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Team happy practicing at $61.6 million facility still under construction
By Michael Beaven
Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Sunday, Aug 09, 2009
The first three days of football practice at InfoCision Stadium are complete.
A sense of jubilation continues to surround the University of Akron and the new on-campus facility, which remains under construction.
''It's real exciting,'' UA senior quarterback Chris Jacquemain said Saturday. ''We have been in here for three days and it is a beautiful place. Coach talks about protecting our house. I think this will feel like home when the games start. You catch yourself at times looking up and looking around. It's real fun.''
Coach J.D. Brookhart is enjoying getting acclimated to the Zips' $61.6 million new home, and is happy with what he has seen from his football players the past three days.
''We're continuing to install right now,'' Brookhart said. ''We're throwing the whole book at them in about five days, and then we'll look at the progression. What I'm looking for right now is tempo, energy and finish. I think we are doing pretty good in those areas. We spent a good portion of the time on fundamentals, so certainly we are seeing progress on that. Right now we're mentally testing them and physically pushing them.
''Most of the coaching is done off of tape, quite honestly. I think they really know where they want to go and have really embraced it. I think the leaders are developing and there is a willingness to achieve greatness.''
UA continued to go through drills and gain repetitions in scrimmage situations Saturday.
''We feel pretty good and our legs feel pretty good,'' UA junior defensive back Tyler Campbell said. ''The new turf is real nice and everybody is flying around to the ball. It looks like our defense is going to be real fast. We have a lot of speed.''
Jacquemain, entering his third season as a starter, led the offense and said he is pleased with how practices have transpired.
''It's going well,'' Jacquemain said. ''Guys are flying around and guys are making plays. The defense is stuffing us at times, and the offense is making plays at times. The excitement is there and the tempo is there. There will be mistakes made, we know that, but we want to make our mistakes at full speed. We're trying to get the offense in and the schemes down.''
The Zips are hoping to put together their first winning season since 2005, when they were 7-6 and played in the Motor City Bowl after winning the Mid-American Conference title. Records of 5-7 in 2008 and 2006, and 4-8 in 2007 have motivated the players.
''We need to come out and finish games,'' Campbell said. ''That was our thing last year. Coach Brookhart always tells us we were 16 points away from having nine wins.''
UA is also looking for improvement at home. The Zips went 1-4 in 2008, 2-2 in 2007, 4-1 in 2006 and 3-2 in 2005 in the final four years of the Rubber Bowl. The Zips' last home win was Nov. 5 over Toledo (47-30).
''It's crucial that we win at home,'' Jacquemain said. ''That is one of the things that coach is harping on us, protecting our house. There is a lot of excitement with the new stadium and there are a lot of people looking forward to this. There will be a lot of people that will feel let down if we lose. We want to win every game at home. That's our goal.''
Campbell also stressed the importance of winning at InfoCision Stadium, which will feature UA games against Morgan State (Sept. 12), Indiana (Sept. 19), Ohio (Oct. 10), Kent State (Nov. 7), Temple (Nov. 13) and Eastern Michigan (Nov. 27).
''We have seen the whole process of the whole thing,'' Campbell said. ''It's really exciting how it has come together. It's amazing. This whole place is huge and it's going to be a great place to play games.''
Tickets
UA will begin to sell single-game football tickets in two stages.
Those who have been ''A Part from the Start'' — including suite, loge box, club seat and all season ticket purchasers — as well as current Z-Fund members, will be able to call the Athletics Ticket Office at 1-888-99-AKRON from Aug. 10-14 during office hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to purchase as many single-game tickets as they wish for each of the six home games. Single-game tickets for all home games will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 17.
For more ticket information, call the Athletics Ticket Office or visit GoZips.com.
The first three days of football practice at InfoCision Stadium are complete.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Canton, OH
Posted 11:18 AM, 08/09/2009
FEAR THE ' ROO. . .
Posted 11:50 AM, 08/09/2009
This is a team to be feared. With the coaches that were brought in, the recruits, and Infocision opening up, I don't think anyone is looking forward to coming to Akron this year.
We saw last year, these guys can put up points in a hurry, I know Penn State is fully aware as they are replacing 7 starters on defense from last year and get Akron in the opener.
Highland Square, OH
Posted 03:24 PM, 08/09/2009
Petition to end Open Enrollment:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/anewakron1/
Kandi, SL
Posted 07:52 PM, 08/10/2009
Petition what?
Kandi, SL
Posted 07:53 PM, 08/10/2009
I have very high expectations for this year's Akron U. football team. I think 6 wins is within our reach.
