CLEVELAND, Ohio — The excitement that surrounds National Signing Day was muted some at Akron as coach Terry Bowden announced that incumbent senior quarterback Tommy Woodson has had off-season shoulder surgery and will not be available for football activities until June.
This paves the way for junior college transfer quarterback Nick Johns, one of 13 recruits announced by the Zips on Wednesday, to perhaps become the opening day starter.
“They all come out here knowing they’re going to have an opportunity to play,” Bowden said at the afternoon media session sahabet announcing the latest recruits.
“When you play Division I football, when you’re going to [practice] in the spring with a lot of reps, you’re going to compete to play.”
Johns, who enrolled at the semester break, originally began his career at Virginia before transferring to Northeast Oklahoma Junior College. He played one season there and will have three seasons of eligibility with the Zips. Johns (6-4, 220) passed for 2,244 yards, 15 TDs and 8 INT last season for a 5-5 NEO team.
Signing day has become lean at Akron in recent years as Bowden likes to add late high school recruits that somehow drop off the lists of power conference teams, as well as senior transfers from the same power conference programs.
Last season the Zips had 32 transfers on the roster, with 20 of them on the offensive and defensive two-deep.
The recruit list this year has seven local players, along with players from Texas and Florida.
2017 Akron Football National Letter of Intent Signees
- Eric Bentley, DL, Akron, Ohio, St. Vincent-St. Mary High
- DeAndre Brimage, DL, Akron, Ohio, East High
- Dustin Burkhart , WR Akron, Ohio, Coventry High
- Hunter Corne, OL, Dunnellon, Fla., Dunnellon High
- Zaire Jacobs, DB, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., St. Thomas Aquinas High
- Nick Johns, QB, Leesburg, Va., Gonzaga High, Virginia, Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College (transfer, already enrolled)
- Alex Ramart, QB, Richmond, Texas, Foster High
- Jordyn Riley, DB, Citra, Fla., North Marion High
- Jemarulin Suggs, RB, Akron, Ohio, East High
- Malik Wooldridge, WR, Akron, St. Vincent-St. Mary High
- Reggie Corner Jr., S, Canton, Ohio, McKinley High
- Jeffrey Lubin, DB, Hollywood, Fla., South Broward High
- Kobie Booker, TE, Barberton, Ohio, Barberton High
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