UMass Football News--May 20th, 2022

 

The UMass website has bios of eight new Minutemen.

Several have the potential to start. Ben Bohnenberger and Cole Garcia should contend for starting positions on the OL. Conner Vasher could also be in the mix.

Jalen Mackie could also be the impact play on defense.

Mackie was a FCS All-American and a First Team All Ivy. Led the Ivy league with 9.6 tackles per game.

The Minutemen have not had a tackling machine linebacker since Bryton Barr and Jarell Addo.

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UMass Football News--March 25th, 2021

 

Today is UMass' Pro Day. 

The Berkshire Eagle also has a post on the event. Participating will be Larnel Coleman, Jarvis Miller and Jarell Addo.

Draft Diamonds has a 2019 post about Addo.

Giants Wire has a story from 2020 featuring Jarvis Miller.

NFL Draft Buzz has a capsule on Larnel Coleman.

Titans Wire reports Coleman met with Tennessee.

Bolts from the Blue says the Chargers are interested in Coleman.

Draft Diamonds also has a post on Coleman.

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The Chicago Bears signed former UMass OT Elijah Wilkinson to a one year contract. 

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Former UMass assistant coach Cato June joins the Bowling Green staff. 

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UMass Football News--March 19th, 2019

Josh Walfish has burning questions at the start of UMass' Spring football practices.

IMHO coach Bell and staff have the biggest rebuilding task since Molnar was fired. On offense, which was the team strength last year, Bell must replace the starting QB, the starting RB, the nation's best WR and and the entire interior offensive line. The return of Bilal Ally will help. Bel will have Mike Curtis who led UMass QB's with a 174.52 efficiency rating. UMass will also add Andrew Brito, a JUCO QB from the College of the Canyons. Brito was a Top-100 player from New Jersey in HS.

Development of the offensive line is more worrying. As I said in a previous blog post, the Minutemen have never finished above the #100 mark in rushing offense since the move to FBS. Jaylan Larry should start at center, but both guard positions are open. In addition to three starters UMass must find at least a couple reserves.

On defense the rebuild is even more total. The two top play makers in the front seven, Bryton Barr and Jarell Addo are both gone from a unit that finished in the bottom-five in any defensive category you wish to name. Last year's coaching staff struggled to put eleven players on the field. The 2019 UMass defense could be Isiah Rogers and ten new starters. Most of the defensive freshmen recruits will see playing time. It's going to take a couple of recruiting cycles before the Minutemen defense is re-stocked.

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Two Texas A&M-Commerce football players are shot and robbed during Spring break.

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UMass Football News--March 8th, 2019

Athlon Sports ranks all 130 FBS teams going into Spring Ball. UMass is #128. With the Minutemen losing the division's top receiver, both starting QB's and the starting RB and three of the five starting linemen, the offense needs a complete rebuild. We also lose two starting LB's and three of the four 2018 DB's. That's a lot.

Coach Bell will have his hands full for a couple of years.

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Berkshire Eagle image

NFL Draft Diamonds introduces Jarell Addo. At 6-1 200 Addo would be a Safety in the pros. At UMass he played mostly OLB.

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College Sports Maven says adding Penn State to the Big Ten changed Eastern football. The article thinks if Penn State had stayed in the Big East then the Big East football could have looked like this in 2019:

"Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers, UConn, Miami, Virginia Tech, Temple, Syracuse, UMass and Cincinnati".

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Sports Illustrated has a story on how Rivals and 247Sports turned college football recruiting into a internet obsession. 

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UMass Football news -- Coach Whipple being let go

Multiple news outlets are saying UMass and Coach Whipple are negotiating his leaving UMass.

Josh Wallfish says sources say UMass and Whipple are parting ways.

MassLive reports Whipple out as UMass coach.

The Boston Herald reports the Whipple era may be over.

Hero Sports has some potential candidates for the head coach for the Minutemen.

MassLive also has some potential choices for UMass' next coach.

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My take on this year's problems comes down to recruiting. After a successful year three years ago, the quality of the recruiting classes has declined. On defense we were small and lacked athleticism.

After Jarell Addo was suspended, Tyris Lebeau started for him. After Lebeau went down with a shoulder injury, the coaches thought the next best option was to move a safety to OLB.

Consider this quote by Ed Pinkham from October 6th:

“One of the things we’ve been trying to deal with is we’re trying to get our best 11 guys on the field,” Pinkham said. “Sometimes when you have injuries or you don’t have the option of playing a guy, you take a guy from one position and put him in another position, feeling like this is the best 11 guys we have. He hasn’t had all the experience, the amount of time we’ve invested for a guy in a particular position, it does take awhile for them to play. In addition to when I do that, I look at the guy I replaced him with and he’s not as good at that position as the guy I moved from one to the other."

I translate that as "we are exactly one guy deep at OLB".

On the defensive line we had five total sacks in the 2018 season by defensive linemen. Jake Byczko had 4.5-26 and Joe Previte had 0.5-4. That's amazin' stat. In addition UMass had one (1) QB hurry for the entire season. For the last two seasons, if we played a team that had a dual-threat QB we gave up a huge amount of yardage. It's no shame we couldn't compete with Georgia's #1 QB recruit in the nation, but teams like Coastal Carolina had the same results.

Now consider that Bryton Barr, Jarell Addo, both starting safeties and Lee Moses are all graduating. We don't have a pass rushing DE on the roster. We do not have a big run-stopping MLB.

Defensive recruiting has been a train wreck.

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My choice for a new head coach would be someone who is a good fit for the school and I'd probably pick a defensive guy. Most of our wins have been defensive grinds rather than offensive shoot-outs. Offense sells tickets, but losing is worse. We need someone who can recruit enough talent to be competitive. I'm not asking for Power Five recruiting classes. I'm asking for classes that will enable us to compete in the Group-of-Five.

UMass Football News--September 26th, 2018

Bryton Barr and Michael Curtis were named as two of the three UMass student-athletes of the week.

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UMass has their game notes for Ohio up.

The Ohio site has a transcript of Bobcat coach Frank Solich's UMass game press conference.

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Josh Walfish reports on the new faces in the Minutemen linebacker corps. Tyris Lebeau and Xavier Steele are out with injuries. Jarell Addo is still suspended (maybe back for Ohio?). Getting more reps are Chinedu Ogbonna and Cole McCubrey.

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The Charlotte Observer tells what went wrong for the 49ers against UMass

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The Daily Collegian says UMass considers Ohio to be a big test.

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WOUB reports Ohio is looking for a bounce back win.

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The Post has power rankings for the MAC for week #5. Ohio is #5 and Buffalo (!?) is #1.

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UMass' win over Charlotte moved the Minutemen out of CBS' Bottom 25 poll.

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USA Today predicts bowl games for Georgia, BYU, BC, USF, FIU and Coastal Carolina.

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UMass Football News--August 29th, 2018

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Josh Walfish has an update on UMass news for Tuesday. Josh reports that Whipple would not comment on if suspended starters Jarell Addo and Isaiah Rogers would be available for BC. He did say injured DE Leon Flanagan would practice, but is "questionable" for Saturday. Addo's backup Tyrus LeBeau was out of a sling but is also questionable. Xavier Steele is the next man up after LeBeau. Jesse Britt is another starter should return.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on A.D. Ryan Bamford's August Facebook interview.

During halftime of last week's game Bamford said the Jacobson gift would be used to build a practice bubble outside of the stadium. My impression of what Bamford said is that the bubble would be erected over a new turf field. UMass certainly could use a turf practice field. Back in 2011 when Mrs Blog and I went to the UMass-Delaware game the Hens had two turf practice fields in addition to their stadium.

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Eagle Insider previews the UMass-BC game.

The Eagle Insider has weekly rundown of BC news and lists the UMass game as a "certain win".

BC Interruption looks at the Eagles depth chart.

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BC High has a nice story about UMass freshman DE Elijah Miranda and his brother Isaiah Miranda who plays for Boston College.

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A 247Sports writer predicts Georgia's 2018 season and rates UMass worse than Austin Peay.

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UMass Football News--July 24th, 2018

The UMass website has a post on Bryton Barr being named to the Butkus Award Watch list.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts' also has entry on Barr being named to the watch list.

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Outside of Joe Previte, the Minutemen returns only one career start for the rest of the available defensive linemen. Will UMass stick with the 4-3 or move to the 3-4? There are also not a lot of career starts available in the linebackers except for Bryton Barr and Jarell Addo.

Returning are:

Bryton Barr SRGR 12-12 GP-GS 45 AT 50 UT 105 TT 9-42 TFL 5 SACKS 1 INT 1 FF.

Jarell Addo RSSR 12-11 GP-GS 32 UT 35 AT 67 TT 1-8 SACKS 8-24 TFL 6 BKUP 1 FF

Cole McCubrey SO 11-0 GP-GS 10 AT 4 UT 14 TT 2 FF

Chinedu Ogbonna SO 12-1 GP-GS 5 AT 5 UT 10 TT 0.5-0 TFL 0.5 SACKS

Mike Ruane SO 10-0 GP-GS 1 AT

James Bowe JR 10-0 GP-GS 1 BKUP

Darian Green FR.

Michael Nesmith FR.

Da'Shon Ross FR

Adam Tucker RSSO DNP in 2017

 If the Minutemen start Addo, Barr and Ogbonna the UMass LB's will be 6-1 200, 6-0 225 and 6-2 215 respectively.

Boston College's reported starters will be Connor Strachan 6-0 240, John Lamont 6-0 240 and Davon James 5-11 230.

 The Minutemen do not have a lot of size in the linebacker corps. They also could move  Leon Flanagan 6-2 220 to LB.

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Penn Live has a short piece on Andrew Ford being named to the Davey O'Brien Watch list.

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Boston College has been picked fourth in the ACC East Division for 2018.The last few years the Eagles have been picked at the bottom of the ACC East.

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UMass Football News--December 19th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on tomorrow's Early Signing Day.

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Mike also has a post on Ryan Bamford's question-and-answer session from yesterday.

Several point are relevant to UMass Football: He's working on more package football and basketball series. This is a smart move. Scheduling games as an Independent can be difficult. Bundling makes us more attractive and gives us options with scheduling. 2016 is a year when we had no options and we don't want that situation to reoccur.

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My wish list for recruiting starting with tomorrow's early signing (and/or February's LOI ) Day:

1. Recruits for the front seven on defense. I liked the work of Joe Previte and Jake Byczko this year.  Cole McCubrey and Jarell Addo also showed promise. We've had two HC's since we moved to FBS. Both coaches were offensive guys. In six years of FBS football, I can only remember one game (Georgia Southern) where we offensively blew out the other team. All the rest of our wins were defensive grinds. We scored 95 points against Ohio and FIU and lost both games.

2. A kicker. Consider Temple; we've played twice and twice played well enough to win. Temple had a kicker and we didn't. I'm not asking for an All-American, but we can surely ask for a guy as good as the Owls have.

3.  A tight end. Whipple's offense works best with a pass-catching TE. Travis Reynolds looks like a good athlete, but did not get targeted a lot, which is understandable with Breneman on the roster. If we don't have a pass-catching TE on the roster, then we need a transfer or JUCO.

4. A JUCO or transfer offensive lineman, preferably a RG to pair with Jack Driscoll so we can get our running game going.

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Former UMass QB James Sosinski is doing well as a forward on Kansas' hoops team.

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OT, but Georgia HC Mark Fox said it wasn't UMass, it was the schedule. Somehow we never play good, the opposing team is always off their game.

BTW, I like what's happening with UMass Hoops and Hockey. I was expecting a 8-22 season with basketball, but if UMass keeps playing like they did Saturday, the Minutemen could get an NIT bid.

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UMass Football News--August 20th, 2017, Hawaii Game week

Matty Vautour has a post on JUCO's Jacoby Herring and Tyler Hayes. Both Herring and Hayes looked good during the season ticket holders scrimmage.

Hayes was playing with the first defense and he has good size at 6-0 215. His strong safety position will be critical in the new 4-3 defense. As the SS, he will be tasked with a lot of run support.

Herring had a least one nice catch at the scrimmage. At 6-4, he should be a physical mismatch for most CB's. At 170 pounds, he needs some muscle to go up against Power Five schools. He'll see a lot of time with Dingle, Palmer and Isabella. JUCO's don't have a lot of time to showcase their ability. Let's hope Tyler and Hayes make an impact this season.

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The Sentinel-Enterprise mentions UMass LB Jarell Addo. Addo moves to LB from safety this year.

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The Deseret News picks BYU to go 10-3 with UMass as one of the wins.

Get More sports predicts the Cougars to have 8 to 9 wins.

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Underdog Dynasty looks at the over-and-under spread of some Group-of-Five teams including UMass opponents Hawaii, Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion.

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Hawaii has a few JUCO's of their own and KHON TV says Rainbow's CB Manu Hudson-Rasmussen is making an impact with Hawaii's defense.

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RB A. J. Ouellette looks to run the football for the Ohio  Bobcats in 2017.

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Chris Ferguson will be the surprise starter at QB for the Maine Black Bears.

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UMass Football News---August 17th, 2017

Mark Chiarelli of Mass Live report both Ross Comis and Andrew Ford will see action against Hawaii.

Matty Vautour also has a post on both QB's playing.

Matty also reports a number of players have played well in training camp and should see increased playing time this fall.

The offensive line was somewhat of a concern in the Spring. Several writers thought UMass might bring in a JUCO to increase depth.

Whipple indicated three new offensive linemen might be in the rotation:

Larnel Coleman 6-7 300 Redshirt Freshman.

Jaylen Larry 6-3 275 True Freshman. Pre-Med major.

James Reilly 6-3 290 Redshirt Freshman.

On defense:

Charlie Timite DL 6-3 275 Redshirt Freshman.

Chinedu Ogbonna LB 6-2 215 True Freshman.

Zeke Edmonds S 6-0 220 Redshirt Junior. Medical redshirt in 2016.

Jarell Addo OLB 6-1 220 Redshirt Junior. 10-0 GP-GS in 2015. DNP in 2016

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Matty also has his second podcast of the season and talks about QB rotation and more.

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Preparing for UMass has Hawaii reinvigorated.

West Hawaii Today reports the Rainbow Warriors are one-point favorites over the Minutemen.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald tells Hawaii football fans not to get use to the free video feed from UMass.

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This has been covered before, but Liberty officially announces 13 future games including three with UMass.

Interestingly, Liberty will receive no guarantee for playing at Marshall.

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BYU's "Vanquish the Foe" rates 2017's opposing quarterbacks.

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UMass Football News--July 6th, 2017

Washington Valor image

Former UMass player Tracey Belton won the Arena Football league defensive player-of-the-week award.

Washington Valor press release.

This article features Belton.

Belton was the 2016 Arena Football Defensive Player-of-the-Year.

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The current UMass roster lists eleven LB's:

Jarell Addo #26 LB 6-0 190 RSJR DNP 2016
Bryton Barr #44 LB 6-0 225 RSJR Transfer from Towson
James Bowe, #13 LB 6-0 192 SO 11-0 GP-GS 12 UT 14 AT 26 TT
Colbert Calhoun #35 LB 5-11 219  SR 12-8 GP-GS 28 UT 30 AT 58 TT 4.0 TFL 1 PD 1 FF
Steve Casali #34 LB 6-1 236 RSSR12-12 GP-GS 47 UT 58 AT 105 TT 9.5 TFL 6 PD 1 FF 3 FR
Jake Froehlich #47 LB 6-1 245 RSSO Transfer from Oregon
Shane Huber #8 LB 6-3 237 RSSR 4-3 GP-GS 7 UT 13 AT 20 TT 2.5 TFL 2 PD
Tedrick Lowery #6 LB 6-0 221 SR 8-8 GP-GS 14 UT 23 AT 37 TT 2.0 TFL 2 PD 1 FR
Jeremy Rodriguez #49 LB 6-1 227 RSJR 12-0 GP-GS 3 UT 7 AT 10 TT
Mike Ruane #33 LB 6-0 227 FR Spring enrollee
Adam Tucker #58 LB 6-1 192 RSFR DNP 2016

Last year, new UMass defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham played a 4-3 defense at Western Michigan. I don't know if he'll do the same with the Minutemen.

In a 3-4 defense Steve Casali totaled 105 total tackles. He'll be a fixture in the 2017 defense.

Shane Huber is coming off a second knee injury. He was injured in the fourth game of the 2016 season. It usually takes about a year to recover from an ACL, so he may or may not be ready for the start of 2017. If healthy, he'll start as a senior.

Colbert Calhoun and Tedrick Lowery, both seniors had 16 starts between them. Both should see plenty of playing time.

Jake Froelich and Bryton Barr are both unknowns at this time. I would think Froelich would play inside and Barr outside.

With four senior linebackers, I would think the UMass coaching staff would like to reshirt 2017 recruit Mike Ruane.

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Monday--August 8th, 2016

Fall camps starts today! The Fall football roster is up.

Gone from the Spring roster are:

Jarell Addo ILB
Jon Derolus WR
P.Ekpen Iduoze DL
Darren Josey WR (out all last year with injury)
Kenny Kern FB
Lamarriel Taylor WR (transferred to Montana)
Andrew Verboys QB (transferred to Delaware)
Austin Whipple QB
Mehki Williams RB

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The Boston Herald previews the 2016 Minutemen.

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ESPN Gainsville previews Florida's QB's.

The same site says the Gators don't want you to like them.

SEC Country has sights and sounds from Florida's first practice.

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The Tennessean says the Titans are loaded at WR.

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Victor Cruz is not looking explosive in the Giants camp.

Rookie DB Eli Apple locks down Victor Cruz.

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Boston College gets new uniforms for 2016.

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Monday--September 14th, 2015

We did have a few positive things happen in Boulder. Tajae Sharpe had a big day (11-138 yards).

UMass had receivers open most of the first half. The Minutemen also had good looks at a number of new players as a whole bunch of redshirt freshman made their debut.

From the UMass notes:

The first-time Minutemen were Jarell Addo, Kelton Brackett, Ross Comis, Sharif Custis, Larry Franklin, Jordin Hamilton, Dan Jonah, Jake Largay, Connor Lemieux, James Oliphant, Joe Previte, Jeremy Rodriguez and Marquis Young. Brackett (UAB) and Franklin (Vanderbilt) have NCAA Division I FBS experience prior to transferring to UMass ahead of the 2015 season.

Marquis Young looked like he had good speed to go with some shifty moves. He went 7-62 0 LOSS 8.9 AVE.

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Dan Malone looks behind the numbers at Colorado.

Dan also reports what I said here yesterday: Frohnapfel looked rusty.

Dan looks at the Minutemen's bowl watch.

Dan says it's too early to draw any conclusions about the Minutemen. What he says is true about the Minutemen's whole OOC schedule. Colorado at Boulder would be a tough draw for most Group-of-Five schools. We seem to have a knack for running into teams having their best season in years. Remember Texas Tech with Michael Crabtree? Maine had their only CAA championship in 15 years in 2013. And this year Temple beats Penn State for the first time since the Wisconsin Ice Age. Notre Dame is being touted for a playoff birth.

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Matty Vautour looks at UMass' play at Colorado.

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Philly.com says two big wins give Temple fans a reason to dream.

Temple RB Jahad Thomas has run for 332 yards in two games and also has a 102 yard kick return.

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The Westside Gazette says FIU is legit.

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Brian Kelley believes the Irish can play for the National Championship.

Notre Dame moves on with DeShone Kizer as quarterback.

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Monnday--August 31st, 2015

I took some images of the new UMass uniforms about two weeks ago. I was asked to hold them until after Media day. The new unis are really nice.

Click on the image for a larger view.

UMass helmet details

Don't forget the shoes!

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Dan Malone talks about the difficult 2016 season. A four-win season next year means the Minutemen could have a team that would have contended for the MAC east title.

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Lukas Kotler is subject of five questions from Dan Malone. I once talked with a US Olympic coach. He said the best thing about the fall of communism was "Only one German team!" Lots of good athletes in Deutschland.

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Lorenzo Woodley would like to have a big year for the Minutemen.

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Jarell Addo and Conner Lemieux are featured in this story by the Sentinel & Enterprise.

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Anthony Dima was waived by the Kansas City Chiefs.

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ABC News picks Toledo over UMass in the MAC Championships.

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Former UMass star and current Kennesaw State A.D. Vaughn Williams is helping his college start football.

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Hustle Belt has the Minutemen as #6 in their preseason MAC power rankings.

Husker Extra predicts UMass #2 in the MAC East.

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USA Today previews all of the college football conferences.

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The Colorado Buffs have released their depth chart for the Hawaii game.

Mike MacIntyre is ready to lead the Buffs through walls.

The Buffs see light at the end of the tunnel.

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December 26th, 2015

It's forty days until Letter-of-Intent Day. While we wait for this year's recruits to appear, there's almost 20 recruits already on the squad that we haven't seen yet---- the redshirts.

I looked at the player participation lists in all 12 games. Forgive me if I missed any broken redshirts, but these are the apparent totals.

Quarterbacks:

Ross Comis 6-2 205
Andrew Verboys 5-11 200

Verboys has fastest feet than any QB Minutemen fans have seen in a while. Comis is one player I want to watch in 2015's Spring Game. He doesn't have the 6-5 225 size everyone wants in a QB these days, but a lot of quarterbacking is intangibles. Move the offense and win and you're a QB.

Defensive backs:

Charan Singh 6-2 192
Jarell Addo 6-2 186
Joel Devariste 6-0 195
Jeremy Rodriguez 6-2 196

Singh and Addo have FBS size. Rodriguez received some favorable mention by the coaching staff. Devariste is a walk-on.

TE's:

Jordan Fiske 6-3 225
Jon Lucier 6-6 215

Fiske spent a year at East Coast Prep before joining UMass, so he's a year older.

Offensive Line:

Dimitri Angelas 6-5 291
Anthony Fernandez 6-6 302
Dan DiNicola 6-6 275

The FBS-FCS divide is most apparent in linemen. With four OL recruits already verbaled for 2015, UMass will have 20+ offensive linemen on the roster. That's a big change from 2012, where the Minutemen struggled to field five guys.

Wide Receivers:

Alfred Adarkwah 6-4 188
J.T. Kelley 6-6 215
Ryan Heath 5-9 190

Defensive Linemen:

Jack Wynne 6-5 253
Basit Dennis 6-2 280
Chris Carter 6-4 276
Jake Largay 6-6 280

Defensive line is definitely a position where the Minutemen need more and bigger bodies. Besides the four listed above UMass has two DL recruits so far in the 2015 verbals.

Who will see action as a RSFR in 2015? I think Addo and Rodriguez will make the rotation in the defensive backfield. Comis and Verboys should be in contention for the #2 QB. Carter and Largay should get some reps in the defensive line. Everyone else, we'll have to watch in the Spring Game.

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If you somehow missed the wild ending of the CMU-Western Kentucky Bahamas Bowl, here it is. Central Michigan down 49-14 in the fourth quarter, came all the way back to nearly win the game.

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Only a couple of hundred fans went to the Bahamas Bowl, but as USA Today explains, bowl attendance doesn't really matter any more.

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Saturday--December 13th, 2014

Dan Malone continues his 2014 review with a consideration of the Minutemen defensive backfield.

The Starters;

Randall Jette RSJR GP-GS 12-12 39 UT 28 AT 67 TT 4 INT 14 BU 18 PD
Joe Colton JR GP-GS 12-12 43 UT (high for the team) 55 AT 98 TT 7.0 TFL 1 INT 4 PD
Khary Bailey-Smith JR GP-GS
Trey Dudley-Giles JR GP-GS12-12 31 UT 21 AT 53 TT 3.0 TFL 2 INT 25 BU 7 PD

In the rotation:

Jackson Porter RSFR GP-GS 11-8 21 UT 20 AT 41 TT 2 INT 2 BU 4 PD
Zeke Edmonds FR GP-GS 9-0 2 UT 13 At 15 TT 1 BU 1 PD
Iric Harris JR GP-GS 5-0 1 UT 2 AT 3 TT
Jesse Monteiro GP-GS 12-0 1 UT 8 AT 9 TT
Lucas Amato RSFR GP-GS 12-1 3 UT 5 At 8 TT

Reserves:

Jarell Addo FR
DuVaugh Beckford JR
Joel Devariste FR
Jaurice Jones JR
Charan Singh FR
D.J. Woods SO

2015 recruit

Lee Moses

To me the defensive backfield struggles that Malone mentions were partially due to the Minutemen front seven. The UMass fans I sat with during the year would comment on how far off the Minutemen DB were playing opposing receivers. It looked as if there was a consensus coaching decision to adopt  a bend-but-don't-break defensive posture. The UMass DB's looked to me trying to keep the play in front of them.

Maybe next year with more defensive pressure on the opposing QB, UMass DB's will close up and be more physical on opposing receivers. UMass was 11th in sacks in the MAC. Minutemen pass defense efficiency was not too bad-- 9th in the league. Also the DB's were making a lot of tackles.

Freshman Zeke Edmonds played a lot. I have high hopes for big hitting Jerell Addo and Charan Singh. This is another area UMass could use a JUCO or FBS transfer.

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Ron Chimelis reports Chancellor Subbaswamy is in charge.

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UNH came out flat in the first half of last night's FCS game, but rallied in the second half.

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Navy says how many games does they have to win before it's renamed the Navy-Army Game?

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Thursday-- August 14th, 2014

Yesterday was Media Day at McGuirk. I attended and will have a image album up soon. It was the first time the position group images and head-shot portraits have been done inside. That was a good thing as there was a frog-drowning downpour going on outside. Special thanks to UMass and John Sinnett for allowing a blogger to take part.

UMass has video of Coach Whipple's talk to the media here. To me the most interesting part of his responses were his comments on the facilities and his hopes for the program. He said he came to UMass when we were FCS because we had the resources to win a national championship. Yesterday, he said UMass has the resources to win a league championship and go to a major bowl.

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Matty V says the new Performance Center is a good start, but it needs to be part of a larger commitment. UMass goes from having the worst facilities in FBS to the bottom ten. The Minutemen program could use a covered practice facility and a couple of artificial turf practice fields.

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Dan Malone has a story on Coach Whipple's comments on the BC game.

Whipple said the QB decision will be made this week. Dan reports on the competition between Doyle and Fronapfel.



Dan also updates the status of Daniel Maynes, who everyone expects to be the starting NT if he's healthy. Maynes UMass bio.

Boston College is not just another game to Joey Colton. UMass bio for Colton.
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The Daily Collegian says the QB decision is looming.

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The Boston Herald says UMass is better all around.

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The Greenfield Recorder says it's time for a turnaround.

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Channel 3 Spring field reports on the new Performance Center.

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Matty Vautour will make a guest appearance in BC Interruption's radio show.

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The Sentinel & Enterprise looks at Jarell Addo and Connor Lemieux who were rivals in high school and now are teammates at UMass.

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Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur takes questions from Patriots.com and comments about former UMass player Emil Igwenagu.

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Rob Blanchflower supplied a big hit in Steelers camp.

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Thursday--June 26th, 2014

Some of the changes from the latest UMass roster.

#2--Ross Comis will now share the number with Quayshun Smith
#6-Jamal Wilson switches from #22
#7--Blake Frohapfel shares with D'Metrius Williams
#8--Alex Kenney shares with Shane Huber
#14-Ryan Jacobucci switches from #5
#18-Andrew Verboys ex-Matt Quinn
#23-Charan Singh ex-Greg Oreoya
#26-Jarell Addo ex-Quayshun Smith
#27-Jesse Monteiro ex-Nick Valles
#30-Zeke Edmonds ex-Michael Rapoza
#32-Matt Tuleja ex-Arthur Williams
#37-Andrew Libby ex Tom Brandt
#39-Jordan Fiske ex-Eduardo Cruz
#40-Jon Lucier ex-Dillon Tighe
#41-De'Sean Downey ex Jeff Strait
#43-Matthew Wylie shared with Shadrach Abrokwah
#48-Michael Grasis ex-Vance Barton
#49-Jeremy Rodriguez ex-Galen Clemons
#50-Jack Wynne ex-Justin Anderson
#61-Joe Previte ex Aaron Oberst
#62-Emmett Odegard not assigned last year
#63-Dmitri Angelas not assigned last year
#66-Anthony Fernandez ex Costa Toubelis
#67-Dan DiNicola ex Will Giggi
#70-Ryan Johnson ex Anthony Dima
#71-Basit Dennis not assigned last year
#74-Liam Porter ex Terrel Correia
#79-Jake Largay ex Vincent Westcarr
#82-Connor Lemieux ex #27
#84-Alfred Adarkwah ex E.J. Burston
#87-T.J. Kelley ex Rob Blanchflower
#89-Jon Denton ex Derek Beck

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How Michigan's greed alienated its fans. My first thought when the "Big Five" said they wanted to leave the NCAA and form their own division was this was going to cost their fans an arm and a leg. Paying players and other planned perks is going to be big money. It's going to have to come from somewhere. Tickets, "seat licenses , parking and mandatory contributions to the athletic fund are going to increase.

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Central Michigan will provide $18.5 million to athletics from the general fund.

 Syracuse will only pay the Chippewas $550,000 for a game at the Carrier Dome, but the Orange will play at Central Michigan this year.

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Davon Jones, a DB form St. Johns Prep in MA, verbaled to Boston College yesterday. He was a teammate of current Minutemen players Shadrach Abrokwah and J.T. Kelley.

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Saturday--April 26th, 2014

Dan Malone has five questions with Trey Dudley-Giles. In the two years we've been in FBS, the one unit that's been competitive both years has been the defensive backfield.

At the spring game, the "ones" were (2013 stats):

• Randall Jette RSO 11 starts 45 TT 2 TFL 1 INT 11 BU 12 PD
• D'Metrius Williams SO 2 starts 29 TT 1 TFL 2 BU 2 PD
• Joey Colton SO 9 starts 65 TT 2 TFL 11 BU 12 PD (also 9 kick returns for 175 total yards)
• Trey Dudley-Giles SO 9 starts 42 TT 1.5 TFL 3 BU 2 PD (also led team in punt returns and kick returns 147 punt 669 kick return 816 total returns)

Also in the defensive backfield are:

• Jesse Monteiro FR 
• Quayshun Smith JR 1 start 17 TT 2 TFL 2 BU 2 PD
• Jackson Porter FR 
• Ed Saint-Vil RSJR 8 starts 85 TT 0.5 TFL 3 BU 3 PD
• Jaurice Jones SO
• DuVaugh Beckford SO
• DJ Woods FR 6 kick returns 94 yards total
• Lucas Amato FR

True freshmen in 2014

• Jarell Addo FR
• Charan Singh FR

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Scout.com has Buffalo's Khalil Mack on their NFL draft "dream team".

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And now----- college football games in Mexico City?

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The new college football Hall-of-Fame will open in Atlanta in August.

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