UMass Football News--February 23rd, 2019

WWLP takes note of the UMass stadium improvements.

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Minutemen 2020 and 2021 opponent New Mexico State works on finishing their schedule for both those years.

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Two Massachusetts lawmakers want to ban youth tackle football.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Minutemen 2019 commit Xavier Graham. The 6-3 305 pound Graham is one of two three-star rated OL recruits in the 2019 class.

The 247Sports UMass scholarship distribution page shows Graham and fellow 2019 recruit Bryce Wade as the only three-star offensive linemen on the Minutemen roster.

I've mentioned before that UMass has struggled to run the ball since our move to FBS. As I showed in my February 8th blog note, the Minutemen have not finished above #100 in rushing rankings since 2012. 

As a point of comparison Boston College has one four-star and eight three-star players in their offensive line. The Eagles also have a second four-star recruit coming in.

Let's hope Graham and Wade are the start of an upgrade in the athleticism and run blocking for the O-line.

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