UMass recruit Julian Talley excels Philly All-Star Game

UMass Freshman Jullian Talley had 5 catches for 127 yards in a Philadelphia All-Star game. Story here .

Talley is wearing #86 in the image. He will be wearing #88 for UMass. Talley could well be one of the top recruits for 2007.

This article was first brought to my attention by search engine Wizard "Rocks22" over on the UMass football message board.

Sixty-Three days until football and #63

Only sixty-three days until football returns to McGuirk.

Wearing #63 again this year will be Sean Calicchio a 6-5 300 pd RS Junior from Brooklyn, NY.

Calicchio was a starter at RT before breaking his arm in the first game. He did return to play some in the late playoffs. He will likely reclaim his stater's position.

Welcome back Sean! Hope you have an excellent junior year.

Sixty-four days until football and #64

Two months and change until the 2007 season opens.
Wearing #64 for UMass this year is Kyle Lightner a 6-2 290 pd RS Freshman from Naples, FL.

Coming of a redshirt year, Lightner should be a solid addition to the UMass OL.

Welcome to UMass Kyle! Hope you have a productive career with the Minutemen.

I-A football reviewed again

UMass will review for what seems to be the nth time a move to I-A football. The Springfield Republican has a short article here.

The UMass football blog cautions all UMass football fans not to get too caught up in this. The topic usually generates a tremendous amount of gassing on the various message boards. The less the posters know about football, the stronger the opinions.

Some thoughts about the move:

• It will not cost ninety-seven bazillion dollars for a new stadium. The NCAA removed that requirement years ago. Florida International went I-A with a 18,000 seat stadium
• UMass would have to fund 22 additional scholarships. I-A is not doable with reduced scholarships.
• UMass fans would have to hang in there for a couple of years. Whipple said "We'd take our lumps for a couple of years while we got up to speed"
• The Big Issue in the UMass Football Blog's mind is conference availability. We would need to join a conference.
• Current attendance is not an issue. Build it and they will come.

Can it be done? Sure, but it would need the support of the state legislature . Massachusetts has one of the most ineffective state governments in the nation. In the Byzantine world of agendas within agendas in the state legislature, UMass football is not on the list...

Article on former UMass coach Mark Whipple

The Springfield Republican has a nice article about former UMass head coach Mark Whipple here .

Sixty-Five days until Holy Cross and #65

Only sixty-five days until the 2007 season opens.

Wearing #65 for the Minutemen this year will be Michael Boyle a 6-2 285 pd RS Freshman from Grafton, MA.

Boyle can play both center and guard. He should be a valuable addition to the UMass offensive line.

Welcome to UMass Mike! Hope you have a great career here.

2007 Spring Roster part II

As per yesterday's post the revised Spring Roster has the 2007 recruits.

• Octavious Hawkins QB wearing #14
• Justin Halas LB wearing #23
  
• Emil Igwenagu LB/TB wearing #28
• Sloan Russett FB wearing #33
• Ryan Moreshead LB wearing #37
• Josh Samuda OL wearing #50
• Tim Nolan OL wearing #62
• Brian Ostaszewki OL wearing #67
• Justin Sawicki OL wearing #73
• Julian Talley WR wearing #88
• Courtney Jackson DE wearing #91
  

Sixty-Six days until the 2007 season opens and #66

Wow! only sisty-six days until the season opener.

Wearing #66 again this year for the Minutemen is Biff Gottehrer, a 6-3 315 pd offensive lineman from Bela Cynwyd, PA.

Gottehrer started two games in 2006 and played in four more. He can (and did) play both guard and tackle.

Biff, hope you have a great year in 2007!

Revised Football Roster up on UMass Website

The UMass website has a revised 2007 football roster up.

The 2007 recruits are added and there are some number changes.

• Josh Jennings switches from #9 to #2
• John Ihne switches from #92 to #61
• Jeromy Miles will wear #5 (his number at Navy)
• Brian Ellis is now wearing #9
• Aaron Fears switches to #89
• Andy Resende-Gomes changes to #55
  

The 2007 recruits have been assigned numbers too, but I'm under some time constraint this morning and that will have to wait for another day.

Sixty-Seven days until football and #67

Only sixty-seven day until we open the 2007 season.

Wearing #67 this year is Brian Ostaszewski a 6-5 300 pd Freshman from Stanford, CT.

Welcome to UMass Brian! Hope you have a great career with the Minutemen

This week's header image

This week's header image is from the Rhode Island game last year.

Seeing we are going through the offensive line in our countdown, it's appropriate that the image shows the UMass offensive line knocking the Rams three yards off the line of scrimmage.

And Tony Nelson is carrying the ball, something we hope to see a lot of in 2007.

Sixty Eight days until the 2007 season opens and #68

Only 68 days until we open with Holy Cross!

Wearing #68 again is preseason All-American Matt Austin . Matt is a 6-5 285 pd RS Senior from Reading, MA.

Austin helped UMass to ring up 5,757 yards of total offense in 2006. He's a UMass Captain for 2007 .

Matt, hope you have a senior season to remember! Good luck in 2007.

Bill DeFlavio and Rene Ingoglia inducted into the UMass Hall-of-Fame

UMass has inducted two former UMass football players into the UMass Hall-of-Fame.


The following is Bill Deflavio's bio from the article: "DeFlavio was a football player from 1969 to 1971, going from walk-on to first team All American. An undersized defensive lineman, DeFlavio earned first team All-Yankee Conference honors three times. He was named All-East as both a junior and senior in 1970 and 1971. As a senior, he became UMass' sixth first team All-American in 1971. DeFlavio led UMass to two Yankee Conference championships in 1969 and 1971. In his era, sacks and tackles for loss weren't kept, but accounts of the games indicate that he would have been a team leader in both categories. After his UMass playing days were over, DeFlavio went on to play professionally in the World Football League, with New York and Charlotte, and in the Canadian Football League, with Montreal. After a business career with Nike, he is now in real estate and development in Massachusetts. DeFlavio has stayed active with UMass Football, serving as President of The Friends of Football. He graduated from UMass with a degree in Physical Education in 1973."

DeFlavio was one of the UMass players that got me hooked on UMass football. I saw one of his games in either '70 or '71 against Holy Cross. He was in the Crusader backfield all game. It was one of the most dominent games I have ever seen a DT play.

Rene Ingoglia was one of the finest running backs in UMass history. His bio from the article: "Ingoglia was a football player from 1992-95, who was named first team All-America in 1995 and second team All-America in 1994. He was picked to the Yankee Conference's 50th Anniversary Team, after earning spots on the Yankee Conference's first team in 1994 and 1995, and second team in 1993. As a running back, he set the career school rushing record with 4,624 yards, which now stands third behind Marcel Shipp and Steve Baylark and is 24th all-time in NCAA 1-AA football. He also set the school record for rushing yards in a game with 313 against Rhode Island in 1994, which currently stands second. His 54 touchdowns is second best at UMass and eighth best in 1-AA football. A two-time captain, Ingoglia was the first UMass back to average over 100 yards a game for a career and had 21 games with 100 or more rushing yards. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards three times, with those single season totals standing sixth (1,505), seventh (1,285), and ninth (1,178). After his UMass career, he played in the 1996 Hula Bowl All-Star Game and played in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and in NFL Europe with the Frankfort Galaxy, where he scored a touchdown in World Bowl '99. He is currently a member of the Orlando Police Department, where he has won two awards of commendation. He graduated from UMass in 1996 with a degree in Exercise Science."

I have the 1993 UMass Highlight film. In it Ingoglia performs one of the greatest runs ever at McGuirk. He runs through the whole Delaware defense for a TD. If you slow the tape down----NINE Delaware defenders get their hands on him.

Both players richly deserve to be in the UMass Hall-of-Fame. Congratulations Rene and Bill!

Seventy Days until 2007 season opens and #70

Only seventy days until we open the 2007 season.

Wearing #70 for UMass this year will be RS Freshman Kevin Macon a 6-5 325 pd OL from Pittsburgh, PA.

Macon did not see any game action in 2006, but could well be a starter this year.

Welcome to the Minutemen, Kevin! Hope 2007 is the start of a great career.

Seventy-One days until football and #71

Only seventy-one days until the 2007 season starts.

Wearing #71 for the Minutemen is Chris Hopkins, a 6-3 260 pd Junior OT from Beltsville, MD.

Hopkins started the final 14 games at RT after Sean Calicchio broke his arm in the opener.

Hopkins was one of a number of offensive linemen who sat out the Spring Game with a minor injury.

Chris, thanks for all your good work in '06 and hope you have a great season this year!

Seventy-Two days until football and #72

Only seventy-two days until we open with Holy Cross.

Wearing #72 again this year will be Vladimir Ducasse a 6-4 305 pd OL from Stamford CT.

Ducasse appeared in four games last year as a true freshman. Coach brown has stated that he will be a fixture in the offensive line this year and for some time to come.

Vladimir, good luck in your first year as a starter! Hope you have an excellent career with UMass.

Spring Academic Awards

One hundred two UMass athletes have been honored by the A10 for academic achievement this spring.

Among them five UMass football players: Brad Anderson, Tim Washington, Jonathan Ghio, Peter Chiaro and Brian Gallo.

Note the number of UMass athletes in the UMass Sports Management Program.

Many graduates of that program have gone on to success. UMass grad Chris Grier has just been appointed Director of College Scouting for the Miami Dolphins.

FCS/I-AA internet radio

Travis Liles has started work on a replacement edition for his FCS/I-AA team audio feed site. The orginal has a link in my side bar in the "Other Sites of Interest".

His Version 2.0 is here. I'll change the permanent link when he's finished.

As you may know Ralph Wallace, the publisher of the weekly FCS/I-AA internet radio show "I-AA Waves" is gravely ill. He is unable to do the show this year.

A replacement weekly internet radio is in the works. The newly formed "Sports Media Network" is supposed to be doing a weekly broadcast available here . The first broadcast is scheduled for August 29th.

Header image

As regular readers know I've been changing the Blog Header image Monday mornings.

Today's image is a photo shop version (water color filter) of an image I took at last year's UMass-Towson game.

Sam the Minuteman and UMass Cheerleading coach (I believe) Kelly Proctor wait for the UMass team to leave the dressing room.

New UMass All-Sports Blog opens

Well, we certainly live in the information age. For years UMass sports information was really tough to come by. Now with the excellent UMass Athletic Dept. site, it's a lot easier to keep in touch with UMass Sports.

My UMass Football Blog is two years old and counting.

Now there is a new UMass All-Sports Blog called "Between Mullins and McGuirk". The owner is Bob McGovern.

It appears a web-only sports site "Most Valuable Network".

Good luck Bob! I'm looking forward to your take on UMass Sports.

FCS position rankings by Sports Network.

Matt Dougherty's last article (he's leaving the Sports Network) covers position rankings for FCS in 2007.

UMass does well with three Minutemen considered by Matt to be among the top players in the entire division.

• Brad Listorti is ranked # 2 in tight ends.
• Matt Austin is considered the #3 OT
• Jason Hatchell is ranked #2 in linebackers.
  

Seventy-Seven Days to football and #77

Only seventy-seven days until the start of the 2007 season and wearing #77 for UMass this year will be Ben Coblyn . He's a 6-8 285 pd OL who's a transfer from Boston University.

His hometown is Amherst, MA and he was All-Western Mass in football.

With his size and basketball agility, he should be an excellent addition to the UMass offensive line.

The image to the left is a crop from one of the Spring Game images.

Welcome to the Minutemen Ben! Hope you have a great career here.

UMass History 1979

Below are scans from three different game programs in 1979. They present the roster list, team photo, starters and coaches.

Right click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view (should make all the text readable).

The first image of the series shows the UMass-Maine program of 09/22/79. It has pictures of all the trophies that UMass won in 1978, when we went to the first FCS/I-AA championship game.

The old Beanpot Yankee Conference trophy is in the front.

In 1979 UMass went 6-4 overall. We went 4-1 in the Yankee Conference to tie with Boston University for the league title. Two of those losses were to Villanova and Boston College (both I-A in 1979)

UMass Captains were Mike McEvilly and Kevin Sullivan.

In the coaches, Paul Pawlek went on the Head Coach at Northeastern, Mike Hodges became head coach at UMass (and Richmond and VMI for Reid). Clarence Brooks and Ken Conaster went on to a long coaching careers.

Kevin Sullivan CB and Sandro Vitello PK were All-Yankee Conference first team.

Note that I've also up-loaded these images to the Picasa web album that has historical images from game programs in:

• 1976
• 1977
• 1978
• 1979

The link is in the side bar and also here .

Cover of game program UMass-Maine 09/22/79

Article about the 1978 season in 09/22/79 Game Program

1979 UMass Coaches

1979 UMass Team Photo

1979 UMass Team Roster

Offensive starters 1979

Deffense starters 1979

Recruiting 2008--- OG Dino Molina

Sources say UMass is recruiting Dino Molina a 6-3 299 pd OG from Gaithersburg, MD.

His Rivals page is here .

Drawing interest from BCS/I-A schools Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Rutgers, Tennessee and Ball State.

In the CAA, UMass, Delaware and JMU are interested.

Seventy-nine days to football and #79

Only seventy-nine days to go. Wearing #79 for the Minutemen is 6-5 268 pd Senior DL Matt Stolte from Rochester, NY. Stolte is a four year letter winner who appeared in seven games in 2006.

He had 2UT 2 AT 4TT. He has good size for a DL and should get a lot of work in 2007.

His brother Mark Stolte is a sophomore OL for the Rhode Island Rams.

The image to the left is a crop from my Spring Game images.

Matt, hope have a great senior year! Thanks for all your good work.

Eighty Days to Football and #80

Only eighty days until the 2007 season starts. Wearing #80 for the Maroon & White this season is Torrey Esalomi a 6-1 175pd RS Freshman from Tampa,FL.

Esalomi was 3rd team All-Florida in high school. UMass fans are anxious to see what he can do now that he is coming off his red-shirt year.

The image to the right is a crop from one of the Spring Game images.

Welcome to UMass, Torrey! Hope you have a great start to your career with the Minutemen.

Eighty-one days until football and #81

Only eight-days until we open with Holy Cross!

Wearing #81 for UMass is Brett Wagner, a 5-11 190 pd WR from Boston College High. He DNP his senior year at BC High due to a knee injury.

Wagner does not have a bio link yet on the UMass site. He walked on in 2006 as a sophomore. He's a hard working enthusiastic player who contributed on Coach Militello's scout team. In the Spring Game he caught three passes, two for first downs, and had a stop on a kickoff. A finance major at the Isenburg School of Business with an excellent GPA.

The image to the left is a crop from one of my Spring Game images.

Welcome to the Minutemen Brett! Hope you have a great career with UMass.

Eighty-two days until football and #82

Eighty-two days until UMass Football opens in 2007. Wearing #82 for UMass is Brad Listorti a RS Senior transfer from West Haven Ct. Listorti is a 6-4 245 pd TE.

Listorti burst on the UMass scene last year and became the 3rd leading receiver. His '06 stats: 15 games 38 REC 604 YARDS 15.9 AVE 3 TD 44 LONG 40.3 YDS/GAME.

He sat out the Spring Game. The image to the right is a crop from the spring game images.

Brad, hope you continue with your success in 2007. May you have a great senior year!

Eighty-Three days until the 2007 season and #83

Wearing #83 for UMass in 2007 is Ian Jorgensen a 6-5 235 pd RS Junior from Wollaston, MA.

In 2006 Jorgensen had 5 rec-40 yds 8.0 AVE 2 TD Long 10.

I was just watching the UMass Highlight DVD and it shows the beautiful over-the-shoulder TD catch he made in the playoffs against Lafayette.

The image to the left is a crop from one of my Spring Game images.

Ian, hope you have a great year in '07!

Recruiting 2007--- DL James Gilchrist

An article by James Townsend of Southcoasttoday.com states that James Gilchrist a 6-4 240 pd DL from Dartmouth, MA will walk-on for UMass in the fall.

Gilcrist's MaxPreps page is here . Gilcrist had excellent stats for a down lineman. He had 46 UT 43 AT 93 TT in 2006.

Defensive tackle is probably the hardest position to recruit. A DT who can play at this level is always a find.

Good luck James! Hope you make the squad.

Eighty-four days to football and #84

It's only eighty-four days till kickoff. Wearing #84 for the Maroon & White is RS Sophomore Matt Silver. He's a 6-4 235 pd TE from Victor, NY.

Matt appeared in ten games in '06. He was in shorts for the Spring Game and DNP. He has good hands and will see a lot of work in 2007.

Matt, good health in this season. Hope you have a great year.

Blog search

A reader sent me an e-mail asking about Shane Viveiros, who I blogged about back in May 28th (I can't reply to his e-mail because of technical problems).

However, this gives me a chance to point out that Blogger allows a search of all 1,300+ posts in this Blog by typing in the search phrase in the "search blog" box in the upper left hand corner of the blog. The search is not case sensative, but exact spelling is.

It will not search by date (sigh)

CAA football to carried on ESPN360

The CAA website has an article on ESPN360 carrying three CAA South games via live streaming video over the internet.

It works fine in my Verizon DSL connection.

Eighty-Five days to go and #85

It's eighty-five days untill the 2007 season opens.

Wearing #85 for UMass is WR Matt Fernandez a 5-10 180 pds. He a Redshirt Freshman from Pocasset, MA.

Fernandez was First Team All-Scholastic in High School. He did not see any action in 2006.

Welcome to UMass Matt and hope you have a great year in 2007.

Eighty-six days to football and #86

Eighty-Six days to the begining of the 2007 season. Wearing #86 for the Maroon & White is Bryan Haynes a 5-10 170 pd Redshirt Junior from Peoria, AZ.

Haynes appeared in two games in 2006. Also is a valuable player on special teams. He was a track man in High School as well as All-Stat in football.

The image is a crop from images I took at the Spring Game. Bryan, hope you have a great year in 2007!

6th Annual Friends of Football Golf Classic

The UMass Friends of Football will be holding their 6th annual Golf Classic on Monday July 23, 2007. The event will be held at the Haverhill Country Club.

This is the Friends premier fund raising event of the season. Coach Brown and other UMass coaches will attend.

There will be a dinner and Awards Ceremony after golf followed by a preview of the 2007 season by Coach Brown.

Scheduled to attend are former UMass players, alums and supporters of the UMass program. Also scheduled to attend are former UMass Coaches Dick MacPherson, Bob Pickett, Mark Whipple and Mike Hodges.

I've been to these Classics before. Being able to listen to college football legend Dick MacPherson tell a football story is a privilege. Meeting former coaches Mike Hodges, Bob Pickett and Mark Whipple is great.

Anyone interested in attending (and you can just go to the reception if you want) should contact Joyce Gorman at the UMass Football Office 413-545-2026.

I've said many times on this Blog that all UMass football fans should belong to the Friends. They are the prime movers in supporting the UMass football program. If you want to watch winning football, then join the friends!

Eighty-Seven days and #87

Eighty-Seven days to the start of the 2007 Season. Wearing #87 for the Minutemen is Bob Getek a 6-6 250 pd TE from Pepperill, MA.

Getek is a transfer from UConn. He's a pro-sized TE who did not appear in any games in 2006. He was probably a redshirt. This year he will be in the mix for the tight end position.

Here's hoping that Getek has a productive year coming off his redshirt! Good luck Bob!

The image is a crop from one of my images of the Spring Game.

The UMass Football Blog starts its third year today.

Two years ago on Sunday, June 5,2005 I made my very first post on the UMass Football Blog. The name started out as "The UMass Football Fanzone", but that was too much of a mouthfull, so it got shortened to simply the UMass Football Blog.

Today's post is the 1,367th post. Sitemeter says there has been about 50,000 hits and about 100,000 page views. I say with all modesty that the UMass Football blog is probably the most active blog in FCS/I-AA football.

This blog post on a legal blog gives a funny take about blogging. A quote:" I write with a different voice when blogging than in my scholarship. More specifically, my blog posts allow me to write in a more informal and witty way. I really enjoy this. I like the “blogging me.” I wish I could meet this person in real life."

I've had a lot of fun with the blog. I fully intend to keep it going.

I think 2007 is going to be an interesting year for UMass football. Here's hoping that I'll be blogging from Chattanoogna again this year.

Thanks dear readers for stopping by. It's been a fun two years.

Brad Anderson honored

Former UMass linebacker Brad Anderson has been honored by being part of the first class of the National Honor Society Hall of Fame.

Brought to my attention by Matty Vautour in this article.

More information about the National Honor Society Hall of Fame is here.

Congratulations, Brad!

College football recruiting

Probably no other topic I post about generates more e-mails to me or more comments about blog posts.

I just read the book "Signing Day" by Clark & Schoffield. Pretty good read about the pressures on high school football players in the modern age.

It covers the years 2003-2004. Matt Dougherty published an excellent look back at the promenent 2004 I-AA/FCS recruits back in Febuary. It shows how much recruiting is an inexact science. Back in 20o4, Tony Moss was covering FCS/I-AA recruiting. Of his "TopTen" recruits to sign with a I-AA team, only only one ended up making All-League. His list of 26 potential All-Stars fared even worse.

Bob Albright of the Eagle-Tribune here in New England covers college recruiting from the coach's perspective.

90 days to the 2007 season opener and #90

Ninety days to Holy Cross. Wearing #90 for UMass is Patrick Powell a 6-4 265 pd DE from Richmond VA. Powell transfered from Maryland. He had a couple of fine efforts for us in 2005.

Had Knee surgery in spring 2005 and did not have any stats in 2006. I did not see him in uniform at the Spring Game, so possibly he is still recovering.

Hope he is over his physical problems and has a great year in 2007!

Ninety-One days to football and #91

Happy weekend everybody. It's 91 days until Holy Cross.

Wearing #91 for the Maroon & White is Andy Resende-Gomes, a 5-11 215 pd LB from Brocton, MA. Andy is a redshirt Junior.

He's been a valued member of UMass' special teams. In 2006 he appeared in 13 games and made 1 UT 2 AT 3 TT. He also had one KOR for 24 yards. Andy also appears as a linebacker in a number of Brown's defense packages.

The image to the left is a crop from one of my images of the Spring Game.

Andy, we hope you get to appear in 15 games this year! Keep up the good work.

Friday Morning odds & ends

UMass Associate Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn (and former Umass football player) is reported to be a candidate for Athletic Director at Rhode Island.

In the UMass football coaching tree, Gerard Wilcher who spent four years at UMass under Coach Whipple is an assistant coach at Lehigh.