About the only person more synonymous with Akron football than Charlie Frye over the past few years has been the mascot Zippy. In back-to-back losing seasons of four wins, the junior quarterback has become one of the few bright spots for the Zips. Things were no different last week in Akron’s 41-38 loss to Kent State, as Frye racked up a school record 414 yards of total offense.

Now entering his third season holding the reigns of the Akron offense, Frye knows the team’s playbook like the back of his hand.

“I’m just really comfortable with the offense,” he said. “I feel like I know it better sometimes than Paul Winters the coordinator does.”

It is no wonder, considering he has been at Akron longer than the team’s current uniforms.

Frye’s first season on campus was spent as a redshirt, a season that helped transform him from a skinny high-school kid into a rock-solid starter.

“It really helped me out, because when I came in I was only 170 pounds; now I’m up to 220,” Frye said. “It just helped me get bigger and stronger.”

It was an injury to then-starter Nick Sparks that ultimately gave Frye his opportunity as a redshirt freshman. He took over in the 2001 season opener against Ohio and never relinquished his hold on Akron’s starting quarterback job. His 2,053 passing yards are a freshman school record. Two 300-yard passing games led him to be named Outstanding Freshman.

Frye followed up his 2001 season with a breakout 2002 season. As a sophomore, he threw for 2,824 yards with a gaudy 65.8 completion percentage, good for fifth in the country. He opened the season with a six-game streak of throwing for at least 200 yards and completed better than 70 percent of his passes in three straight games.

Frye quickly shrugs off any mention of the numbers he has compiled.

“I just want to get better every day in practice,” Frye said. “Some people want to throw for 400 yards; I don’t care about that. I only care about getting better each and every day.”

Even more impressive than his stat sheet is his toughness. Frye quarterbacked the Zips for the majority of his sophomore campaign with an injured right hand.

“I broke a bone in my thumb in the Central Michigan game, and Virginia was the next week,” he said. “I’ve never been so insecure about playing a game in my life, but I played pretty well. You have to fight through it.”

With the broken bone he played better than “pretty well.” In fact, he racked up 300 yards in the first three games after the injury. Frye, by the way, throws right-handed.

While many college students struggle to balance sleep and schoolwork, Frye manages to throw football into the juggling act. As good as his passing statistics are, his work in the classroom is equally heady.

“If you don’t get the job done in school, you can’t play,” he said nonchalantly, as if making the Dean’s List is nothing out of the ordinary.

“My parents set good values for me, and I was a good student in high school, which helped.”

When not studying his playbook or his textbooks, Frye passes time in the usual ways.

“I like to watch a lot of movies,” he said. “I get a DVD once a week; I usually watch that on Thursday. I play a lot of Playstation, just like every other college kid.”

When all is said and done and Frye has departed Akron, his fingerprints will be all over the school’s record books. He has five of the top ten single-game passing performances, including a school-best 407 yards last week versus Kent State. His 2,824 yards through the air last season is a single-season record. He also is the record holder for completions in a season (250), completions per game (20.8), passes completed in consecutive games (58) and lowest interception percentage (.021).

With 1,823 more yards passing, he will pass Butchie Washington to become the Zip’s all-time leading passer, and he’s only a junior. Then again, Frye has never been one to care about his numbers.

“More important to me is leaving a legacy of winning teams. You know, my first two seasons were losing ones,” he said. “I just want to win. I mean stats, no one is going to remember stats, they’ll remember winning.”