UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Kameron Jones II

I've blogged about Kameron Jones, a 6-5 280 pound OL from Starkville, MS once before.

The Daily Adviser reports Jones verbaled to University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Jones had twelve offers including UMass.

UMass Football News--January 31st, 2018

Mke Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Valerian Ume-Ezeoke joining the UMass staff as a graduate assistant.

Ume-Ezeoke's New Mexico State players bio.

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The Miami Herald tells Dolphins fans to keep an eye on Adam Breneman in the NFL draft.

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UMass' Isenberg School of Management looks at why Boston is a great sports town.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Kemon Smith II

Twitter image

I've blogged about Kemon Smith, a 6-2 280 DT from Slidell, LA before.

He recently Tweeted he's down to two schools: UMass and Oregon State.

This article from Oregon Live talks about his visit to the Beavers.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Trey Jones III

Trey Jones, a a5-9 195 pound athlete has decommited from UMass. He Tweeted he'll be attending  Tyler JUCO this year.

I blogged about Jones a couple of times before.

Jones could be in the mix for 2019.

UMass Football News--January 29th, 2018

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a report the just concluded recruiting weekend.

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Underdog Dynasty previews the 2018 season of the Charlotte 49ers.

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BYU A.D. Tom Holmoe says the Cougars will stay as an independent, but he wants better results.

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Dawg Nation expects Georgia to be loaded again this year.

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SEC Country says Super Bowl #52 proves recruiting rankings matter.

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UMass Football News--January 27th, 2018

Big football recruiting weekend for the Minutemen.

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One who got away:

I've blogged about Zack Mathis, a 6-6 194 pound WR from Tampa, FL before.

Mathis, who had a UMass offer, signed with North Dakota State.

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I blogged about Eric Hallett yesterday.

This article reports North Texas could be interested in him, although they consider him leaning towards UMass (fixed link).

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247Sports image

One of the OV recruits this weekend is Almosse Titi, a 6-3 275 pound DT from Tampa, FL.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Also throws the shot and discus.

Titi has five offers, with UMass as the only FBS school.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Eric Hallett

Hudl.com

Eric Hallett, a 5-10 170 pound CB from Cypress, TX has Tweeted he's de-committed from Washington State.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com video.

Hallett holds 25 offers including Army and Holy Cross from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--January 26th, 2018

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has the recruiting visits that start today for this weekend.

The Minutemen could use a big finish as the recruiting period ends February 7th. The current recruiting class could use about four more three-star players. A TE and a kicker still needed.

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Sports on Earth has a 2018 preseason power ranking and has UMass as #111, up 19 spots from last year.

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The Duquesne student newspaper reports the Dukes' football team has won the Northeast Conference sportsmanship award. The writer also says the UMass-Duquesne game will be at Gillette...

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Former UMass assistant coach Sean Spencer has been named Assistant Head Coach at Penn State.

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I fixed the link to the scans of UMass football yearbooks and game programs. When Google killed off Picasa, it broke the link. It also deleted the caption from each image showing the year. It'll take a while caption 200+ image.I have a new scanner and I'll try to add some more years after 1990.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Kemon Smith

Hudl.com image

Kemon Smith (good name), a 6-2 280 pound DT from Slidell, LA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Recently decommited from SMU.

Smith will visit UMass on January 26th (tomorrow). He has 22 offers with UMass the only offer from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--January 25th, 2018

UMass adds Dustin Mustin as a sports performance coach.

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Matty Vautour report Adam Breneman has injured his hamstring and won't play in the Senior Bowl.

Penn Live also has a post on Breneman's injury.

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BYU announces their 2018 schedule.

The Deseret News previews BYU's 2018 opponents.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jesse Lemonier

Hudl.com image

Jesse Lemonier, a 6-3 240 pound DE/OLB from Hialeah, FL has Tweeted he's receive an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Ventura College bio here.

Lemonier has five offers including Liberty and Miami (Ohio).

UMass Football News--January 24th, 2018

UMass Athletics announces Football Signing Day TV coverage. The announcement also has info on this year's season tickets. The home game themes are:

Aug. 28 vs. Duquesne • Youth Day
Sept. 22 vs. Charlotte • Class of 2022 and Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day
Oct. 6 vs. USF • Hall of Fame and International Students Day
Oct. 20 vs. Coastal Carolina • Family Weekend
Nov. 3 vs. Liberty • Homecoming
Nov. 10 vs. BYU • Band Day

This is nice. Non-local alums will be able to view the program live via a number of streams. 

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This article by News Day has updates from the Senior Bowl practices.

Land of 10 has a post on Adam Breneman's reflections on Penn State's 2013 recruiting class.

A SB Nation site looks at the TE's in the Senior Bowl and Adam Breneman is the first player covered.

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FIU releases their 2018 schedule.

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The Charlotte 49ers release their 2018 schedule.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Shannon Junior verbals to UMass

Twitter image

Shannon Junior a 6-3 210 pound Athlete/OLB from Humble, TX has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Junior's verbal.

Junior had FBS offers from Army and Louisiana Monroe.

Umass Football News--January 23rd, 2018

Brian Phillips joins the UMass Staff as Director of Sports Performance.

Back in 2012 Phillips was a featured lifter by Mass-Lift, the Massachusetts chapter of USA Powerlifting. I'm a member of NH USA Powerlifting. Phillips' lifts are, ahem, a little heaver than mine.

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The Athens News thinks Ohio is set up for another good year in 2018. UMass plays at Ohio on September 29th.

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Coastal Carolina expands its recruiting base. The Chants also add a OL transfer from Michigan.

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Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, an Eagles fan was arrested for punching a police horse after Philly's win over the Vikings.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Francis Bemiy

247Sports image

Francis Bemiy, a 6-4 220 pound OLB from Montreal, QC was offered by UMass on December 16th.

247Sports page here.

Former UConn verbal.

Hudl.com has video.

Bemiy has four offers including FAU and New Mexico.

UMass Football News--January 22nd, 2018

RotoWorld report on a NFL Draft analyzer that believes Adam Breneman has a "really high" floor. Even for football writers, that's a tortured metaphor.

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Duquesne adds another FBS transfer.

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Georgia Southern's Tyson Summers, who was fired hours after losing to UMass, has joined the Georgia staff.

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Meanwhile, Florida International has signed the top recruiting class in Conference USA. Two four-star recruits!

247Sports ranks FIU's class as #63 in the nation.

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Charlotte adds a offensive coordinator from Youngstown State.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Habakkuk Baldonado II

I've blogged about Habakkuk Baldonado, a 6-5 230 pound DE from Italy once before.

This story says he will take an OV to Michigan State.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018---Caleb Okechukwu III

I've blogged about Caleb Okechukwu, a 6-4 252 pound DE from Washington, DC a couple of times before.

This report says Okechukwu will take an OV to Texas.

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UMass Football News--January 20th, 2018

BYU finalizes its 2018 and 2019 schedules. Both years the Cougars play UMass at Gillette.

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Appalachian State recaps the 2017 season.

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Boston College releases its 2018 schedule. The Minutemen and the Eagles tangle on September 1st at the Heights.

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A Bleacher Report writer has a post on teams who could regress the most in 2018. Two of them are on UMass' 2018 schedule.

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The four-game redshirt rule looks likely to pass. This could help teams like UMass where depth is always an issue.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Brice McAllister transfers to UMass

Ashley Landis image

Brice McAllister, a 5-11 189 pound DB from UConn has announced he'll transfer to UMass for his senior season.

Mark Chiarelli of MassLive has a post on McAllister's tranfer to the Minutemen.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" also has a post on McAllister's transfer.

McAllister's UConn bio.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jake Syptak II

Twitter image

I've blogged about Jake Syptak, a 6-5 280 pound OL back in May of 2017.

Syptak recently de-commited from SMU.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com now has highlights from his senior season.

This article talks about his de-commit from SMU.

Syptak originally had 19 offers including a number of Ivy League schools.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Michael Sullivan

Twitter image

Michael Sullivan, a 6-6 305 pound OL from Norfork, MA has de-commited from Kent State.

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Sullivan has taken several unofficial visits to UMass. The Minutemen have not offered so far.

UMass Football News--January 18th, 2018

The grandson of legendary UMass coach Dick MacPherson, Mackey MacPherson, has been hired as running backs coach at Kent State.

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Underdog Dynasty has a way-too-early 2018 Sun Belt Power Rankings. The Minutemen will play Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern this year.

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Football Scoop has an interesting post on how Army went from 2-10 to 10-3 in two years. UMass starts a four-game series with the Black Knights starting in 2019.

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BYU has been trying to upgrade its technology for fan access. The UMass football game November 18th and the subsequent BYU-UMass hoops game were both involved.

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UMass opens its 2018 season against FCS Duquesne. The Dukes just got a QB transfer from Florida Atlantic. He's a former Palm Beach Player-of-the-Year. Duquesne want 7-4 in 2017 including a 27-24 loss to Liberty.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Khalil Hunter

Twitter image

Khalil Hunter, a 6-0 250 pound FB/DL from Thaddeus Stevens JUCO is drawing interest from UMass. He will visit Amherst January 26th.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Lancaster Online has a post on how video turned Hunter into a major-college prospect.

Hunter was First-Team All Conference in 2017.

247Sports has a Q &A story with Hunter.

Hunter is the #1 rated JUCO fullback. UMass is one of the few schools that runs
a pro-set "heavy" (with a fullback). If Hunter signs with UMass, he'll get more reps than most anywhere else.

Hunter has an offer from Howard; drawing interest from a wide range of Power Five schools.

UMass Football News--January 15th, 2018

The UMass Cheerleaders finished 7th nationally in the UCAnationals.

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UMass QB recruit Josiah Johnson accounted for two TD's in the Blue-Gray All-American game. I didn't get to see the game as Mrs Blog and I were making the nearly two-hour drive to Amherst to see the entertaining 2018 Hoops team pull another amazin' comeback. Winning sure makes that long return drive worth it.

The game is still available on ESPN3 replay.

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UConn hires Joe Dunn as offensive coordinator. You remember there was speculation Liam Coen or Brian Picucci could get the job.

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UMass football recruiting 2018--Josiah Johnson III

I've blogged about Josiah Johnson, a 6-5 203 pound QB from the Bolles School in Florida, and a UMass commit a number of times before.

This article has a paragraph on Johnson playing for the Gray team in today's Blue-Gray All Star game.

More information about the Blue-Gray All-American bowl here.

The game will be available on ESPN3 at 2:30 pm.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Gabe Brkic

News-Herald image

Gabe Brkic, a 6-3 170 pound kicker from Chardon, OH has been offered by UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from June of 2017 features Brkic.

Brkic's Kohl's Kicking Camp bio.

Brkic has six offers, with UMass as the only offer from the Northeast.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Malcolm Magee III

I've blogged about Malcolm Magee, a 6-0 177 pound Athlete from Pascagoula, MS twice before.

This article reports on his intent to take an official visit to the University of Louisiana this weekend.

Umass Recruiting 2018--Jalen Scott II

Back in May I blogged about Jalen Scott, a 6-1 280 pound DT from Irvington, NJ.

This article from nj.com updates his recruiting. The article reports Scott will visit UMass just before the February recruiting deadline. The Minutemen were the first team to offer Scott. UConn, Rutgers and Cincinnati are showing late interest.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Habakkuk Baldonado

247Sports image

Habakkuk Baldonado, a 6-5 230 pound DE from Italy, has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article partially features Baldonado.

Baldonado has seven offers including UConn and UCF.

UMass Football News--January 11th, 2018

Hampshire Gazette image

Good News for the 2018 UMass Football team; Matty Vautour reports Bryton Barr will return for next season. The Minutemen had been slated to lose to graduation five of the starting front seven on defense. Barr led UMass with 105 TT's.

Barr's Tweet on his decision.

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Former UMass assistant coach Greg Burns has been hired at Oregon State. Burns coached defensive backs at UMass in 2013.

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Former UMass player and coach Neal Brown is no longer a candidate for the head coaching position at Arizona.

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One who got away:

Robin Jutwreten, a 6-4 235 pound DE from Sweden has verbaled to Ritgers. Jutwreten had visited UMass.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Malcolm Magee II

John Fitzhugh image

I just blogged about Malcolm Magee, a 6-0 177 pound athlete/DB from Pascagoula, MS.

This article reports the offers are piling up for the Ocean Springs football star.

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UMass Football News--January 10th, 2018

Two former UMass assistant coaches are candidates for offensive coordinator at UConn: Liam Coen and Brian Picucci.

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Former UMass player and coach Neal Brown has interviewed for the Arizona head coaching position. If Brown gets the job, I wonder if he'd offer the OC position to Whipple.

KGUN has Brown as the possible top candidate for Arizona.

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Conner Lemeux has been accepted into the Tufts School of Dentistry.

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College football talk predicts 2018 UMass opponent Georgia as #3 in this coming year.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jake Moody

Martha Michalak image

Jake Moody, a 6-1 180 pound kicker from Northville, MI has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Kohl's kicking Camp profile here.

This article from September of 2017 features Moody.

Hometown Life also has a story about Moody.

Besides UMass, Moody has offers from Texas State, Air Force and two MAC teams.

UMass Football recruiting 2018--Caleb Okechukwu II

I've blogged about Caleb Okechukwu, a 6-4 252 pound DE from Washington, DC before.

Okechukwu took an OV to UMass on December 6th.

This article reports he will visit Tennessee on January 26th.

Okechukwu is now up to 13 offers.

UMass Football recruiting 2018--Malcolm Magee Jr.

John Fitzhugh image

Malcolm Magee, Jr, a 6-0 177 pound Athlete from  Pascagoula, MS has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article features Magee's first FBS offer.

Magee holds 12 offers including Troy, Toledo and a number of Sun Belt teams. UMass is his only offer from the Northeast.

UMass Recruiting 2018--Patrick Jolly

Orlando Sentinel image

Patrick Jolly, a 6-1 177 pound Athlete from Tampa, Fl has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Former UCF commit.

Averaged 9.1 yards/carry during HS career.

Also ran track.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports Jolly will take an OV to UMass on 01/26.

Jolly holds 21 offers including Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple and West Virginia from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--January 6th, 2018

Not a lot of UMass news available on the intertubes during this slow period.

James Madison plays North Dakota State in the FCS Championship today. James Madison has won 26 straight games.

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The Buffalo Bills are making their first playoff appearance in 17 years against the Jaguars.

image credit unknown

Vladimir Ducasse has started 12 games for the Bills. Ducasse is now in his eight season as a pro. Ducasse's Wikipedia bio.

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Umass Football Recruiting 2018--Cagan Campbell

Scout.com image

Cagan Campbell, a 5-10 170 pound CB from Tuscaloosa, AL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Also ran a 10.67 100 meters.

Alabama 6A state champion in the 60 meters and the 400 meters in 2016.

USA Today has video of one of his returns.

Campbell currently has 13 offers including Army, Marshall and South Alabama from FBS

UMass Football News--January 4th, 2018

Walter Football has Breneman #8 in TE's draft ranking.

Draft Wite has Breneman #6.

DraftTec has Brnenman #4.

Draftutopia has Brenenman #1 in the 2018 draft.

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Liberty announces its 2020 and 2021 schedules; plays UMass both years.

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Middleborough graduates perform with the UMMB at the Rose Parade.

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How Atlanta became the capital of college football.

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The LA Times reports UCF says they're the true National Champions. The Knights did beat Auburn, who beat both Alabama and Georgia.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Brandon Perry

Perry #21/Hudl.com image

Brandon Perry, a 5-9 155 pound CB from Madison HS in Texas has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

UMass is the first offer for Perry

Recruiting 2018--Jovon Burris

JUCO Football Frenzy image

Jovan Burris, a 6-2 185 pound JUCO DB has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass

Burris visited UMass back in January of 2017. He ended up verbaling to FAU, but has reopened his recruiting.

247Sports two-star player.

Burris also has an offer from Buffalo.

UMass Footbal News--January 2nd, 2018

Matty Vautour predicts UMass will be bowl eligible in 2018.

The Boston Herald says Whipple will have the Minutemen bowl eligible in 2018.

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2018 opponent Ohio has a lot of returning players for the coming season.

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Don Brown says Michigan commit Julius Welschof is no project. Welschof had a UMass visit and offer.

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UMass opponents continue to do well in bowl games.

Jake Bentley leads South Carolina past Michigan in the Outback Bowl.

Mississippi State beats Louisville in the Tax slayer Bowl.

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A Bleacher Report Write has a long look at the various winners and losers from the 2017 bowl season.

The MAC went 1-4, the Sunbelt went 4-1 and Independents went 2-0 in league bowl results.

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News Year's Day--2018

Happy New Year to all the UMass Football fanatics. 2017 brought us four wins. May 2018 bring us six wins and a bid to the Way-the-Hell-Out-There Bowl. I'll tell you right now, I'm going, God willing.

Hope everybody has a healthy and happy 2018.

I'm going to watch the UMMB at the Rose Parade and then I'm going to watch college football all day.

Be back tomorrow with some recruiting news.