Lio

JEFFERSON TWP — The University of Akron wanted Knoch's Micah Lio so badly that he received a full football scholarship from the Zips twice.

The 6-foot-8, 275-pound senior offensive tackle made a verbal committment to a full scholarship offer from Akron coach J.D. Brookhart, only to see Brookhart and his staff get fired the day after Thanksgiving.

"That was rough on Micah," Knoch coach Mike King said. "I had to explain to him that a new coach didn't have to honor any scholarships offered by the previous coach.

"He was a little down in the dumps. He wasn't sure what he was going to do."

The day Rob Ianello, who was assistant head coach under Charlie Weis at Notre Dame last season, was hired at Akron, Lio received a phone call from him offering that full ride all over again.

"Coach Ianello made it a priority to call after he saw the films on me," Lio said. "That meant a lot. It made me want to go there even more than before."

NCAA letter of intent day is Feb. 3 and Lio made it clear he's headed to Akron.

Eastern Michigan, also in the Mid-American Conference, and Div. I-AA New Hampshire offered Lio scholarships as well.

"Micah worked hard over the past year because he knew there would be opportunities for him," King said. "He has something coaches can't coach: A huge frame with the athleticism to go with it. He took advantage of that

"The highlight tape we were able to put together on him from his senior season is fantastic."

A two-year starter, Lio credited Knoch offensive line coach Frank Whalen with developing his skills and strength.

"He was huge in helping me build up my upper body and leg strength," Lio said. "Three times a week last summer Coach Whelan did one-on-one sessions with me."

Lio graded out at 85 to 90 percent as a blocker, led the Knights in pancake blocks and received the Knoch line's Pancake of the Week award in at least half of the team's games during his senior season.

"His aggressiveness and pass blocking are the areas Micah made tremendous strides in this past year," Whelan said. "I don't know if there was a better pass blocker in all of WPIAL Class AAA. He was phenomenal.

"We played (WPIAL runner-up) Hopewell in our season opener and they had a defensive end who was giving us fits. We moved Micah to that side and he shut him down the rest of the game.

"Once college recruiters saw how aggressive Micah was, figuring he'll weigh 320 or 330 by the time he gets out of college ... that sealed the deal for him," Whelan added.

Akron hasn't had a winning season since finishing 7-6 in 2005. The Zips were 30-42 in six years under Brookhart, including 3-9 this year.

Akron is 11-21 in MAC play over the past four years. The Zips recently hired Mitch Browning as offensive line coach. Browning has 31 years of coaching under his belt, including offensive coordinator stints at Syracuse, Minnesota and Kent State.

New Castle native John Latina, who coached with Ianello at Notre Dame, was hired as offensive coordinator.

"Micah is walking into a great situation there," King said. "It's not going to take much for those guys to get that program turned around."

"I'm likely to be redshirted and that would be nice. It'd give me an extra year under my belt," Lio said. "But the coaches want me to come into camp and make it hard for them to redshirt me. That's what I plan to do."