The 2009 Akron Zips football team represented the University of Akron in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Akron competed as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division. The team was coached by J. D. Brookhart and played their homes game at InfoCision Stadium.
Before the season Much of the anticipation leading up to the season involved the grand opening of the new on-campus Summa Field at InfoCision Stadium. The university set up webcams, allowing fans to watch the progress of the stadium being built. Fans watched online as the final stages of the stadium were pieced together, including a 40-foot by 25-foot video scoreboard and ribbon boards along the east stands.
The first Spring Training Scrimmage took place on March 12, after only five practices. With the offensive side down two key running backs (DeVoe Torrence and Alex Allen), the defense was able to win this session, along with the second scrimmage on March 28. In the annual Blue-Gold game, the defense came out victorious again, winning the game with a score of 28–24. Key plays in this game included a blocked field goal by Norman Shuford and an interception by Kevin Davis.
Alex Allen was one of the 106 nominees for Allstate's AFCA Good Works Team. According to the Press Release, this list "honors college football players who make outstanding contributions in the areas of volunteerism and civic involvement."
Recruiting
Schedule
Roster The Zips lost relatively few starters from the 2008 football season. However, the starters that they did lose include lettermen Dennis Kennedy and Chris Kemme, the latter of which signed for the Detroit Lions after the 2009 NFL draft. On the defensive side, Akron lost all three linebackers to graduation, and Strong Safety/Kickoff Returner Bryan Williams signed a free agency deal with the Cleveland Browns. As of 2009-08-17Wide receivers 1 Deryn Bowser – Senior 6 Curtis Brown – Sophomore 7 Dashan Miller – Senior 9 Gary Pride II – Sophomore 12 Jeremy Bruce – Senior 19 Nolan Procter – Freshman 21 Andre Jones – Senior 29 Randy Greenwood – Freshman 80 Nadir Brown – Freshman 81 Anthony Meriwether – Freshman 82 Jeremy Lafrance – Junior 83 Dee Frieson – Freshman 83 Shawn Roberts – Sophomore 86 Troy Eison – Junior 87 Richard Sandilands – Junior 88 Jerrod Dillars – Freshman
Offensive line 51 Elliott Bates – Senior 53 Dan Ronsman – Sophomore 63 Joe Pachuta – Freshman 64 Mitch Straight – Freshman 65 Adam Bice – Freshman 68 Andrew Colosimo – Freshman 69 Casey Estrada – Senior 70 Paul Simkovich – Sophomore 71 Mike Ward – Junior 72 Zac Kasparek – Sophomore 73 Jake Anderson – sophomore 75 Corey Woods – Junior 76 Joe Petrides – Freshman 77 Joe Vidovic – Freshman 78 Zack Anderson – Senior 79 Jason Sekinger – Junior
Tight ends 84 Rhyne Ladrach – Freshman 85 Kyle Weber – Junior 86 Jake Brandt – Freshman 94 Grant Williams – Freshman 95 Jon Root – Freshman 98 Nick Legger – Senior Quarterbacks 2 Jared Wackerly – Freshman 5 Matt Rodgers – Sophomore 11 Chris Jacquemain – Senior 13 Jordan Miller – Freshman 16 Patrick Nicely – Freshman 19 Kevin Montgomery- Freshman
Running backs 3 Dale Martin – Sophomore 4 DeVoe Torrence – Freshman 10 Alex Allen – Senior 13 Samuel Bullock- "Junior" 14 Thomas Miller – Freshman
15 Nate Burney – Junior 17 Norman Shuford – Freshman 22 Broderick Alexander – Freshman 25 Nathan Cope – Sophomore 32 Joe Tuzze – Senior 42 LeVon Morefield – Junior
Defensive line 13 Shane Shead – Sophomore 44 Abdullah Homayed – Freshman 45 Joe Rash – Sophomore 52 Marquinn Davis – Sophomore 44 Antoine Jones – Junior 56 Almondo Sewell – Junior 60 Dan Marcoux – Sophomore 66 Chad Budy – Sophomore 90 Phil Tonga – Junior 91 Nick Bridenbaugh – Sophomore 92 Ryan Bain – Senior 93 Chris Henderson – Freshman 96 Hasan Hazime – Sophomore 97 James Harvey – Sophomore 99 Cowles Stewart – Sophomore Linebackers 5 Troy Gilmer – Freshman 8 Shawn Lemon – Junior 18 Will Fleming – Freshman 20 Mike Thomas – Junior 23 Sean Fobbs – Junior 24 Aaron Williams – Sophomore 28 Amin Kabir – Senior 29 Da-Von Moore – Sophomore 30 David Anderson – Freshman 34 Brian Wagner – Freshman 42 Larry Dawson – Freshman 47 Al-Teric Balaam – Senior 49 Matt Little – Sophomore 50 Mike Polinski – Junior 54 Blake Fraley – Freshman 57 Nate Schuler – Freshman 58 Marcus Lemon – Senior 82 Viktor Rajek – Junior
Defensive backs 1 Diamond Weaver – Junior 2 Jalil Carter – Junior 6 Manley Waller – Sophomore 9 Doug Richardson – Junior 11 Miguel Graham – Senior 15 Marvase Byrd – Freshman 16 Jordan House – Freshman 25 Jake Delmonico – Freshman 26 Kevin Davis – Junior 27 Wayne Cobham – Senior 31 Emmanuel Lartey – Freshman 33 Josh Richmond – Freshman 35 Bryant McMillon – Senior 36 Jared Province – Freshman 45 Bill Alexander – Freshman 48 Tyler Campbell – Junior
Punters 8 Zack Campbell – Sophomore 38 John Stec – Senior 40 Josh Couch – Freshman
Kickers 37 Branko Rogovic – Junior 45 Igor Iveljic – Junior
Long Snapper 43 Adam Steiner – Freshman † Starter at position * Injured; will not play in 2009.
Coaching staff The Zips made hired three new coaches for the 2009 football season. Shane Montgomery was the head coach of the Miami Redhawks for the past four seasons, and moved over to serve as Akron's offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. During his time at Miami, he led the team to a first-place tie in the MAC East Division in both 2005 and 2007. Walt Harris is best known for being the head coach of Pitt from 1997 to 2004 and Stanford in 2005 and 2006. A week later, Akron announced the hiring of new Linebackers coach Vince Okruch. Name Position Year at school J.D. Brookhart Head coach 6th Walt Harris Asst. head coachPass game coordinatorQuarterbacks coach 1st Jim Fleming Defensive coordinatorSafeties coach 6th Shane Montgomery Offensive coordinatorTight ends coach 1st Brian Callahan Run Game coordinatorOffensive line coach 6th Dana Chambers Defensive line coach 4th Reno FerriReno Ferri resigned on October 7th during an internal investigation. See the #Ohio game notes for more details. Recruiting coordinatorRunning backs coach 6th Emmanuel McDaniel Cornerbacks coach 3rd Mauro Monz Wide receivers coach 4th Vince Okruch Linebackers coach 1st
Game summaries
Penn State
Ninth-ranked Penn State built a 31–0 halftime lead, holding Akron to 28 total yards and minus-17 yards rushing in the first half. Akron was able to get on the board in the second half on a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Chris Jacquemain following a Penn State turnover. The Zips finished with 186 total yards, only 28 of which were from rushing. Penn State amassed 515 total yards including 379 from passing, mostly from quarterback Daryll Clark, who also threw 3 touchdowns. Following the win, the Nittany Lions rose to #5 in the polls and improved to 4–0 all-time against the Zips.
Morgan State
The Zips opened Summa Field at InfoCision Stadium against the Morgan State Bears, a Football Championship Subdivision team. This was the Zips' first meeting with the Bears, as well as the Bears' season opener. The Bears were led by Carlton Jackson, who had previously played for the Zips in the 2007 season. He battled for the starting quarterback position with Chris Jacquemain in that year, who prevailed and led the Zips in this game.
Logistically, the game went on without any major problems and the new stadium was well received by fans. The biggest problem according to fans was finding their appropriate parking lot. During the game, Akron amassed 436 total offensive yards, which included 186 passing yards. This was the most passing yards allowed by Morgan State since a 2008 game against Towson. Despite the 250 yards rushing, no running back individually rushed for 100 yards, because six different backs were used.
Indiana
The game marked the second meeting between the two teams, the first being in the 2007 season at Indiana's Memorial Stadium where the Hoosiers won 41–24. Indiana faced Akron in their third game of the season and first road game after defeating Eastern Kentucky and Western Michigan at home. This was also the first time a team from the Big Ten Conference had played in Akron. In the days leading up to the game, however, the Zips met with some adversity when it was announced September 18 that starting quarterback Chris Jacquemain would be indefinitely suspended for a violation of team rules. No reason was given in that suspension nor was a timetable provided for his return.
Behind Ben Chappell's two touchdown passes and Ray Fisher's opening kickoff return, the Hoosiers were able to again defeat the Zips by a final score of 38–21. For Akron, new starting quarterback Matt Rodgers, who had just two days of practice as the starting quarterback, completed six of his eight passes in the first half, but threw four interceptions in the second half. Two of the interceptions would lead to touchdowns for Indiana. The Zips were able to score touchdowns on a blocked punt early in the game as well as a Rodgers rushing touchdown.
Central Michigan
Akron began the MAC schedule with an away game against Central Michigan, their first meeting since a 35–32 Central Michigan victory at the Rubber Bowl in 2007. The Zips faced more discouraging news in the week leading up to the game. First, it was announced on September 23 that Jacquemain had been dismissed from the team. The next day, the university announced that sophomore Cowles Stewart had been suspended from the team after he was charged with felonious assault and running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Reno Ferri was put on paid administrative leave as the university began to investigate violations of NCAA Compliance rules.
Central Michigan Quarterback Dan LeFevour had a career day against the Zips, scoring six touchdowns in becoming the seventh MAC quarterback to pass for 10,000 yards in his career. Matt Rogers achieved a pass efficiency of 120 with no interceptions. He completed 12 of his 19 passes for a total of 127 yards. Running Back Joe Tuzze also ran in for a score, which was the first in his collegiate career. The Zips fell to 8–14 all-time against the Chippewas with the loss.
Ohio
After an off-week during the season, the Zips awaited their next MAC Opponent, Ohio University. Overall, the series between these two schools are tied, 12–12–1, with the last game a 49–42 loss in Athens. However, this series is heavily favored year after year towards the home team. The last game that was lost at the Rubber Bowl was in 1997 when the Zips lost in a four-point decision. Prior to the game, previously suspended running backs coach Reno Ferri had resigned from his position, effective November 1. This resignation comes amidst an internal investigation by the university regarding recruiting violations.
The woes only got worse once the game started for Akron. During the second quarter, starting quarterback Matt Rodgers suffered an ACL injury and was removed for the rest of the game, possibly the rest of the season. To replace him, the Zips had to turn to their third quarterback, Patrick Nicely, who was originally planned to have a redshirt year. The lone touchdown for the Zips came in the third quarter when running back Joe Tuzze ran for a 3-yard score. Other than that, the game belonged to Ohio. The Bobcats' scoring came from two field goals and two touchdowns (one two-point conversion attempt failed).
Buffalo
Akron began a three-game road series with a trip to UB Stadium to face the Buffalo Bulls. Akron leads the overall series 8–2, but Buffalo has won each of the past two meetings, including a 40–43 quadruple-overtime decision in the 2008 season. That was the last game in the historic Rubber Bowl, as the university was working hard on the new stadium. The Zips, 1–4 on the season, had been in this same position in 2005, when they won the most conference games in the school's history as well as the MAC Championship.