Another Verbal--William Nesselt DE

This article states UMass has picked up another 2009 verbal from William Nesselt, a 6-3 240 pd DE from powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida.

He was second team 6A-5A-4A All-Broward County.

Lots of action images of Nesselt here.

Played in the Dade-Broward All-Star game.

Key quote from this article:"William Nesselt, DL, 6-3, 245, St. Thomas: Emerged as one of the best defensive line prospects in the state by having a productive off season and making plays all year. Quality talent that is only getting better."

Thanks to a special Blog reader who brought this to my attention!

Recruiting 2009 ------ Brandon Levengood

UMass is interested in Brandon Levengood, 6-1 185 pd kicker from Cedar Crest PA.

His Rivals page is here .

In the top 13 kickers available list from Rivals.

Also has interest from UConn, Villanova, Maryland, Penn State and Virginia.

Five Days until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/30/09

Bob McGovern, who at one time was UMass' Defensive Coordinator (92-93) has been promoted to DC at Boston College. Another story here .

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Boston College was nott the only school to fire their head coach for talking to the NFL. FCS/I-AA Hampton did the same thing.

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Kansas State, our FBS/I-A opponent for 2009, has its '09 schedule up.

BTW, the Cats 2008 depth chart is here .

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Lots of FCS/I-AA players in Sunday's Super Bowl.

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Recruiting 2009-- Austin Crabill

UMass is interested in Austin Crabill a 6-0 195 pd Safety from Brooklandville, MD.

His Rivals page is here .

He was All-Baltimore County.

Also interested are Syracuse, Richmond, Wofford, Dartmouth and Liberty.

Recruiting 2009 --- Sean Unterkoefler Part II

I've blogged about OLB Sean Unterkoefler before.

He re-committed to UMass yesterday.

Six days until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/29/2009

Adam White of the Bennington Banner remembers Mark Whipple.

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A couple of Albany players have NFL hopes.

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College basketball tanks in the Big Twelve.

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Sometimes the buddy system works in football recruiting.

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I first read a couple of these links on the Double T Nation and The Wiz of Odds blogs.

Interviews with Todd Bankhead and Jason Peebler

A blog reader sent me the link to Anton Azucar's Blog.

He's a huge Hurricanes fan.

He has two interviews with former UMass players concerning their time with new Miami OC Mark Whipple.

Todd Bankhead interview here .

Jason Peebler interview here .

Lest you forget, Bankhead is still the #2 QB in UMass history with 561/931 comp/att 7,018 yards and 51 TD's. He holds the #1 and #2 highest single season average/game ('98, '99)

Peebler is the #5 career receiver in UMass history with 123/2,395 rec/yards 27 TD's. He's #2 in career average per catch of 19.5 yards/catch.

Recruiting 2009 ----- Ross Flanigan

Image by Gazette/Tom Fedor.

UMass is recruiting Ross Flanigan, a 5-9 169 pd CB from Urbana, MD.

His Rivals page is here .

Flanigan was first team All-conference in 2008 .

Also getting interest from Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia, Richmond, Hofstra and Boise State.

One week until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/27/09

A google search of the news concerning Mark Whipple produced a plethora of articles.

The official 'canes notice is here .

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Speaking of recruiting, many a UMass recruit decided to take the plunge after being taken to Antonio's.

Live webcam from near Antonio's in Amherst.

Antonio's now has a restaurant in Rhode Island.

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Speaking further on recruiting, Albany took a pretty hard hit for NCAA recruiting violations.

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UNH gets Ball State as their FBS game in 2009.

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Some of the 2009 college football TV schedule is already up. UMass-Kansas State is TBA.

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Recruiting 2009 --- Dillion Romain

UMass is interested in Dillon Romain a 5-10 205 pd RB from NJ powerhouse Don Bosco Prep. He's a Rivals two star TB.

His Rivals web page is here .

YouTube highlights here and watch this run.

2008 stats here . Summary: 206 carries 1,426 yds, 6.97 AVE 25 TD's

Romain was the the NJ Gatorade Player-of-the-Year.

Also interested are Hofstra, Central Michigan, Towson and Costal Carolina.

Image by MaxPreps/Daniel Cuppola.

Eight Days until Letter-of-Intent Day 01/27/09

The Miami Herald says it's official: Mark Whipple has been named OC at University of Miami.

Recruiting is intense in Hurricane-land.

So is recruiting quarterbacks, ya never know how it'll turn out.

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Nine days until Letter-of-intent Day

UMass ended up #17 in the final 2008 Gridiron Power Index.

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Matty Vautour reports on Mark Whipple becoming the OC at Miami.

If UMass played football in Thailand, Matty would be writing for a different newspaper.

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The New Hamsphire Player-of-the-year verbaled to Rhode Island.

This article gives UNH's 2009 schedule. It lists UNH @ UMass on 10/17.

This article gives Hofstra's 2009 schdule. It lists @ UMass November 21st.

So that's two more dates known for UMass' 2009 schedule

• 09/05 @ Kansas State
• 09/12 @ Albany
• 10/10 @ Delaware
• 10/17 New Hampshire
• 10/24 @ Richmond
• 11/21 @ Hofstra

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It does not surprise me that Mickey Matthews has his own website.

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Recruiting 2009 --- Cody Morgan

UMass is recruiting Cody Morgan a 5-8 169 pd WR from Milford Academy in New Berlin, NY.

He's a Rivals two star player.

Morgan was a 2007 Boston Herald All-Scholastic.

Recruiting 2009 ---- Ronnie Akins

UMass has offered to Ronnie Akins a 5-11 188 pd ATH from North Penn HS in Landsdale PA.

His Rivals page is here .

He was selected to play in the Penn. Big 33 All-Star Game.

Some video on him here .

Another story on him here .

Image by Elizabeth Robertson/Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sunday News 01/25/09

Another article with information about the Brandt brothers verbaling to UMass.

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This article has a lot to say about Christian Birt, who's a member of this year's recruiting class.

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Recruiting is weird. Consider JUCO MLB Steve Butrick: he's 6-3 230 pds, runs 4.53 forty; he's an academic full qualifier and he led the JUCO nation with 126 TT, 16 TFL, 1 INT and 1 sack. No one wants him .

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Saturday News 01/24/09

The Boston Globe says Whipple is Miami's choice for OC.

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Sean O'Neal, a 6-4 230 pd DE from Ordell, NJ picked James Madison over UMass yesterday.

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Matt Goldstein, color commentator for the UMass Football broadcast team is among nine Arizonans suing a pain pump company.

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Josh Jackson, a 6-3 260 pd DE from Gainsville GA will take a recruiting visit to UMass on 01/30/09.

I've blogged about him before.

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Yesterday I asked if UMass ever had twins on the football team. A very knowledgeable UMass fan reminded me of Bryan and Brandon Smith. Bryan ended up only playing for UMass one year (2004), while Brandon lettered for UMass four years 2003,2004,2005 and 2006.

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Thursday News 01/23/09

Kyle Havens, the JUCO QB from California, moves to UMass on Sunday. Matty Vautour's article also has some quotes about UMass' twin recruits Tom and Tim Brandt.

Back in the '60s we had five Toner brothers play for UMass, but have we ever had twins? Anyone know?


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David Coulson has FCS news here .

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Lawrence Sidbury, the Richmond DE that kicked Montana's ass in the FCS Championship game, will play in the Senior Bowl tomorrow.

In our game against Richmond, we did pretty good against Sidbury. He had 2UT 4 AT 0.5 TFL. No sacks.

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Travis, from AGS, is again work on his 2009 master schedule site.

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Jack Bicknell, who many UMass fans hoped would coach the Minutemen, is leaving Boston College for the NY Giants.

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Martin Hyppolite, the RB from Wakefield, that UMass was strongly interested in committed to UConn on 01/18/09.

I had blogged about him before .

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2009 Recruiting ----- Justin Blake

Image above is from the Star-Ledger. Blake is #3.

UMass is recruiting Justin Blake a 5-10 170 pd CB from Piscataway (NJ).

His Rivals page is here .

Interest from URI, Temple, Delaware, Maine and Towson.

News Wednesday 01/22/09

They're speculating in Hurricane-country about Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator.

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There will be changes to the FCS National Championship game starting in 2010. The game will be moved to January on the eve of the FBS National Championship.

In my view, this will be a good move. In the current setting, making travel plans for what amounts to the week before Christmas, is difficult. The move also allows a bye-week during the regular season, which would have been lost with addition of an additional week in the playoffs to accommodate the increase in playoff teams to twenty.

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Schools are still arguing about an early recruit signing period for college football.

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Rhode Island has added four transfers from Rutgers.

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Sports Illustrated published a spread sheet about the number of BCS recruits from each state. Massachusetts ranks #35 out of 52 US areas (counting DC and US territories).

Wonder what it would look like for FCS recruits?

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The UMass Football Blog has been busy the last week. There have been over 10,000 page views in the last six days.

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Recruiting 2009 -- Thomas & Tim Brandt

UMass received verbals from Thomas and Tim Brandt of Natick, MA yesterday. That raises the number of UMass verbals to five (that I'm aware of).

Thomas Brandt is a 6-0 192 pd two star RB/LB his Rivals page is here .

Rivals also has him ranked as the #7 available prospect in MA .

Had interest from Boston College, Buffalo and UConn.

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Also verbaling to UMass is Tim Brandt. He's the twin of Thomas and he's a 6-0 205 Rivals two star OLB .

His Rivals page is here .

Tim's image by Marshall Wolff/Walpole Daily News