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2008 Akron Zips Football Recruiting

Overview
Akron brings in a collection of 25 new players to the program. Eighteen are freshmen, four are JUCO transfers and three are DI-A transfers. Of the 18 incoming freshmen, ten come from the state of Ohio. The overall makeup of the 25 players as such; eight are listed as DBs, followed by four each at OL and WR, with three each at DL and LB, one each for QB, RB & TE. The DI-A transfers are DT Ryan Bain from Iowa who is a former U.S. Army High school All-American from Bolingbrook IL; WR Jeremy Bruce from West Virginia who is a former all-state player from Beaver Falls PA; and RB Andrew Johnson from Miami (FL), a former top-100 national prospect from Pittsburgh Penn Hills.

Top Players

• Joe Pachuta, 6-7, 290, OL New Concord (John Glenn) OH – Rated the #34 prospect in Ohio by Ohio High and is known as a ‘small school superstar,’ selected to play in the Ohio North/South All-Star Classic; received reported offers from Maryland, NC State, MSU & Boston College.
• Deryn Bowser, 6-2, 215, WR Los Angeles Harbor CC – Considered one of the top JUCO recruits in the nation; received reported offers from Hawaii, K-State; Iowa St; Colorado and Oregon among others.
• Adam Bice, 6-5, 255, OL Dresden (Tri Valley) OH – Rated the #17 center in the country by Scout.com and listed as the #64 prospect in Ohio by Ohio High; received reported offers from MAC and Big East schools.
• Will Fleming, 6-4, 205, DB Akron (Archbishop Hoban) OH – A local star who is rated as the #73 prospect in Ohio by Ohio High and received offers from MAC and WAC programs. Could end up playing several different positions from DB or OLB to WR or TE.

Sleepers

• Hasan Hazime, 6-6, 245, DL Pickering, Ontario, Canada (Vanier Prep) – From the Toronto area, registered 8.5 QB sacks and scored 13 TDs last season; has reported 4.4/40 speed and enters the program as a rush DE prospect.
• Jordan Miller, 6-2, 215, QB New Philadelphia (OH) – Big QB prospect similar to former Akron star Charlie Frye; 2nd team all-state honors as a senior and for over 4,100 yards during his prep career.

Final Analysis
The strength of this class is in the transfers. The three DI-A players should be instant starters and contribute from day-one, along with JUCO all-everything Deryn Bowser. The other three JUCOs may be starters this fall as well. As for the freshmen, Brookhart continues to be one of the top recruiters in the MAC, but now he needs to begin to contend for conference championships each year with the top talent he acquires. Based on the freshmen and JUCOs alone, this class rates as VERY GOOD compared to the other MAC programs. If you add in the DI-A transfers, which is something this publication has never done, then this class would rate as one of the very best.

Of Note:
DL Ryan Bain was one of five true freshmen to play for Iowa in 2005 and played all of the 2006 season with three starts before sitting out in 2007 as a transfer…Jeremy Bruce played WR, RB and special teams for WVU in 2005 & 2006 and is eligible to play for AU this fall after sitting out in 2007…Andrew Johnson has just one year of eligibility left after playing during the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons at Miami (FL) before sitting out in 2007 as a transfer…Will Fleming is the son of Akron’s defensive coordinator Jim Fleming…DL Hasan Hazime from Pickering, Ontario, Canada, comes from the same school as former Akron star Jabari Arthur…Josh Richmond’s cousin is former NBA star Mitch Richmond…Manley Waller’s mother is Olympic Gold-Medalist Gwen Torrence.

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