UMass Football News--March 30th, 2024

 The 2024 spring roster is up.

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Two UMass running backs, Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams and Greg Desrosiers have entered the transfer portal.

Those two provided the vast majority of the Minutemen's rushing yards in 2023.

Now returning are Jalen John (Brown has said John was Arizona's best guy in 2020), Donta Whack, Jackson Paradis (both Whack and Paradis are coming off injury redshirts) and freshman Da'Marion Alberic.

UMass has a number of scholarships available. The NCAA allows a one-for-one addition for transfer portal losses. So the Minutemen will likely add at least one RB before fall camp.

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Also leaving are DE Marcus Bradley and Viper Nahji Logan.

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Hampshire Gazette image

Former UMass DB Juan Lua signs with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Jacob Laurie

 

Jacob Laurie, a 5-9 175 pound transfer kicker from Vanderbilt has joined the Minutemen.

Vanderbilt bio here.

Also played at Case Western. 

Laurie will add depth to the UMass roster as CJ Kolodziey is a senior this year.

UMass Football News--March 28th

 

Above is Coach Brown's press conference on opening day of spring football. Well worth watching.

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This spring I'm optimistic with two established QB's in Taison Phommachanh and Ahmad Haston. Football offense hangs around the quarterback and if that position is open, it's hard to work on any "fine tuning". It's especially relevant this spring with a new offensive coordinator.

The Minutemen brought in four transfer WR's and two transfer TE's. I think the UMass WR room has significantly more talent than in 2022 and I think it'll show this year.

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WWLP has a post on UMass opening spring ball.

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UConn will have their ending spring practice and fan event on April 21st.

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It appears EA Sports college football will have accurate stadium details. 

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UMass Football News--March 27th, 2024

 The UMass Daily Collegian reports on the opening of spring practice.

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The Greenfield Recorder reports  'it's good to be back ' practicing football.

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The Hampshire Gazette says a record number of players took part in UMass' pro-day.

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College Football News says things are looking up for UMass football.

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MSN reports UMass starts spring practice.

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Games Radar has everything you need to know about EA Sports College Football. 

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Myles Harrison

 

Hudl.com image

Myles Harrison, 6-3 210 pound Edge from Pickerling, OH has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Special mention All-District.

Harrison has eight offers, all from MAC schools. If Harrison likes to rush the passer, there is no better place in football than playing for Don "Dr. Blitz" Brown..

 

UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Terrell Holcomb

Brian Bayless image

 Terrell Holcomb, a 6-3 205 pound athlete from Columbus, OH has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video. 

MaxPreps has stats. 

Second team all-conference. 

Holcomb has ten offers including most of the MAC plus Cincinnati and Marshall. He would fit nicely as an OLB or as Don Brown's "Viper" position.

UMass Football News--March 23rd, 2024

 G5 Football Daily has the biggest MAC football questions for 2024.

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2024 UMass opponent Miami   just wants to get better. The Redhawks  went 11-3 and won the MAC championship in 2023, so better will be a relative term.

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Former UMass OL Larnel Coleman has signed a contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Coleman lettered for the Minutemen in 2017,2018.

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GOOD NAME

I watched Duke-Louisville on the treadmill yesterday afternoon. Louisville was getting good defense from their DB Storm Duck. Note, Louisville has a slow server.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Shiren Mabry

Twitter image

 Shiren Mabry, a 6-3 185 pound athlete from Columbus,OH has a UMass offer.

247Sorts page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Averaged 14.5 yards/carry in 2023.  Averaged 8.7 tackles/game in 2023.

Mabry has seven offers including BC and Kentucky from Power Five. Four MAC schools (including UMass) have also offered. Mabry could play OLB, or Coach Brown's "viper" position.

UMass Football News--March 21st, 2024

 The Greenfield Recorder has a post on the financial aspects of the Minutemen's move to the MAC.

Of interest is the TV rights for Group-of-Five leagues. Currently, CUSA has the lowest TV revenue, followed by the MAC, the Sun Belt, the Mountain West and the AAC.

However the MAC's TV deal is by far the oldest, signed in 2014 and has two years to run. MACtion has been a ratings success, so I expect the new TV package to pay a lot more.

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The Midnight Ride's latest podcast is here.

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UConn has a potential draft pick in Christian Haynes.

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Another round of college football realignment could be in the works if the ACC collapses. 

Clemson and Florida State just sued the ACC about exit fees.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025-Jim Harris

 Jim Harris, a 6-5 285 pound OL from Muskegon, MI has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

This article covers his upcoming visit to Cincinnati. 

Part of M Live's Dream Team.

Harris has 10 offers including Power Five Cincinnati and Pitt. Most of the MAC team including Buffalo have also offered. UMass offers a highly-ranked education and the opportunity for lots of playing time.

UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Paul Nelson

 

Twitter image

Paul Nelson, a 6-2 205 pound LB from Cincinnati,OH has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

Ohio defensive player-of-the-year. 

Nelson has 14 total offers pretty evenly divided between Power Five and MAC teams. BC and UMASS have offered from the Northeast. Nelson is perfect size for Brown's "viper" position. The Minutemen offered early and Nelson could see a lot of playing time in Amherst.

UMass Football News--March 18th, 2024

 Joining the MAC brings tangible benefits to the Minutemen right away as UMass will receive $1.7 million in college football playoff revenue.

More on ESPN's contract with the CFP here.

I think the CFP will be tremendous ratings success and revenue will increase in future years. The money will be in addition to the MAC's media contract. The funds can be invested in the program, or maybe one of the buy games can be done away with.

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The Hampshire Gazette has a post interviewing UMass football and basketball recruits about the move to the MAC.

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The Athol Daily News has a story about Scott Woodward returning to New England as coach at Middlesex.

Woodard was a four-year letter-man for the Minutemen from 2006 to 2009. In addition, he was an assistant coach for UMass 2016-2018.

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UMass Football Blog News--March 13th, 2024

UPDATE: Saturday, 03/16 . Surgery went well. The really big sling/shoulder-harness is a pain in the ass. I hope to restart the blog Monday. See you then.

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Hi Everyone. I'm having shoulder surgery---in about five hours, to repair my rotator cuff. I expect the blog to be offline for a while.

I'll probably be really bored because of the constraints of the sling I'll have to wear for four to six weeks. So, I'll probably be back blogging (typing one-handed) fairly quickly.

Ever read any of e.e. cummings poetry? Who needs capital letters anyway :)

Hopefully, see you soon.

Regards,

Frank

UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Cade Wilhelmi

Brandon Folsom image

 Cade Wilhelmi, a 6-5 275 pound OL from Franklin, MI has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has junior highlights. 

This article covers his visit to Purdue. 

This article reports on his visit to West Virginia.

Wilhelmi has nine offers including Power Five schools West Virginia and BC. Just about all the MAC plus UMass have also offered. He could get an east coast education and also find a lot of playing time Amherst.

UMass Football Recruiting 2025--John Baker

Baker #9, YouTube image

 John Baker, a 6-6 215 pound TE from Cass Technical in Detroit, MI has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video. 

The Red Zone notes his offer from UMass. 

This article covers his visit to Michigan State. 

Baker has thirteen offers including Power Five teams Kentucky, Louisville and West Virginia. A number of MAC schools have offered including UMass. There is a lot of playing time available in Amherst and he could be a good fit with the Minutemen.

UMass Football News--March 11th, 2024

 The Daily Collegian has what the move to the MAC means for UMass football.

The Collegian also has the benefits and challenges of UMass basketball moving to the MAC. 

The Collegian also has "The MAC Conference, special edition".

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The Eastern Echo notes the Eagles will travel to UMass one week before meeting national runner-up Washington in Seattle. 

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If you missed it, the MAC will scrap divisions in favor of three-team pods for 2024.

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Yahoo Sports looks at the future college football playoffs and the scramble for the massive amount of money it will generate.

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Paul Finebaum says Group-of-Five teams don't belong in the CFP. We don't want to share any of that cash with the peasants.

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UMass Football News--March 9th, 2024

 

The UMass "Midnight Ride" collective has their latest "Outside Amherst" pod cast up.

It must have been recorded prior to Wednesday's MAC intro press conference as they talk about how Basketball coach Frank Martin will feel about the change in conferences. I thought Frank was the star of the press conference. He got me fired up. I think UMass basketball is in good hands and has a bright future. 

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In more OT: I watched the Dayton-VCU  game on TV last evening. Remember when Coach Cal got a technical in the NCAA's for being out of the coaches box? In last night's game, both team's coaches were out on the court while the game was in play. In one sequence, on VCU's end of the court, the VCU coach walked about five feet onto the court and pushed his player in the direction he wanted him to go. Another time, one of the refs put his arm around Dayton's coach and towed him off. No technicals were called..

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The Hampshire Gazette has the timeline that led to UMass joining the MAC.

The Gazette reports MAC coaches are familiar with UMass. 

The Gazette also has a post on what made the Minutemen attractive to the MAC.

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Hustle Belt has a post on the UMass introductory MAC press conference. 

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College Football News  predicts UMass will go 0-10 in its 2024 FBS games. 

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UMass Football News--March 8th, 2024

 

If you didn't get a chance to watch the MAC conference introductory press conference yesterday, I'd recommend it.

A.D. Bamford hinted at a capital campaign to upgrade the football facilities and area surrounding the stadium. Chancellor Reyes also seemed as if he was on board for more investments in athletics.

The star of the show was basketball coach Frank Martin who said he was at UMass to win and he was excited about the future of UMass hoops. 

After a decade of wandering in the desert, maybe yesterday was the inflection point for UMass football and basketball. 

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The Hampshire Gazette looks at the timeline behind the move to the MAC.

Western Mass News has a post on UMass coaches reaction to the change in conferences.

The Recorder covers the press conference and the statements by the MAC commissioner and the UMass brain trust. 

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Fox will add a slate of Friday night college football games this year. 

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College Football's early signing period may be moved to the first week of December.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Justin Bell

Hudl.com image

 Justin Bell, a 6-8 288 pound OT from Macomb, MI has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article covers his offer from Indiana.

Bell has nine offers including Power Five Indiana and Louisville. Most of the MAC has offered. There is a lot of playing time available in Amherst as well as the best food in college football.

UMass Football News--March 6th, 2024

 

UMass has a video interview with new Minutemen OC Shane Montgomery.
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The MAC conference releases their 2024 schedule. Ohio State and Notre Dame each play two MAC teams this year.

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Hero Sports has 2024 MAC conference recruiting Rankings.

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I've been saying for years that the Power Five conferences are plotting a super conference. On3 looks at a potential 48 team grouping.

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UMass Football News--March 5th, 2024

 The New England Football Journal has a series of video interviews with college football coaches. Coach Brown's segment begins at 14.50. Brown comments on the move to the MAC and the Minutemen's new offensive coordinator. Be advised the audio is a little rough.

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UMass will live stream Thursday's press conference about joining the the MAC.

Video options include YouTube, UMass athletics and ESPN+.

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Kent Wired.com reacts to the Minutemen joining the MAC. 

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More than 10,000 college football players have opted-in to EA Sports College Football 25.

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UMass Football News--March 4th, 2024

 The Hampshire Gazette has a post on the UMass collectives being excited about the move to the MAC.

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College Football News has a short post on the meaning of the Minutemen's move to the MAC.

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ESPN reports a 14-team college football format "has momentum".

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247Sports has a story on how the proposed 2023 rule changes will eliminate sign stealing and help late comebacks.

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UMass Football News--March 2nd, 2024

 

The UMass Midnight Ride Collective and the UMass Collective (basketball) release a joint statement embracing the move to the MAC and are moving forward.

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UMass basketball coach Frank Martin on his Twitter feed:

2 years ago “change” chose me, today WE chose change. Either way we should always be excited when there is change, because growth follows. The future is exciting. We are UMass.

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The Hampshire Gazette has an interview with UMass legend and ESPN broadcaster Rene Ingoglia on the move to the MAC.

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For 2024, the NCAA proposes allowing helmet communication, a two-minute timeout before the end of halfes and more. 

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UMass Football News--March 1st, 2024

 

 

It's official: We're in.

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Hustle Belt has UMass accepts invitation to join the MAC.

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FB Schedules says UMass accepts invitation to join the MAC starting in 2025.

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247Sports ranks the MAC's 2024 recruiting. 

UMass would be ranked fifth in recruiting if we were in the MAC this year.

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Will the 12-team college football tournament last longer than one year?

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Army joining the AAC leads to UConn and Army cancelling four future games.

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