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Led Buford to the 2020 AAAAAA state championship.
Daniels has eleven offers including UAB, Middle Tennessee State, Troy, FAU, FIU Charlotte, Bowling Green and Appalachian State. UMass is the only offer from the Northeast although Harvard is interested.
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I blogged about Reirden back in December.
Hudl.com has video highlights.
Welcome to the Minutemen and I hope he has a highly successful career in Amherst.
UMass names Kyle Segler as TE's coach. He replaces Jon Bills.
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Speaking of TE's, Vols Wire has an audio interview with Coach Bell discussing his coaching career.
In the interview Coach Bell speaks highly of the Minutemen's tight end room and says UMass will be playing a lot of "12" offensive packages.
In package designations the first digit is the number of running backs and the second the number of TE's, so 12 means one back two TE's.
That also determines the number of wide receivers on the field (i.e. 11 players, five linemen + the QB minus the number of backs and TE's, so two WR's in a "12" package.
00-- no RB's, no TE's, five WR's
01--no RB's 1 TE, 4 WR's
02--no RB;s, 2 TE's, 3 WR's
10--1 RB, 0 TE's, 4 WR's
11--1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR's
12--1 RB, 2 TE's, 2 WR's
13-1 RB, 3 TE's, 1 WR
20--2 RB's, 0 TE's, 3 WR's
21--2 RB's, 1 TE, 2 WR's
22--2 RB's, 2 TE's, 1 WR
23--2 RB's, 3 TE's, 0 WR's (usually called the "Jumbo" package)
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UConn is "amped" for Spring football and Coach Edsall is enthused about RB Kevin Mensah.
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2021 opponent Florida State is looking for their first winning season since 2017.
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College Football News has UMass #130 in power ratings going into Spring ball.
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I blogged about UMass offering Lemieux back in February of 2019.
Lenmieux redshirted in 2020 so he should have four years of eligibility. He's the eleventh Orange player to declare for the transfer portal this year.
Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has another UMass sports update with some football coaching changes.
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Could UMass' Cato June be a candidate for LB coach at Michigan?
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Fellow Independent New Mexico State was crushed by FCS Tarleton State 43-17 in its Spring opener.
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How hardcore "NCAA Football 14" fans have kept the game alive for the past eight years.
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This article from September 2020 features Nicolas.
UMass is the first offer for Nicholas. Also drawing interest from Northeast schools Syracuse, Buffalo and BC.
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There are several articles mentioning the UMass offer. The Gettysburg Times has articles here and here.
Besides UMass, Richardson has an offer from Coastal Carolina. Also drawing interest from a number of FCS schools including Ivies.
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UConn finalizes its 2021 schedule. Note it is likely UMass-UConn in 2022 will be in November.
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Former UMass LB Xavier Steele lands at Arizona State.
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Spring football for FCS teams starts tonight, but it looks like most will be on the for-pay ESPN+ service.
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If you didn't see the Notre Dame-Clemson game in November, YouTube has a commercial-free full game replay. If you like college football, this is a great game.
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TE is a position where the Minutemen need players. Garrettt could see playing time early in Amherst. Besides UMass, he has offers from Dartmouth and Boston College.
Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post that includes some coaching changes at UMass football and more.
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Former UMass RB Jared Cole gets a PWO offer from Virginia Tech.
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UConn will play Yale this year for the first time since 1998. The Huskies beat Yale 63-21 that year. UMass fans remember UConn beat UMass twice in 1998, our National Championship year.
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Business Journal says the return of EA Sports College football will be a big boost to the Orlando economy.
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FCS football returns this weekend with a number of games mostly on ESPN+. No CAA games.
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MaxPreps has some stats. 3618 rushing yards and 57 rushing TD's in three years.
UMass is the first offer for Nobles. Drawing interest from Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Toledo and Troy.
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Sun Sentinel All-Palm Beach 8A-6A first team offense.
From the above article:
"Scott was a jack-of-all-trades for the Panthers. He ran the ball 10 times for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He caught 13 passes for 239 yards and another three touchdowns. He added 109 kickoff-return yards and had a touchdown. On defense, he had 17 tackles and four pass deflections."
This article features Scott.
Besides UMass, Scott has FBS offers from FAU and Pitt. He could follow Isaiah Rogers from UMass special teams to the NFL.
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Ran a 4.32 (stopwatch) in November 2020.
Smith probably projects as a WR/CB in college has offers from Air Force and Old Dominion. He's a versatile athlete who could play on either side of the ball in Amherst.
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Hudl.com has video highlights.
Sanchez has eight FBS offers. UMass, UConn, Buffalo, Central Michigan and Old Dominion from the Group-of-Five and Power Five offers from Syracuse and Indiana. Sanchez is a pro-sized WR who could play early in Amherst.
College Football News has the 2021 Independents composite schedule.
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The Maine Black Bears will receive $300k for their visit to McGuirk in November.
“We go into those games looking to win,” UMaine head coach Nick Charlton said. “We won a game a few years ago and have been competitive in others.”
UMass is 1-1 against Maine since the Minutemen moved to FBS.
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College Football News looks at New Mexico State's 2021 schedule.
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CFN looks at Army's 2021 and expects the Black Knights to be bowl eligible.
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CFN also looks at UConn's 2021 season and says at UMass is a "must win" game.
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Former UMass QB Scott Woodard joins Liam Coen on Kentucky's staff.
Woodard lettered with the Minutemen in 2006, '07,'08 and 2009.
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A petition has been started to allow UMass athletes to practice and have their season.
The Minutemen athletes have been among the best in the nation in managing their COVID exposure. Punishing them for other students bad behavior is just wrong. This blanket policy should be amended to allow UMass athletes to practice and play.
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Army announces their 2021 season. UMass plays at the Black Knights on November 20th.
Record Online previews Army's schedule including a capsule on each opponent.
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A Sea of Red reports the Flames are ranked #43 in a preseason power ranking.
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Hudl.com has video highlights.
Del Grande, an athletic big man, has offers from Army, Coastal Carolina, Kent State and Navy. He would find the best food in College football and a chance of a lot of playing time in Amherst.
I would think having the athletes working in their normal routine, supervised by the coaches would create less risk than returning them to regular student venue. They all want to play, or prepare for spring ball in the case of the football team. Peer pressure would help the players behave responsibly and be careful in their activities.
In December I came across an article that stated there had not been one documented case of COVID transmission on the football field. I meant to link to that article and now I can't find it again.
So all those bitter hysterical articles over the summer on how school athletics departments were sacrificing players safety because of greed were flatly wrong. If there had been on the field transmission, we could be sure the media would be trumpeting it to the high heavens.
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Meanwhile, EA Sports may be bring back College Football. Hopefully, UMass will have the brains to allow the Minutemen to be included.
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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has what we learned from UMass' National Signing Day 2021.
I like the fact Coach Bell and and his staff used COVID chaos to bring in some Power Five transfers. In addition, his 2019 class will be in their third year in the program. I would like to see some progress this year. UMass should beat the two FCS teams. We should be competitive with the Group-of-Five FBS programs. No more 40-0 blowouts.
UMass plays three Power Five teams (Pitt, BC and Florida State). We also play the two best teams in the Group-of-Five (Coastal Carolina and Liberty) away. Of the remaining seven games, going 3-4 is not unreasonable. Since we get Eastern Michigan (2-4 in 2020) and UConn (DNP in 2020) at home, beating at least one of them should be possible. New Mexico State DNP in 2020. The Aggies will play a somewhat strange (Division II?) schedule this spring.
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College Football News has the best case-worse case season for the 2021 Minutemen. CFN says best case could be a 5-7 season; worse case 1-11.
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The Boston Herald reports UMass adds Colorado transfer Tyler Lytle on National Signing Day.
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One player who signed with UMass on Wednesday was Jonathan White, a 5-10 205 pound RB from Hutchinson Community College. His commitment to the Minutemen had not been previously published on social media.
I blogged about White back in October.
White's signing adds significant depth to a position that had only two recruited players. Joining White in this year's class is Kay'Ron Adams, a transfer from Rutgers.
They will join Ellis Merriweather and Jared Cole in the UMass backfield. I don't think either Merriweather or Cole had a chance to show what they could do in 2020. Hopefully, better run blocking will make the running game will make the strength this year.
Kyle Grabowski of the Hampshire Gazette has a post on the recruits.
Joey Aliberti of the Daily Collegian has what you need to know about yesterday's recruit signing.
Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle reports UMass football and Coach Bell wrap up the 2021 recruiting season.
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The Athletic Dept also announced the fall football schedule and Home game events.
UMass fans could see three or four home victories in 2021. Boston College and Toledo (the Rockets just signed their fifth straight best-in-MAC recruiting Class) will be tough. The Minutemen should be competitive with Eastern Michigan, UConn and Rhode Island and Maine.
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Browns Nation recaps the football career of UMass legend Milt Morin.
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Former UMass signee (2018) Josh Jefferson joins Grambling State.
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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on what to expect.
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This is an unusual year due to the COVID changes in recruiting. There were extended "quiet" periods and the NCAA is allowing transfers without penalty. It is uncertain if the turnover in rosters will be the "new normal". You will remember there were a large number of players in the transfer portal in 2019.
The UMass coaching staff stated they would take the full number of recruits allowed (25) in this recruiting cycle.
This class is unusual in the fact the Minutemen are taking six transfers as part of the 2021 class. Recruiting rating services rate by the number of recruits as well as the individual player rankings. They don't consider transfers in the rankings. Six transfer slots has reduced this year's 247Sports recruiting ranking down from last year's.
UMass' decision to take more transfers was probably related to the fact a lot more desirable players were available. The other consideration was probably the state of the UMass roster, which is very thin in upperclassmen.
The regular recruiting class still has 13 three-star recruits, which was twice Whipple's last class. If UMass gets significant contributions from three or four of the transfers, this class will be a big help getting the Minutemen back to respectability.
It will continue to build the number of players on the roster. The Minutemen won't hit the NCAA FBS maximum of 85 this year, but they should get UMass out of the FCS-level number of scholarships.
We'll all know how it went in a couple of years.
Go UMass.
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Hudl.com has video highlights.
This site has some recruiting quotes from Vitti.
Honorable Mention Detroit Free Press All West High School for 2020.
Vitti can play on either side of the ball, which should allow him plenty of opportunities in Amherst.
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Hudl.com has video highlights.
MaxPreps has stats. 4764 yards and 43 TD's in three years.
QB hit list has some scouting on Swann.
This article mentions Swann.
Swann is a high three-star and has 10 FBS offers including one Power Five school. UMass offers a high-quality Northeast education and a chance to make an impact in Amherst.