Thursday, February 02, 2017

Thursday--February 2nd, 2017 The day after LOI Day

Dan Malone has a post on UMass' recruiting results from yesterday.

Dan also has a post on the recruiting rule change that allows a school to bring in a recruit's parents.

Matty Vautour has a story on the 2017 recruits.

Mike Traini has "What we learned on the 2017 National Signing Day".

Kyle Deluz of the UMass Daily Collegian has a post on the 2017 recruits.

The Boston Herald covers UMass' Signing Day.

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UMass OL recruit Brian Abosi is featured by Worcester Telegram.

No Group-of-Five team signed any of New Jersey's Top-50, but UMass grabbed two of the next group.

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Don Brown poached several top Connecticut recruits.

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MY TAKE ON THE 2017 RECRUITS

247Sports has the Minutemen's class at #108 out of 128. That would have put us 9th in the MAC and in the middle of most of the Group-of-Fives recruiting hauls.

Boston College signed 16 three-star recruits in their annual bottom-of-the-ACC ranking. So don't expect UMass to do much wining against Power Five squads.

The UMass defense finally receive a recruiting focus. Fourteen of the 22 recruits are on the defensive side of the ball. Six of the eight three-star players play defense. The Minutemen certainly strengthened their defensive backfield that was consistently beaten by Group-of-Five offenses. Three three-star linebackers should also help. The defensive line should also be deeper.

The Minutemen also filled a need at WR. Beyond Andy Isabella, UMass did not get a lot of production from their wide receivers. UMass added size with Jacoby Herring and Melvin Hill. Jesse Britt could help at slot receiver.

One thing that did not get fixed is UMass' #124 ranked rushing offense. The Minutemen only have two scholarship RB's and did not sign one yesterday. I would expect Whipple to add a RB in the Spring or before Fall camp. Both scholarship offensive linemen look to be projects.

All-in-all a solid FBS class. Eight three-star players is good for where we are now as an Independent. Adding a late three-star RB and maybe a OL fifth year transfer would push the class into the "very good' region.

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