Thursday after LOI Day News

Matty Vautour quotes Coach Morris that many UMass recruits had late FBS interest.

MassLive.com on UMass' signing day.

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Ron Chimelis has an article on the death of Coach Pickett.

Matty Vautour also does a story about Pickett. Both articles have some great quotes by Jimmy Reid and former UMass players.

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This article features QB Brandon Hill's signing with UMass.



Image by CourierPostOnLine.
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This story from the Sun-Sentinel has some quotes about Edward St. Vil signing with UMass.

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Matt Helig is featured in this story about his signing with UMass.


Image by John C. Whitehead/Patriot News




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Twenty three Northeastern players will be playing for other schools this year.

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One we lost to Syracuse.

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Other team's recruiting

• Boston College
• Delaware signs 16
• James Madison signs 19 (always the best as per Micky Matthews)
• Maine signs 14
• New Hampshire signs 17
• Rhode Island signs 13
• Richmond signs 17
• Towson signs 15 (including six from Florida)
• Villanova signs 14 (including 9 from New Jersey)
• William & Mary signs 13

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This article says the Maryland Terps recruited well in Florida because of Coach Brown.

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News ----- Jan 18th, 2010

Vladimir Ducasse has been selected to the Senior Bowl. UMass athletic dept story here. Full roster for the Senior Bowl here.

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Former UMass star James Ihedigbo had another big day for the NY Jets yesterday. He forced a fumble on special teams and continues to make an impact when he plays.

Former UMass star Brian Smith is the quality control coach for the Jets.

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Status of UMass 2010-- Receivers

Image of returning WR Julian Talley is by the UMass Athletic Dept.


In 2009 the receiving corps went:

• 196 REC 2521 Yards 12.9 Ave 11 TD's 67 LONG 229.2 yards/game

In 2008 the receivers went:

• 218 REC 2971 Yards 13.4 Ave 24 TD's 80 LONG 242.6 yards/game
  

In NCAA stats, UMass was 27th nationally in 2009.

For 2010, UMass loses:

• Victor Cruz 10 starts 59-868 14.7 ave 5 TDs 78.9 yards/game
• Jeremy Horne 8 starts 22-297 13.5 ave 0 TD's 27.0 yards/game
• Joe Sanford 3 starts 16-240 15.0 ave 0 TD's 21.8 yards/game
• Matt Silver 10 starts 11-130 11.8 ave 0TD's 11.8 yards/game (TE)
  

That's a total of 102 catches and 1235 yards. Those receivers accounted for 48% of UMass' receiving yards.

UMass also loses some receiving yards from the offensive backfield:

• Tony Nelson 8-68 7.6 yards/game
• Chris Zardas 7-46 4.2 yards/game

Returning for 2010 are:

• Jullian Talley 3 starts 28-350 1 TD 12.5 ave 31.8 yards/game (2nd on team)
• Emil Igwenaqu 3 starts 24-288 0TD's 26.2 yards/game (3rd on team)
• Jonathan Hernandez 4 starts 10-107 0 TD 10.7 ave 10.7 yards/game
  
• Andrew Kervis 1 start 4-45 2TD's 11.2 ave 4.1 yards/game
• Dan Sheeran 1 start 4-35 0TD's 8.8 ave 3.2yards/game
• Aaron Fears 0 starts 3-47 1 TD 15.7 ave 4.7 yards/game

Other receivers on the roster are (all years are for 2010):

• Julian Colarusso Soph 6-4 200
• Tom Gilson RS JR 6-3 210
• Jesse Julmiste JR 5-9 165
• Nick Jablonski RSFR 6-5 220 (TE)
• Rob Blanchflower RSFR 6-4 245 (TE)
  

Notes: The TE position look solid for 2010. Emil Igwenaqu as an "H" back was third in the team in catches and looked athletic while doing so. Andrew Kervis had two of the teams 11 pasing TD's despite not being thrown to much.

The WR position looks more problematic. Julian Talley should start. After him, things look thin. Syracuse transfer Dan Sheeran was originally rated as a pretty good recruit for the Orange. He would seem to have the inside track to be the other wideout in 2010.

JUCO receiver Jesse Julmiste was a late addition to the 2009 UMass squad. He was All-Broward County in 2006 (link is pdf). His Rivals page is here. In his senior year he drew interest from UCF, Memphis, Rutgers and Temple. His highlight tape claims he ran a 4.32 40 in HS. It remains to be seen if Julmiste is a Adrian Zullo type WR or is destined to run back kickoffs.

Receivers is a position that could use some recruiting attention in 2010. Beyond Tally and Sheeran there does not seem to be a lot of Division I talent. Besides any freshman recruits, a JUCO or I-A transfer would be a prudent get.

News --- Jan 4th, 2010

In last Friday's blog post I mentioned the Blog's sister was attending the Tournament of Roses and the Rose Bowl. Attached is an image she took of the Rose Bowl. Click on the image and Blogger displays a much larger view.



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This source says that former UMass HC Jimmy Reid will be hired as the Defensive Coordinator for the Virginia Cavaliers.

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CSN's news site is back up.

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Former UMass star James Ihedigbo had a sack and a FF during last night's frigid Jet-Bengals game.


Image by Andrew Mills Star-Ledger.

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Saturday News ---- 06/20/09

MgoBlog has a wish list for Michigan's still unfilled opening date in 2010. Looking at the list, IMHO the only FCS/I-A teams that would settle for a "one-and-done" series are under the "Why bother" category. 'Course Michigan will have to pay them double what the Minutemen will get.

The Michigan Daily has a comment about the opener and a remark on the UMass game.

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Josh Buchanan previews the Southern Conference. Will Appalachian State end up in the National Championship game after a one year absence?

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David Coulson has a new entry in his "Around FCS" column. It's called "Milking a new cash cow." Right now in the CAA, probably only Delaware and James Madison could afford the $100K guarantee.

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