Johnson holds ten offers including 2017 opponents Mississippi State, Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina. UMass is his only offer from the Northeast.
Earlier this week I blogged about USF player Hassan Childs being shot multiple times during a road rage incident. He's now been dismissed from the team.
Partial quote from a 03/06/17 247Sports article by David Lake:
"Park Vista High School 2018 WR Atorian Perry is a name to keep an eye on. At 6-feet-4 and 175 pounds, Perry has good size and long speed for the receiver position. He currently claims an offer from Howard University. Schools like Pittsburgh are showing interest, but haven’t offered yet."
UMass was the first FBS team to offer Perry. Appalachian State followed one day later.
Franz Beard of Scout.com has thoughts for the day. Has comments on two of UMass' 2017 opponents (Mississippi State and Tennessee) plus his take on UMass hiring Matt McCall.
Speaking of Mississippi State, Football Scoop says if you're looking for the school with the best overall football, basketball and baseball programs, then try the Bulldogs.
Partial quote from a Scout.com article dated 2/27/17 by Michael McCammon:
"Playing on both sides of the ball for Atlanta (Ga.) Grady, Jaylen Rivers has the ability to suit up as a receiver or defensive back on the college level. Last September Rivers picked up a scholarship offer from Louisville and has remained in contact with the 6-foot-2, 180-pound prospect since doing so."
Rivers has eight offers with UMass as the only school from the Northeast.
"The Minutemen will technically be a 4-3 defense under Pinkham, but he said it’s more like a 4-2-5 with a linebacker/safety hybrid instead of a third linebacker. The players are learning the system’s nomenclature and making adjustments after spending the past three years in a 3-4 defense."
Philly Sports Network profiles the NFL prospects of Jalen Williams. in 2016 Williams went 11-7 GP-GS 27-520 19.3 AVE 6 TD's 74 LONG. He was the third leading receiver on the squad and second among the wide receivers. Williams' UMass bio.
Ford finished 46th in passing efficiency in 2016 and 25th in TD's thrown. With Adam Breneman and Andy Isabella coming back, he should have two receivers to rely on. Isabella went 62-801 12.9 AVE 7 TD's 55 LONG.
Partial quote from a 02/17/2017 article from Scout.com by Drew White:
"Morrison, who is also a basketball star at Greater Atlanta Christian High School, said that he does not have any early favorites in recruiting. "I like all the schools who have offered," he said. "
Morrison has 19 offers including UMass and Boston College from the Northeast.
This article has notes about Pro Day at BC and UConn.
As a WAG, I would speculate Khary Bailey-Smith would have the best chance of landing a free agent contract. Back in 2015 he was third-team All-MAC as a kick returner. He could be an asset on special teams.
University of Hawaii concluded their Spring practice schedule with a controlled scrimmage. UMass and the Rainbow Warriors open the 2017 college football season on August 26th at McGuirk.
This will make you feel better (click and Blogger displays a larger image) :
US DOD image
Retired Army Col. Ben Skardon, 99, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, walks in the annual Bataan Memorial Death March with two Army medics at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., March 19, 2017. Army Reserve photo by Staff Sgt. Ken Scar
Several recruiting services indicate UMass has offered to Jamari Currence, a 5-11 180 pound DB from Rock Hill, S.C. I've blogged about Currence before.
"The thing that excites me as a coach is the challenge of building a program," he (Pinkham) said. "We were in a situation (at Western Michigan) where we took a team the first year, didn't have much and we went 1-11. You say each year we're going to get better and better and better. Through recruiting and trying to keep it simple, we were fortunate enough to have some success."
One of the main reasons for the rise of Western Michigan was recruiting. The Broncos led the MAC in recruiting ratings four straight years. As well as X's and O's, I hope Pinkham can turn UMass' defensive recruiting up a notch or two.
Breneman should rack up a ton of stats in 2017 catching passes from Andrew Ford. Whipple's pro-set offense works best with an effective TE and a power running game. Hopefully, Breneman will a great year and position himself well for the NFL draft. Along with good numbers, leading the Minutemen out of the wilderness with some wins would also be nice.
Matty Vautour, the only beat reporter still covering UMass, reports on the opening of Spring practice for the Minutemen. Matty says Ross Comis is still recovering from a torn ACL, but is running. It usually takes a year to fully return from an ACL injury. It will probably be the middle of the 2017 season before he is 100%.
Matty also reports Matt Dawson has been named the defensive coordinator at Norfolk state.
OT, but I think A.D. Ryan Bamford's decison to hire Pat Kelsey as HC of UMass hoops is a good one. I've been following UMass basketball as long as I have for football. The Minutemen program needs a high-energy guy. I accept we are a mid-major in sports, I will not concede we're doomed to be a low mid-major. With the budget and facilities UMass has, the Minutemen should be contenders for A10 crown, if not every year, then at least often.
So far, I like the hires Bamford has done as A.D.
Hope Kelsey brings five good years to UMass basketball. I'll be happy for him when he moves to a big-bucks ACC job. A resurgence in UMass basketball would also help in UMass finding an all-sports conference.
Appalachian State has gone 20-2 against Group-of-Five football teams since moving to FBS. This long SB nation look at the Mountaineers gives Appalachian State a 74% chance of defeating the Minutemen when they meet at McGuirk on October 28th.
Partial quote from a Scout.com article dated 02/02/17 by Dave Lomonico:
“And I’d love to get offers from anybody in the ACC or SEC. Those are the schools I’ve grown up around and have been watching, so I’d love to have offers from some of them,” Tannor said. The Miller Grove product is coming off a season where he recorded 60 tackles, seven sacks, two safeties, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery."
Tannor has 18 offers including Maryland, Missouri, Rutgers and Tennessee from Power Five schools. UMass and Rutgers are the only offers from the Northeast.
In addition, Underdog Dynasty says the Temple Owls don't have a rivalry game. Minuteman fans would dearly like to supply one. The last UMass-Temple game was excellent (not counting the last two minutes).
Meanwhile, the USF Bulls, who went 11-2 in 2016, start Spring Practice. USF could be the best team UMass plays in 2017; better than the two SEC teams. The Minutemen should get some good recruiting exposure in talent-rich Florida from the game. UMass plays at Raymond James Stadium on October 14th.
This article features BYU's linebacker corps. Francis Bernard ran back an interception against the Minutemen for 39 yards and a TD. UMass and BYU play again on November 18th.
The Ohio Bobcats begin Spring practice. Ohio has an interesting OOC schedule in 2017. I think Ohio has a good shot at beating Purdue (3-9 in 2016) and Kansas (lost to Ohio last year 21-37). The Bobcats could be 3-0 OOC when they arrive in Amherst on September 30th.
Partial quote from a 05/13/16 article on Scout.com by Chad Simmonds:
"Queen (his HS coach) praised Geathers' athleticism and his size. What does Geathers feel he does best? "I excel as a pass rusher. I come off the edge, I blitz a lot, and I feel that is the best part of my game. I like to watch Robert Nkemdiche and see how he makes plays, and learn from him. I am athletic at outside linebacker and I can run. I work hard too."
Geathers holds 17 offers from mostly Group-of-Five schools. Syracuse and UMass are the current schools offering from the Northeast.
We've talked about the difficulty of getting students to the games. The traditional ways of following college sports is changing fast. I read a broadcasting business article (can't find the link) stating one third of Millennial households do not own a single radio except for the one in their car.
So, the way you and I followed UMass sports when we graduated by listening to various UMass radio shows, is fast fading in the current generation. It's going to be a challenge making college sports fans in the future.
OT: I come from a long line of working-class people so I tend to wince when people lose their jobs. However, I think a change was needed in UMass hoops. The facilities UMass has and the level of expenditure by the Athletic Dept, I would think UMass should be able to be consistently in the top four or so programs in the Atlantic 10. A sub-.500 record in A10 play (67-83) in league play is just not enough.
Hopefully, a new coach will make those yearly seven or so long drives down from New Hampshire to the Mullins Center more rewarding.
My take is that the Minutemen are getting serious about defense. Wissman is an older coach and thus UMass has to pay more than for a younger man just getting started in coaching. The addition of D.J. Pirkle should help coach Pinkham in installing his defensive system. The Minutemen also recruited defense more heavily this year than any other since we moved to FBS.
Defense wins games. It looks to me UMass is investing more on the defense side of the ball. I hope the results will show in the next couple of years.
Since I've started this blog I've done quite a few posts (6,442 to be exact) many of them about recruiting. After reading all those recruit interviews, one common thread is the players saying they're looking for a good academic school and a chance to play at a high level.
Coach Whipple has coached in the Super Bowl. The Minutemen play a pro-set offense and use pro-style play nomenclature. The Minutemen's independent schedule allows players to go up against top competition (Tennessee, Mississippi State and BYU in 2017).
Partial quote from a 02/18/17 Scout.com article by John Harvey:
"The brother of Nebraska 2017 early enrollee Avery Roberts, the junior has an early offer from Nebraska, North Carolina and Syracuse. Roberts was named to the All-USA Delaware first team in 2016, despite missing most of the second half of the season. He still rushed for 848 yards on 88 carries with 12 touchdowns. “I would say biggest progress from sophomore to junior year was his strength and size,” said Concord head coach Greg Mitchell. “When healthy, he was pretty dominating and we were not the same team offensively without him.”
Fredericks is a nice addition to the Minutemen team. He's the 2014 New York HS Gatorade Player-of-the-Year. Fredericks averaged over 5 yards a carry during his career in Syracuse. Hopefully, he'll be as successful at UMass as Penn State transfer Adam Breneman.
This is what UMass needs to do to succeed in talent-sparse New England. The Minutemen needs to exploit all the recruiting streams to build the talent level in Amherst.
Partial quote from 02/26/17 article from Scout.com by Billy Embody:
"Baylor, Texas Tech and UCLA are showing interest in Cardwell while Bowling Green, UTSA, SMU, Tulsa, New Mexico, Texas State, Texas Southern and Vanderbilt have offered the junior. He claims no leader. "All are about the same right now I talk to most weekly," Cardwell explained. In addition to SMU, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Houston and TCU will get visits this spring and summer from Cardwell. Cardwell says on the visits, he's looking to get a feel for the campus and how he fits in. He says all the schools coming after him right now feel good to him, but getting on campus is the next step."
Cardwell holds offers from 10 schools including Vanderbilt from the SEC and SMU from the AAC.
Partial quote from a 02/28/17 article on Scout.com by Michael Clark:
"Along with the Mountaineers, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Wofford have offered, while East Carolina, Charlotte, Maryland, Duke and South Carolina are also showing interest. According to Kane, East Carolina could be close to offering. "They play in a great conference and it's close to home," Kane said. "They also have the majors I'm looking for and the atmosphere is great."
Besides UMass, Kane has FBS offers from Appalachian State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Charlotte.
Partial quote from a 2/24/17 article on Scout.com by Adam Feldfogel:
"Arm strength, decision-making, field vision, frame, footwork/feet, intelligence, and pocket awareness.
Those are attributes that any quarterback in the nation could hope to have. When they all describe the strengths already possessed by a current high school junior, the expectations are off the charts. Those qualities describe Kevin Doyle, and with 14 scholarship offers already in-hand, including one from Michigan State, he’s viewed as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation for the 2018 recruiting class."
Doyle now has 17 offers including Temple, Pitt, BC, Syracuse and West Virginia in the Northeast.
BYU finalizes its 2017 schedule. The Cougars will be UMass' last game of the 2017 season. The Minutemen have a tough schedule in November with trips to Mississippi State and BYU bracketing a home game with Maine.
Coastal Carolina played a fairly weak FCS schedule in 2016. Their best win was over Furman, which is usually a strong FCS team. They had eight and ten point wins over Central Connecticut and Bryant respectively.
Georgia Southern's schedule is also out. The Eagles will play both UMass and New Hampshire. If I remember right, GSU and UNH met twice in the FCS playoffs with the Eagles winning both times.
Ohio has also released its 2017 schedule. The Bobcats face Hampton, Purdue, Kansas and UMass in their OOC schedule. I'll pick Ohio to beat at least one of the Purdue-Kansas duo.
