If you followed UMass recruiting when we were in FCS, you'll know three-star recruits were few and far between. The Minutemen typically gained a three-star recruit about once every four years or so.
In 2013, Coach Molnar brought in four three-star recruits: Lorenzo Woodley, Steve Casali, Shane Huber and Shakur Nesmith. Why didn't they help? Because all four ended up injured and not playing.
Nesmith played in one game. Woodley played in eight. Casali played in two. Huber played in eight.
Our best player, Rob Blanchflower played in six games. Kevin Byrne played in 10. Only two defensive starters played in all 12 games: Devin Brown and Stanley Andre.
In 2012, Phil Steele listed the teams with most starts lost to injury. UMass was #2 in the Nation with 45 starts lost. Steele hasn't published the numbers for 2013 yet, but I'm willing to bet UMass is again near the top of the college football world in starts lost to injury.
Now consider Stanford.
Quote from the article:"In 2012, only two Cardinal players required season-ending or postseason surgical repair; this year, only one."
One thing the remaining coaching staff could do while waiting for a new HC coach to be appointed would be to look into the Minutemen's injury rate. Whatever we were doing was not getting the players ready for games. We had some pretty good looking running backs, but generally they only lasted one game. By the end of the season UMass was starting a six-string walk on (who actually played pretty good).
One thing that would make UMass better in a hurry would be to have all our talent actually on the field. Making an improvement in training or practice procedures to reduce injuries should be a priority in 2014.
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BTW, the Spring 2014 UMass Football roster is up.
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