'We're battling years and years of perception': Joe Moorhead trying to change Akron football recruiting

AKRON —Jay Rohr remembers the feeling he had when he arrived as a football recruit at the University of Akron. The former Jackson High School All-Ohioan recalls the strong belief both he and the rest of his recruiting class carried with them.

"When I went to the University of Akron, and (former Zips coach) Lee Owens and his staff was recruiting me, in the state of Ohio, there was like 17 of us who felt like we could do something special there," Rohr said. "I know it's kind of cliché to say from a player's perspective, but we all agreed and committed on that day in regards to doing something special."

That group ultimately did do something special before they left Akron. They posted three consecutive winning seasons, the only time the Zips have done so since transitioning to FBS Division I in 1987, as well as winning the program's lone Mid-American Conference championship in 2005. Rohr was a big part of that success as a standout linebacker.

To Rohr, though, it was the fact he and several of his classmates were from Ohio that helped add to making it a special accomplishment when they did break through at Akron. It's why, 20 years after he signed with the Zips, he's wondered why they've had such a struggle in recent years to maintain a consistent recruiting pipeline in essentially their own backyard.

"There's a lot of great players in Northeast Ohio and in the state of Ohio," said Rohr, who's entering his first year as Jackson's head coach after several years as defensive coordinator. "I'm not sure why it's been kind of in the backseat in the recruiting process."

That's what Joe Moorhead wants to answer as he heads into his first season as Akron's head coach. Moorhead was around for those successes Rohr's class helped create, as he was a second-year receivers coach under J.D. Brookhart in 2005.

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A little over a decade-and-a-half later, Moorhead returns to Akron trying to return it to a measure of consistent success. For him, that starts with recruiting, specifically recruiting in what he refers to as the "local" area within two hours of the campus, as opposed to the "primary" or "secondary" areas.

"When you get into the primary areas and the secondary areas, the further away from campus, the better the player needs to be," Moorhead said. "We don't want to get into a situation where we're going to an area of the country anywhere outside of the state of Ohio or Western (Pennsylvania) where we can get that same player locally. Now, the other side of the coin is there's got to be a reciprocity where the kids have to want to come here. So you may have to go somewhere to get a player that's of a similar caliber if you're not doing a good job of keeping the kids at home."

There, in a nutshell, is the challenge Moorhead faces. It's almost a case where he's having to pay for the sins of his predecessors in some regards, and not only because of the on-field product.

Talk to high school football coaches in the Greater Akron-Canton area, and they'll all acknowledge the potential that exists with the Akron football program. What they'll also express is a certain frustration with the recruiting philosophy of previous coaches.

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To those coaches, they feel like local — specifically Northeast Ohio — talent was bypassed or undervalued in the quest to unlock some "hidden gem" from down south.

"Some schools have a tendency to want your kids to always be a preferred walk-on," Massillon coach Nate Moore said. "For whatever reason, they want to go to Florida for a scholarship kid and I think that's the thing that's really frustrating to Ohio coaches, because we have great football here in Ohio and we have great talent here in Ohio. I think all things being equal, every coach in Northeast Ohio would prefer his kid to go to a school like Akron if that's something that they desire."

There are currently 36 Ohio natives, including walk-ons, listed on the Zips' roster coming out of spring practice. Pennsylvania, of which the western part of the state would fall into Moorhead's "local" area, is next with 14.

On top of that is, of course, the minimal level of consistent success since the program made the move to FBS Division I football in the late 1980s. Rohr's class had more .500-or-better seasons between 2003-05 (three, all of which were above .500) as the program has had since then (two, one of which was a 7-7 year after a bowl loss).

Still, Moorhead isn't walking into his situation at Akron blindly. He and his assistants are hitting the road around the area knowing ground needs to be made up and fences must be mended with some skeptical high school coaches and potential recruits.

However, Moorhead believes the reason why many high school coaches may have a level of frustration with Akron is also the reason that could ultimately benefit Akron on the recruiting trail.

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"Right now, locally, familiarity is a good thing, because guys want to stay at home," Moorhead said. "But we're also battling years and years of perception. I think, hopefully, my track record as a head coach and a coordinator, along with the staff that I've assembled and their level of expertise has brought an instant credibility. So a little bit of it is a little bit of faith, right?"

Faith that is beginning to pay off on the recruiting trail. Area coaches have acknowledged a much bigger presence from the Zips during the evaluation period that started in mid-April and runs through May.

The recruits themselves even notice the change. That credit starts with the hire of Moorhead — who's been a head coach at the FCS level (Fordham) and in the SEC (Mississippi State) along with a highly-regarded offensive coordinator in the Big Ten (Penn State) and Pac-12 (Oregon) — and the changes he's made already.

"I can tell because last year, when the old coaching staff was there, I went on multiple recruiting visits," said Massillon Class of 2023 defensive lineman Marcus Moore Jr., who committed to Akron in late April. "When I went back, it's like the whole building changed. It's was bigger. More people came in. It's actually looking like a program."

For former Zips such as Rohr, there was another time when it had that same feel. Part of that was a vision sold by coaches such Owens and, subsequently, Brookhart.

Part of that, however, came from the recruits themselves. Recruits who came in believing they could do something special, not at a school in a different state, but one right in their own backyard.

That's something Rohr believes can return to Akron soon enough.

"It's a significant difference from what I've seen in a small amount of time," Rohr said. "Just the commitment to (recruit the area), whether it's Jackson or Northeast Ohio altogether."

Reach Chris at chris.easterling@indeonline.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingINDE

This article originally appeared on The Independent: New Akron Zips football coach Joe Moorhead trying to change perception