UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Najhi Logan II

Back in August I blogged about Nahji Logan, a 6-3 215 pound OLB verbaling to UMass.

Updating...

Hudl.com has Senior season highlights. First Team All-League, 88 TT and 19 TFL.

This article from December features Logan

This article features Logan's play in his school's Thanksgiving Day game.

Given the state of the Minuteman linebacking corps, Logan should play early and often.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Miles Turner II

Hudl.com image

Back in July I blogged about Myles Turner, a 6-3 225 pound LB from Bullis School in MD committing to UMass.

Updating his info.

Hudl.com has senior highlights.

2019 Defensive MVP.

With the low number of linebackers on the roster, Turner should be in line for some immediate playing time in 2020.

UMass Football News--December 29th, 2019

If you haven't listened to Adam Breneman's interview with UMass head coach Walt Bell, it's worth a listen. Bell talks recruiting and more.

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UConn is in the process of finalizing a four game series with Buffalo.

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2020 opponent Albany red-shirt freshman QB Jeff Undercuffler was named ECAC Freshman of the the year and also 2nd team All-ECAC.

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Appalachian State's stud RB Darrynton Evans declares for the NFL Draft.

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New Mexico names a new head coach for 2020.

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After a frustrating loss in the Military Bowl, Temple looks forward to the 2020 season.

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FIU loses two starters to the transfer portal.

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Auburn looks at Wednesday's trip to the Outback Bowl as a business trip.

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A Sea of Red previews Liberty's 2020 season and predicts a 56-14 Flames victory over UMass.

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UMass Football News--December 28th, 2019

UMass currently has 27 commits listed in the 247Sports 2020 Minutemen recruiting page.

The NCAA currently allows 25 scholarships per year. A couple of the listed recruits may blue shirt and Spring arrivals can be added to the 2019 recruiting class if it did not exceed the limit (and I don't think it did). Nevertheless, it would seem the 2020 class is mostly complete.

A small number of scholarships are probably still available. The 2020 transfer portal could be one option to try to add immediate help to the 2020 class.

One area of need that has not yet received a lot of recruiting help is linebacker.

UMass did not recruit any LB's in the 2019 class. In 2018 (Whipple's last class) UMass signed three LB's of whom only DaShon Ross is still with the team. The 2020 class has two linebackers. That's effectively three linebackers in three years.

The transfer portal lists 75 linebackers (if I counted right) available. From the Northeast (where the coaching staff might be familiar with the player's history) 247Sports shows three portal linebackers from UConn, two from Pitt and one from Rutgers.

2019 Penn State transfer Jarvis Miller went 12-11 GP-GS 60 TT (fourth on the defense) 4.5 TFL and 1.0 SACKS.

It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff will try for any of the available transfer linebackers.

UMass Football News--December 27th, 2019

The Berkshire Eagle has a post on UMass QB commits Kyle Lindquist and Will Koch.

The article mentions QB's in the transfer portal:

"There are 58 quarterbacks in the Transfer Portal according to 247sports.com. Among the players who are immediately eligible to play in 2020 are Anthony Brown from Boston College, Michael Beaudry from UConn, Mo Hasan of Vanderbilt, and Jett Dudley of Texas Tech. None of those players have been actively linked to UMass as of now."

 Four scholarships for QB's (counting Brady Martin and a potential grad transfer) would be more than I'd like to use given the state of the rest of the roster, but a senior transfer might solidify the whole position.

BTW, UMass freshman QB recruit Will Koch was just named the area Offensive-Player-of-the-Year.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has some upgrades to the UMass recruiting class ratings.

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2019 opponent BYU lost to Hawaii on Christmas Eve.

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Fellow 2019 opponent Louisiana Tech is known for its offense, but the Bulldogs defense smothered Miami last night in the Independence Bowl.

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UMass Football News--December 26th, 2019

I totally missed this. O.C Johnson,  5-10 165 pound WR from DeMantha Catholic set the all-time UMass true freshman receiving record in 2019. My UMass record book does not have records by class, so I can't report who's record Johnson broke.

Johnson went 12-10 GP-GS 37-272 7.4 AVE 2 TD's 40 LONG.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a profile and Q & A with JUCO QB recruit Kyle Lindquist. We all knew the Minutemen defense would struggle in 2019, but the non-functioning offense was much worse than I expected. I expect a new starter in 2020 and a whole new depth chart at the QB position. Lindquist will be in for Spring ball and I hope he or Brady Martin or Will Koch will lead us out of the wilderness.

FYI, UMass QB's had a combined EFF rating of 103.41. Opponent QB's were a collective 178.23....

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Christmas Day ---2020

Merry Christmas to all UMass coaches, players , fans and blog readers. May Santa bring us 25 scholarship recruits, 4 or five gray shirts or blue shirts and a dozen walk-ons.

I'm still having fun with the blog (although 2019 certainly made it major effort to do so ) and I intend to keep it going in 2020.

Keep the faith everyone!

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UMass Football News--December 24th, 2019

Bond company announces the completion of the new UMass practice facility and stadium upgrades.

"A brand new 96,000 square foot synthetic turf practice field was installed parallel to McGuirk Stadium, complete with a seasonal air supported structure to accommodate football, soccer, rugby, lacrosse, baseball and recreational sports during the winter months."

The new facility is 240 feet wide by 400 feet long and is 80 feet high.

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Tajae Sharpe had five catches for 69 yards and two TD's in the Titans game against the Saints this weekend.

This video has both of Sharpe's TD sequences.

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Dear Santa:

Please have Brady Martin sign his LOI soon....

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Viczaril Alobwede

Twitter image

Viczaril Alobwede, a 6-5 230 pound DE from Stone Mountain, GA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

247Sports also has senior highlights.

UMass is the only offer listed on 247Sports.

UMass Football News--December 22nd, 2019

If you haven't listened to the UMass Plant the Flag podcast interview with Coach Bell on the early recruiting day results, it's here. It has some good news that will be ignored in many circles. Coach Bell relates the team GPA set another record for the Fall semester. In addition, the team APR was the highest of the FBS era. It's also interesting to hear his comments on the recruits.

UMass' current 247Sports 149.51 recruiting ranking would put us

• 3rd in the MAC
• 3rd in Conference USA
• 2nd in the Mountain West
• 4th in the Sun Belt.
• 7th in AAC (ahead of Temple and Houston)

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Isaiah Rogers continued to rake in the honors as he was named All ECAC as a DB and returner.

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2019 opponent Charlotte lost to Buffalo in the Bahamas Bowl.

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Liberty, known for their high-octane offense, did it with defense to beat Georgia Southern in Cure Bowl. I watched the game and the Flames shut down Georgia Southern's vaunted running game, holding the Eagles to 4-17 on third down attempts.

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FIU lost to Arkansas State 34-26 in the Carmella Bowl.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Edward Vesterinen

Twitter image

Edward Vesterinen is a 6-4 240 pound DE from Finland who has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

A member of Brandon Collier's European recruiting service.

Hudl.com has video.

Vesterinen also has a FBS offer from Coastal Carolina. UMass needs all the recruiting streams it can get and the Minutemen need DE's, a weakness that persisted through the whole Whipple era. Vesterinen would make a strong 2020 defensive recruiting class even better.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Te'Rai Powell signs with UMass

Twitter image

Te"Rai Powell, a 6-0 188 pound Athlete has signed with UMass. This is the Minuteman's 19th signing of the 2020 recruiting cycle.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Originally verbaled to Rutgers before the coaching change.

MaxPreps has stats.

Powell had 14 offers including Army, Navy, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan and Bowling Green. Also took a OV to Boston College.

UMass Football News--December 20th, 2019

A couple of quotes from Coach Bell on the recruiting.

"What a day! Thanks to everyone that helped us throughout the recruiting process on our campus, on the road, and in every town in which we recruit. More surprises to come! Let’s go! Recruit, develop, coach."

Bold my emphasis.  I think there is more positive recruiting coming in this class.

Coach Bell to Josh Walfish on his Twitter feed.

"Listening back to Bell from earlier and this quote stuck out about keeping commits loyal to UMass: "For us the whole thing was understand what you see on tape and what you see on Saturday isn't why you're coming, you're coming to ensure it doesn't ever look like that ever again."

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If you missed it Marken Michel is back on the Phildelphia Eagles practice squad. Fan Sided has three reasons to promote Michel from the practice squad.

Jackson Porter signed with the Indianapolis Colts practice squad in late November.

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Nearly 20 UConn players have entered the transfer portal.

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UMass Football news-- December 19th, 2019

The UMass website has football welcomes 18 signers on the first day of the early commit period.

Josh Walfish report the Minutemen bulk up in the trenches.

The Berkshire Eagles says UMass inks 18 signatures on the first day of the early signing period.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on what we learned from the early signing period.

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My take on the recruiting class is that it's an excellent start. Rivals has UMass as #80 and 247Sports has the Minutemen 82nd. Recruiting rankings are highly subjective, but also tend to have a high correlation to actual success. For example: 247Sports has the top-five recruiting classes for 2020 as Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and LSU. Hard to argue with those results.

UMass needs more than one year to turn things around. When Western Michigan went from 0-11 to a New Year's Day bowl, the Broncos had three MAC leading recruiting classes in a row.

I liked the emphasis on linemen. Since UMass moved to FBS we have never ranked higher the #100 in rushing offense. We are currently #115 through the end of regular season. Generally, if you can run the rock, you've got a good looking offense (and a good looking QB). The Minutemen signed three OL and two running backs. I'd like to see a marked improvement in the rushing offense in 2020.

UMass also signed two QB's, which should impact the other offensive problem the Minutemen had in 2019, the fact we did not have a QB. I like Kyle Lindquist. He comes out the California JUCO leagues that gave us Todd Bankhead. Hopefully , he'll have a similar impact.

In addition, the class contains five defensive lineman. As everyone knows, DL's are the scarcest recruits. The class has a rush defensive end (something UMass has not had since Ali Ali-Musa).

Linebacker is one area that's going to take another recruit class. This class has two LB's and we could use about six or seven.

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In another moral booster, The Far Side is back. My all-time favorite comic has returned here.

 
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Early Signing Day 2020

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on what to expect in the early signing period.

Josh Walfish reports UMass has important holes to fill in this recruiting class.

Josh also has a post on Coach Bell expecting the most highly rated recruiting class in UMass history.

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The UMass Football Tweeter feed has the signings as they come in.

The first new commit who had not previously verbaled to UMass is 6-2 RB Ellis Merriweather. I blogged about Merriweather on Monday.  

Merriweather fills a real void in the UMass roster. Along with Jared Cole, the two RB's should add depth and talent to the Minuteman running back corps.

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I'll be back with any news on new recruits later today.

Well, that didn't take long. Joe Horn, a 6-1 300 pound OC from the Hun School has signed with the Minutemen. I blogged about Horn back in June. Horn adds another highly rated offensive lineman to this year's recruiting class.

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UMass also adds Will Koch a 6-0 195 pound pro-style QB from Niceville FL. I blogged about Koch here. That's three new commits so far today.

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The Minutemen just added Cody Jones, a 6-1 185 pound DB from Sandy Creek, GA.

Jones 247Sports page. Three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Chose UMass over FBS offers from Buffalo, Akron and Georgia Southern. Four new commits today.

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OK, I gotta go and shovel snow. More blog updates later today.

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UMass adds a big addition to the signed class with Sammy Solomon. He's a 6-3 295 DT who chose UMass over offers from BC, Rutgers and Syracuse. I blogged about Solomon back in November. UMass currently has 18 early signers.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kyle Lindquist verbals to UMass

Kyle Lindquist, a 6-4 212 pound pro-style QB from Butte College has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

I blogged about Lindquist last Saturday.

#6 ranked JUCO pro-style QB in the nation.

Also NorCal Conference Offensive Player-of-the-Year.

The Minutemen really need some effective QB play. Hopefully Lindquist and Brady Martin will start the renaissance.  I'm excited about seeing both of them play for UMass.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Ellis Merriweather

Twitter image

Ellis Merriweather, a 6-2 225 pound RB from Garden City C.C. visited UMass this weekend.

247Sports page here.

Garden City bio here.

Hudl.com has video.

I thought I had blogged about Merriweather before, but apparently not. He is currently committed to Texas Tech as a PWO. Lots of playing time available with the Minutemen as well as a scholarship.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Onuma Dieke verbals to UMass

I've blogged about Onuma Dieke, a 6-4 185 pound WR from Atlanta, GA twice before.

He Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

Dieke is a pro-sized receiver who should prosper in the UMass spread offense. He chose UMass over an offer from Southern Alabama.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Will Koch

image credit unknown

Will Koch, a 6-0 195 pound pro-style QB from Niceville, FL is making an official visit to Amherst this weekend.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from October features Koch.

Koch has an offer from Southern Mississippi and a PWO for UCF.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Robert Kennedy III

I've blogged about Robert Kennedy, a 5-10 180 pound CB from Lackawana C.C. twice before.

During the NJAA Championship game Kennedy was around the ball all night. Lots of playing time available in in Amherst.

He also has a FBS offer from Marshall.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kyle Lindquist

Kyle Lindquist, a 6-4 212 pound pro-style QB from Butte College will take an OV to Amherst this weekend.

247Sports Page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from 2018 talks about Lindquist joining Butte.

Fresno State bio here.

Threw for seven TD's in one game this season, which broke Aaron Rogers record at the same school.

Another article on Lindquist's seven-TD game.

Matt Bates image

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Albert Reese IV

Albert Reese IV, a 6-7 295 pound OT from Edmonton Alberta is taking an official visit to UMass this weekend.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

National Prospect ID.com has some info.

Reese has two FCS offers. Drew interest from Arizona.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jackson Manning verbals to UMass

Jackson Manning a 6-5 240 pound TE/DE has verbaled to UMass.

I blogged about Manning way back on Monday.

The Minutemen need help on both positions Manning plays. It'll be interesting to watch his career. Welcome to Amherst.

UMass Football recruiting 2020--Holden Willis

Sammie Dunlap image

Holden Willis, a 6-4 205 pound WR from Greenback, TN has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Class 1A Division Mr. Football.

Recently received a PWO offer from Tennessee.

Willis currently has six offers with UMass as the only offer from FBS.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Evan Anderson

Evan Anderson, a 6-3 325 pound OG from Orlando has a UMass offer. Recently had a home visit by the Minutemen staff.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Anderson has FBS offers from Bowling green, FIU, FAU, Kent State, Toledo, Troy and USF. It all starts with the OL. Lots of playing time available up in Amherst.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Dymere Miller

Dymere Miller, a 6-0 175 pound Athlete from Salisbury School took an OV to UMass last weekend.

247Sports page here.

Salisbury School has an extensive bio here.

This article from 2018 has Miller #91 in the top 225 players from Pennsylvania.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Also Daily Local News 2019 All-Area Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Miller currently has five offers with UMass as the only offer from FBS.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Tyrell Lawrence II

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Tyrell Lawrence, a 6-7 344 pound OT from Clearwater International Academy has a UMass offer.

He took an OV to UMass last weekend.

I blogged about Lawrence back in May.

Hudl.com has 2019 video.

Lawrence is getting late interest from Syracuse, Pitt and Minnesota. Check the rosters Tyrell; Power Five interest is great, but UMass is where the playing time resides.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jackson Manning

Jackson Manning, a 6-5 240 pound TE/DE from Kennesaw, GA made a visit to Amherst this weekend.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

NCSA recruiting profile here.

UMass is the first FBS offer for Manning. Both TE and DE is a position of need for the Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Onuma Dieke II

Ben Ennis  image

Onuma Dieke, a 6-4 185 pound WR from Atlanta, GA recently had a home visit by the UMass staff. I blogged about Dieke back in November.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from October features Dieke.

This article has some stats from his junior year.

Dieke also has a FBS offer from Southern Alabama.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Mike Mikula verbals to UMass

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Mike Mikula, a 5-11 180 pound WR has Tweeted he'll attend UMass as a PWO.

Hudl.com has video.

NCSA Recruiting profile here.

MyPrepWeek.com has a Q & A with Mikula here.

Welcome to UMass Mike. Hope you have a fun career with the Minutemen.

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Blog Note: No blog post tomorrow, December 9th.

UMass Football News-- December 6th, 2019

I watched the NJAA Championship Game last night. Links to the box score, photos and more here.

Robert Kennedy, a 5-10 180 CB had a good game for Lackawanna. He had 5 TT and 2 BKUP's . I've blogged about Kennedy before. The game featured defense and the two teams had over 20 total TFL.

The 247Sports UMass Pennsylvania prospects lists only Kennedy from Lackawanna. The Minutemen do not appear to be recruiting anyone from Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Another write-up on the game here.

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Pro Football Focus has Isaiah Rogers as First Team All-American. It was a treat watching him run back kicks this year.

Rogers was also picked All-New England.

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Inside Athletics has a interview with UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford. He relates the UMass brain trust wants to build the football program with four-year recruits. He feels retraining recruiting classes is critical to Minutemen future success.

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I read a 247Sports article (and I can't find it again) that related over 1,900 college football players have entered the transfer portal over the the last 12 months. That's a fairly mind-boggling average of over 14 players per FBS program. That would be a projected loss of 58 players per team over a four year period.

This could be the start of a new era in college football if this level of turnover continues. Rebuilding UConn just lost eight players to the portal.

Keeping players may replace recruiting players as the critical dynamic in team building.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Zakee Swann

Tim Wynkoop image

Zakee Swann, a 5-7 170 pound RB from Irvington, NJ has  a UMass offer.

247Sports two-star player.

First Team All-Conference 2019.

This article features Swann. He took a visit to Amherst back in March.

Besides UMass, Swann has FBS offers from Buffalo, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Indiana.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kyle Monangai

Twitter image

Kyle Monangai, a 5-9 203 pound RB from Don Bosco Prep has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Had an ankle injury late in November.

NJ.com has Monangai as one of the top uncommitted New Jersey players.

Monangai has 23 total offers including all of the Service academies plus Buffalo, Cal and Central Michigan from FBS.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Brock Sturges

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Brock Sturges, a 5-10 200 pound RB from Butler C.C. has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Formerly at Arizona State.

Butler Grizzlies bio.

Hudl.com has video.

Sturges has offers from Akron, Arkansas State, Charlotte, Texas State and Western Kentucky.

UMass Football History--Jerry Whechel and Pete Pietz at the Tangerine Bowl

A blog reader sent me a publicity photo from UMass' 1964 Tangerine Bowl.

Minutemen QB Jerry Whechel went 8-14 142 2 TD's and 2 INT's. Whechel also kicked the extra points for UMass and missed one of them. Down 13-0, Eastern Carolina won the game on a late two-point conversion 14-13.

Wehchel lettered for UMass in 1962, 1963 and was Captain in 1964
Pete Pietz was a guard and lettered in 1963 and was Captain in 1964.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Ryan Ives

Hudl.com image

Ryan Ives, a 6-5 265 pound DE from Manatee, FL has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hudl.com has video.

This article mentions Ives.

Ives has seven FBS offers including UMass, Appalachian State, Bowling Green, FIU, Southern Mississippi, Toledo and Tulane.

UMass Football News--December 1st, 2019

Isaiah Rogers ------ if you want to make your stomach lurch, try contemplating this season if Coach Bell had not convinced Rogers and Bilal Ally to return this year.

Rogers is a warrior. He did not quit. In several games, his returns were literally the only offense we had.

Rogers had 42 TT, 3.0 TFL, 1 FF, 4 INTS, 10 BRKU and just for icing on the cake 1 blocked kick.

Thanks for all his work and let's hope he has a career in the pros.

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Matty Vautour has a post on UMass football struggles. He reports some of the roster turnover was due to the A.D. not from Coach Bell.

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