The University of Akron football team is ascending under fifth-year coach Terry Bowden — and he and his staff are relying heavily on local talent to do it.
They get their first chance to scout the area’s best this weekend as another high school football season kicks off around the state.
UA boasts a state-of-the-art indoor field house and outdoor stadium, a victory in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last year and a bevy of local players in the fold and more on the way.
Recent Zips coaches J.D. Brookhart and Rob Ianello did not focus their recruiting efforts on local high school players, but Bowden has aggressively pursued top area talent.
“This is great for the University of Akron, and it is great for the area,” said Springfield coach Kevin Vaughn, a former football player and graduate of Ellet and UA.
“People are able to go right down the road to a beautiful facility and watch a game on Saturday and see all kinds of local kids. Their staff is doing an outstanding job. One thing I am noticing is they give that family atmosphere when they go about their approach of talking to the kids. They make the kids feel at home which, obviously, they are at home.”
Springfield’s Tracy Jordan is one of 10 area players in the class of 2017 to commit to play for the Zips. The others are East’s Jemarulin Suggs, Deandre Brimage and Marquess Callaway, Garfield’s Marcus Kidd, Coventry’s Dusty Burkhart, Barberton’s Kobie Booker, Canton McKinley’s Reggie Corner and St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Malik Wooldridge and Justin Sampson.
“When Brim and I committed to Akron, we wanted to talk to Akron about recruiting more local guys to go to college here,” Suggs said. “We talked to them about our teammate at East, Marquess Callaway; DeAmonte’ King, Donte Taylor, Malik Wooldridge and Justin Sampson from St. Vincent-St. Mary; Marquise Bridges from Ellet; Zuriel Sanders from Firestone; and a lot of other players from all around here.
“How Brim and I look at it, if everybody from the city just stayed and played at Akron, then Akron would be better, and we could put it on the map in college football.”
King decided to commit to West Virginia and Taylor opted to play at Miami (Ohio). Bridges, and Archbishop Hoban standouts Nolan Rumler, RJ Kelly and Daeshon Martin each have a scholarship offer from UA.
“When Jemarulin and I were sophomores we were talking and said to each other, ‘We’re playing together in high school, so why not play at the next level together?’ ” Brimage said. “We both said, ‘Let’s stay close to each other, and let’s stay close to home.’ Our family and friends don’t have to drive far to see us play.”
That line of thinking has worked out well for several Zips. The 2016 UA roster features players from Brecksville, Canton McKinley, Carrollton, Copley, Coventry, Firestone, Hoban, Jackson, Kenmore, Kent Roosevelt, Ravenna, St. V-M and Streetsboro.
“Bowden and his crew are much more receptive, and they will listen to you,” said Tim Flossie, who starred as a player at Garfield and was a longtime coach with stints at Central-Hower, Buchtel, Barberton and Firestone. “They will take your word on a kid.
“I had to beg Ianello to take Cody Grice [in 2011]. I had to take all kinds of film down there and he finally took him, and he was a great player for Akron. I think Bowden and his guys want to look for kids in the area where before not so much. It helps with the facilities now. I know that every kid that I’ve had there [from Firestone] — Cody Grice, Tommy Brown, Jerome Lane, Brennan Williams and Kevin Gladney — they like it, and they like the coaches. I am happy those kids have been taken care of.”
Grice and Brown finished their Zips careers in 2015 with an 8-5 record and a bowl win.
Flossie said former Zips coaches Jim Dennison, Gerry Faust and Lee Owens were “good guys to communicate with that took an interest in Akron kids.” Flossie also said the old stigma of “Oh, Akron, I live here and there’s nothing downtown” is gone.
“Akron looks like a college now,” Flossie said. “It’s beautiful. Back in the old days when I was younger you could drive by and not even know it was there. There were just some buildings, but now there are a lot of buildings and it is a college campus. I go to games with my friend Mike Hatch, a former Akron player, and we love what’s going on.”
Dan Boarman, who starred as a player at St. V and was a longtime coach at Copley and St. V-M, said Bowden is more in tune with area coaches than Brookhart and Ianello were.
“Coach Bowden has done a great job of understanding the importance of the schools around here and them being able to contribute to the success of Akron,” Boarman said. “It’s shown with his record [at Akron from 1-11 to 5-7 to 5-7 to 8-5]. Our kids [from St. V-M] are some of the key ones who are contributors at the school.
“The biggest thing is I think Bowden and his recruiters, Chuck Amato and Todd Stroud, have done a great job of listening to the local coaches. … We have said, ‘Hey, we have a kid here that can help you.’ Even if it means they can’t maybe offer a scholarship, they still might give a kid a preferred walk-on spot and welcome the kid into their program. Northeastern Ohio is pretty darn good in football, and these guys recognize that.”
Marcus Wattley is the new St. V-M coach and is well-versed with the area after graduating and playing football at Copley and UA.
“Akron coaches have finally figured out again that there is good football being played in the city,” Wattley said. “Some of the best football in Ohio is played in the northeast. Akron has done a great job of tapping us. We have Newman Williams, Travonte Junius, Nathan Bischof, Vince Lockett, Fransohn Bickley, Clayton Uecker and Youssef Barakat on the roster. That is cool, and it’s great for attendance when you get local players.
“Additionally, they’re winning with these local players. They went to a bowl game and won it last year. I was able to make it to a couple of games, and it was fun.”
East coach Marques Hayes is like a proud papa with three Dragons pledged to be Zips.
“It feels pretty special to see these three guys — Jemarulin Suggs, Deandre Brimage and Marquess Callaway — committed to play football at the University of Akron before their senior year,” Hayes said. “They are still hungry to get better.”
Bowden knows he can’t get every local star, but he recently landed transfers with area connections, such as Firestone’s Gladney (Nebraska), Roosevelt’s Tra’Von Chapman (Pittsburgh), McKinley’s Se’Von Pittman (Ohio State) and Jamal Davis II (Pittsburgh).
“We want to get the best players locally to come to Akron,” Bowden said. “Eight of our 22 starters from last year were from Summit County, Stark County or from around here. We have offered more senior players in this same area this year than we have ever offered. This is a strong senior class in the area, and we have a chance to get these kids.
“We want the local players to be the meat of our football team. Akron, Canton, Youngstown, Cleveland and Pittsburgh is our base area, and then we’re going to South Florida to recruit some speed from down there. You will continue to see the core of our football team will be kids from schools from around Akron. The same people that watched them play in high school will eventually come watch them play at Akron.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.