Monday--August 15th, 2016

Matty Vautour has a report from Saturday's scrimmage.

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Andrew Ford

All right UMass fans, this is just one man's opinion, but I think this is the most talented UMass team to ever play in Amherst. Keep in mind that it won't make any difference against the Power Five teams on our schedule, but after viewing Saturday's scrimmage, I think the Minutemen will be competitive in all their other games.

First off is Andrew Ford. He flat out looked like a FBS QB. Despite only being with the team for a few weeks, he'll be tough not to start. Whipple said Ford had a better arm than they expected and he showed it Saturday. He made a lot of good throws. He looked accurate and strong. In fact all the QB's looked good. Comis is a good dual-threat guy and Randall West, working at the end of the scrimmage dropped a beautiful throw into the right endzone far corner.

In addition, everybody caught the ball. The ball hit the turf only a couple of times all night. Travis Reynolds,  Brennon Dingle, Shadiq Plamer and Elijah Robinson looked fast and showed good hands.

I liked the running of Payton Pickett and Bilal Ally.

In addition, the defense was closing to the ball and popped pads all scrimmage. I think UMass finally has enough athletes to run some packages. The JUCO players are going to give the Minutemen more depth on defense.

The difference from the Spring game was night and day. Prior to the scrimmage Whipple showed a video of previous practices. The new players were animated and looked as if they were having fun. After making a play they mob the player involved. I think the 2016 recruiting class is going to be remembered as the group that changed the football culture at UMass.

UMass signature wall and historical helmets

New Riddel helmet

Peytton Pickett

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Gator RB Mark Thompson sets a goal of rushing for 1,000 yards ----in his first seven games. He would need to average 142 yards a game to do that.

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We havn't talked much about the Wagner Seahawks. They've opened camp. The Seahawks 2016 prospectus (a .pdf download). The Seahawks have a lot of players. Their roster runs three single-spaced pages.




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The Tennessean says Tajae Sharpe avoided a concussion.

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The NY Post report Victor Cruz isn't getting better.

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If the AAC loses a team (or teams) Middle Tennessee State wants join the league.

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