2010 Akron Zips Football Preview

2009 Results: 3-9, No Bowl Game

Head Coach: Rob Ianello (1st year @ Akron, No Previous Coaching Experience)

Home Venue: Infocision Stadium (30,000), Akron, Ohio

A new era is beginning for the Akron Zips, as coach Rob Ianello brings a lot of recruiting cache from his previous job at Notre Dame. However, a lack of talent isn’t the reason that the Zips have only played in one bowl game in their entire history, they’ve struggled because they haven’t executed on the field. Can Ianello’s highly qualified coaching staff improve the team’s on-field product immediately?

OFFENSE

Struggles on offense were a major reason that Akron fell short of expectations last season. Former coach J.D. Brookhart was known for his offensive background, so the general failings of the attack in the past four seasons were the primary reason for his dismissal.

What Ianello inherits is a group that is short on experience at the skill positions. Sophomore quarterback Patrick Nicely (1,349 yards, 6 TDs, 6 INT in ’09) started 7 games as a true frosh last year and has a world of talent. However, he is still quite raw and his receivers are even more inexperienced! Senior Jeremy LaFrance (43 catches, 520 yards, 2 TDs) is the only returning receiver with any numbers from 2009 and the situation was so precarious that starting senior safety Jalil Carter switched over to wideout in the spring to try to inject some moxie into the receiving corps.

Meanwhile, the running game is also a very big concern as no returning player rushed for over 200 yards last season! Senior Alex Allen did score five touchdowns last year but I have some serious doubts that a lead runner is going to emerge from this group. However, the offensive line is fairly experienced with three senior upperclassmen starters and that should be the best part of this offense, even in a new system. If the line plays up to expectations, that could open up the running game a little bit.

Overall, I think that this is a group that is going to go through a lot of growing pains with so little experience at the skill positions. With a new system to learn that involves a more pro style base, I wonder how easily Nicely will transition over as he has to learn a new offense after spending most of last season learning the old one on the fly. Furthermore, the backfield doesn’t impress me and I think that this team will struggle to put points up this season.

DEFENSE

Despite a negative turnover margin and an ineffective offense, the Zip defense was actually somewhat productive in 2009, holding opponents to under 29 points per game. While that isn’t a particularly great number, it is far better than I would have expected from a defense that ran into those types of obstacles.

This season, I think the strength of their defense will be the D-Line, which returns three upperclassmen starters as they transition to a 4-3 defense. Led by senior tackle Almondo Sewell (53 tackles), who has been selected three times to All-MAC teams in his career, there is a lot of experience. Juniors Hasan Hazmie (49 tackles, 3 sacks) and James Harvey (23 tackles) should also come into their own this season after extensive playing time the last two years. Overall, this line has played a lot of downs and should be a rock against the run, though I don’t see them generating a great pass rush.

At linebacker, sophomore Brian Wagner (132 tackles, 1 sack, 2 INT) was a 2nd Team Freshman All-American last season and the conference’s top tackler. With seniors Mike Thomas (71 tackles, 2 INT) and Sean Fobs (41 tackles, 1 sack, 3 INT) flanking him, this could be a very productive unit behind a beefed up line. This group also furthers my opinion that the Zips will be strong on the ground.

Unfortunately, I have some serious concerns in the secondary, where junior Manley Waller (47 tackles, 3 INT) is the only returning starter. Ianello must have confidence in his new defensive backs after moving Carter from safety in the spring and I admit that he has a lot more faith in their abilities than I do. I think that Akron will struggle against the pass this season.

Overall, the Zip defense looks like it will be pretty tough against the run this season with the switch to the 4-3 and their linebackers look like they will be very productive in this set against the run. However, I don’t see anyone generating a great pass rush up front as the defensive ends are better in run support. That’s a major concern for me, especially with an inexperienced secondary. I think that the Zips are going to struggle to break into the upper half of the conference in the defensive rankings thanks to a porous pass defense.

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SCHEDULE

For a non-conference schedule that features three BCS teams, Akron has a great chance to end up splitting outside of the MAC (their 4 th game is against D-1AA Gardner-Webb) because they host Syracuse and travel to Kentucky and Indiana. That gives them three opponents that are near the bottom of their respective leagues and it wouldn’t be impractical for the Zips to win one of those contests. On the other side, Akron misses lowly Bowling Green on the division rotation and draws three solid opponents from the West. Overall, the Zips will play six home games this season but this won’t be an easy run.

OUTLOOK

The Zips are going to be interesting to watch as they make some big changes in the first year under Ianello. Their defense switches to a four man front and I think that one major improvement will be their play in the trenches on both sides of the football. However, there is a serious lack of experience at the skill positions on offense and a dearth of proven talent in the secondary on defense. With a tough conference schedule draw in the MAC, I think that Ianello’s first season in charge will be a season of learning, experimentation and rebuilding, leaving the Zips at home for the postseason. Akron is my choice to finish 5 th in the MAC East Division.

PREDICTED RESULT: 3-9 (2-6 MAC)