UMass Football News--August 10th, 2026

 

The WMUA sports team does their third preview of the 2026 Minutemen.

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Rutgers is having an old-fashioned starting QB battle between Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan and returning AJ Surace. 

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247Sports has why Rutgers looks like a sure bet in their opener against UMass.

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Sacramento State adds Oregon to their future schedule and Bowling Green adds Tennessee. 

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Akron's season ticket stunt is attracting celebrity ticket buyers. 

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Sporting News has jersey patch suggestions for 14 major programs.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Nate Ellis commits to UMass

Nate Ellis, a 5-9 190 pound RB/Slot receiver from Williston Northampton Academy has committed to UMass.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

The Minuteman Command has a post on Ellis explaining his commitment to UMass.

Sports Illustrated reports on how four surgeries failed to stop Ellis' football career. 

Ellis had FCS offers from Georgetown, New Haven, Richmond and Rhode Island. Ellis averaged 7.7 yards/carry last year. The Minutemen need all the offensive talent they can find and Ellis should add a number of options for the future.
 

UMass Football News--August 8th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports UMass defensive coordinator Jared Keyte wants cohesive play from the entire defense.

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It turns out that new court decision on a 5th year of eligibility  for  2022 players is pretty complicated.

Keegan Andrews signed with the CFL, so he may not be eligible to return. 

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 Thanks to the blog reader who sent me the above image (click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view). They chose UMass-Missouri for the illustration.

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Remember Anthony Simpson? I was watching  2025 Central Michigan-Michigan full game replay on my Android tablet last night and Simpson came into the game for Michigan. The game was a Michigan 63-3 blowout (but still much better than Naked Celebrity Jeopardy Survivor Chef  that the networks provide). Anyway, for his graduate season, Simpson went 3 GP 1 carry for six yards and zero receptions.

If he had stayed at UMass he would have been one of the featured receivers last year. Hope the money at Michigan was good..   

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UMass Football News--August 7th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports UMass DC Jared Keyte wants the Minuteman defense to communicate, play with violence and connect with each other.

The old saying is offense sells the tickets, but defense wins the games. UMass was dead last in scoring defense last year and that was a major factor in an 0-12 season 

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The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" previews the 2026 Minutemen.

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The College Football Playoff selection committee has made some major changes to how the teams are selected.  Under the new rules, Miami and James Madison would not have made last year's playoffs.

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MAC schools land four of the top rated linebacker recruits from Michigan.

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OT,  but remember when when UMass basketball fans were saying the MAC wasn't good enough for Minuteman hoops?

Toledo currently has the #5 ranked 2027 basketball recruiting class. Ahead of Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana and Gonzaga..

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UMass Football News--August 6th, 2026

 

Press interview with UMass defensive coordinator Jared Keyte.

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Northeast Public Radio has a post on the start of UMass' training camp. 

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The Toledo Blade thinks the Protect College Sports Act is a huge win for MAC teams.

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On3.com says Don Brown is one of the top five high school assistant coaching hires.

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Akron is letting one lucky season ticket hold script their first offensive series of 2026. The MAC blog "By-the-belt" has 10 mostly tong-in-cheek suggestions for the fan.  

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College Football News predicts every 2026 bowl game.

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UMass Football News--August 5th, 2025

 The Minuteman Command looks at the rebuilt UMass defense line.

The Minuteman defensive line was a problem in 2025. UMass had only 13 sacks in 12 games and rarely had defensive pressure on the QB. In addition, bad teams ran the ball on us. Mrs Blog and I drove all the way to Kent State to watch the Golden Flashes run the ball right up the "A" gap for eight yards a pop.

UMass brought in nine DL transfers. Most people think the starting four will be Josh Nobles,  Zakar Morris, Justin Krueger and William DePaepe.

Additional transfer DL's include Zachary Betts,  Kamarion Thomas, Aubrey Melvin, Andrew DePaepe,Hollis Dirstine, and Colin Reynolds.

Romando Johnson and  Tim Passmore should also be in the mix.

UMass should have enough bodies to have some defensive rotation and find an effective starting four. This unit could be the most improved position for 2026.

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Don Brown joins the First Baptist Academy (Florida) staff.  We all wish him well.

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Western Michigan gets some votes in the AP preseason Top-25 poll.

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Yahoo Sports has takeaways from Rutgers first day of fall practice. 

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Sacred Heart places two players on the preseason All-CAA team.

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UMass Football News--August 4th, 2026

 UMass has a couple of picture galleries to get you pumped up here and here.

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Coach Harasymiak's press conference. The video starts about the 10 minute mark.
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The Minuteman Command reports Coach Harasymiak  excited as fall camp opens.

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The Hampshire Gazette says Coach Harasymiak meets with media after first practice. 

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WWLP has a short video on the opening of fall practice.

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College Football News ranks UMass #137 (out of 138) in a preseason list.

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The MAC Reporter Online (which does not have UMass in their site banner) previews the 2026 Minutemen. 

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" lists the MAC preseason Maxwell Award nominees.

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UMass Football News-August 3rd, 2026

 Fall camp starts today.

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Rutgers opens as a 30.5 point favorite over the Minutemen. 

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A federal court has ruled 2022 football recruits have a fifth year of eligibility. 

That released chaos on college football general managers. 

Ryan Mosesso and Keegan Andrews are two players UMass could be interested in from the 2025 roster. 

The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" has All-MAC players who could return for a fifth year of eligibility. 

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 ESPN has listed the non-Power Four CFP chances. Most pundits have been picking Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) to be in the MAC Championship game.

To be in the CFP a non-power four would have to run the table and Toledo clearly has the best chance in the MAC. The Rockets play Michigan State, Temple and San Diego State. Athlon picks Michigan State 17th in the Big Ten (behind Rutgers). 

Western Michigan gets Michigan, Boise State and Rice.  

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UMass Football News--August 1st, 2026

 Minuteman players report tomorrow and Fall camp starts Monday.

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 The WMUA sports team looks at the 2026 UMass defense.

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Central Michigan adds Tennessee and Michigan to their future schedules. 

UMass' schedule takes a step up in difficulty next year when the Minutemen meet Indiana and in 2028 play both Penn State and Colorado on the road.

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Ohio State will earn $17 million and Notre Dame $20 million for jersey patches. Could UMass sell the rights to a Massachusetts company? It would help if we were not totally hopeless on the field.

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