UMass Football 2019 recruiting--C.J. Hansen II

UMass Athletic Dept image

I've blogged about C.J. Hansen, a 6-4 295 pound OL from New Jersey before.

Nj.com reports Hansen just picked up his first Power Five offer from Rutgers.

Besides UMass, Hansen has FBS offers from Marshall and the Scarlet Knights.

UMass Football news--March 31st, 2018

USA Today looks at the questions Independents (including UMass) are addressing in their Spring practice.

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Duquesne played to a 20-20 tie in their Spring Game. The Dukes feature a roster that has a number of FBS transfers.

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Anonymous donors match up $750000 for Georgia Southern's athletic endowments.

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Former standout Miami QB Keven Dorsey joins the FIU staff.

FIU and Miami will play their 2019 game at Marlins Park. Miami and FIU have not played since 2007 after a memorable brawl.

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The Charlotte 49ers have six QB's in contention in Spring Practice.

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SB Nation previews the 2018 Ohio Bobcats and projects a 73% chance of a Ohio win over the Mianutemen.

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Recruiting 2019--Antonio Evans

Here's something a little different. Antonio Evans a 5-10 240 FB from West Orange HS in FL has Tweeted he's interested in UMass.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps page here.

I have no idea if the Minutemen are reciprocally interested, but it's nice to know we're out there where potential recruits know about us.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Kenneth Dotson

Dotson #99/Lamar Football image

Kenneth Dotson, a 6-3 255 pound DE from Houston, TX has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

UMass is the first team to offer Dotson.

UMass Football News--March 28th, 2018

Matty Vautour reports the young UMass defensive line is coming together this Spring.

Matty reports the starting DL looks like:

Joe Previte RSSR 6-2 265. Started all 12 games in 2017. Totaled 10 UT 15 AT 25 TT 3 TFL 1 FR

Leon Flanagan, Jr  JR 6-2 220. 9 GP 0 GS 9 UT 7 AT 16 TT 3 TFL 1 BKUP 1 INT

Jake Byczo SO 6-3 250 12 GP 0 GS 6 UT 17 AT 23 TT 2.0 TFL

Chris DiTommaso SO 6-4 275 Redshirt in 2017

For reserves:

Mario Patton RSJR 6-1 315 11 GP 0 GS 2 UT 6 AT 8 TT 2 BKUP

Also on the Spring roster are:

Zack Loane SO 5-11 240 Redshirted in 2017

Basit Dennis RSSR 6-1 270 1 GP 0 GS in 2017

Davone Hall, SR RSSR  6-3 325 DNP in 2017

Alex Piechocki SO 6-5 255 Redshirted in 2017

Caleb Washington, 6-1 250 Redshirted in 2017

Charlie Timite RSSO 6-3 275 12 GP 0 GS 5 UT 5 AT 10 TT 1 TFL.

In the 2018 recruiting class are:

Uchenna Ezewike 6-2 220

Shannon Junior 6-3 210

Arnold Mbembe 6-6 240

Timothy Moulton 6-3 240

For 2018, the Minutemen defensive line looks light by FBS standards. Leon Flanagan will probably be the rush DE. Let's hope they're all fast and highly motivated...

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Old Dominion gets their best WR back from a season-ending injury during the UMass game last year.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Ryan O'Keefe

James Harmes image

Ryan O'Keefe, a 5-10 165 pound DB/Athlete from Round Rock, TX has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Highly successful running track.

Okeefe has five offers including Army, Air Force, Bowling Green and Tulsa.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Donovan Bunch

Twitter image

Back on January 24th, UMass offered to Donovan Bunch, a 5-10 162 pound CB from Atco, NJ.

His 247Sports page.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from January of 2018 features Bunch.

MaxPreps has stats.

Bunch has eleven offers including just about everybody in the Northeast including BC, Syracuse, Temple, Rutgers and Buffalo.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Alex Hogan

Hudl.com image

Alex Hogan, a 5-11 165 pound CB from Houston, TX has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

This article mentions Hogan attending a local combine.

His HS, Lamar, is known as "DB high".

Hogan has 13 offers, including five from Power Five schools. UMass is the only offer from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--March 24th, 2018

The UMass Football Twitter feed has sights and sounds from the Minutemen's Pro Day.

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The UMass Daily Collegian has story on Minutemen legacy Hannah Palau, the daughter of Mark Palau. Mark won letters with UMass football in 1971 and 1972.

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image by Mark Krug

This article features former UMass QB James Sosinski.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Christian Njoku

Njoku #90/ Steve Gonzales image

Christian Njoku, a 6-1 248 pound DT from Bellaire, TX picked up a UMass offer on March 20th.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article mentions Njoku who performed in a combine with 32 other under-the-radar Texas recruits.

Njoku has four offers with UMass as the only club from the Northeast.

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UMass Football News--March 23rd, 2018

UMass held its Pro Day yesterday. There is an image gallery here.

The UMass website has the story and a roster of Minutemen players who participated.

Mark Chiarelli of MassLive has a post on Pro Day and features last year's graduate John Robinson-Woodget.

The UMass Football Twitter feed has some video from the event.

Thomas Johnson of the Daily Collegian has a story about Pro Day and features Da'Sean Downey.

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JUCO transfer QB David Pindell is leading the pack to be starting QB for the UConn Huskies this year.

UConn also had their Pro Day recently.

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Charlotte Football takes on a sense of urgency this Spring.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Cavon Butler

Butler #3/ Hudl.com image

Cavon Butler, a 6-4 265 pound DE from Toledo, OH has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from September of 2017 features Butler.

Besides UMass, Butler has offers from Pitt and Toledo.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--David Ojabo, Aeveas DiCosmo and Izaiah Henderson II

NJ. Com has a story on the eleven hottest 2019 recruits from New Jersey. UMass has offered three of them.

I've blogged about Henderson before.

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Ojabo #71, Twitter image

David Ojabo is a 6-6 245 pound DE from Blair Academy in NJ.

247Sports three-star recruit.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from nj.com features Ojabo.

Ojabo has 24 offers including UConn, BC, Temple, Syracuse and Pitt from the Northeast.

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Hudl.com image

Aeneas DiCosmo is a 6-3 220 pound DE from Bergen Catholic in NJ.

247Sports three-star recruit.

Hudl.com has video.

This article features DiCosmo.

DiCosmo holds 28 offers including Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers and three Ivy League schools from the Northeast.

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UMass Football News--March 21st, 2018

Hampshire Gazette image

Matty Vautour has a post on Jorden Fredericks joining the UMass running backs corps this Spring.

Fredericks should be a good addition to the Minutemen running game. The running game has been mostly absent in Whipple's second tour in Amherst. The pro-set offense works much better with a run game. The UMass run game picked up in the second half of 2017, but we struggled to run ball sometimes even against Group of Five teams (79 yards against Coastal Carolina, 79 against ODU, 115 against Hawaii and we were out-rushed 148 to 100 against Maine).

Some better, more physical play from the OL would help too. Federicks' Syracuse bio. He was New York's 2014 Gatorade Player-of-the Year. Also honorable mention Freshman All-American in his first year at Syracuse.

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A USA Today writer has Andrew Ford as one of the top-ten QB's in the Group-of-Five conferences. BTW, I think two of Ford's four INT's were off the receiver's hands. I think I remember one off Breneman and one off Isabella.

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UMass QB recruit Jaret Pallotta just was named All-Ohio Div I in basketball. Will Coach McCall pay him a visit when he arrives on campus?

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UMass Football recruiting 2019--Stanley King

247Sports image

Stanley King, a 6-5 175 pound WR from Camden, NJ has been offered by UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from nj.com features King.

MaxPreps has stats.

King holds ten offers including BC, Rutgers, Temple and Buffalo. King took an UV to UMass in February.

UMass Football News--March 20th, 2018

Matty Vautour has a post on James Ihedigbo retiring from football.

NBC Sports also has a post on Ihedigbo's retirement.

Ihedigbo's Instagram post shows him in his UMass uniform.

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The Duquesne Duke looks at the Dukes 2018 schedule. Duquesne plays three first-time opponents this year: UMass, Lock Haven and Hawaii. The writer expects the Dukes to contend for the NEC championship.

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That bridge collapse in Florida was part of FIU's campus.

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The Charlotte Observer has five questions for 49's football now that Spring practice has started. The article says Charlotte will switch to a pro-style offense and a 4-3 defense.

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UConn looks to improve its defense in 2018.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Tyler Rudolph

247Sports image

Tyler Rudolph, a 6-1 205 pound Safety from Watherbury, CT has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports four-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Rudolph has 18 offers including just about all the FBS programs in the Northeast. Penn State, Pitt, Syracuse, Temple, UConn, BC and Rutgers have all offered.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Shamar A. Martin

Hudl.com image

Shamar Martin, a 6-0 175 pound CB from San Diego, CA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Martin has eight offers including Power Five schools Utah, Utah State and Arizona.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--C.J. Hanson

Twitter image

C.J. Hanson, a 6-5 285 pound OL from Jackson, NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

This article features Hanson's recruiting.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Besides UMass, Hanson has an offer from Marshall.

UMass Football News-- March 16th, 2018

Matty Vautour has a post on the progress of Spring Ball.

The big news is that the Spring Game will be Friday, April 13th, at 6:00 pm. Athletic Dept notice on the Spring Game here.

Matty relates Tyler Hayes (shoulder) and Tyris Lebeau (undisclosed) are both out of action after offseason surgeries.

UMass adds legacy QB Mike Fallon the son of former UMass QB Mike Fallon, Sr. His father won letters in 1976 and 1977. UMass went 8-3 in 1977 and hosted Lehigh in the first round of the DII playoffs. I was there. The Minutemen were down 23-0 and came back to tie the game. UMass got called on a pass interference late in the fourth quarter and Lehigh threw the winning TD the next play (if I remember right). Fallon went 12-29 -138 yards and 3TD's

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The AAC is overhauling football officiating oversight. I believe UMass gets its home game officiating crews from the AAC.

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Ex-UConn head coach Bob Diaco joins the Oklahoma staff.

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