Recruiting 2010--- William Fiacchi

UMass is recruiting William Fiacchi a 6-3 205 pd pro-style QB from Marcellus, NY.

His Rivals page is here.

Fiacchi's ESPN recruiting bio is here (with video highlights)

High school stats page and bio here .

Fiacchi was third team All-State in 2008.

He threw for 2,170 yards and 22 TD's in 2008 with a Liam Coen-like 62% completion rate.

Receiving interest from a number of BCS/I-A teams including Boston College, UConn, Illinois, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Wake Forrest, Syracuse and Temple.

Saturday News ---- 06/20/09

MgoBlog has a wish list for Michigan's still unfilled opening date in 2010. Looking at the list, IMHO the only FCS/I-A teams that would settle for a "one-and-done" series are under the "Why bother" category. 'Course Michigan will have to pay them double what the Minutemen will get.

The Michigan Daily has a comment about the opener and a remark on the UMass game.

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Josh Buchanan previews the Southern Conference. Will Appalachian State end up in the National Championship game after a one year absence?

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David Coulson has a new entry in his "Around FCS" column. It's called "Milking a new cash cow." Right now in the CAA, probably only Delaware and James Madison could afford the $100K guarantee.

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Friday News ---- 019/09

The Jacksonville Jaguars have added former UMass star Jeremy Cain to their roster.

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Maine's Jack Cosgrive will throw out the first pitch in Sunday's Redsox game. It will be Maine Day in Fenway.

Mrs. Blog's family is from deep Maine. Way up on the St. Croix river. As a part of its Maine heritage, Bangor is offering a "Tommyknockers Tour".

Mrs. Blog's grandmother believed in the Tommyknockers.

"Last night, and the night before, Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers knocking at my door".

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The Ohio Valley Conference, the Big Sky Conference and the Southern Con ference have all scrapped "Media Day" in 2009 to save money.

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The Northeastern-Boston College game will be available over the internet from ESPN360.

As you know, Verizon sold all of northern New England to Fairpoint Communications. It's not going well. Among its other faults, Fairpoint does not carry ESPN360, which I could get last year.

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Thursday News--- 06/18/09

A kind Blog reader sends us a couple of links about two of UMass' 2009 recruits.

First up is a story about Sean Unterkoefler.

Second is an article about Christian Burt.

With the graduation of Karl Nelson and Chris Zardas after this year and the transfer of Korrey Davis to Liberty, Unterkoefler looks likely to be in the mix for the starting backfield in 2010.

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Speaking of recruits, this article says that Arlington High's Matt Wiley will be attending UMass this fall, but doesn't say exactly that he will be playing football.

The Shriner's game will be held this Friday at Bentley. Anyone from the Blog going?

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The Virginia Pilot says that CAA football should just supersize it.

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Wednesday News ---- 06/17/09

The latest iteration of Josh Buchanan's "Top sixty small school prospects" has Vladimir Ducasse at the #3 spot, Jeromy Miles at #19 and Jeremy Horne at #32.

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Remember how Coach Whipple liked big offensive linemen? During his tenure at UMass the Minutemen had one of the biggest O-lines in FCS football. This article states that the Miami Hurricanes will have the biggest offensive line in BCS averaging 321 pounds/per man.

BTW, Coach Whipple's Miami bio.

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Returning starters for the CAA in 2009*. O/D Total

1. Hofstra 9/9 18
2. URI 8/9 17
3. Richmond 7/9 16
4. Towson 8/8 16
5. Villanova 8/7 15
6. William & Mary 7/8 15
7. UMass 8/6 14
8. JMU 7/6 13
9. Maine 8/5 13
10. Northeastern 5/7 12
11. UNH 4/8 12
12. Delaware 5/6 11

* From the Spring CAA press guide.

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Tuesday News ---- 06/16/09

Back on April 18,2009, I did a recruiting post on Walpole RB Ryan Izzo.

In this article, he reports his current favorites are UConn, UNH, UMass and Richmond.

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More on the agreement by Montana, Appalachian State and McNeese to play a series of OOC games against each other.

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The Blog's sister resides in Eugene, OR, so I kinda keep an eye on Duck football. I thought this article from Sports Illustrated was interesting. What do football players do when their playing days are over and they no longer need 6,000 calories a day? The article was brought to my attention over on Draft Daddy's blog.

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CAA stats on the most returning lettermen for 2009

1. UMass 53
2. JMU 51
   
3. Richmond 51
4. Northeastern 48
5. Towson 44
6. Hofstra 43
7. Maine 39
8. William & Mary 39
9. Delaware 38
10. Rhode Island 36
11. New Hampshire 36
12. Villanova 31

Most letterman lost:

1. Delaware 22
2. JMU 18
3. UMass 17
4. Hofstra 17
5. Maine 15
6. UNH 14
7. Richmond 14
8. Towson 14
9. Northeastern 13
10. URI 12
11. William & Mary 11
12. Villanova 10 (sounds like Villanova does not give out many letters)
    

UMass Friends of Football Golf Classic next Monday

The sixth annual UMass Friends of Football Golf Classic will be held one week from today at Wachusett Country Club in West Boylston, MA.

There is an application form and contact links on the Friends website.

Dinner is available if you can't make the daytime golf program.

The present UMass coaching staff will be there. Some former UMass coaches usually attend. UMass AD John McCutcheon usually attends. This is a great chance to meet the current UMass football staff and many stars from UMass football history.

With the current recession, the Friends are needed as never before. Join up and support UMass Football even if you can't make the Golf Tourney. Please.

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Today is National Man Day. What could be more manly than supporting UMass Football? Send in your season ticket application and/or join the Friends of Football today!

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Saturday News ---- 06/13/09

Appalachian State, Montana and McNeese have agreed to series of games. Article from the Appalachian State side here. From Montana side here.

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More on Georgia State's joining the CAA in football here. The Official CAA website article here (with a link to the Panther's press conference and photo gallery).

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Former UMass TB Matt Lawrence gets a mention in this article about the Baltimore Ravens training camp.

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Former UMass Safety James Ihedigbo's NY Jets Bio page has been updated.

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Recruiting 2010----- Matt Robinson

UMass has offered a scholarship to Matt Robinson, a 6-3 195 pd WR from Atholton HS in Columbia, MD.

His Rivals page is here . ESPN has a story about him here.

2008 Highlights video here. Video interview here.

Robinson hold offers from UMass and JMU. Drawing interest from Boston College, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburg, Old Dominion and Towson.

Thursday News --- 06/11/09

Josh Buchanan has posed his FCS Preseason All-American picks. Two UMass players make the first team: Vladimir Ducasse and Jeromy Miles.

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Hofstra gets a Syracuse WR transfer.

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If you follow New England football, Sporting News College Football magazine has AIC as preseason #23 in DII. The Yellow Jackets were 9-2 last year.

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The New Haven Chargers return to college football this year as they field their first team since 2003. Former UMass coach Mark Whipple took the Chargers to several DII playoff games and beat D I-AA UConn during his stint as the New Haven head coach.

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UConn gets new uniforms that are more like the ones they wore when the Huskies were in I-AA.

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Recruiting 2010 --- Jean-Dean Roussel

UMass is interested in Jean-Dean Roussel a 5-11 172 pd WR/CB from St. Raphael Academy in RI.

A story about him here.

Also interested are UNH, URI, Northeastern and Boston College.

Rainy Tuesday News ---- 06/09/09

Ahem, if you type "UMass Football" into Microsoft's new search engine Bing, guess what shows up at the top of the list...

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The University of South Alabama is starting a football team this year. They will play FCS/I-AA football for two years (2010 and 2011) and then jump right into I-A football. Despite the fact that they have not played a game, the Jags have games scheduled with Mississippi State, Navy and Kent State.

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For the first time in a number of years, UMass does not have a recruit in the NY/NJ football classic.

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Phil Steele will 100+ pages of FCS/I-AA coverage in his Eastern Regional magazine this year (it was in the Western Regional last year). His national publication is due out today.

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There are very, very few active FCS/I-AA blogs out there. One of the few that is active is the Lehigh Football Nation and that site has a comment on Fordham adding scholarships.

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Monday News ---- 06/08/09

The latest version of the UMass Spring Football roster has some number changes.

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This weekend, Mrs Blog made me drive her on some household errands. To stop my whining, she picked up the 2009 edition of the College Sporting News College Football magazine for me. I can disagree with some of their material (picking UMass 3rd in the CAA North), but they did devote 17 pages to FCS football and they also cover DII and DII football. IMHO, it's one of the better college football mags.

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More on the Fordham move to scholarship football by FCS guru David Coulson. Note that the Rams will eventually fund 60 scholarships. That's more than the NEC will give. Being not eligible for the Patriot League championship will probably not hurt Fordham's chances for the playoffs as the tourney expands to 20 teams in 2010. If the Rams do well, they should be in line for a at-large bid.

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Saturday News ---- 06/06/09

Fordham, coached by former UMass defensive coordinator coach Tom Mesella , is going to start awarding scholarships in 2010. They will stay as member of the Patriot League, but will not be eligible for the League Championship.

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Our 2009 OOC opponent Albany returns 14 starters from its 9-3 2008 season and has already been picked to win its third straight NEC Championship.

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An Oklahoma writer ranks all of the 2009 Big 12 games from 1 to 96. UMass-Kansas State is ranked 89 and the second ranked Big 12- FCS/I-AA game.

Speaking of Kansas State, eight players were named to various preseason All-Big 12 teams.

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Friday News ----- 06/05/09

Chuck Burton in his "The CSN Way" column looks at the impact sports betting might have on Delaware and Delaware State.

Montana may be in trouble too.

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JMU has eight players that will not return to the Dukes in 2009.

Make that nine players.

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Korrey Davis to transfer to Liberty

In a move that will put a significant dent in UMass' running back depth, Korrey Davis will transfer to Liberty. Davis' UMass bio here.

Recruiting 2010 ---- Jimmy Owens

A Scott Anderson/Courier-Post image.

UMass is interested in Jimmy Owens a 5-10 190 pd TB from Westville, NJ. His Rivals bio is here.

Owens had a 9.8 yards/carry average and 21 TD's in 2008. Sources say he has run a 4.45 40.

Also interested are Syracuse, Villanova and UConn.

Wednesday News-- 06/03/09

More on Boston College's QB Dominique Davis' decision to transfer. His BC Bio here .

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CSN has photo galleries of FCS football. They've started the 2009 series.

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Over the last couple of years one of the best backs in FCS/I-AA football was North Dakota State's Tyler Roehl. He tore his ACL in a non-contact drill at the Seahawk's training camp.

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This article about Conference USA's efforts to reduce costs also has a lot of info about other Leagues as well. Note that C-USA may trim the number of players taken to away games and abandon staying in a hotel prior to home games.

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A summer gridiron report on our next opponent Kansas State.

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UMass' returning offensive linemen starts in 2008:

• Vladimir Ducasse 12 starts
• Josh Samuda 11 starts
• Rob Getek 7 starts
• John Ihne 6 starts
• Brian Ostaszewski 3 starts.

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Tuesday News --- 06/02/09

As you might expect, I spend quite a bit of time on the internet searching for material for the blog. Yesterday I found (courtesy of Any given Saturday) a new FCS site called "FCS Now". Apparently it's been in existence for a while. It never showed up on all those Google searches I did.

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Ten UMass seniors on the the Consensus Draft Services 2010 NFL prospects list.

They also have a 2009 Preseason All-america list. I can't find the original webpage, but Appalachian State has the list here.

Vladimir Ducasse is listed as a first team All-American. Victor Cruz, Tony Nelson and Josh Jennings are Honorable Mentions. Jeromy Miles is not on the list.

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Low level I-A teams receive about twice as much money as FCS/I-AA teams when playing BCS teams seeking a guaranteed win.

I saw this link over on the Wizard of Odds college football site.

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Monday News --- 06/01/09

UMass is #17 in the College Sporting News consolidated Pre-Season Rankings.

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Keeper's College Football Rankings has his Spring FCS 2009 Stats page up with percentages of 2008 team stats lost. Interesting stuff.

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The recession is making football at UNCC look like a tough sell.

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Texas Tech's RSFR Stephan Loucks a 6-1 179 pd QB has left the program according to the Red Raiders Blog Double-T Nation. He was a PrepStar All-American and threw for 13,000+ yards and 147 TD's in high school.

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Interesting story about ex-Duke guard Greg Paulus trying to become the starting QB at Syracuse.

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Peter McCarty

The Bangor Daily New has a story about former UMass player Peter McCarty being inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

McCarty was a four year letter winner (74,75,76,77) and was Co-Captain in 1977. He was one of the twelve UMass players to be named first team All-Yankee Conference that year. That was long enough ago so that the UMass press guide does not have tackling statistics for that era :)

I have an image of him in the my UMass history section of the blog.

His Western Michigan bio is here .

Kick time for UMass-Kansas State announced

This article has the kick-off time for the first game of the 2009 season.

Key Quote"MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State Athletics Department has announced that the Wildcats’ 2009 football season opener against Massachusetts at Bill Snyder Family Stadium will kick at 6:10 p.m. CT, while the final out of league contest against Tennessee Tech will begin at 1:10 p.m. CT."

K-State -UMass tickets go on sale July 14th.

It's official! Michigan in 2010

Before we talk about the Wolverines, FYI this is the 2,500th post here at the UMass football blog.

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The UMass Athletic Dept story here .

The Michigan Athletic Dept notice here.

Springfield Republican here .

Nearly all the various newspaper articles just copy the schools press releases, except of course for Matty Vautour, who has a number of details.

According to Matty's story, future UMass I-A opponents look like this:

• 2010 Michigan
• 2011 Boston College
  
• 2012 UConn (in negotiation stage)
• 2013 Syracuse (in negotiation stage)

Returning to Michigan, this article explains the Wolverines scheduling dilemma. Relevant quote:

"The opportunity to have both schools play for a one-year guarantee with no return trip makes it appealing for Michigan, which has been reluctant to schedule home-and-home series because that would mean a one less revenue-producing game in Ann Arbor in the road year of a contract. That is also a reason U-M has hesitated on scheduling neutral-site games."

Michigan makes so much money on home games they would play all 11 games in Michigan Stadium if they could. Nearly all I-A teams want a home-and-home contract. That's not a good deal for Michigan as they have to pay a higher guarantee to a FBS team and loose a highly lucrative home date to boot. Playing FCS/I-AA teams counts towards bowl eligibility, so playing UMass is both a financial and on-the-field win for the Wolverines in 2010.

UMass could do alright on the game also. The Minutemen get a $550,000 guarantee and 5,000 tickets. I paid $40/seat in Texas Tech. If UMass could sell a couple thousand of those seats at Michigan prices to current fans and Mid-west alums, it should push UMass' take past the $600,000 mark.

Thursday News --- 05/28/09

The New Hampshire Football report has two posts with some UMass Football news in them. The first has the Athlon preseason FCS ranking (with UMass as #15).

The second post has Mike Zhe's (who covers UNH for the Portsmouth Herald) ballot for the 2009 CAA preseason poll. He has four UMass players on the All-star team and rates UMass second in the CAA North.

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E-Bay has a 1998 UMass National Championship XL t-shirt in excellent condition for $18.98

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College Football News.com has a multi-page review of Kansas State. It's as good as, or better than, anything you'll get in the college football magazines.

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2008 CAA FOOTBALL NON-CONFERENCE RECORD*

(Since 2002)

-------------- Overall -------------- ----Playoffs-----

Year Games W-L Pct. W-L Pct.

2002 36 24-12 .667 3-3 .500

2003 36 24-12 .667 4-1 .800

2004 47 32-15 .681 8-3 .727

2005 40 25-15 .625 2-2 .500

2006 39 24-15 .615 4-3 .571

2007 47 30-17 .638 6-5 .545

2008 54 34-20 .630 8-4 .667

TOTALS 299 193-106 .645 35-21 .625

From the 2009 CAA Press Guide.

Wednesday News ---- 05/27/09

The Boston patriots released former UMass TE Brad Listorti yesterday.

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Matty Vautour has a mention of Rene Ingoglia's joining the UMass Broadcast team here.


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UMass Football's participation in the Bone Marrow Drive helped set a record for new registrants in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal has one of their excellent general interest articles on how Bone-Marrow Registries are trying to build diversity into their programs.


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Jacksonville State's Continuing Education office is offering a three-credit course in tailgating.

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Keeper's College Football Ratings is one of the few stat sites that covers FCS football. In this post he ranks FBS and FCS teams likely to improve or decline based on the stats of returning players.

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Rene Ingoglia returns as color analyst for UMass Football broadcasts

The UMass Athletic Dept has announced Rene Ingoglia will return to UMass in 2009 as the co-color analyst on UMass football broadcasts.

Ingoglia's UMass Hall-of-Fame biography is here.

I've blogged a number of times about Ingoglia. In this post, blog readers voted him third place in all-time UMass running backs.

Back i n 2007, I did a blog post about Ingoglia's election to the UMass Hall-of-Fame.

Tuesday New 05/29/09

Oregon's Justin Roper, 6-6 205 Junior QB has decided to leave the Ducks. His Oregon bio here.

Key quote from Draft Daddy:Could be a better N.F.L. prospect, with good coaching, than former Penn State quarterback Pat Devlin, who went to Delaware hoping to be the "next Joe Flacco" -- Big Joe was a Pitt transfer.

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UMass was ranked #18 in the AGS 2009 preseason poll.

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BTW at Kansas State, our 2009 FBS opponent, students have to buy football tickets.

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Top CAA Tackling games 2008

16-OR-MORE TACKLES

Jeromy Miles (Massachusetts, Junior) 19 vs. Maine (11/8)
Andrew Downy (Maine, Senior) 19 vs. Hofstra (10/18)
Jeromy Miles (Massachusetts, Junior) 18 vs. New Hampshire (11/15)
Cornelius Bunch (Northeastern, Senior) 18 vs. Maine (10/25)
Sean Wasson (Maine, Senior) 17 vs. New Hampshire (11/22)
Phil Higgins (Northeastern, Junior) 16 vs. Hofstra (11/15)
Michael Pigram (William and Mary, Senior) 16 vs. James Madison (11/15)
Jovan Belcher (Maine, Senior) 16 vs. Hofstra (10/18)
Michael Ireland (Richmond, Junior) 16 vs. James Madison (10/11)
Josh Jennings (Massachusetts, Junior) 16 vs. Delaware (10/4)

Recruiting 2010 --- Curtis Weatherspoon

A Paul Dailey/Valdosta Daily Times Image.

UMass has offered a scholarship to Curtis Weatherspoon a 6-1 205 pd Safety from Dean Junior College. He's originally from Valdosta, GA

His Rivals page is here. He had 52 TT and 8 TFL in 2008 for Dean. The rest of Weatherspoon's stats here .

He's mentioned here . Weatherspoon was All-State in Georgia in 2007.

Weatherspoon holds an offer from Marshall and is receiving interest from Georgia, Maryland, Memphis, USF and Tennessee.

Saturday News --- 05/23/09

CAA Special Teams Player-of-the-Year Scotty McGee ran a 4.31 and 4.39 before Pro Scouts at JMU's spring timing day.

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Matty Vautour has an article about UMass graduating seniors---- including Liam Coen and Courtney Robinson.

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Yet more fallout from our 2009 OOC opponent Kansas State's double secret coaching contract.

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The Baltimore Ravens have added Jason Brooks to their staff as an offensive assistant. He's the son of former UMass great Clarence Brooks who is defensive line coach for the same Ravens.

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You always knew it was true. GMAC Insurance "States-with-worst-drivers" list has Massachusetts in the bottom seven.

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Top CAA Receiving performances 2008 *

200 - YARD RECEIVERS

Victor Cruz (Massachusetts, Junior) 262 vs. James Madison (9/13)

100 - YARD RECEIVERS
Jeremy Horne (Massachusetts, Junior) 182 vs. Bryant (10/25)
Jeremy Horne (Massachusetts, Junior) 172 vs. Holy Cross (9/6)
Jimmy Hughes (Rhode Island, Senior) 153 vs. New Hampshire (9/13)
Mike Boyle (New Hampshire, Senior) 147 vs. Massachusetts (11/15)
Jeremy Horne (Massachusetts, Junior) 141 vs. Maine (11/8)
Victor Cruz (Massachusetts, Junior) 139 vs. Northeastern (10/11)
Jordan Mitchell (Richmond, Junior) 139 vs. Maine (9/20)
Aaron Weaver (Hofstra, Sophomore) 132 vs. Richmond (11/8)
Mike Boyle (New Hampshire, Senior) 132 vs. Rhode Island (9/13)
Mike Boyle (New Hampshire, Senior) 131 vs. Southern Illinois (11/29)
Victor Cruz (Massachusetts, Junior) 129 vs. Rhode Island (11/1)

Data from the 2009 CAA Press Guide.

Friday Football ---- 05/22/09

Josh Buchanan has another iteration of his "Top 40 Small Schools 2010 NFL Draft List". Two UMass players are on it: Vladimir Ducasse and Jeromy Miles. He has Ducasse as a 7th round draft pick. If Ducasse were to be picked, it would the first UMass NFL draft pick since Khari Samuel in 1999 (5th round Chicago Bears, #144).

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Our FBS OOC opponent Kansas State is being roiled by a double secret contract with its former coach Ron Prince.

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Top CAA Rushing games 2008

200 - YARD RUSHERS

Josh Vaughan (Richmond, Senior) 240 vs. Hofstra (11/8)
Rodney Landers (James Madison, Senior) 206 vs. Massachusetts (9/13)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 204 vs. Hofstra (11/22)

100 - YARD RUSHERS
Rodney Landers (James Madison, Senior) 185 vs. Delaware (11/1)
Terrance Riggins (William and Mary, Sophomore) 180 vs. VMI (9/13)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 175 vs. Northeastern (10/11)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 171 vs. Albany (8/30)
Brock Jackolski (Hofstra, Freshman) 170 vs. Bucknell (10/11)
Alex Broomfield (Northeastern, Senior) 169 vs. Massachusetts (10/11)
Rodney Landers (James Madison, Senior) 166 vs. Wofford (11/29)
Chad Kackert (New Hampshire, Junior) 164 vs. Rhode Island (9/13)
Tony Nelson (Massachusetts, Junior) 163 vs. Delaware (10/4)
Josh Vaughan (Richmond, Senior) 162 vs. Montana (12/19)

Thursday News ---- 05/21/09

As you know, it seems likely that UMass will play Michigan in 2010. This year, Delaware State is going to receive $550,000 for playing in the Big House.

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New CAA football member Old Dominion may lead the CAA in season tickets sold in its first year of playing football.

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The Spring CAA Press Guide is now available in pdf format at the league's website. According to the CAA Office of Communications, the info is current to 04/29/09.

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If we ever get a video scoreboard, the CAA is going to have some restrictions on replays.

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Top Passing games 2008 in the CAA*

400 - YARD PASSERS
Derek Cassidy (Rhode Island, Senior) 436 vs. New Hampshire (9/13)

300 - YARD PASSERS
Liam Coen (Massachusetts, Senior) 395 vs. Holy Cross (9/6)
Liam Cone (Massachusetts, Senior) 389 vs. Bryant (10/25)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 373 vs. Rhode Island (10/11)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 358 vs. Northeastern (10/4)
Robby Schoenhoft (Delaware, Junior) 344 vs. Maine (10/11)
Liam Coen (Massachusetts, Senior) 339 vs. James Madison (9/13)
Jake Phillips (William and Mary, Senior) 338 vs. Delaware (10/18)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 330 vs. Navy (8/30)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 326 vs. Villanova (11/15)
Sean Schaefer (Towson, Senior) 315 vs. James Madison (11/22)

* from the 2009 CAA Spring Press Guide.

Wednesday wanderings --- 05/20/09

If you missed it, the UMass website has the 2009 Football "Quick Facts" up. (pdf). UMass returns 15 starters for 2009 including 8 on offense and 6 on defense. Fifty-three lettermen will return this year.

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The Eagles have done a great job with Courtney Robinson's bio page. Check it out!

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The Jaguars like William & Mary rookie CB Derek Cox.

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UMass Football has been something special the last 10 years. The following information is from the not-yet-published 2009 CAA football press guide.

CAA Football Record
Last 10 Seasons -- 1999-2008
(All Games)

Team Wins Losses Ties Pct. Titles

Massachusetts 80 42 0 .656 4
Delaware 79 46 0 .632 3
James Madison 76 46 0 .623 3
Villanova 71 45 0 .612 1
New Hampshire 70 50 0 .583 1
Maine 63 53 0 .543 2
Richmond 65 56 0 .537 3
William and Mary58 53 0 .523 2
**Hofstra 42 50 0 .457 1
Northeastern 46 67 0 .407 1
*Towson 22 34 0 .393 0
Rhode Island 37 75 0 .330 0

* - Began league membership in 2004
** - Began league membership in 2001

Special thanks to CAA Director of Communications Scott Meyer for sending me the info.

Tuesday Tales ------ 05/19/09

Woah! Frost last night in Jaffey on late in May! The heat had kicked on at 5:00 am when Mrs Blog got up.

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Matty Vautour lists his five most exciting UMass games he's reported on. I should re-blog a list of most exciting UMass football games I've attended.

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Delaware adds a transfer from WVU.

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This year's FBS OOC opponent Kansas State adds a FCS/I-AA team for 2012.

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UMass played the fifth-toughest schedule in FCS/I-AA in 2008. (pdf)

For 2009, UMass opponents were 75-64 .539 last year.

Kansas State 5-7
JMU 12-2
Albany 9-3
Richmond 13-3
UNH 10-3
Maine 8-5
Stony Brook 5-6
Delaware 4-8
Hofstra 4-8
Rhode Island 3-9
Northeastern 2-10

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Recruiting 2010 --Tenero Davis

UMass is interested in Tenero Davis a 6-0 210 pd OLB from Dean College. Davis is originally from Southwest Dekalb HS/Decatur, GA.

His Rivals page is here.

Davis was a Scout.com two-star player out of high school. He drew interest from Georgia Tech, Georgia, Miami, Auburn and Florida. Apparently received an offer from Mississippi State.

At Dean, he is also receiving interest from Rhode Island.

Recruiting 2010 --- Asim Hicks

UMass is interested in Asim Hicks a 6-1 218 pd MLB from Dean College. Hicks is originally from North Star HS in Newark, NJ. He runs a 4.61 40.

His Rival page is here.

Youtube highlight film of him at a New Jersey All-star game here. 2008 Stats at Dean here.

Also interested are Rhode Island and Northeastern.

Friday Follies --- 05/15/09

Don Brown's defense at Maryland kicked the crap out of the Terp's offense in the Spring Game. Brown's squad racked up 8 sacks, 7 PBU, 5 INTs and the first team offense had 8 three-and-outs and zero points. Story here.

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David Coulson of The Sports Network looks at the fact that only 11 FCS players are in the College Football Hall of fame. The Hall of Fame's website is here if you've never visited.

UMass' Milt Morin is in and Coach MacPherson joined this year.

Greg Landry is not.

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The National Champion Richmond Spiders get five televised games in 2009. The UMass coaches should have plenty of film to work review by October 24th.

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Five walk-ons have been awarded scholarships at Delaware this spring.

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The Maine Black Bears get three televised games in 2009.

Rhode Island gets two.

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ESPN's spring write-up for Kansas State here.

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UMass 2009 Football Game times up

The UMass Athletic Dept has announced game times for most of the 2009 Season.

2009 UMass Football Schedule

Day Date Opponent Location Time

Sat. Sept. 5 at Kansas State Manhattan, Kansas TBA
Sat. Sept. 12 ALBANY McGUIRK STADIUM 6:00 p.m,
Sat. Sept. 19 RHODE ISLAND* (CSN) McGUIRK STADIUM 3:30 p.m.
Sat. Sept. 26 STONY BROOK McGUIRK STADIUM 6:00 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 3 Open Date
Sat. Oct. 10 at Delaware* Newark, Del. 6:00 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 17 NEW HAMPSHIRE* (CSN) McGUIRK STADIUM 3:30 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 24 at Richmond* Richmond, Va. 3:00 p.m.
Sat. Oct. 31 at Maine* (CSN) Orono, Maine 3:30 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 7 NORTHEASTERN* McGUIRK STADIUM 12:00 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 14 JAMES MADISON* (CSN) McGUIRK STADIUM 12:00 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 21 at Hofstra* Hempstead, N.Y. TBA

HOME GAMES IN BOLD CAPS; CAA Games denoted with asterisk.
All dates subject to change; Times to be announced.
CSN- Comcast SportsNet New England Television, list of systems broadcasting Comcast Sports New England here. Also available on Dish Network channel 435.

I checked the Kansas State website and their opening game last year was at 6:00pm. That's the time I used for the countdown clock.

The New Hampshire and James Madison should be among the top games in FCS/I-AA in 2009.

It would not surprise me if Delaware, Richmond or JMU games were picked up by another network.

Wednesday wonders ---- 05/13/09

Draft Scout has their list it top 750 2009 seniors with 40 times here. It includes UMass' Safety Jeromy Miles and WR Jeremy Horne.

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I blogged earlier about the on-again-off-again saga of sports betting in the State of Delaware. Right now, it looks likely that sports betting will become law.

The NCAA has threatened to ban college tournament and playoff games held in the state of Delaware if the law passes. If the Delaware Blue Hens are banned from hosting FCS/I-AA playoff games, it would make a huge impact in the CAA and in the FCS playoffs. Historically, home teams win about 75% of the time.

If the NCAA does institute the ban, expect a class 5 infestation of lawyers.
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The Lehigh Football Blog talks about the movement of Georgetown's AD to Delaware and speculates about a Big East Breakup along basketball-football lines.

With the economic climate the way it is, I doubt anything will happen right away. The money continues to flow strongly to football and I'm sure the Big East would love to dump DePaul, Seton Hall and Providence. The old Catholic school athletic model of big time basketball and nothing else is fading fast.

Staying off topic, former UMass coaches John Calipari and Travis Ford had the #1 and #11 ranked 2009 basketball recruiting classes.

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The Bleacher Report is running a series on the greatest college football upsets. Near the top of any one's list is Appalachian State over Michigan.

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Tuesday News ----- 05/12/09

Not much UMass or FCS football news on the wires today.

Over on one of the Kansas State boards, they have a link to this YouTube video tribute to the once-and-again Wildcats coach Bill Snyder. Nicely done. Snyder was the miracle man at K-State. Without him they averaged .243 winning average (137-445-18). With him the Wildcats went to eleven straight bowl games.

I went to the 2003 UMass-Kansas State game back in 2003. The crowd of 46,102 was the third largest to ever watch a UMass football game.

UMass led 7-3 after the first quarter on 63 yard TD pass to from Jeff Krohn to Jason Peebler.

The Wildcats primarily ran their star RB Darren Sproles. He ended up 28-152-3 TD's. We actually did a pretty good job on him. If I remember right, he got loose for a 30+ yard game once and another for about 18 yards. The other 26 carries averaged about three yards each.

Image from the K-State athletic dept site.

Outside of the long gain to Peebler, we only had ten first downs. After every K-State first down the stadium announcer would say "That's another Wildcat"--- and the crowd would roar "First Down!" By the fourth quarter, the UMass fans were doing the same thing for UMass first downs. We were a small but fiesty bunch.

I had a good time at the game and I'll always remember dodging pronghorn antelope on Interstate 70 on the drive back to Kansas City.

Monday musings -- 05/11/09

New London HS had a good year in 2008. Fourteen of sixteen seniors will be playing football in college (article has quotes from UMass recruit Tyler Major).

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New Hampshire's Spring Game produced a raft of articles. The Daily Democrat here. Concord Monitor here . Seacoast Online here . Frank Coppola has an article for New Hampshire Football report here . Roger Brown of New Hampshire Football report has an article on the rebuilt Wildcat offensive line.

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Nice human interest story about FCS/I-AA WR Ramses Barden from Cal Poly trying to make the NY Giants.

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Former UMass assistant Coach Frank Forcucci has joined Northeastern as their Defensive Coordinator and DB coach.

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Former UMass player Malik Hall and former UMass assistant coach Edie Morrissey have joined the football staff at Fordham .

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Saturday News ---- 05/09/09

UMass' Head Coach Kevin Morris will sponsor two football clinics June 14th and July 31st for grades 9-12.

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A UMass Collegian columnist apparently thinks the lights at McGuirk only are used one time a year.

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Former UMass TE Ian Jorgensen has another NFL tryout. This time with the New Orleans Saints.

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The New Hampshire Football Report has two articles on UNH. One covers the increase in local players for the Wildcats and the second gives a tentative two-deep for this Spring's squad.

The Wildcats may be a force to contend with in 2009 as they return eight starters on defense and the skill-player core of an offense that ranked second in the CAA last year.

New Hampshire was second in the league in 2009 in total offense (1,295 rushing 2009 yards passing 3,304 total yards 5.7 yards/play and 413 yards/game). They averaged 37.2 points/game, which was also 2nd in the league.

The UNH offense returns QB RJ Tolman, RB Chad Kackert and All-American TE Scott Sicko.

In comparison, UMass was 5th in total offense (1189 rushing 1810 passing 2999 total yards 374.9 yards/game) and the Minutemen were 6th in scoring offense (27.0 points/game).

NOTE: the figures are CAA league figures. They do not include OOC stats.

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Friday News --- 05/08/09

The first 2009 Pre-season All-American team has been published by Consensus Draft Services. the Appalachian State Web site has the list here (I couldn't find the original source material on Consensus Draft Services site). They list a number of UMass players including Vladimir Ducasse on the First Team.

Jeromy Miles is not on the list, which is probably an oversight.

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Former UMass AD Bob Marcum intends to retire when his current contract with Marshall is up.

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Former UMass punter Christian Koegel is a cast member on "Real World Cancun".

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The o5/08/09 issue of Draft Daddy's NFL Blog has Josh Buchanan's top 25 "small school" NFL prospects for 2009. Vladimir Ducasse is #5 and Jeromy Miles is #15.

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Roger Brown of New Hampshire Football Report a report on UNH football this spring.

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The CAA has published it's complete 2009 football schedule. Article here. Printable schedule here (pdf).

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Record setting Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell (34-27-0 322 yards 4 TD's against UMass) is still looking for work.

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Kansas State has a 58-page Spring Prospectus here (pdf).

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Recruiting 2010 ---- Vincent Gallo

UMass is interested in Vincent Gallo a 6-0 179 pd RB from Rotterdam, NY.

His Rivals page is here.

He was Class B 1st Team West Division in football and placed 2nd in NY in wrestling in his weight class.

Also interested are Holy Cross, Brown, Cornell, Maine and Stony Brook.

Rainy Wednesday News ---- 05/06/09

This article from the Worcester Telegram mentions UMass' 2009 TE recruit Rob Blanchflower.

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Seacoast online looks at UNH's prospects after they end their spring practice this Saturday (mentions UMass).

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Josh Buchanan looks at potential NFL "small school" draft picks for 2010. He mentions UMass players Tony Nelson, Vladimir Ducasse, Kyle Harrington and Jeromy Miles.

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North Dakota State University was the darling of pundits during their move to FCS/I-AA football. Some writers ranked them over UMass in 2006 when we went to the National Championship game. Since then they finished fourth in the Missouri Valley league and this year they've been hemorrhaging players.

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Sports betting has been turned down by Delaware, so the Hens will still able to host FCS playoff games.

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Liberty gets a great new scoreboard.

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Tuesday News --- 05/05/09

Former UMass coaches Don Brown and Mark Whipple receive favorable mentions in this USA Today article.

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Our next opponent Kansas State, unveiled it's new 4-2-5 defense during the Wildcats spring game.

More articles on K-State's spring game here and here .

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OOC opponent Stony Brook also had their spring game on Saturday. Story here.

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Over on the New Hampshire football report, there is a link to this story about UNH WR Chris Chandler's struggle to recover from a devastating knee injury.

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BTW, while at the UMass Spring Game, I got to say "Hello" to UMass recruit Kalonji Kabongo from Abington, MA. Kabongo is a 2008 Globe All-Scholastic. Abington Coach Jim Kelliner said he projected as a LB in college.

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Monday after the Spring Game

Click on the images above and Blogger displays a much larger view.

I've posted 36 more images in a Picasa Web album here.

The UMass Daily Collegian has a Spring Game story here.

Ian Jorgensen has tryout with Eagles

Former UMass TE Ian Jorgensen is attending the Philadelphia Eagle mini-camp. Mentioned in this story.

Day after the Spring game 05/03/09

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

Well, it was a great day for the Spring Game. UMass has a write-up here.

The Weather was perfect, in the high 60's and sunshine. AFAIK, no one got hurt. I would estimate about 500 UMass fans attended, which was not bad given all the competing events on campus on Saturday.

I had talks with Armando Cuko, who's on track to graduate in the fall with a double major. I don't think he missed a kick all afternoon. Cucko said he thought the team had a lot of talent and would do well in the fall.

Also talked with Scott Wallace's dad who drove up from Delaware.

I also got to say hi to David Cozzo's father. Cozzo had a nice interception in the game.

All the QB's had a lot of reps with both the first and second string offense. If I had to pick, I'd say Scott Woodward looked the best. But, as I've said before, everyone was goin' about 4/5th speed and both the offense and the defense knew what the other side was going to do.

I'll be back tomorrow with some images from the game.

Spring Game Day 2009

Matty Vautour has a story about the competition at the quarterback position this spring.

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You remember that Florida State dropped Maine for a TV game this year. The Black Bears made out all right financially, but ended up with a hole in their schedule. They had to fill it with DII St. Cloud State. Story here.

This is why the guarantee clause is holding up the Michigan contract. If Michigan bails, then UMass will very likely have to pay a guarantee of their own to get a replacement.

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Richmond Head Coach Mike London has been named the Black Coaches Association male coach of the year.

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Dave Coulson has a new "Around FCS" column up as he visits Delaware's and Towson's spring games.

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Hope to see a lot of you at the Spring Game. It rained pretty good here in Jaffrey overnight, but there's some watery sunshine right now.

Sean Smalls gets tryout with the NY Jets

UMass' Sean Smalls is part of a 16 player tryout group at the Jets mini-camp.

Friday News ----- May 1, 2009

Tom Luginbill of ESPN.com takes a look at college football recruiting at the FCS level.

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The University of Florida Gators introduces something for the ladies---- the Tim Teebow thong.

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Back in the day, Ivy League teams were happy to play the old Yankee Conference football teams. In those days, the Ivies recruited nationally and had significantly more resources than the Yankee Conference. That led to lopsided victory totals to the Ivies. UMass' record against Dartmouth is 3-20-1 and 8-12-1 against Harvard. Now the shoe is on the other foot and most of the Ivies have dropped games against the New England CAA schools. UNH-Dartmouth and URI-Brown have been the exceptions. Now, it looks like the New Hampshire-Big Green series might be gone soon.

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Former Louisville QB Tyler Wolfe is looking to transfer to a FCS school.

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This year's FBS opponent Kansas State will play its Spring Game on Saturday.

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Coach MacPherson joins College football Hall-of-Fame

Former UMass, Syracuse and Patriots coach Dick MacPherson has been elected to the College Football Hall-of-Fame.

UMass Athletic Dept story here. Syracuse Athletic Dept news release here.

The Boston Herald has the AP release here. The Post-Standard has a stories here and here.

Congrats to Coach "Mac". He is one of a kind and can tell football stories like few others.

UMass fans will always wonder what would have happened if the UMass administration had allowed him to take UMass into the Big East.