UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Paris Shand

Twitter image

Paris Shand, a 6-5 240 pound DE from Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, CT has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Originally from Canada.

This article from 247Sports (requires membership) covers Virginia's offer to Shand.

Shand has offers from Central Michigan, Vanderbilt and Virginia plus a number of Northeast FCS schools.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Harrison Ashby

Twitter image

Harrison Ashby, a 6-5 250 pound TE from Pearl River C.C. has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Pearl River bio here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article mentions Ashby.

Including UMass, Ashby has six FBS offers from Liberty, Louisiana-Monroe, North Alabama, South Alabama and Southern Mississippi.

Thanksgiving 2020

The original Thanksgiving was a celebration of triumph over adversity. We UMass fans know a lot about adversity. I'm thankful for all the friends I've met through Minutemen football and the blog.

I'm also thankful this season is over :)

Things got better for the Pilgrims. Things will get better for us too. Enjoy the day and I'll be back doing UMass recruiting tomorrow.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Dan Villari and Chance Nolan II

Some news on two QB's UMass is interested in for the 2020 recruiting cycle. IMHO, the Minutemen absolutely , positively need another QB commit for 2020. We all hope Brady Martin is the man, but UMass could be one turned ankle away from another year of offensive struggles.

I blogged about dual-threat QB Dan Villari back on November 14th, He's reopened his recruiting.

Daniel DeMato image.

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I also blogged about Chance Nolan, a 6-2 186 pound dual-threat QB from Saddleback C.C. back on November 13th.

He just added an offer from Temple.

image credit unknown

A dual-threat QB would be a big addition to the UMass offense. We do not currently have a dual-threat guy on the roster.

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UMass Football News--November 26th, 2019

UMass did not fumble once during the 2019 season.

Bilal Ally went 12-11 GP-GS 166-853 5.1 AVE 7 TD's 63 LONG

Cam Roberson went 12-1 GP-GS 116-355 3.1 AVE 2 TD's 40 LONG

Gilberto Torres went 5-0 GP-GS 33-135 3.8 AVE 1 TD 19 LONG.

UMass averaged 3.5 yards/rush 14 rushing TD's 124.6 average/game

Opponents averaged 6.5 yards/rush scored 50 (!) TD's averaged 299.1 yards/game.

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Josh Walfish reports the young UMass roster looks to grow after a challenging year.

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One thing UMass needs to grow is the roster. I was struck several times during home games it seemed the visiting team had more players on their traveling squad than UMass had on the home side. That included UMass players in a jersey, but not in pads.

BYU had a lot of players during their visit to UMass----and they were all in pads. Visiting teams usually bring about 50-55 players depending on their budget. It's probably going to take at least two recruiting classes to get back to limit, but for next year the Minutemen need to increase the size of the roster to something more reasonable.

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I'm going to be doing a recruiting review by position. As usual, I'll add the disclaimer that I'm not an "insider" and I don't claim to be a football genius. I'll start sometime this week with quarterbacks.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Sammy Solomon

Sammy Solomon, a 6-3 283 pound DT from Pittstown, PA has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

PennLive has a paragraph on Solomon as one of the top available players from PA (scroll to near the end).

Hudl.com has video.

This article features Solomon.

Solomon has offers from mostly Northeast schools. Boston College, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia and Bowling Green have offered. There is lots of playing time available at UMass.

UMass Football News--November 24th, 2019

Well, I actually had a good day at McGuirk yesterday. It was a beautiful clear November day. UMass found its spark in the second half. The Minutemen played with spirit and never quit.

A tip of the hat to BYU who took their foot off the gas. The two faith-based schools, BYU and Liberty showed the most class this year.

In addition to the game,  I got to meet a Blog-friend who at one time led the UMass Olympic weightlifting team. The UMass team would lift in the basement of Boyden. The team did well despite receiving minimal support from UMass (the team only had two bars). Great guy.

I also sat with UMass freshman DL Johnathan Weir's parents. Nice people. Weir is a 5-10 230 pound defensive lineman with a big heart. He led the team in TFL before banging up his knee. Now I have someone personal to root for.

Then I came home and watch the UMass hoops team play Virginia on DVD. The Minutemen basketball team was not intimidated by the #7 Cavaliers. If a few more of those three-pointers fell, it would have been a really tight game. I really like the freshman players.

That's what UMass football needs. We need more talent and kids like Weir who want to be here. Pro Football has "capologists". We need a guy to figure out how to pack as many recruits into the 2020 class as we can get. A big motivated class will turn this thing around. Let's get after it.

Go UMass.

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UMass write-up here.

BYU write-up here.

Cougar RB Jackson McChesney set a freshman rushing record for BYU.

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UConn had a close loss to ECU.

#25 Southern Illinois kept it close against #1 North Dakota State.

Charlotte is bowl eligible with a win over Marshall.

Coastal Carolina lost a close one to Louisiana-Monroe.

Akron lost to Miami earlier in the week.

FIU upset Miami for their first win over a Power Five team.

Louisiana Tech lost to UAB in a game that may have cost Tech the C-USA title.

Virginia ran over Liberty 55-27.

Minnesota beat Northwestern 38-22.

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Game Day BYU--2020

Last game of the 2019 season. The UMass defense has turned out two of their best efforts over the Army and Northwestern games only to not have it reflected on the score. Three INT's , two special team goofs and two go-for-it on forth downs all resulted in opponent scores.

The offense did move the ball last week, but not into the endzone. It would be nice to play a solid game and give the Cougars a hard time today.

There are only so many game days in my life. I'm not going to miss any. I'll be there cheering for the seniors and UMass.

Go UMass!

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The Deseret News has how to watch or listen to the Cougars-Minutemen game.

The News also expects BYU to roll big time.

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The Herald breaks down BYU's offense.

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BYU's game notes.

UMass game notes for Senior Day.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Anthony Smith

Hudl.com image

Anthony Smith (good name), a 6-2 190 pound WR from Huntingtown, MD has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has some stats. Averaged 24.5 yards/catch.

Hudl.com has video.

Smith also has an offer from Navy. He's from Maryland, which is a priority area for the UMass staff.

How's this for clairvoyance,  I randomly chose a UMass prospect this morning and the athletic dept sends him some love soon after. Sometimes I amaze myself how much I control the universe :)

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UMass Football News--November 22nd, 2019

MassLive.com has a story about UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford expecting to announce Minuteman football will have multiple bowl tie-ins through 2025.

This is a big deal for UMass football. As it stands, UMass would not be chosen for a bowl even if eligible. By joining Liberty and New Mexico state with bowl tie-ins, the Minutemen have a goal to shoot for in every season. ESPN provides coverage for many of the made-for-TV bowls. People watch them and they make money (or they would not exist). Along with the new practice bubble, it shows improvements in the program. Now we need some improvement on the field.

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Josh Walfish reports on the last game for twelve UMass seniors. He also talks about eight true freshmen who played this year, thus burning their redshirts. DL Xavier Gonsales, DB Taj Jones, and WR Dariyan Wiley have played less than five games, so they will retain four years of eligibility. Coach Bell said he hope not to have to play OL Xavier Graham as his appearance against BYU would put him over the limit to redshirt this year.

Vanquish the Foe, provides information for BYU fans visiting exotic Boston.

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Flo Football previews the BYU-UMass game.

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The Deseret News reports the Cougars are among the nation's leaders in defensive takeaways.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Robert Kennedy

Twitter image

Robert Kennedy, a 5-10 180 pound CB from Lackawana C.C. has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from October features Kennedy.

Another article from 2018 covers Kennedy's decision to attend a JUCO.

247Sports shows Kennedy making an Amherst visit in December. UMass is his only FBS offer at this time.

UMass Football News--November 21st, 2019

The UMass Daily Collegian says the Minutemen look to the future as they prepare for the last game of 2019.

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Vanquish the Foe has the Cougars depth chart, injury report and more going into the UMass game.

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BTW, the BYU administration extended the Cougars HC Kalani Sitake's contract.

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CBS Sports predicts bowl games for Charlotte, BYU, Louisiana Tech and Liberty.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Xavion Steele

Adam Aranda image

Xavion Steele, a 5-10 180 pound CB from Fullerton College has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Ranked as a three-star player on this JUCO CB rating.

Fullerton bio has stats.

Hudl.com has video.

Twin brother of Xavier Steele.

This article features Steele.

Steele has offers from UTEP, Arkansas State, New Mexico State and San Jose State. I like Steele's brother Xavier. He's a physical player who is probably playing out of position at LB due to UMass' roster issues. Xavion would be a nice pickup for the Minutemen defensive backfield.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jaden Farmer

Jaden Farmer, a 6-1 215 pound LB from National Christian Academy in Maryland has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats.

This article mentions Farmer and his teammate and UMass verbal Tristan Armstrong.

Farmer is from Washington, DC, which is coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim's wheelhouse. UMass is the first offer for Farmer.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Taishan Holmes verbals to UMass

UPDATE: Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post about Holmes committing to UMass and some quotes from him.

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Taishan Holmes a 6-2 300 pound DT from Garden City C.C. has verbaled to UMass.

I blogged about Holmes back on November 4th.

Holmes is the second DT in the 2020 recruiting class. According the the 247Sports UMass scholarship distribution page, the Minutemen have zero senior or junior defensive tackles, which shows the state of the roster. All the 2019 freshmen DL's played this year.

If Holmes comes in for Spring semester, UMass might be able to assign him to the 2019 class, which would open another slot for 2020.  See rule #2 here. The Minutemen were probably under the 25 man limit in 2019.

Welcome to UMass and I hope he has a great career with the Minutemen.

UMass Football News--November 19th, 2019

Vegas has BYU a 40.5 point favorite over UMass.

Keepers College Football rankings has the Cougars by 50.9

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Vanquish the Foe comments on the Vegas Spread.

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The Salt Lake Tribune reports BYU notches another bowl berth.

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247Sports says take UMass and the points.

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The Daily Herald reports the BYU defense led the way against Idaho State.

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UConn might have a chance against ECU Saturday.

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To go 6-6 and be really bowl eligible Boston College has to win one of their last two games against Notre Dame (8-3) or Pitt (7-3).

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UMass Football News-November 17th, 2019

 Blog Note: Comments are shut off for the rest of the season and probably longer.

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Another pretty good defensive effort from the Minutemen "D" was undercut by two special teams miscues and a interception. The UMass forced three turnovers and held Northwestern on downs four times. Logan Darby led the Minutemen in tackles and Xavier Steele's INT was a gem. Again, the defense only gave up one long breakaway run.

I liked the offensive scheme, but despite gaining 310 yards, we never really got it going. UMass did not score any points off the three turnovers. Andrew West threw another bad interception (and stood watching the return, which probably got him pulled from the game). Brito did not move the offense while he was in the game in the second half.

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UMass write-up here.

Josh Walfish says UMass wasted their best defensive effort.

Josh also reports the QB situation continues to haunt UMass.

The Northwestern site reports the Cats ran past UMass.

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A number of UMass 2019 opponents had bye weeks.

Southern Illinois beat Western Illinois for the Saluki's fifth straight win.

Coastal Carolina lost by one to Arkansas State.

AL Tech lost to Marshall for its first league loss.

Army ran past FCS VMI.

BYU overpowered Idaho State.

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Game Day Northwestern --2020

OK, here we go again. Playing a Big 10 would be tough at any time, but this year it will be even more of a challenge. I'm hoping we can get more production on offense. Having the defense on the field most of the game will hurt even against the Wildcats offense.

As long as everyone plays hard and keeps competing I'm OK. The freshmen will be getting reps and that will help next year.

The older I get the more I admire people who don't quit. The video below is on my power lifting exercise mix I take to the gym and meets. Turn your computer speakers all the way up.

I'll be watching and cheering for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!

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Northwestern releases their injury report and uni combination for the UMass game.

The game will be available on the Big Ten network.

It looks like it will be available on Fox Sports online.

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Josh Walfish reports the UMass defense remains resilient.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL FANS, WE'RE TOTALLY NORMAL

College football fan shoots lifelong friend during an argument over the LSU-Alabama game.

Key quote " surrendered without incident after finishing watching the game."

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jiovanny Holmes

247Sports image

Jiovanny Holmes, a 6-2 190 pound safety from Cleveland, OH has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

247Sports reports Holmes will be taking an OV to UMass.

This article from July features Holmes.

Holmes has offers from Cincinnati, Akron, Eastern Kentucky, Kent State and Rutgers.

UMass Football News--Ides of November 2019

CBS Sports looks at the Northwestern-UMass game.

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The Daily Northwestern looks at the Wildcats 40-point edge.

TDN chronicles Northwestern's lack of explosive plays.

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College Football News predicts Northwestern will win 52-7.

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The Daily Herald power-ranks BYU's opponents after last week's results.

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BC Interruption wonders if the Eagles would go bowling with a 5-7 record.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Dan Villari

Peter Frutkoff image

Dan Villari, a 6-3 205 pound dual-threat QB from Massapequa, NY has a UMass offer.

247Sports page.

Hudl.com has video.

Rushed for 209 yards and 5 TD's in October.

Villari is currently a Fordham commit, but the UMass offer happened in October. He also has an FBS offer from Buffalo.

UMass Football News--November 14th, 2019

Inside the new UMass practice bubble. It'll give UMass baseball a winter practice space too.

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The UMass Daily Collegian says UMass-Northwestern is a collision between two really struggling offenses.

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Inside NU has a Q &A with Bennet Karoll.

Inside NU also reports Saturday will be the Wildcats Senior Day.

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The Daily Caller reports Northwestern coach Pat Fitzpatrick "just wants to win by one".

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The Salt Lake Tribuen says the answer my friends about BYU football is blowing in the wind.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Chance Nolan

Twitter image

Chance Nolan, a 6-2 186 pound dual-threat QB from Saddleback, C.C. has a UMass offer.

247 page here.

Saddleback stats here. 68.3% completion average, 2,613 total yards, 290 yards/game, 30 TD's.

Saddleback bio here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article covers his offer from Oregon State.

Nolan has offers from Oregon State, New Mexico State, South Alabama and Troy.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Daylin McLemore

Glen Cody image

Daylin McLemore, a 6-3 200 pound dual-threat QB from San Mateo, CA has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

MaxPreps has stats.

Had a season ending injury in October.

Besides UMass, McLemore has offers from San Diego and San Jose State. Drawing interest from UCLA and Cal.

UMass Football News--November 12th, 2019

The UMass Daily Collegian says UMass was steamrolled by Army.

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Inside NU has UMass game notes, injury report and more.

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Meanwhile, BYU coaches have another interesting QB choice to make.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports BYU shares a lot with faith-based Liberty.

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UConn is still searching for a QB.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Onuma Dieke

Dieke #2/ Ben Ennis image

Onuma Dieke, a 6-5 185 pound WR from Atlanta, GA has a UMass offer.

247Sports Page here.

Senior highlights here.

This article features Dieke.

Besides UMass, Dieke has an FBS offer from Southern Alabama.

UMass Football News--November 11, 2019

Northwestern is a 39 point favorite over UMass as per Vegas.

Keepers College Football Rankings has the Wildcats by 51.5

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The Chicago Tribune has Northwestern second-to-last (Rutgers) in the Big 10 power ratings. Just to make things worse, the Wildcats hoops team lost to Merrimack.

Against Purdue, Northwestern scored a touchdown, the first in a month.

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Meanwhile in Provo, BYU looks for bowl eligibility against a weak November schedule.

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UMass Football News--November 10th, 2019

First off my apologies to the UMass defense. The opponent rushing record did not fall and Army only broke loose once. The score does not reflect the effort the Minutemen defense made. Army could have taken a knee on its last possession. Coach Bell went for a trick play inside the UMass 15 yards line (and it should have worked). Two more scores were the result of really bad INT's thrown by Brito and West. The defense battled all game. They forced a turnover and generally were competitive with Army.

The offense was horrid. Brito was 6 of 16. The UMass running game averaged 1.0 yards/carry. We really do not have a QB on this team. Not a lot to say about a performance that bad.

Besides Brady Martin, we could also use a QB transfer or a JUCO in the 2020 class.

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UMass write-up here.

Army coverage here.

The Hampshire Gazette has a story on the game here.

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UConn lost to Cincinnati 48-3.

Southern Illinois won their fourth straight.

Charlotte rallied past UTEP.

Coastal Carolina was run over by Louisiana on Thursday.

FIU was run over by FAU.

Louisiana Tech crushed North Texas for its eighth straight victory.

Liberty gave BYU all it could handle but lost 31-24.

And the misery continued for Northwestern as a late field goal sent them to 1-8.

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Game Day Army---2020

UMass will meet Army on a cold, but sunny day in West Point. Wish I was there. As Independents, an annual game between the schools would be awesome. West Point on the Hudson is just a great place to watch college football. The Corps of Cadets and Michie Stadium makes a wonderful venue.

As I have noted this week, Army is not a good matchup for us this year. What the Black Knights are good at (running the ball) is what we are terrible at (defending the run).  UMass needs more offense to make the game even moderately interesting. I sincerely hope future trips to West Point will be more fun.

I'll be watching today and cheering for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!

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Josh Wlafish reports on the rise of Gilberto Torres in the UMass RB rotation. Torres UMass bio. Torres ran well against Liberty when he got some blocking. He ran 12 times for 52 yards most of it coming during his first series.

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CBS Sports has how to watch or listen to Army vs UMass. Here in Milford, NH my Comcast sports package shows the Minutemen game.

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Army's game notes for UMass.

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Northwestern sports a patriotic look for the Wildcats game against Purdue.

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The Herald predicts a BYU victory over Liberty..

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UConn faces a big challenge against #20 Cincinnati.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Krishon Merriweather

Twitter image

Krishon Merriweather, a 6-0 230 pound ILB from Garden City C.C. has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Garden City bio here.

Hudl.com has video.

Currently leading JUCO football in tackles.

Merriweather currently has six offers including UTEP and Toledo from FBS.

UMass Football News--November 8th, 2019

It looks like it will be another tough afternoon for UMass tomorrow. Army comes into the game #13 in the nation in rushing offense. The Black Knights average 4.75 yards a rush and 252.1 rushing yards/game. UMass is dead last in FBS giving up 6.43 yards/rush.

The Army offense is designed to be a grind-it-out clock control game. It probably won't work out that way Saturday as the Black Knights will be ripping off  a likely 15 yards/play. Unlike Liberty, who abandoned their high-octane passing offense to run between the tackles, Army has no real way to take their foot off the gas. The current UMass opponent rushing record is by BC with 518 yards in 1973. That record should fall early.

One thing that could help is to get more production on offense. UMass is #118 in total offense in 2019. Some clock-control of our own could help keep the Army offense off the field.

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CBS Sports looks at the UMass-Army game.

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Against the Odds looks at the Minutemen-Cadets point spread and more.

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The Boston Herald reports UMass tries to right the ship against Army.

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The San Diego Tribune says Army looks to halt a five game losing skid against struggling UMass.

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Athlon Sports thinks Purdue will score 21 points against Northwestern and that will be enough.

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BYU's latest QB Baylor Romney is described as "unflappable".

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Rodney Mathews

Hutchinson C.C. image

Rodney Mathews, a 6-2 278 pound DT from Hutchinson C.C. has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Blue Dragons bio here.

Besides UMass Mathews has FBS offers from South Alabama and Central Michigan.

UMass Football News--November 7th, 2019

UMass has their game notes for Army up.

Army has their notes up for UMass.

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The Daily Collegian reports UMass prepares for run-heavy Army.

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Fan Duel previews the Minutemen-Army game.

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Hammer & Rails previews the Purdue-Northwestern game.

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Fan Sided has Northwestern and Rutgers in the bottom four for Power Five teams.

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The Daily Herald reports the BYU defensive linemen are embracing rush-3 challenges.

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IF YOU DRIVEN ROUTE 9, THEN YOU'VE PROBABLY MET HER.

Northampton driver  crashes into trailer.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Cole Bailey

Twitter image

Cole Bailey, a 6-6 250 pound strong-side defensive end has a UMass offer.

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Twitter feed here.

Defensive end is a position of need for the Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Taishan Holmes

Garden City imabe

Taishan Holmes, a 6-2 330 pound DT from Garden City C.C. has a UMass offer.

Hudl.com has video.

Originally signed with Virginia State out of HS.

Garden State bio here.

UMass is Holmes' only offer as of now.

UMass Foothball Recruiting 2020--Justin McGriff

ASA College image

Justin McGriff, a 6-6 215 pound WR/TE  from ASA College in Miami has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Originally signed with Nebraska.

Hudl.com has video.

ASA Miami bio here.

Also has FBS offers from Florida Atlantic and Arkansas.

UMass Football News--October 4th, 2019

A See of Red has notes from Liberty's blow out win over UMass.

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Vegas Insider has Army over UMass by 35.5.

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Keepers College football rankings has the Cadets by 45.

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Bleacher Report says Army football is being part of something bigger than yourself.

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Inside NU has a post on Northwestern's historic offensive ineptitude. 

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BYU's big win over Utah State puts the Cougar's on a path to bowl eligibility.

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UMass Football News--November 3rd, 2019

Well several things deserve recognition during yesterday's game. First, the UMass fans. At halftime, after the biggest miss-match in decades, nobody booed as the team left the field. Liberty had 49 points and 503 yards of offense at the half. That's stunning.

The second, is the UMMB and the 30+ high school bands put on a really great Bad Day show. Nice work.

Lastly, a tip of the hat to Liberty. The Flames not only played their third-string QB most of the second half, they spent the last 20 minutes of the game trying not to score. They almost did anyway, but you can't blame a third-string QB trying to run it in with a lot of green turf ahead of him.

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UMass write-up here.

The Liberty website said the Flames shattered records.

The UMass Daily Collegian reports UMass suffered a record breaking loss.

Josh Walfish reports Liberty shredded the UMass defense.

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In a more uplifting story, the Telegram reports on Holy Name football player Andrew Debs, who plays in memory of his father John Debs, who played for UMass in the early 80's.

Thanks to the blog reader who pointed me to the story.

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Southern Illinois beat Indiana State for the Salukis' third straight win.

Charlotte rolled past Middle Tennessee.

Akron was run over by Bowling Green to go 0-9 for the season.

FIU defeated Old Dominion 24-17.

Army lost to Air Force 17-13.

The misery continued for Northwestern as the Wildcats lost to Indiana.

Cougar fans were happy as BYU routed rival Utah State 42-14.

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Game Day---Liberty 2020

Once more into the breach my friends. Another tall order for the Minutemen as we hook up with one of the top offenses in the Group-of-Five section of FBS.

I hope to continue to see improvement in the UMass offense. We do have a running game and I'd like to see more production with passing. A spread offense with a season high passing total of 239 yards against UConn is nothing to brag about. UMass is averaging 9.6 yards/catch and opponents 13.4.

Liberty likes to throw the ball with over a thousand more passing yards than rushing this year. They average 6.4 yards/play and 408.9 yards a game. For the UMass defense it's all about improvement. Play the freshmen and get game reps.

I'll be there cheering for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!

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This is very cool. UMass football supports UMass field hockey.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Liberty game.

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The Liberty Journal reports Coach Hugh Freeze leads the Flames into their first official year in FBS.

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Navy rolled to a 56-10 victory over UConn last night.

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UMass Football News--November 1st, 2019

Enjoy Andy Isabella's 88 yard TD against San Francisco last night.

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CBS Sports previews the Libery-UMass game.

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In its last four games of 2019 UMass faces two Power Five teams (Northwestern and BYU) plus Army, a team that specializes in rushing (something UMass is particularly bad at defending) and Liberty.

Liberty has a very good offense. The Flames are ranked #65 in FBS in total offense. The Flames are led by Stephen (Buckshot) Calvert. Any QB whose nickname is "Buckshot" has to be pretty good. Calvert has gone 154-255-3, 60.4% 150.5 EFF 2164 YARDS 16 TD's and 27.5 yards/game.

Calvert has NFL-bound 6-4 220 pound WR Antono Gandy-Golden as his primary receiver. The Flames WR smoked the Minutemen defense last year going 9-205 and 2 TD's. This year Gandy-Goldman has gone 48-945, 19.7 AVE , 6 TD's 118.1 yards a game. Note that Gandy-Goldman is closing in on 1,000 yards receiving in only eight games. He's currently #2 in the nation in receiving yards.

Liberty is #105 in total defense. The Flames have also been dealing with some defensive injuries. The Minutemen should be able to score 28 points of so. Unfortunately , Liberty's offense is going to score probably twice that.

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Liberty's game notes for UMass.

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CBS Sports has media notes for Air Force vs Army.

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247Sports has ten things about Northwestern-Indiana.

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