DETROIT - Northeast Ohio has a long tradition of producing talented football players, making it a recruiting hotspot for the Mid-American Conference and many other colleges.
Ball State University coach Stan Parrish has spent a lot of time recruiting around his hometown, landing players such as linebacker Travis Freeman, safety Alex Knipp and wide receiver Torieal Gibson. But the battle for talented players from that area heated up this year.
The University of Akron will move into its new on-campus stadium this season. The 30,000 seat InfoCision Stadium is being touted as a premiere facility and is expected to increase the attractiveness of Akron.
When Ball State opened the renovated Schuemann Stadium it had a positive impact on recruiting, Parrish said, but Akron's new digs are a new challenge.
"In this league it's about keeping up with the Joneses," Parrish said. "As soon as you get something new, somebody's got something better."Parrish said Ball State's inroads into Northeast Ohio and Cleveland did not sit well with the local schools.
"We have made that a very fertile recruiting area for ourselves," Parrish said. "The schools back there in Ohio don't like that, plain and simple."
Akron Coach J.D. Brookhart said one of the stadium's advantages over the Rubber Bowl, where the Zips used to play, is its location.
"The student body is finally going to be there," Brookhart said. "It changes everything for us."
The new stadium will be within walking distance of 12,000 students, Brookhart said.
All-MAC defensive lineman Almondo Sewell said he didn't even go in the Rubber Bowl when he visited Akron.
"We drove by it," Sewell said. "It looked OK on TV, but it was different inside. I didn't even know how to get there my freshman year."
Sleep over: It's been more than 20 years since University of Toledo coach Tim Beckman lived in a dorm, but he and the rest of his coaching staff got a taste of the college life during preseason workouts.
In his first year as a head coach, Beckman decided the coaches would stay in the dorms with their players before school started.
"It's what they do in the NFL," Beckman said. "I'm trying to build camaraderie."
Each coach had to spend at least one night in the dorms, but Beckman planned to spend all 12 nights during training camp. He said he got the idea from Urban Meyer, who Beckman coached under at Bowling Green State University.
"If [the players] have to do something, then I should have to do it also and be right there with them," Beckman said. "It's something a little different, but I'm excited for it."
Schedule surprises: This year's football schedule doesn't include traditional rival Miami University or a rematch of last year's MAC Championship game with the University at Buffalo for Ball State.
It is the first time since 2005 that the Cardinals won't meet the RedHawks, unless the two teams face off in Detroit for the MAC title.
New Miami coach Mike Haywood coached at Ball State from 1993 to 1994. The rivalry with Miami was much stronger when he was in Muncie and the two teams weren't in separate divisions.
"I was surprised when I looked at the schedule and saw we weren't playing," Haywood said. "But I can't worry about the teams we're not playing."
Buffalo coach Turner Gill said that after playing the Cardinals for three years in a row, he wasn't sorry not to see Ball State on this year's docket.
"I'd like to play some other teams," Gill said. "Hopefully we play each other in the championship game again."
Catch the fever: Now that Nate Davis has taken his show to San Francisco, Central Michigan University quarterback Dan LeFevour is standing tall as the face of the conference.
The senior is staring down various career MAC records including touchdown passes, passing yards and total offense. He also enters the season ranked 14th on the NCAA Bowl Subdivision career total offense leader board.
LeFevour has averaged about 3,900 yards of total offense a year. If he stays on pace, he will finish second all-time, behind only the University of Hawaii's Timmy Chang.
Central Michigan already has a Heisman campaign going for their star, beginning with a large ad on the back of Comerica Park's scoreboard in Detroit. The larger-than-life LeFevour looks at Ford Field, site of the MAC Championship Game and his primary goal.
"I'm trying to win every week," LeFevour said. "I want to win the MAC and win a bowl game."
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