UMass Football News--July 31st, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post and interview with new DL recruit Josh Atwood.

If coach Bell and the defensive staff are serious about playing a 3-4 defense, I don't believe we currently have a true NT on the roster. If Atwood can develop into a FBS NT, he would be in line for a lot of playing time.

Remember when we played Wisconsin? The Badgers played a 3-4 then and they still do. Athlon sports picks Bryson Williams as the starting NT for Wisconsin. He's 6-2 300 pounds. Williams was a three-start recruit, BTW.

Williams benefits from having DE's like 6-7 283 pound Isaiahh Loudermilk beside him, but UMass has to start somewhere and having a big, athletic NT would be a great start.

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Josh Walfish previews Minutemen 2019 opponent Northwestern.

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Yard Barker picks UMass as one of the 25 worst teams in 2019.  The list includes a number of 2019 opponents including UConn, Liberty, Rutgers and more.

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NJ.com has four story lines for Rutgers before the Scarlet Knights open against UMass.

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One downside of being paid for writing is you have to crank out copy even when you don't have much to say. Inside NU has Northwestern's 2019 opponents as Democratic primary candidates.

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UMass Football recruiting 2020--Reggie Marks commits to UMass

Twitter image

Reggie Marks, a 6-4 300 pound OG from Lackawanna Community College has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

First team All-Chesapeake Division in 2017.

Lackawanna went 11-0 last year.

UMass was the first offer for Marks.

UMass Recruiting 2020--Josh Atwood verbals to UMass

Hudl.com image

The Minutemen continued on a big recruiting weekend as Josh Atwood, a 6-2 305 pound DT from Natick, MA announced he's coming to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Two-time Bay State Conference All-Star.

This article from December of 2018 features Atwood.

UMass was the first offer for Atwood. Drawing interest from UConn, Wake Forest and several FCS teams.

UMass Football News--July 29th, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has an interview with 2020 LB recruit Myles Turner

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Donald J. Johnson, UMass football  letter winner in 1953, 1954 and captain in 1955 has passed away.

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"On the Banks" a Rutgers blog looks at the Scarlet Knights 2019 opponents.

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A Deseret News writer thinks Liberty, Idaho State and UMass should be "gimmes" for BYU.

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Eyabi Anoma, a 6-5 245 pound five-star LB from Alabama has entered the transfer portal. His hometown is Baltimore, MD.

Calling Coach Aazaar...

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A Cincinnati.com writer thinks the AAC should have demanded a bigger exit fee from UConn.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Myles Turner verbals to UMass

Twitter image

Myles Turner, a 6-1 222 pound MLB from the Bullis School in Silver Spring MD has Tweeted he's coming to UMass.

I blogged about Turner a week ago yesterday.

I havn't been blogging on Sundays during the off season, but the Minutemen had a big Friday in recruiting with the transfer of Notre Dame CB Noah Boykin and Turner verbaling  to UMass on the same day.

Turner had eleven offers from FCS. Drew interest from BC, North Carolina and Wake Forest.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Noah Boykin transfers to UMass

Twitter image

Noah Boykin, a 6-2 170 pound CB from Notre Dame has announced he's transferring to UMass.

247Sport four-star player.

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

Notre Dame blog "One foot down" also has an article on Boykin's transfer to UMass.

Boykin's Notre Dame bio.

UMass DC Aazaar Abdul-Rahim's recruiting connections in the DC area probably were the reason Boykin chose the Minutemen.

Boykin will probably have to sit out 2019 and be eligible to play in 2020.

UMass Football News--July 27th, 2019

Josh Walfish continues his 2019 opponents preview and reports Army has the means to keep rolling.

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The Charlotte observer picks the wins and losses in Charlotte's 2019 schedule and predicts a win over UMass.

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The Journal Inquirer reports UConn will pay $17 million for their exit from the AAC. Those are real, not accounting dollars.

The Sporting News says UConn will go independent starting in 2020.

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Athlon Sports ranks the Big Ten's schedules. The Minutemen play two Big Ten teams in 2019.

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UMass Football News--July 26th, 2019

 Image of McGuirk with new video board.

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Josh Walfish previews UMass 2019 opponent Liberty.

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Fan Sided looks at Florida State's offense after hiring Kendall Briles to replace Walt Bell as offensive coordinator. Note that the article does not mention Coach Bell only got to call the plays during the last (four?) games of the season.

Fan Sided also ranks UMass #122 (ahead of UConn) in a preseason review.

Fan Sided also predicts a close victory for Army over the Minutemen.

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A Purdue blog previews 2019 UMass opponent Northwestern.

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Hustle Belt previews Akron's 2019 season.

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UMass Football News--July 25th, 2019

The Hartford Courant has what UMass can teach UConn about life as an Independent.

The Capital Gazette reports Randy Edsall is not worried.

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A 6-10 OL from Germany with a UMass offer commits to Arizona State.

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Marc Lawrence playbook handicaps the 2019 Independent teams.

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Hustle Belt has key story lines for 2019 opponent Akron.

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My Fantasy Sports previews Pitt and Mark Whipple's offense.

Pitt Coach Narduzzi is confident about the Panther offense under Whipple.

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UMass Football News--July 24th, 2019

The College Sports Journal has a rather minimal preview of the 2019 UMass football team.

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The Week #1 College Football TV schedule including UMass@Rutgers.

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The Scarlet Nation says the story lines are set for Rutgers fall training camp.

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Our old friends at Hustle Belt preview 2019 UMass opponent Akron.

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OT, but ESPN discusses if UConn can return to their glory years in basketball. The Huskies brain trust certainly proved that to them hoops is the only thing that matters in Storrs.

UConn is an oddball fit in Big East (AKA the private school Catholic conference). Grab some popcorn and we'll see if it works out.

The UConn Blog (good name) previews the Huskies special teams for 2019.

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The Daily Progress reports Liberty AD Ian McCaw thinks the Flames program is entering a "Golden Age". Liberty won six games in their first year in FBS. The Flames beat Old Dominion (UMass is 0-2 against the Monarchs) and Group-of-Five power Troy in their first year. The Flames return fourteen starters and should be even better this year.

If you missed it, the Flames added former Auburn dual-threat QB Malik Willis recently.

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UMass Football News--July 23rd, 2019

A writer for Yahoo Sports previews the FBS Independents and has a poor opinion of UMass' chances in 2019.

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Josh Walfish previews 2019 UMass opponent Louisiana Tech.

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Ian McCaw talks about Liberty football, bowl tie-ins for the Flames and Liberty's interest in scheduling other Independents.

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John Clifford image

The Rome Sentinel profiles former UMass LB George Lewis. He was a four-year letter winner for the Minutemen in 1978, '79, '80 and '81.

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Andy Isabella was interviewed on the Jim Rome show.

CBS Sports says Isabella is poised for a week #1 role with the Cardinals.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Amaar Allen

Allen #55/Twitter image

Amaar Allen, a 6-3 250 pound DT from Pittsburgh, PA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Penn Live.com has him as one of the top unsigned players in Pennsylvania.

Allen has ten offers: seven from MAC teams plus FIU, Liberty and UMass.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Myles Turner

hudl.com image

Myles Turner, a 6-1 222 pound MLB from the Bullis School in Maryland has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Turner has twelve offers, all from FCS except for UMass.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Bryon Shipman

NJ.com image-photographer unknown

Bryon Shipman, a 6-2 205 pound WR from Jersey City, NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Scout.com top-fifty player in New Jersey.

NJ.com has Shipman as one of New Jersey's top-ten unsigned players.

Shipman has seventeen offers. 247Sports has him considering UMass, Cincinnati, Rutgers and Western Michigan.

UMass Football News--July 19th, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has five questions with Rutgers' Scarlet Nation.

BTW, Rutgers is hoping a $100 million upgrade in their athletic facilities will improve their results.

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The Big Ten network show will be at the UMass-Rutgers game on August 30th. Maybe they'll give a little space for UMass.

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Neil Brown talks about his connection with Brandon Collier.

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Chicago Now.com reports Illinois FCS teams play tough schedules. Southern Illinois plays two FBS opponents (UMass and Arkansas State) as well as four preseason FCS top-25 teams.

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Pitt WR Maurice Ffench is eyeing a breakout year in Mark Whipple's offense.

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Hookem.com previews Army and says maybe only Michigan stands in the way of a 13-0 Black Knights season.

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UMass Football News--July 18th, 2019

UMass and Arkansas State sign home & home contracts for 2022-2023.

UMass has six former Arkansas State coaches on the staff.

We want to be like the Red Wolves when we grow up. Arkansas State has gone 39-25 in the last five years. In 2018 the Red Wolves were 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the Sun Belt. Athlon Sports 2019 magazine described an 8-5 record and an appearance in the Arizona Bowl as "disappointing" for Arkansas State.

The Red Wolves are known for their high octane offenses. They averaged 466.7 yards a game in 2018 good for #17 nationally in FBS.

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Scarlet Nation ranks UMass #11 of 12 contests in Rutgers' 2019 season.

APP.com has a story on the questions that will await the Scarlet Knights HC Chris Ash at the Big Ten Media Day.

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Forbes looks at the complicated financial details in UConn leaving the AAC.

Speaking of the Huskies: UConn AD David Benedict says he is optimistic about football.

CBS Sports says the AAC has no plans to replace UConn.

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UMass Football News--July 17th, 2019

NY Post image

Rutgers football season betting odds released. Rutgers opened at -11 but the Vegas odds have risen to 14.5.

The Scarlet Knights will be an interesting litmus test for the 2019 season. Rutgers went 1-11 in 2018 with their only win against Texas State. The Scarlet Knights did play creditably in the last two games losing to Penn State by 13 and Michigan State by three.

Rutgers played well in pass defense ending up 19th in FBS giving up only 186.7 yards/game; that was good for 4th in the Big ten. OTOH, most teams did not have to pass; Rutgers was #108 in rushing defense.

Freshman QB Arthur Sitkowski struggled last year having 4 passing TD's and 18 INT's. If he looks good against the Minutemen, then it's going to be another long year for the UMass defense. The Scarlet Knights have a one-two rushing punch with RB's Raheem Blackshear (586 yards) and Isaiah Pacheco (551 yards). UMass was #126 in rushing defense in 2018. This game will show if the Minutemen defense has improved or the rebuilding has just begun. Rutgers was #97 in total offense in 2018. Some of that was because they had to play Big Ten defenses from Ohio State and Michigan, but they scored 17 points or less in 11 of 12 games.

Rutgers is a Big Ten team playing at home. They should win against UMass. Despite that, I think the Minutemen have a chance to keep it close. Just how close probably depends on how much progress has been made with the Minutemen defense.

The Scarlet Nation says one game could shape Rutger's season.

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The Middletown Press says both the AAC and UConn are shooting for the Moon.

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How Southern Illinois scored 41 points against a SEC defense.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Najae Hallenbeck

247Sports image

Najae Hallenbeck, a 6-4 290 pound OT from Toms River NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

NJ.com has a story from yesterday featuring Hallenbeck.

This article from late 2017 by NJ.com features Hallenbeck's first offer from Rutgers.

Paula Lopez image

Also plays basketball. Had 17 points and 16 rebounds in this game.

Besides UMass, Hallenbeck has offers from Rutgers and Central Michigan.

UMass Football News--July 15th, 2019

Mike Traini  has ESPN's winning chances for UMass' entire 2019 season.

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Bobby Deren of 247Sports "Scarlet Nation" has a Q&A with Mike Traini of "
Fight Massachusetts"

NJ.com looks at how many games Rutgers will be favored in this season. Hint: UMass will be one of two.

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UMass Athletic Dept image

NFL Draft Diamonds interviews UMass WR Sadiq Palmer. Palmer was UMass' second leading receiver in 2018. He went 12-7 GP-GS 28-419 15.0 AVE 2 TD's 38 LONG.

With Isabella graduated and the switch to a spread offense, Palmer could have a break out year in 2019.

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Mountaineer Sports discusses WVU recruit Victor Wikstrom. Mentions Brandon Collier and Wikstrom had a UMass offer.

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The Tampa Bay Times looks at things to watch for in the AAC Media day, including AAC re-alignment and UConn football.

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NCAA.com has the ten oldest college football stadiums. Two of them are in Massachusetts.
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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Myles Bailey

Mike Cipot image

Myles Bailey, a 6-0 180 pound RB from North Brunswick, NJ has a Minutemen offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

UMass is in the top five.

Rushed for 172 yards, three TD's and set his school's career rushing record in November 2018.

Bailey has ten total offers including BC and Syracuse from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--July 12th, 2019

UPDATE-UPDATE-UPDATE!

The UMass Football Twitter feed has a nice video of the McGuirk construction. I had some images of the construction on my blog yesterday. The Athletic Dept obviously has a drone. Mrs Blog has not yet authorized my drone purchase 😀

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Josh Walfish has two UMass 2019 opponent previews:

Coastal Carolina and Charlotte.

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The Tampa Bay Times ranks every 2019 game involving Florida teams including UMass-FIU.

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The Valdosta Daily Times tries figure  how UConn's move to the Big East will turn out financially.

Speaking of the Huskies, Fan Sided has a four page 2019 preview.

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Saturday Blitz has five teams in peril of going winless in 2019. One of them is UMass.

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CBS Sports has coaches on the hot seat including UConn's Randy Edsall and Rutgers' Chris Ash.

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UMass Football News--July 10th, 2019

I happened to be near Amherst last evening, so I stopped by McGuirk to look at the construction. The practice field is a large area and I think it's going to be a big addition to the UMass football complex. There will be East and West new bathrooms and the new courtyard will be nice.

Click on an image and Blogger displays a larger slideshow.

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Underdog Dynasty has the three most important games of UMass' 2019 schedule.

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Bleacher Report has a report on German QB Alexander Honig. Mentions UMass a number of times.

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The News Advance has ten moments that shaped Liberty's 2018 schedule.

Speaking of Liberty, the Flames just got a highly rated QB transfer from Auburn.

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247Sports has ten burning questions for Rutgers football.

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Athlon Sports has Mark Whiple #17 in the top-35 coordinators hires for 2019.

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UConn lands verbals from two 2020 tight ends.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Hugo Klages verbals to UMass

Hugo Klages, a 6-3 235 pound DE from Germany via Canada has verbaled to UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

247Sports fifth-ranked player from Germany.

Visited UMass last month.

DE is a position of need for the Minutemen. Chose UMass over FBS offers from Cincinnati, FAU and Kent State.

UMass Football News--July 9th, 2019

ESPN has updated its 2019 team power rankings. The UMass predicted win total of 3.6 wins is about 2.6 wins more than I was expecting before Coach Bell was hired.

UMass rated #125
UConn #126
Akron #123
Charlotte #121
Coastal Carolina #118
Liberty #114
Rutgers #92
La Tech #90
FIU #72
Army #67
Northwestern #52

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BYU is rated as having a 91.3% winning chance over the Minutemen.

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Rutgers will bring three players to the Big Ten Media Day.

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College football's Week #1 TV schedule. UMass-Rutgers will be on Big Ten TV.

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Liberty will have a 56.9 % chance of beating UMass per the ESPN power rankings.

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The Buffalo News wonders if the AAC could be in the Bulls future.

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Athlon Sports predicts five of UMass' 2019 opponents will be invited to  a bowl. Army, FIU, BYU, La Tech and Northwestern are the teams named.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Osei Dixon and Freddie Brock verbal to UMass

I just blogged about Osei Dixon Friday and he commits the next day.

Dixon chose UMass over offers from Army, Air Force, Buffalo, Liberty, Old Dominion, Pitt and Rutgers.

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Also verbaling to the Minutemen was Freddie Brock, a 5-10 170 pound athlete from Rochester,NY.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from October of 2018 features Brock.

Brock's primary position is RB, a position of need for UMass. He chose UMass over four FCS offers including UNH and Maine.

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UMass Football News--July 6th, 2019

Hey, I just received my gift for joining the 2019 UMass Grid Iron Club. Help Coach Bell and the team by joining before the season starts!

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Josh Walfish has his second 2019 opponent previews as he covers Southern Illinois. UMass and Southern Illinois last met on December 1st 2007 when the Salukis knocked Don Brown's team out of the FCS playoffs 34-27. Liam Coen threw for a UMass record 421 yards, but Southern Illinois rang up 462 total yards and scored three times in the first quarter. The Minutemen never caught up. That game was UMass' last appearance in the FCS playoffs.

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Fellow Independent New Mexico State finalizes their 2020 schedule, which includes a November 7th meeting with the Minutemen at McGuirk.

Write-up from the Aggies website.

Underdog Dynasty previews New Mexico State's quarterback position.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Osei Dixon

Sentinel Newspaper image

Osie Dixon, a 6-3 185 pound DB from Laurel, MD has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

A top-fifty Maryland recruit.

Dixon has eleven total offers including Army, Air Force, Buffalo, Liberty, Old Dominion, Pitt and Rutgers.

UMass Football News--July 5th, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports the Minutemen hosted over 200 players in camps this June.

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Sports Illustrated has 16 rookies who could make an impact. Andy Isabella is one of them.

Kyle Murray and Andy Isabella have a fun 40 race at the Cards training camp.

Isabella rises in the Rookie-of-the-Year odds.

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The Ralphie Report wonders if Colorado should leave the PAC12 and join college football's independents.

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Potential UMass OL recruit Joe Horn verbals to Navy.

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ESPN has college football schedule superlatives for the 2019 season.

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UMass Football News--4th of July 2019

As long-time blog readers know, I'm a life long amateur astronomer. Some time ago I contributed to a kickstarter campaign to curate Neil Armstrong's lunar landing space suit. I received the above image today from the Smithsonian.

Armstrong's landing was 50 years ago. I remember John Kennedy and the Apollo program and watching Armstrong step onto the Moon. We had a tiny black & white TV set up on the fantail of my destroyer.

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Hey, Happy 4th to all UMass fans, players, coaches and administrators. America--still the last, best hope of the planet.

And UMass is part of a plucky band of independent football teams. We're on the rise. Enjoy the ride.

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UMass Football News--July 3rd, 2019

Hampshire Gazette UMass beat writer Josh Walfish previews 2019 opponent Rutgers.

Speaking of the Scarlet Knights, they just announced a year-long "Birthplace of College football" celebration.

NJ.com has more on the birthplace event.

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247ports has winners and losers in the transfer portal. One loser is Penn State who lost over a dozen players including senior Jarvis Miller to UMass.

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Athlon sports has college football's top-60 running backs. One of them is USF's Jordan Cronkite who blew up the Minuteman defense with 302 yards on October 6th. Those 302 yards were a USF and AAC conference record.

UMass fans will get to see Isaiah Bowser from Northwestern and Benny LeMay from Charlotte.

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Saturday Down South reports James Madison is eyeing UConn's former slot in the AAC.

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One side effect of UConn's going independent will likely be a yearly game with fellow independent UMass. It would seem logical that A.D. Ryan Bamford could use the leverage to get a yearly basketball game between the two schools.

UConn hoops just got hit with sanctions by the NCAA for violations in the Kevin Ollie era.

Since we already play UConn in Hockey East, there should be an annual trophy for the school that wins at last two of the three games.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Neche Ugwuozor

247Sports image

Neche Ugwouzor, a 6-1 205 pound athlete from the Netherlands has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has some video.

This USA Today article features UMass and Ugwuozor.

Ugwuozor has four offers including UMass and Temple from FBS.

UMass Football News--July 2nd, 2019

NJ.com has a post on Rutgers' over/under being 2.5 wins. NJ.com thinks the Scarlet Knights will beat UMass and Liberty. Rutgers would need to find another win for the over.

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2020 opponent Auburn puts the final touches on that year's schedule.

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WHY WOULD LINEMEN PLAY ANYWHERE ELSE

UMass dining commons continues to rack up honors.

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The York Dispatch wonders what Randy Edsall will be thinking in a couple of years time.

John Rooke of WEEI has some thoughts on UConn's move to the Big East.

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The Daily Caller reminds us July is the final month of 2019 with no college football.

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UMass Football News--July 1st, 2019

It's going to be interesting to see how UConn's move to the Big East plays out. The original Big East had UConn, Syracuse, Rutgers and BC. The current Big East has Providence, St. John's Seton Hall, Georgetown, Xavier, Butler, DePaul, Marquette and Creighton. The league does not sponsor football or hockey. In 2017 seven of the Big East's women's lacrosse teams left the Big East to join the AAC. Most of the basketball schools do not have Field Hockey, so the Big East has five associate members in that sport.

It seems seems to me that except for Men's and Women's basketball, the UConn athletic dept is moving to a really non-power conference in Olympic sports. The Husky women's teams in particular seem to be playing in a de facto Northeast conference.

The new Big East is light years different destination for a school who once dreamed of  joining the ACC.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on 2020 recruit Joe Lusardi.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire has a post on where UMass fits in with conference realignment.

The Middle town Press says UMass offers a blueprint for UConn football.

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The Orlando Sentinel previews BYU and has them ranked #56 nationally.

The Sentinel also has BC at #57. The Eagles only return three starters on defense and lost Zach Allen, Hamp Cheevers and Connor Strachan. Boston College's last five games in 2019 are @Clemson, @ Syracuse, Florida State, @Notre Dame and @ Pitt. The Eagles need to make hay in the first six games.

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