Saturday, February 29, 2020

UMass Football News--Leap Day 2020

Liberty adds new Independent UConn to its 2022 schedule. The Flames game against UMass will be moved to October 8th.

UMass' revised 2022 schedule is here. The Minutemen's bye week is moved to November 5th.

UMass has a tough away schedule in 2022.

@ Tulane
@ Toledo
@ Temple
@ Eastern Michigan
@ USF
@ Arkansas State
@ Texas A & M

Toledo is usually in the hunt for the MAC Championship. USF is usually in the top end of the AAC and Arkansas State annually battles Troy for the Sun Belt top spot. UMass is 0-3 all-time against Temple and Tulane. Eastern Michigan is no longer the 1-11 team they were when the Minutemen were in the MAC. The Eagles were over .500 in three of the last four years and lost a close game to Pitt in the Quick Lane bowl on December 26th.

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Troy announces their 2020 schedule. The Trojans play at McGuirk on September 12th.

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Appalachian State releases their 2020 schedule. UMass travels to Kidd Brewer stadium on September 26th.

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Friday, February 28, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Ikenna Ugbaja

Image credit unknown
Ikenna Ugbaja, a 6-2 268 pound DT from Belmont, MA has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Rivals.com top-10 player in Massachusetts.

Scout.com ranks Ugbaja #50 nationally in DT's for 2021.

Besides UMass, Igbaja has Power Five offers from Michigan, Rutgers, Syracuse and Vanderbilt. Lots of playing time available in Amherst.

Thursday, February 27, 2020

UMass Football News--February 27th, 2020

Forbes has eight second year coaches who need to turn their programs around. Two years is a narrow window for football.

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College Football News continues their "best case, worse case" 2020 predictions with Akron.

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Human interest story about UConn OL Matt Pearl who stuck it out with the Huskies.

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2020 opponent Troy University opens Spring training with a quarterback battle.

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Appalachian State already has a week of Spring practice under their belt.

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image credit unknown
The Draft Network profiles UMass/Auburn OL Jack Driscoll.

Al.com has a nice story about how Jack Driscoll went from a 200 pound OT to a possible NFL draft pick.

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Wednesday, February 26, 2020

UMass Football News--February 26th, 2020

College Football News predicts a "Best Case, Worse Case" prediction for UMass' 2020 schedule and thinks best case 7-5 and worse case 3-9. Methinks 7 and five is a little optimistic. Three or four wins would be a good start to the rebuild.

CFN also has a complete 2020 Independent schedule and ranks that game each week.

CFN predicts "Best Case, Worse Case" for UConn and has the Huskies winning against UMass both ways.

CFN keeps it going with an analysis of New Mexico State's season.

CFN also does Liberty, Temple, and Army.

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NBC Sports has a list of Spring football games with media information if available.

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BTW, where Temple will play their home games in 2020 is still up in the air.

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Akron loses a starting OL to the transfer portal.

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Tuesday, February 25, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Casey Phinney

Twitter image
Casey Phinney, a 6-1 225 pound LB from Marshfield, MA has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article mentions Phinney.

Besides UMass, Phinney has FBS offers from BC, Army and Michigan plus a number of Ivy schools. The Minutemen are wide open at MLB and lots of playing time will be available in the future.

Monday, February 24, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Justin Shorter

Rich Hundley III image
Justin Shorter, a 6-0 170 pound athlete from Peddie HS in NJ has an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hudl.com has video.

NJ.com All-Area on offense.

Shorter has seven offers including Toledo and North Carolina State from FBS.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Ademola Falye commits to UMass

Twitter image
Ademola Falye, a 6-6 210 pound TE/WR from Brocton, MA has committed to UMass as a PWO.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats.

This article from September mentions Falye as a player to watch in Massachusetts.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" mentions Falye in his February 4th post on the Minutemen's PWO day.

Falye has a big frame and the TE position is wide open at UMass.

Friday, February 21, 2020

UMass Football News--February 21st, 2020

A blog reader sent me this link to an article about the number of scholarship offers by FBS teams.

UMass was 20th in number of scholarship offers. UMass had a better acceptance rate 7.25% than Michigan 6.8%.

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ESPN has UMass as #130 in this preseason poll.

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Australian punter Josh Green picks Fresno State over offers from UMass and Wyoming.

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A win over UMass may have been instrumental in Southern Illinois' offer HC Rick Hill a one year extension.

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Pitt football, the home of former UMass coach Mark Whipple has been placed on three years probation by the NCAA.

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The Hartford Courant says the QB position at UConn for 2020 is "100% open".

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At New Mexico State misconduct  allegations are still simmering.

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Thursday, February 20, 2020

UMass football recruiting 2020--Ryan Bingham commits to UMass.

Bingham #73/Twitter image
Ryan Bingham, a 6-1 305 pound OL from Brookline, MA has committed to UMass as a PWO.

Hudl.com has video.

First Team All-Region.

Visited UMass earlier this month.

Welcome to Amherst Ryan. As the Minutemen continue to rebuild their depleted roster there should be some excellent opportunities for walk-ons to earn a scholarship.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

UMass Football News--February 19th, 2020

Former UMass LB Mike Dawson is OLB coach at Nebraska. Dawson was a four-year letterman for the Minutemen (1994, '95,'96 and captain in 1997).

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Former UMass TE Adam Breneman joins the coaching staff at Arizona State. Breneman lettered in 2017 and was captain in 2018.

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Another article on former UMass assistant coach Keith Dudzinski joining the Michigan staff.

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Meanwhile, things get worse in Stores. Three UConn player face burglary charges.

And the number of Huskies in the transfer portal is up to 26.

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Nice human interest story about Liberty powerlifter Duncan Hundley making the USA powerlifting team a year after tearing a ACL.

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2020 opponent Appalachian State prepares to open Spring football. The Mountaineers return nine starters on offense and again figure to be one of the top teams in the Group-of-Five.

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Tuesday, February 18, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Demarco Cuffey

Hudl.com
Demarco Cuffey, a 5-11 180 pound DB from Waldorf, MD has a UMass offer.

247Sport three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article talks about Cuffey's game saving INT in November.

NCSA recruiting profile here.

Cuffey also has a FBS offer from Buffalo. His NCSA bio says he wants to study Electrical Engineering, so Cuffey fits the profile of the new staff's emphasis on academics.

Monday, February 17, 2020

UMass Football News--February 17th, 2020

Michigan adds former UMass assistant coach Keith Dudzinski as an analyst. Dudzinski was Albany's defensive coordinator prior to the Michigan hire.

He had two stints with the Minutemen. 1998-2001 and with Don Brown 2004-2010..

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UMass opens at #129 in ESPN's pre-2020 power ratings.

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Tennessee Tech hires former UMass assistant Dave Johnson. He spent one year in Amherst (2013).

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Two UConn players were arrested by campus police.

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Troy HC Chip Lindsey says this year's slogan is "Be Trojan Tough".

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New Mexico football embraces social media.

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College Football News ranks FIU's 2020 schedule by strength.

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Saturday, February 15, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Khordae Sydnor

Twitter image
Khordae Sydnor, a 6-4 230 DE from Iona Prep in New York has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Top Ten 2021 recruits from New York.

Nice human interest story about Sydnor when he was ten years old.

Defensive end is a position of need for the Minutemen. Besides UMass, Sydnor has FBS offers from Army and Arizona.

Friday, February 14, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Tyreek Chappell

Lou Rabito image
Tyreek Chappell, a 6-0 178 pound CB from Philadelphia, PA has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star recruit.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

A high three-star recruit, Chappell has 19 offers mostly from Power Five schools. B.C., Syracuse, Rutgers and West Virginia have offered from the Northeast.

Thursday, February 13, 2020

UMass Football News--February 13th, 2020


A blog reader sends us a image from the UMass Club Signing Day meeting in Boston.

More images here.

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UMass and Toledo extend their series to four games. The Minutemen and the Rockets will meet from 2021 to 2024. Toledo is usually one of the MAC's top teams. The Rockets went 6-6 in 2019, but beat BYU, which blew out UMass.

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Former UMass commit Joe Lusardi joins Rutgers as a PWO.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports Tommy Restivo will be the Minuteman's defensive coordinator. Restivo's UMass bio. He was DC for three FCS schools and a defensive position coach at Louisville and USF.

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A Sea of Red looks at fellow Independent Liberty's recruiting footprint.

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020

UMass Football News--February 12th, 2020

The Hampshire Gazette has recruit signings from Williston Northampton.

Quote from Dominic Behrens:

They showed me a lot of love from the beginning,” Behrens said. “I think the next three years, UMass is going to be a whole different program.”

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Florida State adds LSU to its future schedules. UMass and the Seminoles will play on 10/23/2021. The Minutemen will be honorary members of the ACC that year as we play Pitt, Boston College and Florida State.

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Brennon Dingle is mentioned as a possible grad transfer option to Virginia Tech.

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New Mexico hopes their 2020 recruiting class is a foundation for the future. We hear ya brother.

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New Mexico State loses five players to the transfer portal.

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Army DB Elijah Riley enters the NFL draft. Riley had 2 TT and an INT against the Minutemen in 2019.

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Tuesday, February 11, 2020

February 11th, 2020---Redshirt Freshmen

Sometimes last year it felt like we played everyone but the student managers. However, six freshman actually retained their redshirts. A number of them could be in the mix for some significant playing time in 2020

Dariyan Wiley, 6-3 200. Recruited as an "athlete" Wiley played as a WR last year. He appeared in four games and went 3-14 in catches. Wiley had 24 offers coming out of HS including most of the Sun Belt teams plus Navy and Kansas. The WR corps is arguably the most talented and deep unit on the Minuteman squad. Wiley could be a fixture over the next four years.

Taj Jones, 6-2 200. Another "athlete". Jones played defense in 2019 appearing in three games and had 3 UT's. Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" did a post and interview with Jones when he was recruited. Jones chose UMass over offers from Rutgers, Buffalo, Temple and more. At 6-2 he could gain weight and play OLB or he would be a big safety at 200 pounds. UMass needs all the help it can get on defense. Jones could be versatile piece of the puzzle going forward.

Garrett Dzuro, 5-11 200. Dzuro is listed as a pro-style QB but rushed for over 1,000 yards in his senior season in HS. He DNP in 2019. The UMass QB position should be wide open in 2020 and it will interesting to watch Dzuro in the Spring game.

Xavier Gonsalves, 6-3 250. Gonsalves played in one game in 2019 and had 1 UT and 1 AT. He set school records for career, single-season and single-game sacks as a HS junior in 2017. Defensive pass rush is something the Minutemen really need. UMass had 12 sacks for 58 yards (average one per game) in 2019. Gonsalves should be part of the defensive rotation in 2020.

Max Longman, 6-5 320. Longman DNP in 2019. The UMass offensive line rarely had more than seven or eight healthy players in 2019. Longman has a big frame and should help in 2020 and future years.

Xavier Graham, 6-3 315. Graham played in four games in 2020, which was the maximum he could play without burning his redshirt. If he played that many as a true freshman, he could be in the two-deep for 2020. BTW, he's from Niceville, FL same as 2020 QB recruit  Will Koch.

Jacob Orlando, 6-5 230. Listed as a TE, Orlando DNP in 2019. UMass does not return a starting TE in 2020 and the position should be wide open in 2020.

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Monday, February 10, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Devin Lee

Hudl.com image
Devin Lee, a 6-3 265 pound DE from McDonougH, GA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Besides UMass, Lee has FBS offers from Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina and FIU.

Sunday, February 09, 2020

UMass Football Blog News--February 9th, 2020

Hi everyone. After cranking out blog posts seven days a week since last August, I'm going to stop posting on Sunday until things start to speed up for the 2020 season.

If something big happens I'll post it any day.

Have a good Sunday!

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Saturday, February 08, 2020

UMass Football News--February 8th, 2020

The UMass website has the Spring Roster up. Still needs a lot of updates to the bios and stats, so it'll probably go through more versions.

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The website also has an audio version of the Signing Day event, if you want to listen to it as a podcast.

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The news indoor practice facility is complete and operational.

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UConn announces a four game football series with Syracuse. The orange is a team I'd like to see the Minutemen schedule. I've always wanted to see a game in the Carrier Dome.

UConn players weigh in on the Huskies new Independent schedule and the wave of departures. Twenty-four UConn players have headed for the Transfer Portal.

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Liberty loses QB Buckshot Calvert to graduation, but adds dual-threat Auburn transfer Malik Willis. Willis asked for, but apparently did not receive a waiver to play in 2019.

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Speaking of the War Eagles, AL.com breaks down Auburn's 7th ranked recruiting class. Auburn signed the #1 rated running back Tank Bigsby. Can't go wrong with a running back named Tank.

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FIU signed the 247Sports 73rd ranked class.

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Friday, February 07, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2020-- How UMass did in the 2020 recruiting cycle

 UMass is trying to rebound from one of the worse statistical years in its football history. The Minutemen started the 2019 season in the low 50's in scholarships and ended in the high 40's. Visiting teams brought more players in their traveling squads than UMass was dressing as the home team. That number pretty much nullified any coaching gambits. Former UMass head coach Don Brown loved playing defensive "packages" in various circumstances. Last year UMass was not playing any defensive schemes because they did not have any players to scheme with.

The only way out of our misery is recruiting. I do not claim to be an "insider", but this is my take on 2020. A major consideration about thinking about evaluating this year's recruiting has to consider how we did in relation to what.

Considering 2020 in relation to
  1. UMass recruiting history
  2. Our Group-of-Five peer group
  3. Number of recruits
  4. Our roster needs
The 2020 class is second only to Whipple's 2016 class in 247Sports rankings. That class brought us Andrew Ford, Bilal Ally, Isaiah Rogers and more. I've always contended the number of three-star recruits is a good indicator of success in the Group-of-Five. There is a strong correlation between recruiting rankings and football success. Recruit rankings can be arbitrary and wrong, but all the teams have the same error-bars, so things even out. The number of three-stars were:

2020 --21 (most in UMass history)
2019-- 14
2018-- 7 (two left and one never made it past the clearing house)
2017--8
2016--11

Average 247Sports per recruit (to four digits is probably meaningless, two, maybe, is significant):

2020--0.8137
2019--0.8030
2018--0.7885
2017--0.7884 (Top two left)
2016--0.7959

Top Group-of-Five teams generally have three-star recruits in low twenties. Note that say, Toledo has four classes in that range and we have one. Besides the number of three stars, the 247Sports average rating was the highest in UMass FBS history.

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The current #99 ranking is representative of teams we want to emulate.

#95 Liberty (went to a bowl in 2019)
#96 Marshall (went to a bowl in 2019)
#97 Temple  (went to a bowl in 2019)
#98 Texas State
#99 UMass
#100 Georgia Southern  (went to a bowl in 2019)

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UMass could have used a 30+ recruiting class, but we ended up with 25 rated recruits, which was the maximum allowed by the NCAA. None of the recruits were unrated fill-ins.  The Minutemen maxed out in the number of recruits allowed for 2020.

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Coach Bell stated at the recruiting event that we were a couple of years away from targeting specific positions in recruiting. UMass needed numbers above all other considerations.

I think UMass did well in recruiting for both the offensive and defensive lines. The five DL recruits can play for any Group-of-Five team. Coach Bell also said he expected most of the freshmen to play in 2020.

IMHO, the Minutemen still needs more recruiting for quarterbacks, running backs and linebackers, but that will have to be addressed next year.

My take is this year's recruits are about as good as UMass fans could have hoped for. We need more than one year like 2020, but it was an excellent start.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has what we learned from UMass' signing day.

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The Berkshire Eagle reports UMass signed a full 25-man recruiting class.

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Thursday, February 06, 2020

UMass Football News--February 6th, 2020



I had a good time talking to UMass fans and coaches at yesterday's Signing Day Event in the Massachusetts Room at Mullins. The event was SRO. A lot of people from the GridIron Club, which raised a record amount of funds for the football program last year.

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The Spring practice schedule was announced and the Spring game will be Saturday April 25th. Unlike previous regimes, practices are open to the public. Stop down and watch the coaches work.


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Josh Walfish reports Coach Bell feels UMass hit their recruiting goals for this class.

The Salisbury Post has a story on Jonny Hassard joining the Minutemen.

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2020 opponent Albany signs 21 players.

Appalachian State signs 20.

New Mexico signs 23.

FIU signs 21.

New Mexico signs 17. And the Aggies lose four.

Auburn signs the 7th ranked 2020 recruiting class. Sixteen four star recruits...

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UConn coach Randy Edsall says he won't recruit transfer portal players.

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Virginia Tech HC Justin Fuente says players who enter the Transfer portal aren't welcome back.

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Wednesday, February 05, 2020

Letter of Intent Day--2020


Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" looks at expectations for today's signings.

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The UMass website has bios for the UMass recruits.

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NESN will cover the Signing Event live from the Massachusetts Room in Mullins from 1-2 PM. I'm going to drive down to Amherst to be there.

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Ray Thomas-Ishman joins Buffalo.

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Athlon Sports rates the 2019 coaching hires. I don't understand articles like this. Ryan Day walks into a absolutely loaded Ohio State team and gets an A+. Coach Bell joins a UMass team with about 50 scholarship players and a potential sub-900 APR and gets a low mark. Sports writers get paid to crank stuff out, but a lot of times it does not make much sense.

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Meanwhile at UConn, Randy Edsall remains upbeat. UMass and UConn open each others season on September 3rd.

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Tennessee State hires former UMass assistant coach (2013) Dave Johnson.

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Tuesday, February 04, 2020

UMass Football News--February 4th, 2020

Tomorrow is LOI Day. I'm going to attend the UMass Signing Day event and I'll report on it latter in the week.

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College Football News ranks all college football coaches for the 2019 season.

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Former UMass coach Sean Spencer has joined the NY Giants coaching staff.

Sean Spencer's move to the NFL leaves a huge void at Penn State.

I've blogged about Spencer many times here. You can use the "search" box at the top right of the blog page to find posts about Spencer.

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Former UMass player and coach Ben Albert is a possible replacement for Spencer at Penn State. Same deal on the search box.

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Two dozen UConn players have left for the transfer portal since the end of the 2019 season.

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Last Word on Football reviews 2020 opponent Troy's last decade of college football.

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It was a tense year between New Mexico coach Bob Davie and the school's administration in 2019.

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Monday, February 03, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jonny Hassard and Nick Lundeberg commit to UMass


UMass picked up two PWO's this weekend. Jonny Hassard, a 6-4 275 pound OG from Mount Ulla, NC committed to UMass.

I blogged about Hassard just on Saturday.

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Nick Lundeberg is a 5-11 245 pound OC from Acworth, GA.

Hudl.com has Senior video.

1st team All-Region x2
1st team All-Cobb-County x2
 All-State teams x2 

First Team All-County.

Atlanta Journal All-State.

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Sunday, February 02, 2020

UMass Football News--Joshua Brunelle commits to UMass

Twitter image
Josh Brunelle, a 6-0 220 pound LB from Worcester, MA has committed to UMass as a PWO.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from September features Brunelle.

Linebacker is a position of need for UMass.

Saturday, February 01, 2020

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jonny Hassard and Abdoul Kone

Hassard #58/ Twitter image
Jonny Hassard, a 6-4 275 pound OG from Mount Ulla, NC is visiting UMass this weekend.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has senior highlights.

Played in the 2019 South Carolina Shrine Bowl.

2nd Team All-Observer team.

Besides UMass, Hassard has an offer from a FCS team.

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Kone #1/Twitter image
Also visiting UMass this weekend is Abdoul Kone, a 6-3 DE/OLB from Maplewood, NJ

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has senior highlights.

2019 2nd Team All-Essex.

NJ.com Top-40 most underrated players in New Jersey.

Kone has two FCS offers. Drew interest from Rutgers.

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