Spring Friends of Football meeting, Stadium Renovations and Football News

There were Big Doin's at the UMass Friends of Football Spring meeting last night. The Friends sponsored a well attended gathering at the UMass Club at the State Street Bank Building in Boston.

The Friends of Football are rapidly becoming the premier athletics booster organization at UMass. Formed three years ago by former UMass Coach Mark Whipple, the Friends seek to support UMass Football and the athletic dept.

All UMass football fans should be a member. They have had a major impact on UMass Football (just see the news later in this blog).

Stadium Renovations:

UMass Athletic Director John McCutcheon confirmed that UMass has sent out bids for the installation of Field Turf at McGuirk Stadium!! This is the first major renovation at McGuirk since it was built in 1965 . The Gladchuck Practice Facility will also receive field turf. This will be a big boost to the football program. No more commuting between three or four venues to try to find a suitable field for practice.

Brown stated that our motto was "“Play Fast". Field Turf will really help our football team do that!

Installation is scheduled to begin the day after Commencement and be ready for the opening home game with Colgate.

Lights: McCutcheon said that funding for permanent lights was not complete at this time. However, UMass is still working on raising funds and lights might still be part of the 2006 renovations. He said if they were not installed in 2006, the lights were still a priority item and would definitely be installed at a later date.



Football news:

Coach Brown gave a talk on the 2006 recruits. UMass has added two new recruits. Offensive line men Kyle Lightner 6-2 290 and Kevin Macon 6-6 325 will be joining the Minutemen in September. I'’ll be blogging about each recruit separately later. See this link for the UMass article.

Brown stated that there are more recruits in the works. Possibilities are a fullback and quarterback. NCAA regulations prohibit any details until all the paperwork is completed.

Brown stated that winter conditioning went well. See this article from the Springfield Republican that covers some of the topics he talked about.

Other Football News:

Brown confirmed that the UMass Spring Game will be on May 6th. The UMass Football banquet will be Friday evening May 5th. UMass Friends of Football will have a meeting at 9:00 am on the 6th.
.

UNH's David Ball and UMass

The Sports Network has an interesting interview with UNH's All-American WR David Ball. It's here .

Ball was a little known WR from Orange,VT in high school. He attended Worcester Academy to try to drum up some college interest.

Didn't work. Only UNH and ------- you guessed it, UMass offered him a scholarship. We wanted him to attend spring practice at UMass. He wanted to finish the year at Worcester. On such things college recruiting turns.

His official UNH bio is here (note that it has not been updated since 2004. Ball is only like the top receiver ever to play for the Wildcats. You would think they could do a little better.) Kudos to Jason Yellin at UMass for such a great UMass website.

2006 Spring UMass Football Roster is up

UMass has posted the Spring 2006 Football Roster. It's here .

Some notes:

Number Changes

• Brad Anderson is now wearing Steve Costello's old #2. Click on Brad's bio for the reasons behind the switch...
  

• Rasheed Rancher is now wearing R.J. Cobb's #3
• 2005 recruit Brandon Collier switches to #56

• JUCO recruit Mike Omar is wearing Greg Scott's old #15
• JUCO recruit Chris Koepplin is wearing #42
• UConn Transfer Anthony Rouzier is wearing # 52
• JUCO recruit Josh Jennings is wearing #59
• JUCO recruit Nick Dana is wearing #70
• UConn Transfer Rob Getek is wearing #87

Eight days until Spring Practice opens!

Colgate Spring Prospectus

UMass opens its 2006 season Sept 2nd against Colgate.

The Raiders have published a 22 page (PDF Format) Spring Prospectus.

It's nicely done and it's available here .

For UMass fans a couple of facts stick out:

• Colgate lost seven starters on defense.
• The entire Defensive line graduated.
• Two of the starting three linebackers (including the Patriot League Defensive-Player-of-the-Year Jared Nepa) graduated.
  

With six of the Raider front seven gone, I would expect UMass to give the Raiders a heavy dose of Steve Baylark and Matt Lawrence.

Only 157 Days until that happens. I can't wait...

NCAA Rules changes for 2006

This link give a summary of college football rules changes for 2006.

This was brought to my attention over on the Any Given Saturday site's I-AA message board.

Interesting internet site

Well, only twelve days until Spring Football opens.

While we're waiting, check out this football site with dozens of links to all things football.

One link takes you to I-AA historical information. Did you know?

• UMass is 14th in all time games played (1062) for current I-AA teams.
• Penn is 1st with 1264 games played
• Coastal Carolina is the rookie with 33 games played (#96)
• If UMass should stop playing football (Allah forbid!), and coastal Carolina played 11 games/season-------it would take them over 93 years to catch up with UMass!
  

UMass meet the Athlete event

Well here it is in late March 2006. UMass football news is hard to come by. We are still more than two weeks away from the start of Spring practice on 04/08/06.

Rob McFaddin is still AWOL in his 2006 Recruiting Analysis. He has not posted an update for more than a month.

UMass football will be hosting a youth football clinic with a chance for the kids to meet and work with UMass players and coaches. The UMass press release is here.

I have worked up more UMass football historical information, including blogs about UMass legend Greg Landry and much other historical material, but we need to space it out to cover the long dry spell until football news picks up.

UMass legend Ron Villone

There have been a number of articles lately about former UMass player Ron Villone joining the Yankees. His Yankee bio is here. Villone has had a 23 year career in Major League Baseball. His cumulative major league stats are here.

Villone was a two-sport star for UMass. He played TE for the UMass football team and walked on the UMass Baseball team.

However, many people do not know much about his football career at UMass. This article and this article both cover some of his career as a 6-3 245 pd TE for the Minutemen Football team.

Villone played TE for UMass for 1989-1991. He signed a professional baseball contract before the 1992 season.

As a TE for UMass:

• Stats 47 rec, 651 yards, 4TDs, 13.85 yards/catch
• 1st team All-Yankee Conference, 1st Team All-ECAC, 3rd Team All-New England (1990)
• 1st team All-Yankee Conference, 1st team All-ECAC, 1st Team All-East (1991)

The only image I could find of him in the UMass press guides was a very tight mug shot, so the image above is his Major league Baseball Rookie Card.

I-AA waves

As far as I know, there is only one sports program devoted exclusively to I-AA football.

The show is I-AA Waves privately produced by Ralph Wallace, the driving force behind I-AA.org.

The show is available over the internet most Tuesdays at 8:00 pm CST. The show includes commentary by Ralph, recorded interviews with I-AA personalities (including a past interview with UMass Coach Don Brown) and call-ins.

Production values can be a little rough at time, but I-AA Waves is the only show in town.

Friends of Football Spring Gathering

Received the following letter from Bill DeFlavio (President, Friends of Football)

Dear Friend of Football:

The Friends will be hosting the annual Boston Spring Gathering a the new "University of Mass Club" on Tuesday, April 4th. Head Coach Don Brown will be the featured speaker.

We will also review the past year's events of the organization, as well as update you on the progress of the turf/lights initiative, our annual golf outing and our new "Alumni Mentor" program

Please join us and bring an Alumnus/former player.

When: Tuesday April 4th, 2006

Where: UMass Club, 225 Franklin Street, State Street Bank Building, 33rd floor, Boston, MA

Time: 6:00 pm

Attire: Sport Coat required

RSVP: Please RSVP at friends@umassfootball.org or call Joyce Gorman at the football office at 413-545-2000 by 03/28/06

All UMass Football fans should be members of Friends of Football. They are the driving force behind excellence in the program!

I'll be there! Any readers of the Blog going?

Minuteman legend Coach Dick MacPherson on Ballot for College Hall of Fame

Former UMass coach Dick MacPherson is listed on the ballot for election in 2007 for the College Hall of Fame.

"Coach Mac" is already in the UMass hall of Fame. He is still interested in UMass football and appeared at the last meeting of the UMass Friends of Football.

During his tenure at UMass MacPherson was very successful.

• Led the Minutemen for seven years (1971-1977)
• Four Yankee Conference championships
• 45-27-1 as UMass coach
• .778 winning average in the Yankee Conference is still 5th best in conference history

After UMass he became head coach at Syracuse. He led the Orange to five postseason bowls including an undefeated season in 1987 and a win in the Orange Bowl.

Later became head coach at the New England patriots (1991-1992).

Good luck to Coach Mac in his election to the college Hall 0f Fame. He deserves it!

A tip-0f-the Helmet to "Rocks22" over on the UMass Football Board for bringing this to my attention.

Three assistant Coaches leave, Two new coaches Hired

The UMass coaching tree continues to expand.

The UMass football site has news that three assistant UMass coaches have left for jobs at other schools. Two left for I-A schools and one for I-AA.

Leaving are:

• Eddy Morrissey----going the University of Oregon
• Sidney Powell------going to Ball State
• Matt Dawson------ going to Fordham

Matt Dawson joins former UMass Defensive Coordinator Tom Masella at Fordham where Masella is now Head Coach

Joining the Minutemen are:

• Stephen Militello ------- from Assistant to the UMass Director of Operations
• Mike Wood-----from Assistant Coach at Gettysburg College
  

Sidney Powell's position has not yet been filed.

Off-Season Training

Well, it's still a month to the start of Spring practice. The UMass team should be deep into its off-season training program.

The UMass strength and conditioning program is headed by Coach Bob Otrando and assisted by former UMass QB Anthony Catterton as well as Assistant Strength Coach Chris Boyko.

This site has a great deal of material about off season football conditioning. This page alone has dozens of articles about various aspects of football conditioning.

Seeing it's March and all of us cold weather residents probably need some get-in-shape work before spring, this article has a specific football conditioning program if you want to try a real football workout...

Transfer Possibilities

As you know, Coach Brown has stated that he will be continuing to recruit after Letter-of-Intent day. I would think that UMass would still be interested in OL and DL.

I saw this on the Delaware fan site. I have no idea if it's true or not.

The post was that three Boston College players will not be back for their senior seasons.

All three are defense linemen, which is one of our needs. The three players are:

• Jeff Burns DE
• Jake Ottolini DE
• Robert Ziminski DT

None of the three had much playing time at BC. Don't know if UMass would be interested, but the Delaware site said Burns had visited the Hens with the idea of possibly transferring...

Spring practice and future blogs

UMass starts Spring practice a month from tomorrow on April 8th.

The date of the Spring Game has not been announced. However, given the number of practices allowed by the NCAA, the Spring Game probably will be May 6th.

We are entering a slow period for football news. Rob McFaddin will be completing his 2006 recruiting analysis and I'll be commenting on that.

I also have a lot of historical material that I will be posting. But I need to space that material out to cover slow periods like now.

If no football news comes out this week, I'll start posting some scans of UMass Historical material shortly.

Coaching changes in I-AA

Matt Dougherty's latest article on I-AA coaching changes for 2006 has several points of interest for UMass fans.

His article covers the changes at Hofstra. The Pride is a member of the A10 North division. Any UMass road to the playoffs includes a regular season game against the team from Long Island. More to the point, the Pride has knocked UMass out of the playoffs in two of the last four years. Any changes there definitely impact UMass.

The other section of interest is coverage of former UMass Coach Jimmie Reid at VMI. It is unlikely that UMass and VMI will meet in football, but Reid is still held in high regard by the UMass faithful.

An article about Reid's first spring practice with the Kaydets is here.

Former UMass WR Neal Brown coaches at Troy State

This summer I blogged about former UMass WR and receivers coach Neal Brown being hired at Delaware.

Brown has now accepted a job at I-A Troy State. The news article is here .

Brown's UMass stats are listed in my former blog.

This was brought to my attention by search engine wizard "Rocks22" over on the UMass Football message board.

George Parks elected to Bands of America Hall of Fame

Bands of America has elected UMass Marching Band Director George N. Parks to its Hall of Fame .

The UMass announcement is here. The UMass Marching Band site is here.

This blog has talked about the UMass Marching Band before . One of the great things about UMass football is the atmosphere at McGuirk. Autumn in New England. The UMass Marching band.

Some of Parks achievements:

• The UMass band is widely regarded as one of the top bands in all divisions of football
• Won the Sudler Trophy for the best college band in 1998
• The band has a loyal following of alumni and its reunions are always well attended.

Congratulations George!

The image above is George leading the UMass band at Army. The UMass band's after game concert wowed the Army faithful.

Blog Blog

A few notes about some recent updates to the UMass Football Blog.

First, I've added an improved countdown clock in the sidebar column. Note that I set the time of UMass' game with Colgate to be a 6:00 pm kickoff. This is assuming the Athletic Dept will make this a night game.

The previous UMass-Colgate night game drew 16,405 for the 11th largest crowd in McGuirk history.

Also added some new links after a spurt in blogging about I-AA.

• A blog about the Big Sky Conference is here
  
• A blog about the Ohio Valley Conference is here
  
• A blog about Patriot League Team Lehigh is here
  
• Ralph Wallace the publisher of I-AA.org has started a I-AA Blog here
  

2006 Recruit TE John Ihne

Joining the Minutemen this summer will be John Ihne, a 6-4 255 pd TE from Wayne Hills HS in Wayne NJ.

His full stats are here .

John played for State Champion (12-0) Wayne Hills HS.

Stats of note:

• First Team All-New jersey Group 3
• First Team All-League, All-County, All -Area
• As a senior 17 catches, 355 yds, 3 YDs
• Team Captain Senior year
  
• Ranked as the #12 TE signing in I-AA football by ShowingBlitz

Welcome to UMass John! Hope you have a great career with the Minutemen.

ShowingBlitz's TE Recruits Ranking out

I-AA's only recruiting guru has posted his ratings on the 2006 TE class. The ranking is here .

Note the high ranking of UMass recruit John Ihne. Note also that John is the only UMass recruit that I have not done a blog on. Will get that taken care shortly.

UMass' other TE recruit, Rob Getek, is not ranked because he is a transfer and ShowingBlitz does not rank JUCO's or transfers. There is a blog about Getek directly below this one.

2006 Recruit TE Rob Getek

Joining UMass this year will be Rob Getek a 6-6 250 pd TE from Bishop Guertin HS HN.

Getek originally signed with UConn, where he was described as recruit of influence. He missed qualifying academically and spent one year at Milford academy.

After joining UConn he was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.

Getek's stats:

• First team All-State and All-Area
• Played in the New Hampshire-Vermont All-Star game
• 13 yards/catch in his senior year.

welcome to UMass Rob. Hope your career takes off with the Minutemen.

Showing Blitz's WR recruit rankings out

Rob of ShowingBitz.com has released his wide receiver 2006 recruits ranking. The list is here.

Included in the list of 2006's top receiver recruits is UMass' Tony Esalomi from Tampa FL. I've already done a blog about him. Scroll down.

This Blog thinks UMass Recruit Ke'Mon Bailey (a Rivals 3 star player) is one of the top I-AA WR recruits if played at that position.

UMass drops AIC from schedule adds I-AA Stony Brook

Good News! The UMass Athletic Dept has just announced that UMass has been able to add I-AA Stony Brook to the 2006 schedule instead of DII AIC.

The Sea Wolves were co-champions of the Northeast Conference.

No disrespect intended to the Yellow Jackets. This move helps UMass in its quest to make the I-AA playoffs. DII teams do not count towards the necessary seven I-AA wins to be eligible for the playoffs.

With a I-A game (Navy) and a DII game, UMass would have to go 8-1 against the rest of the 2006 schedule even to get an at large bid (unless we should win the A10 and get the auto bid). Playing 10 I-AA games does not require near perfection in order to get a playoff slot.

Kudos to the Athletic Dept for this astute move.

UPDATE 02/22/06: The Springfield Republican has an article on the switch here.

2006 Recruit WR Torrey Esalomi

Signing with UMass is Torrey Esalomi a 6-1 175 pd WR from Gaither High School in Tampa, FL.

Esalomi was Third Team All-Florida.

There is video of Esalomi here (scroll to middle of page). Esalomi wears #4.

Some of Torrey's stats:

• 74 career receptions w/12 TDs
• 44 receptions for 667 yds and 5 TDs in 2005
• member of 4X100 relay team that placed 4th in state
• ran a 10.7 100 meters

Welcome to UMass Torrey! Hope you catch a lot of passes for the Minutemen.

2006 Recruit DB James Carven

Joining the Minutemen this year will be James Carven DB 6-0 185 from Hanover High School.

This article states that UMass was interested in him as a QB as well as DB. Here is another article from the Boston Globe. His brother Bill Carven is Head Coach at Nichols College.

Carven's stats:

• Named to Boston Globe's "Dandy Dozen" as one of the 12 top players in MA
• All-League, All-Scholastic
• 15 career INTs

Welcome to UMass James! Hope you have an excellent career in the UMass secondary.

Former UMass great Mike Dawson hired at Akron

Former UMass LB/DE Mike Dawson has been hired at Akron University
as linebackers coach. The Akron article is here. The Zips football page is here.

Dawson last worked as Defensive Coordinator for University of New Hampshire.

Dawson was a four year letter winner (1994-1997) for UMass and was Tri-Captain in 1997.

The image to the right is a scan of Dawson in his playing days from the 1997 UMass Press Guide.

2006 Recruit RB Sloan Russett

Joining UMass this year is Sloan Russett a 5-10 200 pd RB from Manchester Central HS in Manchester, NH.

This article has a lot of information about Russett as well as former Manchester Central star Tim Day.

Russett had one prep season at New Hampton School in New Hampshire.

Some of Russett's stats:

• First Team all state
• ran for 199 yards in the game shown above
• 4,000 yards and 60 TDs in HS

Welcome to UMass Sloan. Hope you have a productive career as a RB for UMass!

ShowingBlitz has 2006 RB recruit rankings out

I-AA's only recruiting site has its ranking of the 2006 class of I-AA running backs out. It's here .

The A10 did well with Delaware getting the #3 rated recruit, JMU with #8, UNH with #12, Northeastern #22 and Villanova with an honorable mention.

UMass' only RB recruit is Sloan Russett, about whom I have yet to do a blog. Will take care of that shortly...

Recruiting 2006 DB Marcus Snow

Joining UMass this fall will be Marcus Snow, 5-11 210 from South Dade HS in Homestead FL.

The Miami Herald has a story on South Florida signees here (last paragraph).

There is an excellent video of Snow's highlights here . NOTE: The video clips are indexed by FIRST (!?) NAME. Scroll down to "Marcus" and load 4 mb of highlights.

Some of Marcus' stats:

• Runs a 4.5 40
• averaged 21.5 yrds per catch as a kickoff return man
• made 12 tackles in the Dade County All Star game

Welcome to UMass Marcus. Hope you have an outstanding career with UMass!

UMass Football Blog graphics

This website counts the words in the blog of your choice and creates an t-shirt printable image of the result.

It's kinda cool. The above image is what you get if you do the UMass Football Fanzone...

ShowingBlitz starts recruiting rankings

Rob McFadden, who runs ShowingBlitz.com, is I-AA's only recruiting guru. He's started ranking this year's I-AA recruiting classes.

He will rank by position and by total class.

His Quarterback rankings are here. Read the notes about the rankings here. Keep in mind several things when considering his rankings of the UMass recruits:

1. We did not sign a QB this year.
2. The rankings do not cover transfers or JUCOs
3. Since UMass had five JUCOs or transfers (six counting Tim Washington), our class will not rank high by his ratings.
   

UMass adds another recruit

The UMass website reports that UMass has added another recruit to its 2006 class. Signing with UMass is Aaron Fears 6-1, 180 pd WR/CB from North Attleboro MA.

Fears is the son of New England Patriots Running back coach Ivan Fears.

• Fourth Mass native to sign with UMass this year.
• All league two years
• Mass 55-meter dash champion as a junior
• 23 yrds/catch w/5TD in 2005

Welcome to UMass Aaron!

Recruiting 2006 DB Michael Thomas

Joining UMass this year will be Michael Thomas a 5-11 210 pd DB from Columbus, Ohio. Thomas prepped at Fork Union Military Academy .

Fork Union is one of the top prep schools for players hoping the get a college scholarship. This article tells how over 80 college coaches attended a Fork Union Media day.

At the time this Blog is written, 25 former Fork Union players have signed with a Who's Who of college football.

Thomas' stats:

• Played RB at Bishop Hartley HS in Columbus, Ohio
• Runs a 4.4 40
• All-Ohio and All League
• Chose UMass over I-A Ohio and Bowling Green
• 5.9 yards/carry at Fork Union

Welcome to UMass Mike! Hope you have a wonderful football career at UMass.

Guido Falbo Recruiting Coordinator?

Football Scoop reports:

UMass: Guido Falbo - TE's at UMASS promoted to Recruiting Coordinator/RB's

Falbo was previously TE coach. He functioned as recruiting coordinator for Rhode Island in 2003.

Nothing on the official UMass board as yet.

Matt Dougherty on I-AA recruiting 2006

Matt Dougherty of The Sports Network has an article on the national I-AA recruiting scene.

Matt Starts out:

Philadelphia, PA - Get all worked up about last week’s recruiting classes if you wish.

Read the glowing press releases and salivate over the high school statistics. Just keep in mind that the hoopla and excitement will be as distant a memory as the Super Bowl XL officiating by the time the incoming true freshmen make their marks in I-AA...

Read the rest of the article here .

Atlantic 10 Publishes 2006 Recruit list

The Atlantic 10 has published its official 2006 recruiting list with some notes.

Read it here .

2006 Recruit DB Chris Pollard

Signing with the 2006 UMass recruiting class is Chris Pollard a 6-2 200 pd DB from Camden, NJ.

Pollard played two seasons with the Fort Scott CC (Kansas) Greyhounds. The Greyhounds play in the Kansas Jayhawk CC league.

While at Fort Scott:

• All-Conference both years
• Led team in tackles with 66 and 1 INT
• Pre-Season All-American

Welcome to UMass Chris. Hope you have a great career with the Minutemen.

2006 Recruit LB Josh Jennings

Joining UMass this year will be Josh Jennings 6-0 200 pds LB from Dean College. Jennings had a stellar career at Dean.

He was Northeast Conference Defensive-Player-of-the-Year in 2005. He was also a NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American.

In high school, Jennings was the Conn. Gatorade Player-of-the-Year (2003).

Jennings stats in 2005:

• Led Dean and the Northeast Conference in tackles.
• 9G 65 Solo 29 Ast 84 TT 30 TFL 10.4 T/Game 10 Sacks
  
• Tied for the League lead in sacks.

I could not find an image of Jennings anywhere. If any of his relatives sends me an action photo, I'd be glad to publish it.

Welcome to UMass Josh! Hope you have a productive career with the Minutemen.

Recruits 2006 DT Shaun Allen

Joining UMass is Shaun Allen a 6-3 250 DT from Dean College. He will be a junior with two years of football eligibility.

Allen's signing, along with teammate Josh Jennings (I'll do a separate blog on Jennings later) was big doin's at Dean College. Read the Dean College write up here.

Allen was the only Defensive lineman signed by UMass so far. Seeing that we only signed one down lineman in 2005 (Tony Cina), it would be likely that UMass is still looking for more players in this category.

Allen played well for Dean.

• started 20 games in two years
• Stats (2005) : 9G 22 Solo 23 AST 45 TT 5.0 T/game 5 Sacks 2 FF
• Second in total tackles to the other UMass recruit Josh Jennings (really good totals for a down lineman)

Welcome to UMass Shaun! May you have a great career here.

2006 recruit OL Nick Dana

Joining the 2006 Minutemen is Nick Dana a 6-3 300 pd OL from Nassau CC in NY. Dana is #60 in the above image. He was originally recruited by New Hampshire and ended up at Nassau CC.

• Was First team All-Conference both years
• Was Third team All-American in 2005

Welcome to UMass Dana! The east coast does not have extensive community college football leagues like California or the Midwest. Nassau CC is about the top school (in football) in the Northeast. They have a bulletin board showing the schools that have signed former players. It's here . At the time that I'm writing this blog, seven former Nassau players have signed with various colleges.

2006 Recruit K/P Chris Koepplin

Joining the Minutemen is Chris Koepplin (#11 in the image above). Koepplin is a 6-3, 195 pd kicker/punter from Nassau CC. The Nassau Team Page is here. Koepplin has a personal page here.

His stats are here.

• Northeast Football Conference 1st team punter & 2nd team kicker
• Won the Northeastern Kicking Contest at Rutgers with an impressive 8-for-8 record

Koepplin should provide immediate competition for Armano Cuko who struggled with a 6-13 field goal percentage (46.2%) and provide a backup punter for Christian Koegel

UMass publishes 2006 recruiting list

UPDATE #3-2:30 pm 02/02/06. UMass beat writer Matt Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has an article on the UMass recruits here (registration required, but worth it)

UPDATE- 7:30 am, 02/02/06. Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Union has an article on the UMass recruits here.

UPDATE- 9:00 pm, 02/01/06. The UMass website has added Coach Brown's comments on the recruiting class. Read it here .

UMass has released its 2006 recruit list . Welcome aboard to all the new UMass players!

Some points of interest:

• 6 JUCO's
• DL 1
• OL 2
• DB 4
• TE 2
• LB 2
• K/p 1
• WR 3
• RB 1

Some initial comments:

1. During the build-up to the recruiting season, it was speculated that UMass most needed help on the OL/DL. With only 1 defensive lineman and two OL in this recruiting class, it would be likely that UMass is not done with recruiting.
2. 6 JUCO's are probably a UMass record.
   
3. The list does not count Tim Washington, the transfer from Syracuse.

UMass signs FL receiver

PrepSports.tbo.com reports that Torrey Esaloni a 6-2, 175 pd WR from Gauther in Tampa Florida has signed a letter-of-intent with UMass.

His Rivals Bio is here. This article lists him as All-State.

• Was third-team All-State 5A Conference
  
• 4.6 40 with a 230 pd bench

First found by MikeUMA, the owner of the UMass Hoops Board.

Der Tag!

Today's the day! All UMass fans should place their fingertips to their temples and try to send brainwaves to a fax machine somewhere in the UMass football offices so that it will spit out letters-of-intent for all the top recruits UMass has been recruiting.

The Boston Globe has an article here about some Mass players signing. None are listed as committing to UMass. The only name that might have been in play for UMass is Alex Dulski, who chose Northeastern.

I called the UMass football office and they said that there would not be a signing day press conference. They said UMass signings would appear over several days on the UMass website.

Coach Brown is scheduled to appear at the weekly UMass Sports Luncheon on 02/08/06. The luncheon will be held at the Massachusetts Room, 3rd floor, Mullins Center. Call 413-545-4290 for reservation...

UMass gets second I-A transfer

The Hartford Courant today published an article that Tim Washington a 5-9 209 pd junior RB will transfer to UMass.

His Syracuse player bio is here . Read it quick, before they "sanitize" it as did UConn on our other I-A transfer Anthony Rouzier.

• Washington is an outstanding student and will attend grad school at UMass
• USA Today CT Player-of-the-Year
• PrepStar All-American

A tip-of-the-helmet to Tom um'73, who brought this to my attention!

Recruiting #18 Justin Mitchell

Two sources have stated that UMass has offered a scholarship to Justin Mitchell 6-4 295 pd OG/DT from Paul IV High School in Haddonfield NJ. His Rivals Bio is here .

Also has offers from Maine and Stony Brook. Sources say he is looking at Syracuse (if they offer) and then Maine. He is not making a recruiting trip to Amherst, but visited Orono on 1/27/06. Looks like we would have a chance only if Maine and Syracuse do not work out.

Justin! Have you heard the old joke about Orno, ME?

"Orno, ME is NOT the end of the world-------- but you can see it from there!"

Two Days to Go!

National Letter of Intent Day is two days off.

Click here to learn more about Letters-of-intent than you will ever want to know (unless you're a high school athlete who's about to make the biggest commitment of your life so far)

Whipple goes to the Super Bowl

Matt Vautour, the UMass beat writer for the Hampshire Gazette does his usual excellent job on this article on former UMass Coach Head Mark Whipple (registration required, but worth it).

Whipple is the quarterbacks coach for the Super Bowl bound Pittsburgh Steelers. Many credit him for the quick development of Pittsburg's outstanding young QB Ben Roethlisberger.

Recruiting #17, UMass in the running for seven Eastern Mass players

This article from the BostonHerald lists six pages of Eastern Mass players who are considering their college plans. Read the article for their stats and more info.

Seven of the players are considering UMass (or I am aware of their interest in UMass from another source).

• Alex Dulski, Walpole QB 6-3, 205. Several sources stated UMass has recruited him.
• Andrew Fodera, Peabody LB (other papers have stated he is considering UMass)
  
• Tom hart, Woburn RB
  
• Kevin Kearns, Bridgewater-Raytham OT
• Mathieu Oliver,Woburn OL
• Matt Palazzola, Tyngsboro QB
• Ed Sciaba, Xaverian RB/WR

Recruiting #16 Dan Wilde

UMass is recruiting Dan Wilde a 5-9 179 pd athlete from Wachusette Regional in Rutland MA. Wilde played RB and WR in high school. Would probably be a WR or DB at UMass.

He runs a 4.63 40. His Rivals bio is here. This article also mentions him.

Also being recruited by Miami-Fl, TCU and UNH.

UMass gets 4th Verbal

Yesterday UMass picked up its fourth verbal commitment. 6-0 180 WR Ke'Mon Bailey from Huguenot in VA committed to UMass. This blog had covered him earlier .

His VirginiaPreps profile is here . The article on his signing is here .

• Turned down offers from Michigan and Penn State
  
• Also visited Kansas State and JMU
• Was a Rivals three star recruit.

Welcome to UMass Ke'Mon. You made the right decision!

Recruiting #15 Emmett Phillips

UMass is recruiting Emmett Phillips a 6-5 265 pd OL/DL from Northwest Catholic in CT. His Maxprep's team roster is here . Courant article here.

• Was Courant All-CT two years in a row
• Also recruited by Richmond, Albany, Stoney Brook and Hofstra
• Northwest Catholic went 10-1 in 2005

The story was first found by search engine ninja "Rocks22" over on the UMass Football message board.

One week to Letter-of-Intent Day

Next Wednesday, February 1, 2006, is Letter-of-intent day. Most schools sign 90% of their incoming class on that date (or are allowed to release the news of the signing).

Activity runs right up until the deadline, especially for I-AA schools. Many of the lower tier I-A schools miss signing higher rated players and end up making a late run at players recruited by I-AA teams. Former UMass coach Jim Reid told me once that UMass looses two or three verbal commitments every year to last minute offers by I-A's.

However, that runs both ways. Some players hold off committing hoping for a I-A offer that never comes.

The following is a list of commitments by Atlantic 10 teams. Remember, as per my previous blog of 01/19/06, the list is an artifact of press coverage. The southern teams have a greater apparent totals because the local press has provides more coverage. In this list, Maine has only two commitments. In 2005, Maine led the A10 with 26 signings, so take the list with several grains of salt...

• JMU 17 signings
• Delaware 16 signings
• Hofstra 10 signings
• Towson 7 signings
• UNH 5 signings
  
• Richmond 4 signings
• William & Mary 4 signings
• UMass 3 signings
• Villanova 3 signings
• Maine 2 signings
• Northeastern 1 signing
• URI 1 signing

Data is taken from the only I-AA recruiting site "Showing Blitz.com"

Recruiting #14 Jordan Shoop

UMass is recruiting Jordan Shoop a 6-3 195 pd QB/DB from Knoch High in Saxonburg PA. He runs a 4.62 40. Shoop's Rivals bio is here.

His team's MaxPreps roster is here. Haven't been able to develop a link with his stats for 2005.

Knoch finished 3-7 for the year and it seems likely that UMass is recruiting Shoop as an "athlete" and would convert Shoop to a DB or WR in college.

Also being recruited by Louisville, Colgate, Navy and several other I-AA schools.

UMass signs JUCO Wide Receiver

UMass has signed Michael Omar a 6-1 195 pd WR from Grossmont College in California. Grossmont was the National Champion JUCO football team.

Omar's stats: 44 rec, 785 yds, 17.8 yds/catch, 4 TD, LC 58 yds.

Watch video of Omar splitting the defense for a TD here .

Florida players wait for offers

A friend of the UMass Football Blog has sent the following link to an article by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

During the Whipple era of UMass Football, this was a fertile area for UMass recruits.

The article goes on to say that a number of I-A caliber players from the south Florida have yet to receive any scholarship offers...

Recruiting #13 Alex Joseph

This article (same as next post below) UMass is recruiting Alex Joseph a 6-2 205 pd DB/Athlete from Stamford CT.

• First Team All-State
• Has scholarship offers from UMass, Temple, Buffalo and Maine

His team Bio is here. MaxPreps Bio information here.

Alex, if you're googling your name and arrived here, UMass plays better/more winning football than Temple or Buffalo...

UMass gets another verbal

According to this article in the Stamford Advocate (Stamford,CT), UMass has received a verbal from Valdimire Ducasse a 6-5 330 pd OL from the Stamford Black Knights in Stamford, CT.

• First Team All FCIAC (All-State) in 2005
• Two year starter
  
• Choose UMass over Maine, Northeastern and Hofstra.

He also has a Bio on the Black Knights webpage here. More info from MaxPreps here.

Welcome aboard to Valdimir. You made the right choice!

A tip-of-the-Helmet to "Rocks22" over on the UMass Sports Board for bringing this to my attention.

Two weeks to go

With two weeks to go until Letter-of-Intent Day (Feb. 1st), the number of published verbals runs as given below. The numbers are from the only I-AA recruiting site: "ShowingBlitz". Note that the numbers are an artifact of press coverage.

High numbers of reported verbals for the southern schools are the result of press coverage by The Richmond Times and Delaware Online both of whom extend extensive college football coverage. Down there when a recruit gives a verbal, it's news. The low totals of the New England schools reflect the lack of press interest...

Remember, the schools themselves can not comment until all the paperwork is received.

• Delaware 15 verbals
• JMU 13 verbals
• Townson 6 verbals
• Richmond 4 verbals
• UNH 4 verbals
• Villanova 3 verbals
• William & Mary 2 verbals
• UMass, Maine, Hofstra 1 verbal
• Rhode Island 0 verbals
  

Recruiting #12 Dylan Mess

UMass is recruiting Dylan Mess a 6-1 218 pd OLB from Cambridge Rindge & latin. Mess runs a 4.7 40. Also ran track & Field for Cambridge.

Mess is also being recruited by New Hampshire and Northeastern.

His Rivals bio is here .

UMass Coaching tree expands

I've blogged before on UMass coaching connections (scroll down).

The UMass coaching tree grew a new branch yesterday when former UMass Defensive Line coach Sean Spencer was hired at Hofstra. The full article is here .

This is a cut-and-paste from the article: " Before his stint at Holy Cross, Spencer served as the defensive line coach at the University of Massachusetts from 2001 through 2003. In his final season in Amherst, the Minutemen finish second in the Atlantic 10 in sacks with 34. Under Spencer's tutelage, three linemen earned all-conference honors including Minutemen defensive standout Vladamar Brower, who earned All-America honors and was a Buck Buchanan Award finalist"

The image to the right is a scan from the 2002 UMass Press Guide.

19 days until Letter-of-Intent Day

Only 19 days until Feb 1st, which is Letter-of-Intent day. The next two weeks should be a period of intense activity at UMass.

Last year UMass took a number of I-A transfers and has already signed one for 2006.

There are two periods of activity for I-A transfers. One is now---- after the fall semester. Another happens after Spring football and players know their status for the following year. Look for UMass to consider some I-A players during that time.

Recruiting #11 Ke'Mon Bailey

Considering UMass is Ke'Mon Bailey a 6-0 180 RB from Richmond VA who will play WR in college. Bailey runs a 4.5 40 and benches 325. Rivals bio here .

He will take a recruiting visit to UMass on 1/20/06. Also being recruited by Kansas State, Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, Temple and JMU.

Hope he chooses UMass. Bailey will get a lot more playing time at UMass than he would at Penn State or Michigan.

UMass 2006 football schedule released

UMass has released the 2006 UMass football schedule . This is fairly early release for UMass. Often the Athletic Dept waits until late spring to divulge the schedule.

Each year an A10 team plays all the teams in its division and then adds three teams from the other division.

This year UMass rotates from playing Delaware, Richmond and JMU into a South Division schedule of Villanova, Towson and William & Mary.

Oops! Matt Vautour reports in todays (01/11/05) Hampshire Gazette, that the Athletic Dept reversed the first two games on the 2006 football schedule in yesterday's press release. The corrected schedule is below.

The 2006 Schedule:

• 09/02/06 Colgate (NCAA playoff team in 2005)
  
• 09/09/06 @Navy (national TV on CSTV)
• 09/16/06 @Villanova
• 09/23/06 Off
• 09/30/06 AIC (Div II)
• 10/07/06 William & Mary
• 10/14/06 @Towson
• 10/21/06 URI
• 10/28/06 @Northeastern
• 11/04/06 @New Hampshire (NCAA quarter finalist playoff team 2005)
• 11/11/06 Maine
• 11/18/06 Hofstra

UMass Coaching Connections

I have blogged about former UMass Coach Jimmie Reid being appointed head coach at VMI. And I did a blog on former UMass player and coach Ben Albert being hired at Delaware.

I never did a blog about former UMass Defensive coordinator Tom Mesalla being hired as head coach at Fordham. Mesalla did an excellent job as head coach at CCSU and he will make an impact at Fordham.

Buried in the UMass web site is this excellent piece on UMass football coaching connections. Old time UMass fans will recognize many of these names. Interesting stuff!

Here is a image of Coach Mesalla's press conference at Fordham.

Update on UMass Hall-of-Fame Member Jerry Whelchel

In a previous blog , I wrote about former UMass QB Jerry Whelchel being inducted into the UMass Hall of Fame. At that time I was aware that he had passed away, but was unable to provide any details.

A family member has left this link to his obituary. Whelchel passed away on 09/24/04 at the age of 62.

Recruiting Heats Up

Letter of Intent Day is less that a month away. This weekend also ends a recruiting "quiet period".

I've blogged about this before (scroll down to the first post), but UMass fans should check the "ShowingBlitz" web site for news of I-AA signings. Showing Blitz is the only I-AA recruiting site.

Last year, Showing Blitz ranked the recruiting classes of 2005 for running backs. UMass had two of it's 2005 recruits ranked in the top 30 in I-AA. They were Tony Nelson and Chris Zardas.

There has been some interesting UMass recruiting news and I will be blogging on it soon.

UMass finishes #16 in final GPI

I-AA.org has published it's final GPI for 2005. UMass finished #16 (third in the A10 and ahead of several playoff teams.

Over the last couple years the GPI has been the most accurate predictor of playoff selection. Worth a look!

First 2006 I-A transfer Anthony Rouzier

UMass has acquired the first member of its 2006 recruiting Class. Anthony Rouzier 6-0 222 LB has transferred from UConn. Rouzier did well at UConn, including an interception for a TD. Hampshire Gazette writer Jim Pignatiello has an article here (registration required, but worth it).

This article also also mentions Rouzier. Note he is described as "the best player in Western Mass"

Rouzier will be reunited with former Amherst teammate James Ihedigbo who is an All-A10 candidate for UMass at Safety.

Recruiting #10 Jared Brabham

UMass is interested in Jared Brabham a 6-2 295 pd DT from Long Branch NJ. He runs a 5.25 40, benches 325 and squats 480.

Also recruiting Brabham are Maryland, Rhode Island, Temple, Villanova, Maine and New Hampshire.

On the I-AA level, defensive tackles are regarded as perhaps the most difficult position to recruit. Most DT's in the 280-and-up size end up going I-A.

Brabham would be a nice addition to the UMass defense.