The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

[K0ZZ]

The Coaching Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Rosters: OS Community 2014-15
Sliders: Personal Set
Notes:
All Play Calls done from "Ask a Coach"
Special Teams are simmed 100% of the time


Credits: PocketScout designed the helmet's.

[K0ZZ]

Tyler Kozlov

Historical W-L by Team
Akron Zips (23-16) 3 Years
Utah State Aggies (3-9) 1 Year
Overall: 26-25

Coaching Pedigree

AJ Milwee (HC) UAB
Lance Anderson (HC) Cincinnati

Historical W-L by Conference
American: 3-2
B1G: 0-4
B12: 2-7
Independents: 0-1
MAC: 19-9
Mountain West: 1-0
Pacific 12: 1-1
SEC: 0-1
Sunbelt: 1-0
vs Top 25: 4-7
vs Rivals: 3-1
Conference Championships: 1-0

Home: 14-8    
Away: 9-16
Bowl Games: 2-0
NCG: 0-0

Conference Titles: 1
Bowl Victories: 2 (1x Famous Idaho, 1x Go Daddy)

Bowl Game Records

Famous Idaho: 1-0
Go Daddy: 1-0

CACS

Spoiler

Eric Grant
Career Record: 5-7
Bowl Record: 0-0
Conference Championships:
NFL Draftees:
All-Americans:

Quinn Retney
Career Record:4-20
Bowl Record: 0-0
Conference Championships:
NFL Draftees:
All-Americans:

John Valkyrie
Career Record: 4-8
Bowl Record: 0-0
Conference Championships:
NFL Draftees:
All-Americans:

Corey Warby
Career Record: 8-5
Bowl Record: 1-0
Conference Championships:
NFL Draftees:
All-Americans:
UAB
2016-17 Poinsettia Bowl Champion (W 40-39 vs BYU)

[K0ZZ]

Time for a change in Akron

Akron has been in a long slump of futility throughout the history of the program including a poor 109-185-37 FBS record and only once making a bowl game, the 2005 season where they won the MAC with a 7-6 record. A far cry from a program that sees any sort of success in the future. It seems changes however are very present on the horizon. Akron is focused on changing it's losing tradition.

Hiring a Midwestern coach to step in, in Tyler Kozlov, Kozlov has bounced around the Division 3 and 2 levels, with stops in Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois after a playing career ended at Illinois that saw him exit without a playing career in the NFL, proceeding to intern with Illinois as an assistant before branching out as an offensive coordinator to a head coach. Kozlov has claimed six conference championships throughout his eight years as head coach and at the young age of 39, he will definitely be prepared for a long journey ahead.

Kozlov plays an aggressive, up tempo style game that is predicated on blitzing and fast attacking offensive units and will look to make an explosive offense in a conference known for its "MACtion" and has had a wide array of offensive talents across the conference, Kozlov will look to usher in a high speed and hard hitting style of offense.

In rather odd news, local sport legend, LeBron James has stated support for the college by pledging almost ten million to the athletic program, while most was appropriated to the basketball program, upgrades to the athletic facilities as well as a planned expansion to the football stadium are in the works.

The Zips will face quite a difficult schedule this season, which features matchups against state opponents, and one power. The Zips open the season on a slate of three road games, UCF, followed by Cincinnati and Ohio State to round out the slate of competition. To round out the out of conference schedule, the Zips will take on Army in Akron for their first game in their renovated InfoCision Stadium that saw its occupancy increased despite being a fairly new stadium in the first place.

The Zips will be led by Kyle Pohl under center and Jawon Chisholm in the backfield. This is a team that lacks a true top wide receiver threat but offers a bevy of options that are on a fairly common skill level which allows for a true "next man up" mentality in what will definitely be an uptempo offense.

On defense, Justin March-Lillard will patrol the outside of the defense, as the linebacker will look to cause havoc, and he will definitely be more than capable, especially with a strong group of interior linemen which will surely draw oppositions attention inside.

This is a team that has won only 3 games in the past 3 years and even approaching .500 would be an accomplishment, yet that would be very unlikely with such a tough out of conference slate. The season is close to starting and this will be a tough transition for a team that suddenly saw a very public endorsement from a big sports figure.

[K0ZZ]

Akron Zips (0-0) 21 @ UCF Knights (0-0) 31

7 0 7 7 21
7 7 3 14 31

Knights survive against the Zips despite mistakes

On opening weekend, there was certainly enough drama rolling around as teams fought for their first victory on a young season. In a game where there was a multi-touchdown favorite, the scoreline ended up being much closer than expected. Although, score doesn't always tell the story of the game. Not at all.

Quite simply, UCF should've ran away with this one from the start. A drive where two roughing the passer penalties led to a deep lob resulting in the opening touchdown of the game from a pass to Zach D'Orazio that opened this one up in favor of Akron. It wouldn't remain that way for long though, as UCF matched their score on just two plays and 84 yards to tie the game up at 7-7. Justin Tukes went for 80 yards on his lone reception of the game to tie the game up.

UCF would than see a lead heading into the half thanks to a big 35 yard run from Holman that gave the Knights some breathing room, and through the second, the Zips offense was anemic. Accounting for just 12 yards in the quarter in a rather tough display by a defense that is expected to carry this team.

The Knights weakness lies in its lack of firepower on the offensive end and will rely on their defense to carry them, so when Senter intercepted an overthrown pass to tie the game up just after half time, UCF faithful were quieted. The upset alert was very real for a team seeking to become a BCS Buster, from a team that over the past three years never surpassed more than 1 victory!

It seemed to light a fire for the Knights who would than score 17 unanswered. A late third quarter field goal to keep the Knights just well enough ahead of the Zips, followed by a pair of fourth quarter touchdown runs by Holman and Stanback from 4 and 8 yards respectively to extend the score to 31-14. A late touchdown in garbage time for the Zips on a touchdown pass to Pratt would give Kyle Pohl his second touchdown pass of the evening.

The Knights would end up running out the clock in victory formation to send themselves home with a season opening win, yet it wasn't convincing. Allowing four sacks largely due to over-excessive scrambling in the backfield, an interception for a touchdown and an obscene four drops spelled a very plausible upset scenario. Yet it didn't come to fruition, thanks to a 204 yard difference in favor of the Knights, who will have to rely on their smothering defense to keep their BCS Busting hopes alive.

Player of the Game:
Justin Holman [UCF] (7-16) 149 Yards 1 TD 1 INT (17 Rushes) 142 yards 2 TD

Akron Top Performers
Passing: Pohl 14-23 90 YDS 2 TD 1 INT
Rushing: Chisholm 15 Rushes for 77 yards
Receiving: D'Orazio 3 Receptions for 37 yards 1 TD
Defense: Senter (CB) 3 Tackles 1 INT 1 DTD

Coach Tyler Kozlov's thoughts:
"It was a disappointing introduction to the season. We had every opportunity to pull an upset and we just didn't convert. The late interception absolutely killed us and there were too many times our players didn't play until the whistle and it led to a lot of big plays for UCF. We came close to picking up our first win, and the road won't get any easier from here. We have Cincinnati next week and we will need to turn things around if we are going to hope to walk away with even a respectable scorecard."

[Miles Perry]

That fear the roo pic is awesome lol

[Matt10]

Nice, man. Always enjoyed reading your reports - this is going to be great. Looking forward to it.

[K0ZZ]

Week 1 Wrapup - 2013

Week 1 is in the books and it definitely gave a lot of reason to get excited for the upcoming season. On the field, scores came and went on opening week, with only Oklahoma State tumbling out of the rankings by virtue of their 21-10 defeat at the hands of #14 Mississippi State. Replacing them was UCF who eked out a victory from Akron thanks to a huge performance from their quarterback.

No upsets of note this week, as the top 25 held steady for an impressive (22-1) record with two teams not playing on kickoff weekend. Florida State led by Jameis Winston remains entrenched at #1 following their 10 point victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers, Florida State saw 40 first place votes this week, the only remaining team remaining votes was the Oregon Ducks who received 21 after routing Sam Houston State in their season opener.

The injury bug bit hard in Ohio, with the team losing Doran Grant to a broken ankle in the opener. A tough loss for the team who will struggle to replace a defensive star such as Grant, especially as the season will only continue to get harder. Ohio State stayed at #22 in the polls and their rise will be slowed due to such a significant injury. It's likely he will miss one to two months and up to the whole season depending on potential setbacks.

Twisting into recruiting news, Isaiah Ross becomes the highest ranking player to commit thus far into the young season. Ross will join Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa next season. Ross the #3 ranked receiver and #8 overall prospect is a strong receiver with good hands, albeit average speed. He provides Saban the big target he loves to have. Alabama proved lightning strikes twice, also inking Melvin Graham (ATH) from Forestdale Alabama. The 5 star athlete plays halfback, wide receiver and safety in high school and could fill a bevy of needs for the program. He also has some experience playing as a wildcat quarterback and could see a potential move there.

Oklahoma State despite their loss, sees athlete Jeff Oliver from Concord, Missouri joining their ranks following his commitment. Oliver poises to be a linebacker to safety in the college ranks, while also playing tight end in high school.

Rounding out the top 100 prospects this season, Todd Williamson will be heading north. The San Diego prospect has inked his letter of intent to head north to Oregon, shunning USC and Texas in the process. The second ranked free safety in this years class, Williamson can be expected to be a major contributor within a year or two, with excellent speed and good coverage, he could be a future all-american.

Finally, the NCAA is gravitating towards a playoff system, and while they opened the season in silence (as oddly as that is), they have stated that this year, they have eliminated conference bowl game tie ins. While there are still automatic qualifiers, the NCAA is using this season as a test for the feasibility of a potential playoff by removing specific tie ins.

Akron Zips Weekly News

While news in Akron continues to be slow, unsurprisingly, no prospect inked their letter of intent to come play for the Zips, but Kozlov has made it clear who his top targets are. 2* Cornerback, Peter Wesley from Medina, Ohio has come into his sights, Wesley is a coverage cornerback, but with three other MAC teams (Toledo, Bowling Green and Miami) all fighting for his services.

Ahmad Watts (3*) outside linebacker from Jasper, Indiana is being recruited heavily by MAC programs, while not listing Akron as his top school, Watts has them as his second, just behind home school, Ball State. Kozlov described Watts as a "future star" and feel he could be a big prospect for the team.

TJ Moss (3*) quarterback from Mayfield Heights, Ohio is a pocket passer which doesn't fit very well with Kozlov's system, but Kozlov seems to be very interested in bringing the quarterback to Akron. Even so, Moss has stated he wants to go to West Virginia, while the school isn't hedging much interest in him, if that changes, it's very likely to see him heading to Virginia over Akron.

[K0ZZ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Miles Perry

That fear the roo pic is awesome lol

I thought the same thing when I saw it!

Quote: Originally Posted by Matt10

Nice, man. Always enjoyed reading your reports - this is going to be great. Looking forward to it.

Thanks, that's some high praise! Hopefully it lives up to the past ones, my brother gave me my old PS3
back and decided to jump back into NCAA. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'm still trying to get my sliders where I want them to.