National Signing Day: Rob Ianello Hits the Ground Running for Akron Zips

When former Notre Dame assistant coach Rob Ianello was hired in December as the new head coach at the University of Akron, expectations were high that he would bring his recruiting magic with him from South Bend.

Ianello was the recruiting coordinator for the Irish, where he was credited with assembling three consecutive top 10 recruiting classes from 2006 to 2008. Rivals.com named him one of the top 25 recruiting coordinators for five consecutive years prior to his arrival in Akron.

So it’s no surprise that Ianello began working fast once he went to work for the Zips. He began visiting players who had already made verbal commitments for 2010, while staying busy working the phones to line up new recruits for the fall.

Wednesday Ianello announced the 23 players who make up his first recruiting class at Akron, and he is clearly pleased with the list.

The class features six players from Northeast Ohio, including two-time Ohio Division I Player of the Year Erick Howard of North Canton Hoover High School. Howard rushed for more than 6,000 yards in his career and is a member of this year’s Parade All-America team.

Whether it's Howard or someone else at tailback, they’ll have someone to run behind. Ianello signed Austin Bailey, a 6'0", 235-pound fullback from DeMatha High School in Maryland. Bailey also played defensive end, where he earned second team all-state honors.

"He's a fullback, and we felt like we needed to have a fullback in this class to do some of the things we want to do in a two-back offense," Ianello said of Bailey. "He's very physical, tough, and athletic."

Akron inked eight other top prospects from Ohio, including defensive end Nico Caponi from Sandusky, defensive back Seth Cunningham from Medina, quarterback/defensive back Zach D’Orazio from Avon Lake, Dylan Potts from Sardis, tight end Anthony Ritossa from Kirtland, wide receiver Anthony Schrock from Wadsworth, L.T. Smith from Painesville, and defensive back Carl Washington from Columbus.

Other notable signees include: defensive end Richard Hall, the top-rated prospect in West Virginia by Rivals.com , running back Giorgio Bowers, the sixth-rated prospect in Illinois by MaxPreps.com , and wide receiver Mike Bizarro, the ninth-rated prospect in Pennsylvania by MaxPreps.com .

In all, Ianello signed one quarterback, five running backs, four receivers, two linemen, and a tight end on offense, as well as two linemen, one linebacker, and five defensive backs on defense.

"This is a special day to be able to announce our first recruiting class here at the University of Akron," said Ianello. "It will always be a special place for the guys that started the foundation for what we are trying to do with our program."

"We are really pleased with how it ended up," he continued. "We don't think of it as an ending but more as a beginning of what we are doing."

While Ianello promoted the overall football program and the university to his new recruits, he admitted that one of his main selling tools was the sparkling new InfoCision Stadium, which opened last fall.

“It’s the marquee aspect of our program,” said Ianello. “It’s the crown jewel.”

In all, it’s a good start for Ianello at his new school. Last year was supposed to be a breakthrough year at Akron, to coincide with their new stadium on campus. But things disintegrated following the dismissal of starting quarterback Chris Jacquemain from the team.

Ianello has been busy building a new culture for Zips football, and it’s left an impression on his recruits.

“He’s really getting his players to buy in,” Howard told the Canton Repository . “I can see the community is starting to get involved and buy into him, too. I see success in their future.”

That’s music to the ears of Akron’s administration and athletic director, and should lead to a lot of bigger crowds filling InfoCision Stadium come fall.