Thursday, April 02, 2015

Thursday--April 2nd, 2015

Sports Illustrated has a nice story about UMass NFL prospect Jean Sifrin.

One would hope some NFL teams realize the tremendous upside to Sifrin. As related in the article, he didn't have any preseason camp before he started for UMass last season. He made a lot of progress just since November. With more time in the weight room and more coaching, he'll be a offensive asset to many NFL teams.

As for Sifrin, he's made a couple of missteps. He needs to shave his head, give away his cell phone, tell friends and relatives "I'll be in touch in 12 months or so." and lift weights, eat, sleep and study football over the next year. He could come out of this with a decent NFL contract. With the NFL, a "decent" contract could be staggering amount of money.

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Dan Malone has a feature on Randall West. At one time, UMass fans were waiting for West to supply a light at the end of the tunnel in an offensive void. Last year, when Frohnapfel went down, the only QB UMass had available without breaking someone's redshirt was Austin Whipple. This year, West and the other QB's should give the Minutemen coach staff a lot more options. Past blog posts on West including recruiting information.

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Matty Vautour has a post on new Minutemen special teams coach Mark Michaels.

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The Boston Herald reports Blake Frohnapfel is aching to lift UMass.

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Remember last season when undefeated Marshall was not getting bowl respect because of its weak schedule? This year, the Thundering Herd's schedule is ranked last in FBS. The story mentions UMass.

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The MAC blog "Hustle Belt" looks at potential MAC conference NFL draft picks (including Sifrin).

NFL.com looks at Quinton Rollins of Miami of Ohio.

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NBC Sports looks at the four new bowls that have applied for certification. Some of them could have MAC tie-ins.

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