Thursday before the Gators--September 1st, 2016

UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford will be on a live video chat today 3:00-3:30 PM.

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Mark Whipple thinks the Gators are a complete football team.

Dan Malone reports UMass is expecting big things from Penn State transfer Adam Breneman.

Dan also has a report on why national outlets have UMass at the bottom of the FBS heap. No mystery for UMass fans. National writers don't do much but reviews the stats. The Minutemen lost most of their offensive numbers when Frohnapfel and Sharpe graduated. With the toughest schedule in the Group-of-five, and little in the way of returning firepower, the Minutemen would be ranked low. Let's just prove everyone wrong.

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Matty Vautour reports Whipple was pleased with fall camp and practice this week. Matty also reports the true freshman WR's Sadiq Palmer and Elijiah Robinson will make the Florida trip as well as LB Rod Jones Jr. Palmer and Robinson were impressive in the scrimmage I attended and IMHO could end up playing with the 1's by the end of the season.

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Over at BC Interruption they had a round table on expectations for 2016 and the lowest guess was 7-5.

The Boston Herald looks at the good and the bad for the Eagles.

Boston College still has not named a starter at QB.

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KSL.com looks at the second half of the Cougar's schedule and picks BYU over the Minutemen 49-7.

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A Washington State writer thinks the Gators will cover the 36 point spread against UMass.

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Gator WR C.J. Worton is out of the UMass game with a high-ankle sprain.

ESPN Gainsville says Florida has a "three-headed monster" at RB.

The Gators will have five players suspended for the UMass game.

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UConn and Maine play tonight. The game will be on NESN+ and ESPN3.

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Tuesday--August 23rd, 2016

Hey, it's 48 degrees here in Jaffrey this morning! Feels like Fall. Feels like football! Video is UMass cadence. Turn your computer speakers all the way up.

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Let's do the bad news first, Austin Whipple was arrested for DWI Saturday night. Mike Traini of Fight Massachusetts reacts. Don't drink and drive. It's a tragedy waiting to happen. Not to mention the Globe will love something like this.

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Matty Vautour says JUCO transfer could make an impact with the UMass defense this fall. This is a smart move on the part of Whipple and staff. The UMass "D" got the short end of the recruiting numbers for the first couple of years in FBS. Not to mention of the six FBS games we've won, five were due to outstanding defensive efforts. The Minutemen need to fill deficiencies in the roster with JUCO's and transfers. That's just a fact of life for our program at this stage.

Ali Ali-Musa and Tedrick Lowery are sure starters. Linebackers Rod Jones and Colbert Calhoun should be in the rotation. Davone Hall at 6-2 330 gives UMass some much needed size on the DL. Jordan Hamilton was good enough to get an offer from Air Force.

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Dan Malone has a post on the rebuilt Minutemen offensive line. I thought the OL underperformed last year. With five Power Five teams on this year's schedule, a better running game would sure help.

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Tajae Sharpe has graded out as the top NFL rookie so far in camp.

Marcus Mariota says Sharpe makes it easy on the quarterback.

iSportsweb.com reports the Titans had a Sharpe take on their game with the Panthers.

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The Florida Gators open at #25 in the preseason AP poll.

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Austin Burton, a QB from Newton South, who had a UMass offer has flipped his commitment from Boston College to UCLA.

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Hawaii and Cal prepare for kickoff in Australia this Friday.

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Thursday--August 18th, 2016

New McGuirk football banners.

Some Media Day images from the Athletic Dept.

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Mic'd up with coach Walker. Coach Walker's UMass bio

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Dan Malone has a quartet of articles:

Mark Whipple proud of Tajae  Sharpe's transition to the NFL.

Dan reports Marquis Young is ready to lead the UMass RB contingent.

He says UMass wants JUCO transfer Rod Jones to rush the passer.

Dan also reports Infinite Tucker will not attend UMass as he has switched to track. Patrick Volcy and Antoine Webster will grayshirt. T.J. Rayam and Tyler Thompson will attend prep school. That breaks their verbal and they can sign with another school.

Thompson and Tucker were three-star recruits. T.J. Rayam was two star.

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Las Vegas has UMass over/under wins at 2.5

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Matty Vautour has a post on Logan Laurent competition with Mike Caggiano to be starting kicker.

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Florida HC Jim McElwain has suspended two starters for the UMass game due to a training camp fight. Teez Tabor's Florida bio. C'Yontai Lewis' bio.

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BC football and QB transfer Patrick Towles try to put the 2015 season behind them.

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Sunday--August 14th, 2016

I went to the Season Ticket holders town meeting last night. We met with Whipple, had a tour of the Performance Center and watched a spirited UMass practice that lasted over two hours.

Whipple praised Andy Isabella as a much improved receiver and felt Isabella would give us a deep receiver threat.

Of the redshirt freshman, he said Jack Driscoll was going to start on the OL.

Whipple that the coaching staff was upwardly surprised by the strength of Andrew Ford's arm.

He said TE transfer Adam Breneman has been healthy and would likely start.

He was pleased with Sekai Lindsay and Marquis Young. Whipple also said FR RB Bilal Ally was running well in practice.

On defense, Whipple said Shane Huber and Steve Casali were both up to about 240. He also likes the JUCO's that joined this supper. Whipple said the UMass coaching staff made a concerted recruiting effort for defensive linemen, but DL's are scarce. He said the defensive staff sent him a list of D-lineman they wanted to offer and he didn't think any of them were good enough to play in Amherst. All five ended up getting Power Five offers. He said it shows how competitive recruiting DL's really is.

Whipple said All-American JUCO Rod Jones arrived out of shape.

Whipple thought the return of Khary Bailey-Smith would be a good help to the young Minutemen defensive secondary.

He said Travis Reynolds could be the back up punter, kicking Australian Rugby style.

I'll have more on the practice and some images in tomorrow's blog post.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a post on the Ford-Comis competition.

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The Salt Lake Tribune has a feature on UMass going Independent.

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Underdog Dynasty says UMass is a must win game for FIU and the Panthers "unquestionably" have more talent than the Minutemen.

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Boston College hopes new players will turn the Eagles fortunes around.

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Mississippi State's coach Dan Mullen feels the Bulldogs have a lot of work to do.

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Tajae Sharpe is being evaluated for a concussion after the Titans first preseason game.

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Victor Cruz returns to practice after suffering a groin pull.

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Wednesday--August 10th, 2016

Dan Malone has a very early look at projected starters. In 2016 the Minutemen signed their best ever recruiting class. There is just too much talent for some of them to be redshirted.

At RB, UMass only had two scholarship RB's on the roster. I expect one or both of Peytton Pickett and Bilal Ally to play this year.

At WR once we get beyond Jalen Williams and Shakur Nesmith, things look iffy. I would expect three-star recruits Brennon Dingle and Sadiq Palmer to get long looks.

TE was and is a talent hole in the Minutemen roster. Hopefully Penn State transfer Adam Breneman has some gas left in his tank, but true freshman Cody Banks and Avien Peah, both three star recruits have too much talent to sit.

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Adam Aucoin of the Daily Collegian reports UMass looks for a balanced rushing attack this year.

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Meanwhile UMass has added six JUCO's the defensive roster. In the first four years, the defense was kinda the step child of recruiting. The recruiting mix usually ran about 60-40 in favor of offensive players. The UMass defense needed more bodies. This year UMass has added:

DaVone Hall DL
Rod Jones DL
Colbert Calhoun LB
Ali Ali-Musa DL
Teddy Lowery LB/S

New to the mix is Domenico Cipriani a 6-4 270 DL form IMG Academy Football.

Hudl.com has video on Cipriani.

Andrew Cyr of the UMass Daily Collegian says UMass adds size and depth for 2016.

Mike Traini has a post on Rod Jones joining the Minutemen and has some information on the other JUCO defensive players.

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Dan has a post on Penn State transfer Adam Breneman. If he can stay healthy, it'll be a big boost to the Minutemen.

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Matty Vautour has a report on Sekai Lindsay and also mention freshman RB's Peytton Picket and Bilal Ally.

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BC Interruption interviews Mike Traini on the state of the 2016 Minutemen.

BC Interruption also does a preview of UMass.

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The Tennessean has a bunch of images of Tajae Sharpe from the Titans camp.

The Columbia Daily Herald says Sharpe made two excellent plays in yesterday's camp.

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Victor Cruz may not play in the Giants first preseason game due to "groin tightness".

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Georgia Tech's Mike Bobinski seems to leaving for Purdue. Would the Wreck's make a run at Ryan Bamford? UMass could not match their finances.

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Recruiting 2016--Rod Jones Jr committed to UMass?

CC of San Francisco image

Rod Jones Jr is a 6-2 250 JUCO All-American DL from College of San Francisco, CA.

Special thanks to a blog reader who pointed me to Jones' Twitter page which shows the UMass "Unite the Masses" screen shot.

First team JUCO All-American and CCCAA defensive player-of-the-year.

Strong interest from Alabama.

Hudl.com has video.

Had 36 UT 17 AT 53 TT 16.5 SACKS 2 FR. All his stats here.

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