Image taken by me at UMass Media Day. Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.Matty Vautour has an article on the UMass defensive backfield here .
UMass returns three starters and they all made preseason All-Conference.
Courtney Robinson CB 6-0 196. He had 27 UT 21 AT 4.5 TFL 1.5 sacks 3-39 INT and 6 pass breakups in '07. He's also a talented kickoff returner. Robinson is third in UMass career return average (24.6) and seventh in total career return yards (984). Robinson was a honorable mention All-American in 2007
Sean Smalls CB 6-1 190. Smalls had 31 UT 18 AT 49 TT 2.5-7 TFL 2-90 INT. He played as a true freshman and has started the last 28 games. He was a 2007 honorable mention All-American.
Jeromy Miles FS 6-2 207. He was First-Team All-East and ECAC Freshman player-of-the-Year at Navy. Last year at UMass he had 38 UT 29 AT 67 TT 4 FF 2.5-3 TFL and 10 PD. A big hitter, Miles is a preseason honorable metion All-American.
Brian Ellis ROV 6-0 210. Former linebacker moved to SS. In 2007 he had 20 UT 22 AT 25 TT 1-5 sacks 1-5 TFL 1-3 INT and 4 PD. Ellis is a good player who should shine at strong safety.
The top backups in Coach Brown's DB heavy roster include:
Reshaud Goodwin 5-11 186. In 2007 Goodwin had 2 UT 4 AT 6 TT 1 PBU. He's a likely starter at CB on 2009. Excellent speed.
Corey Davis 5-11 190. Davis had 12 UT 4 AT 16 TT in 2007. Usually plays a the nickle cornerback. Also plays special teams.
Eric Dickson 5-11 205. Dickson had 1 UT 5 AT and 6 TT as a backup safety in 2007.
Shane Viveiros 6-0 205. Has been mentioned several times by Coach Brown as being in the mix for playing time in 2008.
Other DBs on the roster include:
- Keron Brown SR 6-0 185
- James Carven RSo 6-0 200
- David Cozzo Fr 5-10 165
- Kumar Davis Fr 6-0 220
- Dan McLaughlin Fr 6-0 215
- Darren Thellin Fr 6-2 195