A looks at tomorrow's game

Tomorrow’s game against of the Crusaders of Holy Cross should be a good test of the 2007 UMass team.

The Crusader have made a steady improvement under HC Tom Gilmore. They went 3-8 in his first season, 6-5 in 2005 and 7-4 in ‘06. They lost to Colgate 28-29 in the last game of the season. One more point and we would have been playing them in the first round of the playoffs last year.

Holy Cross returns seven starters on offense and six on defense.

QB Dominic Randolph led the Patriot League in total offense and passing ave w/ 248.6 yards/game. He had Liam Coen like completion average of 61.5%. The Crusaders also return their two top rushers Mike Kielt and Terrance Glass. Also returning is the top receiver Justin Maher .

That’s the good news. The bad news for Holy Cross is that they will have three new starters on the OL. Two of the three losses on the OL were All-Patriot League players.

The strength of the Crusaders on defense is their secondary. Holy Cross returns all four DBs led by all 1st Team All-Patriot league CB Casey Gough. More about the All-Patriot League corner back here .Holy Cross plays the 3-4 defense and will be starting two new DL and two of the four LBs. Holy Cross must also replace both kickers.

Summing up

Holy Cross is good enough to receive some top 25 votes in the preseason polls. However their graduation losses were severe enough to drop them to fourth in the Patriot League pre-season poll. The strength of the 2007 Holy Cross team will be its passing game. This Blog thinks the UMass Defense Line should be active enough to pressure Randolph.

UMass wants to show that it can run after loosing Steve Baylark. With four new starters in the the Crusader front seven, this would be a good time for the UMass OL and running backs to show what they can do.

Fast Fact: Holy Cross had seven wins in ‘06. They beat Georgetown, Marist, Fordham, Brown, Dartmouth, Layfayette and Bucknell. Those seven teams went a collective 26-49 (.346)...

If UMass brings its “A” game and not its press clippings, we should do fine.

UPDATE: Matt Vautour has a game article here .

Last day to vote in the UMass-Holy Cross results poll

The UMass-Holy Cross blog poll to the right closes at 11:59 pm tonight.

Hatchell on the Buck Bucanan Award List

UMass LB Jason Hatchell has been named to the Buck Buchanan Award watch list as best defensive player in FCS.

The only other player in the CAA named to the list is JMU's safety Tony Lazotte.

Friday Morning Articles

Dave Coulson (he of the pick that Holy Cross will upset UMass) has two articles over at the Sports Network. One about Quarterbacks in the FCS and another looking at the CAA (true to form he picks UNH to win the North Division).

Delaware and William & Mary played last night and Omar Cuff tied an all-time national scoring record by scoring seven TDs and setting a new league record. That's a record that will stand for a while. Story here .

The Worcester Telegram has a Holy Cross -UMass game article (Crusader centric) here .

One day top go and #1

Well, 98 days ago we started this countdown. Now it's one day until football starts. It's been a long wait since walking out of the stadium at Chattanooga.

Wearing #1 for UMass again this year is J.J. Moore a 6-0 201 pd WR from St. Petersburg, FL. Moore is a RS Senior and team captain this year.

In 2006 Moore played in all 15 games. As a WR he went 46-594 12.6 AVE 4 TD 44 LONG.

As UMass' punt returner he went 30-244 8.1 AVE 59 LONG

J.J., hope you have an All-American senior year.

Two day to go and #2

Only two days to go before the 2007 season starts.

Wearing #2 for UMass this year will be Josh Jennings a 6-0 220 pd LB from Windsor, CT. He will be a RS Sophomore this year.

Jennings is coming off a medical redshirt year. He played in one game in 2006.

Josh, hope you have an outstanding year in '07!

2007 College football TV

If you are a college football junkie, life is going to be good this fall. Dozens of game are available over the various traditional TV outlets such as the broadcast networks and the various flavors of ESPN. Now internet video feeds are adding even more choices.

This site has the most complete list of college football TV broadcasts that I've found. It has both web and traditional outlets.

CAA football starts tonight with Delaware-William & Mary

You can watch Delaware-W&M live on internet video from CN8 at 7:30 here .

This game will jump start the season of one of these teams and add a lot of pressure to the loosing squad. William & Mary has lost 12 of their last 15 games. The Hens are 11-11 over the last two years.

Both teams play a BCS/I-A team this year. A loss tonight and a loss to the I-A team means the loosing team would likely have to go 8-1 against the rest of their schedule to make the playoffs. That's going to be tough to do in the deep and talented CAA.

We should be interested because the NCAA matches teams in the playoffs by region, not by seeding. If UMass should make the playoffs and go on the second round, there is an excellent chance we will be meeting another CAA team.

Remember Coach Brown's radio show tonight

Remember that Coach Brown's radio show kicks off at 7:00 pm on WRNX today.

UPDATE: More information from the UMass Athletic Dept here .

Interesting to hear that UMass is going to try to broadcast the UMass feed locally at away games. That will be very cool if they can get it to work...

Thursday morning press

Several articles are available this morning.

The Sports Network has an article about the 2007 Pre-season Walter Payton candidates . Four of the seventeen players mentions are from the CAA.

• Liam Coen UMass QB
• Omar Cuff Delaware RB
• Ricky Santos New Hampshire QB
• Sean Schaefer Towson QB

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has an article "Minutemen enjoying every UMass minute ."

Remember first national FCS radio show at 5:00 pm

Remember SME will broadcast the first national internet radio of 2007 at 5:00 pm. Last year's show "I-AA waves" by Ralph Wallace has been discontinued.

Hopefully the FME show will be archived as many people will not be home from work at that time.

If you missed yesterday's Holy Cross Coach's show, it's archived here .

Two articles from Matt Vautour

Nobody covers UMass football like Matty Vautour. He has two articles in the Hampshire Gazette. The first covers the UMass Offensive Depth Chart and is a must read for UMass football fans.

The second covers the UMass Receiving Corps.

Registration is required for Gazette articles, but not for Matt's UMass Sports Blog .

UPDATE: Matt has two more articles in today's paper. He covers the Defensive Depth Chart and has some coverage of the UMass secondary.

Article on Former UMass DT Desmond Lymon

The New Haven Register has an article about former UMass DT Desmond Lymon who transfered to DII Southern Conn. State. He's co-captain of the Owls.

The "Power & Class of New England" gets ready for a new season.

The UMass football team is not the only group getting ready for the 2007 season. The UMass Marching Band is in camp and getting ready for their first performance of the season.

The UMass Blog spies report that the UMass Band will have 375 members this year with 20 more in the Color Guard and 20+ in the percussion pit.

I've been meaning to add the UMMB Parents site to my permanent links section in the side bar. It's there now. Check out all the information about the band's training camp.

The main UMass band site is here. When I'm feeling blue, I stop over to the UMass' Drumline site and crank up my speakers and play a couple of cadences.

UMass fans are excited about the 2007 Football season, but year in, year out, the UMass Band is the best band in the nation.

Three days to go and #3

Only three days to go until the 2007 season starts.

Wearing #3 for UMass again this year will be Rasheed Rancher a 6-5 200 pd WR from Goulds, FL. Rancher will be a RS Senior this year.

In 2006, Rancher played in all 15 games and started in 11. He went 22-362 YDS 16.5 AVE 4 TD 89 Long.

Rasheed, hope you have an All-American senior year!

Charles Burton returns

Charles Burton returns with his column "The CSN Way:Fearless Picks".

His first report is a doozy. Here is the comment on UMass-Holy Cross:"Holy Cross over #8 UMass
I have absolutely no idea why, but folks around the country seem to have absolutely zero confidence in Holy Cross, despite the fact that they return nearly every piece of their offense from last year and pose a matchup problem for UMass, especially in the secondary. I love this pick.
Crisp Crusaders 30, “Thirty-Minute-Men” 27"


I think our secondary will be interested to hear that they matchup poorly with the Holy Cross offense...

Pete's FCS Site

One of the oldest----if not the oldest FCS columist is Pete's FCS Weekly . He was covering FCS/I-AA football when very few media were interested.

Pete always has had his own spin on the Division. For example, he has Layfayette as #5 in the nation in his first FCS ranking.

He also has the Big Sky as the #1 ranked conference for 2007 (by a lot). FYI, if you subtract Montana from the Big Sky in 2006, the rest of the Big Sky went 34-54 ---.388!

Tuesday morning reading

The Boston Herald has two UMass articles here and here . Nice to know at least one of the Boston area papers covers UMass .

Bruce Dowd of the College Sports News prognosticates the CAA here.

Pay attention! Things are happening fast now.

OK, here we go.

The Holy Cross coach's show is today at 1:00 pm here . (No. I have no idea why either)

Coach Brown speaks at the UMass Sports Luncheons tomorrow at Noon. Information here .

The Sports Media Network has their first FCS Radio show at 5:00 PM tomorrow. Information here.

On Thursday, Coach Brown's weekly radio show kicks off at 7:00 pm Thursday .

Listen to coach until 8:00 pm then switch over to the first ever CAA football game between Delaware and William & Mary. Live streaming video from CN8 here .

Four days to go and #4

Only four days to go until football.

Wearing #4 again this year will be Courtney Robinson, a 6-0 195 pd DB from Delray Beach, FL. He will be a Junior this year.

Robinson played in all 15 games last year. As a DB he had 11 UT 7 AT 18 TT 1-3 TFL 2- (-2) INT and 2 PBU. As a kick returner he had 21-489 yards 23.3 AVE 57 Long.

Courtney, hope 2007 is an outstanding year for you!

Both UMass and Holy Cross have their game notes up!

UMass' game notes here . (includes 2007 opening depth chart)

Holy Cross' game notes here .

Monday morning articles

The Worcester Telegram has three articles worth reading.

This one is about UMass.

This article covers Holy Cross and their QB Dominic Randolph. He led the Patriot League in total offense in 2006. Passed for 2,237 yards.

Another article covers Crusader DL Will Collins .

The Sports Network covers the Big South conference here .

They also cover the Big Sky here .

Mark Coogan has a guest column over at Bob McGovern's Between Mullins & McGuirk

Five days until football and #5

Only five days until football!

Wearing #5 for UMass this year is Jeromy Miles a 6-2 207 pd DB from Sickleville, NY. He will be a sophomore this year.

Miles is a transfer from Navy. He started 11 games last year. His stats 28 UT 33 AT 61 TT 2.5-7 TFL 2-52 INT 1 PBU.

Jeromy, welcome to UMass. Hope you have an All-American career with the Minutemen!

Wearing #6

Wearing #6 again for the Minutemen will be Corey Davis a 5-11 192 pd DB from Baltimore, MD. He will be a RS Sophomore this year.

Davis appeared in 12 games in 2006. He had 1 UT 3 AT 4 TT.

Corey, hope you have a outstanding season this year!

Wearing #7

Wearing #7 for UMass will be Scott Woodard, a 6-3 200 pd QB from Wendell, MA. Woodward will be a RS Sophomore this year. He also changed numbers to seven.

Woodward appeared in 9 games in 2006. He had 6 Att 4 Cmp 49 yards 66.7 Ave 43 Long.

Scott, hope 2007 is a great year for you!

Wearing # 8

Wearing #8 for the Maroon & White this year will be Jeremy Horne a 6-2 190 pd WR from New Berlin, NY.

Horne is a RS Sophomore transfer from Syracuse.

Jeremy, welcome to UMass! Hope you have a great career with the Minutemen.

First game poll of the 2007 season

I've added a the first game poll of the 2007 season. Scroll down and vote on the results of UMass-Holy Cross.

I set the poll to expire on Friday at 11:59 pm.

More end-of-training camp articles

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has a long article here .

Matt Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has one here .

Article about Holy Cross

An article about next Saturday's opener Holy Cross.

Matt Dowd covers CAA quarterbacks

Matt Dowd's latest column covers the impact of quarterbacks in the CAA.

He talks a lot about UMass' Liam Coen.

Mattt Vautour live blogs from UMass Practice

Be sure to check out Matt Vautour's UMass Blog. He's been live blogging from UMass practice and has injury updates, stadium news and states that the 2007 UMass depth chart will be out shortly.

Registration is required for all Gazette stuff, although you might want to try Bug-me-not .

Player countdown will resume Monday

I don't have access to the full set of players images, so I'll put the player countdown on hold until I get back.

The image above was taken at Media Day. Anyone who wants the full-resolution version for wallpaper, just e-mail me (address is in the "about me" section)

CSN starts releasing its 2007 Preview Magazine

CSN is releasing its 2007 Preview Magazine this week. The first 69 pages of content is here .

Whoa! The internet has reached Baileyville!

I take it back. Here I sit by the banks of the scenic St. Croix River with New Brunswick 100 yards away. The UMass Football Blog is active.

Blog news

I will be visiting relatives in Baileyville, ME this weekend. The internet has not yet reached Baileyville.

Therefore, the UMass Football Blog will not be updated on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Publication will resume Monday (or maybe Sunday evening).

More one the change in kickoff rules

Matt Vautour has an article on UMass Special Teams and the new 30 yard line kickoff rule here (registration required but worth it).

I've already blogged about this earlier .

Nine Days until football and #9

Only nine days until we open with Holy Cross!

Wearing #9 for UMass this year is Brian Ellis, 6-0 210 pd Safety from Brooklyn, NY. He will be a RS Junior this year.

Ellis played in nine games in 2006, starting one. He had 5 UT 12 AT 17 TT 1-5 sacks 1-5 TFL 1-3 INT and 1 PBU.

Brian, hope 2007 is a wonderful year for you!

More Stuff on Goodwin

Blogger is going through one of its periodic 'crazy" modes. it's not allowing me to edit the previous post about Goodwin and Binkoski. Changing fonts is also gone.

Goodwin was a Rivals three star player. From the BC 2006 signings page: "Ranked as the 12th best player in New England by rivals.com...SuperPrep has him ranked as the 14th best prospect in New England...a three-way star for Natick...earned multiple player of the game awards...Captain...helped Natick to a 13-0 record and Division II Super Bowl Champs and Bay State League Champs...Bay State All-Star Junior and Senior Year...Team MVP for Football...Boston Globe and Herald All-Scholastic...earned Super 26 All-State Team...also a stand-out in track...coached by Tom Lamb"

UPDATE: Matt Vautour has an article about Goodwin and other news here (registration required)

UMass Football adds two players

This just in from Jason Yellin, UMass Assistant AD for Media relations:

"UMass Football Welcomes BC Transfer Goodwin To Secondary

Speedy Roslindale native will start practice on Wednesday.

Aug. 22, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass football team added a pair of new additions on Wednesday. The Minutemen welcome cornerback Reshaude Goodwin, a transfer from Boston College and freshman lineman Michael Binkoski. The speedy Goodwin has four years of eligibility remaining at UMass and will compete for playing time immediately.

"Reshaude was the fastest player on BC's roster," said head coach Don Brown. "He will give us great depth in the secondary as he will vye for playing time in the secondary. He will also play a role on special teams as a returnman."

The Roslindale, Mass. native stands 5-11, 175 pounds and played at Natick High School. He took a redshirt season in 2006 at Boston College. At UMass, he will wear No. 27.

In High School, Goodwin earned Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic honors as a senior at Natick High School; played wide receiver and defensive back ... was a two-time All-Bay State League selection ... led the 2005 Redmen to a perfect 13-0 record and the Eastern Mass. Division 2 Super Bowl title ... made 29 catches for 679 yards and nine touchdowns in 2005 ... totaled 53 tackles, including two sacks; made seven interceptions ... completed his career with 1,273 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns ... played for head coach Tom Lamb ... played in the 28th annual Shriners Classical (June 2006); scored his team's first touchdown on a 100-yard kickoff return ... also starred on the school's track team.

Binkoski is also an in-state product from Worcester, Mass. He played at Worcester North High School where he was a three-sport star and team captain in football, baseball and hockey. He stands 6-2, 295 pounds. Binkoski is the son of Holy Cross hockey assistant coach John Binkoski, who played at UMass, graduating in 1974. Michael was honored with the Big Y Scholarship for Excellence after a sensation career in the classroom. Binkoski will wear No. 64 for the Minutemen."


Goodwin's BC page here .

Two articles from Jeff Thomas

Jeff Thomas at the Spring field Republican has an article on Thunder & Lighting at running back.

He also has an article on UMass' revamped defensive line.

He states that the UMass starters will be David Burris and Michael Hansen at DE. Brandon Collier and Kyle Harrington will be the starting defensive tackles. Brown has repeatedly praised Collier and said that Collier will be an impact player in the CAA. Harrington has gone from a scout team player to a starter on the DL, so he must have really improved.

This year's DL will have more depth with Wilner Alexis, Daniel DeLaire, Shaun Allen, Andrew Kervis and Bob McLaughlin available for packages.

Matt Stolte has been moved to UMass' depleted OL.

This Blog believes this will be a strong group for UMass. Brown likes to play attacking defense and this year we will have enough players to keep the intensity up. I look for seven or eight defensive linemen to play a significant number of minutes.

Ten days to go and #10

Only ten days to go until Holy Cross!

Wearing #10 again this year for UMass will be Joe Sanford, a 6-3 208 pd WR from Charlottesville, VA. He will be a RS sophomore this year.

Sanford played in all 15 games in 2006 on special teams.

Joe, hope you have a great season in '07!

Keeper has UMass over the Crusaders

Keeper has UMass over Holy Cross by 22.5.

UMH opener may be delayed

The field turf installation at UNH is not going well...

Colblyn is back, Ihedigbo on IR

Matty Vautour reports that Ben Coblyn has indeed returned to the UMass football team (registration required, but worth it). That's good news for the UMass Offensive Line. With the losses in camp, he's needed. Hope he has a great year.

He also reports that James Ihedigbo has suffered a broken arm in camp and has been put on IR by the jets. However, the Jets site indicates he has been waived...

UPDATE: Matt has more camp information in today's Gazette. Article here .

2008 Recruiting ----- Ike Igbinosun OL

Sources say UMass is recruiting Ike Igbinosun, a 6-2 260 pd OL from Rahway, NJ.

His Scout.com page is here . His Scoutcombines.com page is here .

He is a member of the New Jersey All-Combine team here (scroll down to OL)

Eleven Days until football and #11

Only eleven days until the 2007 season starts!

Wearing #11 again this year is Charles Walker, 6-1 230 pd LB from North Lauderdale, FL. Walker will be a RS Senior this year.

He started all 15 games last year. His totals were 37 UT 94 AT 131 TT 2.5-14 Sacks 2.5-14 TFL and 1 PBU.

Charlie, hope you have an All-American senior year!

New Kickoff Rule for 2007

One major change in the rules for 2007 is that kickoffs will now be from the 30 yard line.

College Football Stats (cfstats.com) has an in depth look at new kickoff rule.

Watched Brandon London play for the Giants last night

I watched Brandon London play for the Giants last night. He was in on almost all offensive snaps in the second half. He also played on the punt coverage team.

They did not throw to him and he got motion penalty with about two minutes to go.

Two Giants receivers ahead of him on the depth chart were injured in the game. One will be out for the season.

UPDATE: MSNBC has an article here about the injury filled game.

Bruce Dowd recaps the National Championship Game

Bruce Dowd has his first column of the 2007 season and recaps the UMass-Applachian State Championship game.

Twelve Days until football and #12

Only twelve days until football!

Wearing #12 again for UMass will be Liam Coen, a 6-2 220 pd QB from Newport, RI. Coen will be a RS Junior this year.

Coen had a tremendous year in 2006 playing in all 15 games and going 217-334-10 3,016 yards 160,52 EFF 65% completion, 26 TD 201.1 Yds/game.

Liam, hope you have another great year in '07!

CAA Preview live on CN8 at 8:00pm Sunday

The CAA Preview show will be on live streaming video at 8:00 pm Sunday (in about seven minutes as I type this)

CN8 live streaming video here (windows media required).

NFL Draft Scout's 2008 UMass Players

Over on NFL Draft Scout, they're following ten UMass players for 2008.

Matty Vautour on the UMass kicking game

Matty Vautour has an article on the UMass kicking game here (registration required, but worth it).

He talks about UMass punters Brett Arnold and Ryan Logan. Also about long snapper Cesar Rosario and his new back-up Bob McLaughlin.

He also talks about WR transfer from Syracuse Jeremy Horne.

Thirteen Days and #13

Only thirteen days until football!

Wearing #13 for UMass this year will be Scott Wallace a 6-3 185 pd QB from Avondale, PA. He will be a true freshman this year.

Welcome to the Minutemen, Scott! Hope you have a great career with us.

Matt Vautour on Sean Calicchio

Matt Vautour has an article on UMass OL Sean Calicchio who is returning to full time action after suffering a broken arm last year. Registration required, but worth it.

He also has some more training camp tidbits in his blog here . (Same deal on registration)

Under the "I-wonder-what-that-means" dept, Ben Colbyn's name is back on the UMass roster.

Two weeks to go and #14

Only fourteen days until the 2007 season opens.

Wearing #14 for UMass this year will be Octavious Hawkins a 6-2 205 pd QB from South Broward, FL. He'll be a true freshman.

Welcome to UMass Octavious! Hope this is the start of a outstanding career with the Maroon & White!

Article on a once and possibly future foe

When we played Montana last year they were without their power running back Lex Hilliard.

There is a interesting story about him here . There has been a recent study that non-contact ACL injuries may be related to cognitive function . Another article on the study here .

Who's got lights?

Southeastern Louisiana got lights.


(yes, grammar police, I know)

UMass Media Day and Practice image link

I have forty-five images of the UMass Media Day and practice on a Picasa Web Albumn. The albumn is here . You can look at images individually or as a slide show.

I'll add a link in the "UMass Images 2007" section in the sidebar. UMass fans and players are free to copy images as they wish, but citing the UMass Football Blog would be nice.

Fifteen days until football and #15

Only two weeks and a wake-up until football

Wearing # 15 again this year for the Maroon & White is Mike Omar, a 6-0 185 pd WR from Antioch, CA.

Omar will be a Senior this year. He played in 10 games last year. His totals 7-140 REC 20 AVE 1 TD 43 LONG.

I did not get an action shot of Omar at the practice I attended, and thus missed a shot of him making the best catch of the day, a one handed over the shoulder grab.

Mike, hope you have a great Senior Year!

UMass gets three players on the Sports Networks Pre-Season All-American team

The Sports Network has it's preseason All-American team here . Three UMass players are 1st team All-American: Matt Austin, Brad Listorti and Jason Hatchell.

UMass Special teams

I had a chance to talk with all three of the UMass kickers during the Media Day.

Chris Keopplin set himself in the UMass record books in one season. He set the school record for kick-scoring points with 99 and points after touchdowns with 51. He also tied the school record for field goals with sixteen.

I asked him about his game-winning kick against Montana. He said the biggest problem was trying to stay loose in the cold. On the kick he missed at the end of the game he said that it was 46 yards, which is at the end of his range. He said "I tried to kill it, and it ended up going low and got tipped".

Also spoke with Armando Curko . He said he was coming off a medical redshirt year. He has worked hard on his leg strength and he was looking forward to the season.

I also met UMass' new punter Brett Arnold a JUCO from Penn. He keeps the UMass average up for articulate, well spoken players. I asked him how his first training camp was going.

His answer may shed some light on the several players who have left training camp. He said, "The big thing is adjusting to the speed of the game. Coming from Junior College, the speed here is awesome." He later hit a couple of booming punts in practice.

Right Click on the following images and Blogger displays a full-resolution version.

More news stories

Howard Herman from the Berkshire Eagle has a UMass story here .

The Worcester Telegram has a story about UMass' opener Holy Cross here .

Brad Anderson's younger brother signs with the UMass Lax team.

Sixteen days until football and #16

Only sixteen days until UMass football opens.

Wearing #16 again for UMass this year is Sean Smalls, a 6-1 205 CB from Richmond, VA. Smalls will be a Junior this year.

In 2006, Smalls had 30 UT 29 AT 59 TT 1-2.0 TFL 3 BrUp 1 Fumble RCVR 1 FF.

Sean, hope you have an All-American year!

CAA preview show on CN8

The CAA will televise a 2007 Preview Show Sunday August 19th.

Live streaming video over the internet from CN8.

Saint0917 lists FCS on Satellite Radio

Our own Saint0917 lists the FCS games on Sirius Satellite Radio. I have Sirius and it you travel a lot it's great!

Holy Crap they're doing some work on the UMass Field House!

For the first time in many years the UMass Football Field House is getting a freshing up. It even looks like the roof might not leak this year.

Right click on the images below and Blogger displays a larger image.

Now if they only get the Physical Plant to stop storing crap under the stadium stands. Looks BAD!

2007 Media Day

I attended the UMass Media day yesterday. That's yours truly in the far right hand corner with the blue baseball cap and maroon shirt (right next to real journalist Matt Vautour in the green shirt). Thanks to the UMass athletic dept and Jason Yellin for allowing me to attend. Also thanks to all the friendly and articulate UMass football players who talked to me.

Coach Brown's media comments are here. Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has an article here .

Carl Settenlund of the Worcester Telegram has an article centered on David Burris. He also mentions central Mass natives Ryan Logan, Eric Dickson, Jonathan Hernandez and Emil Igenagu.

Don't think the Minutemen have a target on their backs this year? This run of eight articles about UNH all mention UMass.

UPDATE: Matt Vautour has updates on Ben Coblyn, Brad Listorti and other training camp news here . Hmmm, the Gazette link seems to be slow/not working. Was doing great this morning. Try again later.

Seventeen Days and #17

Only seventeen days until the season opens!

Wearing #17 for the Minutemen again this year is Tony Nelson a 5-10 210 pd RB from Germantown, MD. Nelson will be a RS Sophomore this year.

Nelson played in 9 games in 2006 and was second on the team with 47-235 5.0 ave 25 long 3 TDs. He also caught 2 passes for 3 yards.

Tony, we hope you have a breakout year this season!

UMass starts two-a-day practice

UMass has started two-a-day practices. Story here .

Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has story on training camp here .

More roster changes. Jeff reports that Justin Halas quit the team after two days of practice.

Video to get you cranked up

The Griz have a outstanding 2007 video here .

As a man of the male gender it may annoy you to watch a 1.6 second flash of cheerleaders on TV before they cut to three minutes of "My Bob's" commercials.

Watch then, 6.5 straight minutes of USC's Song Girls working it out in the 2007 Rose Bowl celebration. Better if you have good speakers. Crank it up!

WARNING, probably not work safe in today's politically constipated world.

Under the "News-of-the-weird" category: football players should not visit Sweden. They arrest you there for having muscles.

Speaking of Holy Cross

Holy Cross has a detailed 2007 season outlook up on their website.

Eighteen Days and #18

Only eighteen days until Holy Cross!

Wearing #18 again for UMass is Ryan Logan, a 6-2 217 pd WR/P from Leominster, MA.

Logan is a RS Junior this year. He appeared in five games last year on special teams and as a WR. He also is a member of the UMass Track team.

Ryan, hope 2007 is a great year for you!

Delaware gets a multi-year contract with Navy

Delaware has signed a contract with Navy for three years. They play Navy this year and then again in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Wish UMass could have signed with a Service Academy like that. Sigh.

One writer's top 100 FCS and DII draft picks

Josh Buchanan, who owns the DII website D2football.com has published a "top 100 list" of FCS/I-AA and DII players in Draft Daddy com . Buchanan writes for several new organizations that cover FCS/I-AA football.

He picks Brad Listorti as #23 and a projected 7th round NFL draft pick.

Nineteen Days until football and #19

Only nineteen days until football!

Wearing #19 for the Maroon & White this year will be Spencer Ridenhour , a 6-0 193 pd RS Junior from White Plains, NY.

Riddenhour played in 11 games and had seven TT and 2 BKUP for Penn State last year.

Spencer, welcome to UMass. Hope you have a great final two years here!

Matty Vautour on Nick Diana

Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has an article on Nick Diana in Friday's edition. Registration required, but worth it.

It will interesting to see who is Diana's backup. The 2007 press guide lists true freshman Josh Samuda as the second string Center.

Twenty Days until football and #20

Less than three weeks until we open with Holy Cross!

Wearing # 20 for UMass this year is Chris Pollard, a 6-2 200 pd DB from Camden, NJ. He will be a Junior this year.

Pollard is a JUCO transfer who join UMass in the Spring. Hopefully this image is him as there was no roster for the Spring Game.

Chris, hope you have a great career with the Minutemen!

Dave Coulson on FCS media days

Dave Coulson of the College Sporting News has a long article on attending the various Media Days sponsored by FCS conferences.

Mentions Coach Brown and UMass. Also mentions former UMass Coach Jimmy Reid down at VMI. Reid has his hands full at VMI. They went 1-10 last year. One problem with VMI is that they do not retain players. Reid only has seven seniors on the roster. Lots of recruits leave VMI because of the rigors of football and the stuff they put the cadets through. Some VMI news and Jimmie Reid interviews here .

Matty Vautour on the start of camp.

Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has an article on the start of UMass camp here . (registration required but worth it).

Yet more roster changes

There have been more additions and deletions to the 2007 roster.

Added:

• Spencer Riddenhour (whew! We were getting worried)
• Chauncey Incarnato (double transfer from Indiana and Notre Dame)

Deleted:

• Sloan Russett
  

Hopefully there will be no more deletions this year.

Twenty-one days and #21

Only three weeks until we open with Holy Cross!

Wearing #21 again this year is Michael Meggett, a 6-1 215 pd DB from Brooklyn, NY. He will be a RS Junior this year.

After a five game sit-out last year, Meggitt played in the last ten games in a row. He had 15 UT 8 AT 18 TT and 1 fumble RCVR.

Mike, hope you have a happy and productive Junior season!

Chuck Burton covers overlooked players

Chuck Burton of CSN has an article on the All-Anonymous team. Mentions UMass Center Nick Diana.

We're not going anywhere soon.

The NCAA has adopted a four-year freeze in movement to DI or between subdivisions.

Relevant quote: The Division I Board of Directors has enacted a four-year moratorium on permitting institutions to begin the process of joining the division – an action that among other things will prevent a school from moving from another division into Division I or moving between its subdivisions until August 2011.

Keeper's rating site starts up for 2007

Keeper's college rating site is starting up for again for 2007. Unlike most college stat sites, he covers FCS/I-AA extensively.

UMass is #1 FCS in FCS in his preseason ratings.

Conference ratings, including the CAA is here .