Imago
Close up view of an American Football sitting on a grass football field on the yard line. Generic Sports image . High quality photo xkwx athletics ball field football grass green horizontal american football background copy space culture game lines play recreation sport yard yard line american line pigskin sports white american football league american football player bet big game college competition environment final goal green yard helmet national sport outside sideline soccer sports background sports calendar sports club sports equipment sportswear stadium superbowl team touchdown tradition usa artificial
Imago
Close up view of an American Football sitting on a grass football field on the yard line. Generic Sports image . High quality photo xkwx athletics ball field football grass green horizontal american football background copy space culture game lines play recreation sport yard yard line american line pigskin sports white american football league american football player bet big game college competition environment final goal green yard helmet national sport outside sideline soccer sports background sports calendar sports club sports equipment sportswear stadium superbowl team touchdown tradition usa artificial
Roster poaching has become a massive headache for college coaches. With the transfer portal constantly looming, mid-major programs worry about Power Four teams snatching their developed talent. To protect their newly built roster, the Akron Zips are completely shutting down public access to this year’s spring game.
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“With a new roster and the ever-changing landscape within college football, this year’s spring game will be closed to the public,” the Akron Football official X page posted on April 8, 2026.
Akron gained around 24 players from the portal after losing some of their top players, like tight end Jake Newell (Toledo), linebacker Markus Boswell (Texas), offensive lineman Delvin Morris (Kansas State), and offensive lineman Kenneth McManus IV (Auburn), this offseason. Now, with a new team trying to fit in and build chemistry, it looks like Akron isn’t ready to take any chances, and that’s exactly why they are holding a closed spring.
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It’s pretty clear that tampering is the major reason behind this move. Something that even top programs like Clemson have to face badly, as their head coach, Dabo Swinney, lost his top linebacker Luke Ferrelli to Ole Miss. Even a team with a better NIL front takes away top players from top teams. Remember how Miami took OT Jackson Cantwell from Georgia and Miami. Even Michigan took Bryce Underwood with a $10.5 million bag from LSU.
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Let Tony do the scouting, you just make the pick.
So, to make sure that doesn’t repeat with Akron, they are taking this bold step. Plus, they are not the only ones this season who aren’t hosting a public spring game. Rutgers canceled its annual spring game for this season. As their head coach, Greg Schiano explained the reason behind it, saying, “not in the best interest of the program.”
NEW: Akron is making a CHANGE to this year’s spring game:
“With a new roster and the ever-changing landscape within college football, this year’s spring game will be CLOSED to the public.” 😳 pic.twitter.com/mFKSTVqDTA
— College Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) April 8, 2026
Now, he didn’t mention anything apart from this, but made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to risk his players getting injured or tampered with by other teams. It all started coming to light last year when Nebraska’s head coach, Matt Rhule, pointed out how badly tampering is affecting college football.
“The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore. It’s just an absolute free open common market,” Rhule said last year. “I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.”
After that, teams like Texas, USC, FSU, and Ohio State, and many other teams, cancelled their spring games last year. Sure, the spring game is an annual tradition for fans, but it’s also killing the team’s pace as they lose their players. Now, even though there’s no spring portal for the players anymore, recruits can still change their minds. So, it’s better to be safe, especially when the team recently received some major news.
Akron gets major news ahead of the 2026 season
This closed-door approach makes perfect sense, given what is at stake. After years of rebuilding, the Zips recently regained their bowl eligibility. Coach Joe Moorhead finally has a roster capable of a postseason run, making it crucial to hide his core players from bigger programs. ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke this news, explaining their postseason run.
“Akron has received a waiver from the NCAA that will allow the football program to be eligible for the football postseason next year,” Thamel said. “Akron was ineligible last year because of the program’s multi-year APR score.”
It all started when the team was struggling in both academics and the game. Back in 2023, under coach Joe Moorhead, the team had a poor season with a 2-10 record and only one win in their conference (1-7 in MAC). Then, in 2024, the team started to improve. They finished with a 4-8 record, and their academic score (APR) also got better, rising to 962 after being as low as 914 over the previous years.
By 2025, Akron continued to improve even more. They finished 5-7, which became Joe Moorhead’s best season with the team so far. Because of these improvements in both performance and academics, the NCAA decided the team had done enough to earn back postseason eligibility. Now, Akron has hope of playing in a bowl game again for the first time since 2017. Now, with this major development, Akron is all set to make major strides in the 2026 season.
