running during the option?Are they going to water board us with the 3-3-5 defense again next year?

[Z.I.P.]

Regarding the sudden ability to play a full two team game: Even when the program was in D I-AA they were always able to play that format in the Spring Game. Have they really been THAT depleted, that they've had fewer players than 20 yrs ago?

[Blue & Gold]

Regarding the sudden ability to play a full two team game: Even when the program was in D I-AA they were always able to play that format in the Spring Game. Have they really been THAT depleted, that they've had fewer players than 20 yrs ago?

It's funny you mention this; I was thinking the same. To run a scrimmage of this sort only requires a two-deep roster. Was our talent so awful that we couldn't run this format the last couple of years? I don't think so.

[Dr Z]

Regarding the sudden ability to play a full two team game: Even when the program was in D I-AA they were always able to play that format in the Spring Game. Have they really been THAT depleted, that they've had fewer players than 20 yrs ago?

My guess is no. Sounds like lip service. Pitt run the other style spring game, JD knew that and that's what he went with (at the time).Am I the only one that doesn't like having the spring game in doors? I wish it were outside. To be honest, I would rather have it at the Rubber Bowl.I know, it's a dump, but you can sit higher so you can see better, you get to spread out and I remember attending many sun filled spring games.Plus you can tailgate. Don't get me wrong, the in door facility is beautiful, I just don't like watching a spring game there. I seem to come home witha better feel for the players talent when the game was at the Rubber Bowl. PS On the complaint scale, this is a 2 out of 10.

[GoZips88]

Regarding the sudden ability to play a full two team game: Even when the program was in D I-AA they were always able to play that format in the Spring Game. Have they really been THAT depleted, that they've had fewer players than 20 yrs ago?

My guess is no. Sounds like lip service. Pitt run the other style spring game, JD knew that and that's what he went with (at the time).Am I the only one that doesn't like having the spring game in doors? I wish it were outside. To be honest, I would rather have it at the Rubber Bowl.I know, it's a dump, but you can sit higher so you can see better, you get to spread out and I remember attending many sun filled spring games.Plus you can tailgate. Don't get me wrong, the in door facility is beautiful, I just don't like watching a spring game there. I seem to come home witha better feel for the players talent when the game was at the Rubber Bowl. PS On the complaint scale, this is a 2 out of 10.

Yeah, I don't like watching it from a poor angle in the fieldhouse either. My guess is we'll have to endure one more indoor game and THEN we'll get to go outdoors again ... InfoCision!

[gozips19]

Matt Rogers looked about as good as I thought he would, but he looked smaller than I thought. Not sure if I'm the only one who noticed, but I don't recall pressure being but on Rogers the whole game.

i did think he looked a little smaller than listed but is plenty tall and has much better footwork than jac. My guess is no. Sounds like lip service. Pitt run the other style spring game, JD knew that and that's what he went with (at the time).i am not so sure about that, due to lack of depth on the d line akron would have had a hard time with a traditional set up the past few years. if they would have gone that rout the d line would have had to played on both sides and that would have tired them out and increased the chances of injury. even with akron's increase in depth they still had to have a few o linemen play both ways this spring due to injuries. can't wait to see this game outdoors!!!!!!