Dan Malone has another installment of his 2014 position review, this time covering special teams.
Starters:
Blake Lucas 2-4 Made-Att 38 LONG
Matthew Wylie 0-1 Made-Att
Logan Laurent 4-6 Made-Att 31 LONG
Punting:
Brian McDonald 57-2150 37.7 AVE 67 LONG 10 I20 50+ 4
Kickoffs:
Blake Lucas 56-3178 56.8 AVE 7 TB
Matthew Wylie 6-311 51.8 AVE
Long snapper and Holder
Nick Berus GP-GS 12-12
Blake Frohnapfel
As Dan says the Minutemen kicking game was ugly, worse in some respects than 2013, which is saying something. Kickoff average dropped this year as Brandon Levengood averaged 60.4 yards a kickoff in 2013. UMass was last the MAC in PAT average, second to last in punting average and field goals.
On fly in the ointment about bringing in recruits is Coach Molnar publicly complained how much scholarship money UMass had invested in special teams. The Minutemen need help in a number of areas and two scholarships could be well invested in a couple of transfer defensive linemen.
That said, I think it's almost certain Whipple will bring in another kicker. Basically nobody on the current roster looked impressive.
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Dan has an article on UMass' attendance figures in the MAC.
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Campus Insiders previews the NIU-Marshall game.
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OT, but Philly.com wonders if the Power Five will ruin the NCAA hoops tourney.
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