UMass Football News--May 16th, 2023

 

Ellis Merriweather signs with the New Orleans Saints. If Merriweather is healthy, I would not be surprised to see him stick with an NFL team.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Merriweather's signing. 

MassLive has a story on Merriweather's contract. Not paywalled, amazingly.

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Penn State's running back duo ranked among the nation's best by 247Sports.

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2023 opponent Arkansas State adds a DL transfer from Princeton. 

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The PAC-12 may be adding a team shortly.

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UMass Football News --Ides of May 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post about recent 2024 commit Tanner Burlingame. 

I don't think I included this short question-and-answer with Burlingame in my blog post about him verbaling. 

Coach Brown has made some impressive  improvements to the Minutemen's talent and roster depth. Offensive line remains maybe the main on-going project. Burlingame is an athletic big man and hopefully he will have a rewarding career with UMass.

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UConn's head coach says the transfer portal "is a challenge for us".

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2023 opponent Penn State is planning a $700 million makeover for Beaver Stadium. 

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Killer Frogs predicts 2023 MAC opponent Toledo to win the MAC championship.

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UMass Football News--May 13th, 2023

 Josh Screiber from WMUA sports and also broadcaster for the UMass Women's basketball basketball network breaks down UMass QB Carlos Davis.

One of the many great things about college football---arguing about who should start at QB :)

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Outkick predicts 2023 opponent Auburn to have 6.5 wins this year. 

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Yard Barker has Penn State as #5 in a 2023 preseason ranking.

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Miami Ohio (UMass' 2023 home opener opponent) adds a WR transfer from Michigan State.

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College Football News previews the 2023 Eastern Michigan Eagles and predicts seven wins. 

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Tony Williams

247Sports image

 Tony Williams, a 6-2 190 pound DB/WR from Palm Beach, FL has a UMass offer.

247Sports four-star recruit.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Williams has 14 offers including Power Five Pitt, Penn State and Rutgers. Several MAC schools have also offered. Williams has a pro-sized body as a DB and Coach Brown has an excellent record of putting DB's in the NFL. Williams could also play the "viper" position, which Brown pretty much invented.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Jerrod Cameron comitts to UMass

 

Twitter image

Jerrod Cameron, a 5-10 160 pound transfer CB from Coastal Carolina has committed to UMass.

Coastal Carolina bio here.

247Sports three-star player. 

Out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, FL Cameron had Power Five offers from Texas A&M, Maryland, Old Miss and Wake Forest. He has four years of eligibility. Coach Brown has put a number of CB's in the NFL and I look forward to watching Cameron's career with the Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Deron McLaughlin

UMass athletic dept image

 Deron McLaughlin, a 6-5 270 pound OL from Park Ridge, NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star recruit.

Hudl.com has video. 

 McLaughlin, an athletic big man, has 23 offers including the three service academies and Buffalo, UConn and Temple have offered from the northeast. UMass offers a top-quality education, the best food in college football and a chance to play for one of the most inspirational coaches in football.

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Deacon Rawls

Image credit unknown

 Deacon Rawls, a 6-5 315 pound OL from Virginia Beach has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Rawls has six offers including Army, Temple and UMass from the Northeast. He could find a home and lots of playing time in Amherst.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Tyler Knaak

 

Twitter image

Tyler Knaak, a 6-7 305 pound transfer OL from Utah has a UMass offer.

Utah bio here. 

Has an offer from Kentucky.

Knaak has offers from Liberty, Kentucky, Hawaii, Buffalo, Appalachian State and more coming out of the portal. UMass can offer an east coast education and the availability of playing time early.

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Tanner Burlingame commits to UMass

Twitter image

 UMass has received the first commitment of the 2024 recruiting cycle. Tyler Burlingame, a 6-5 270 pound OL from Maine Endwell, NY has verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video. 

This article covers his visit to Syracuse. 

UMass was the first offer for Burlingame. He has a big frame and was first-team All-State. I will be interested in following his career with the Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Thomas Le Boucher

 

Twitter image

Thomas Le Boucher, a 6-5 305 pound OT transfer from Arizona State has a UMass offer.

Sun Devils bio here. 

Saturday out west has a post on his entering the transfer portal. 

Had nine offers coming out of JUCO the year before. 

The Minutemen need help at OL and Le Boucher could play early in Amherst.

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Brahim Wynn

 

Twitter image

Brahim Wynn, a 6-3 235 pound EDGE from Sicklerville, NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video. 

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Wynn's recent visit to UMass. 

The Juice recounts his visit to Syracuse. 

Wynn has nine offers including UConn, Maryland, Temple and Toledo. Don Brown's attacking defense is the most fun in college football and Wynn would be able to use his skills in Amherst.

UMass Football Blog News

 Mrs Blog and I are going up to Maine for a couple of days. As usual, I'll try to keep the blog going. If I'm not able to, I'll be back Saturday.

UMass Football News--May 3rd, 2023

 The Hampshire Gazette reports an invite to the Packers mini-camp is all Ellis Merriweather asked for.

Merriweather stuck with Minutemen football in a lackluster (to put it mildly) offense that did not give him a chance to build a lot statistics for his resume. If he stays healthy, he could surprise as a free-agent.

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Click on an image and blogger displays a larger view.

Coach Brown said during his presser after the spring game that they were still looking for some transfers for the O-line. During the game, I thought the first team defensive line generally had the better of the play. Against the offensive line second team, the defense dominated.

The roster currently has 14 offensive linemen and several of those are walk-ons. Four O-linemen will join in July, but a couple junior or senior linemen would really help. Twelve of the current fourteen linemen are listed as freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores. 

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2023 opponents Eastern Michigan, Toledo and Miami OH all get high ratings in this MAC conference preview.

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UMass Football News--May 2nd, 2023

 Episode five of the spring camp videos.

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Ellis Merriweather invited to Green Bay Packers mini-camp. 

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UMass has a new NIL collective  for football, UMMB and cheer-leading and the dance team.

I spoke with a member of the collective at the spring game. He said UMass cannot compete (obviously) with the likes of SEC or Bit Ten teams. The goal of the Minuteman collective is to see everyone is included.

The Hampshire Gazette has a post on Merriweather's invite and the collective.

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Click on an image and Blogger displays a larger view.

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UMass Football News--May 1st, 2023

 Click on an image and blogger displays a larger view.

I liked it! There was a totally different vibe about the spring game. There were nice plays on both sides of the ball. In particular, the QB's looked like FBS players. All four had some nice zip on the ball and the three new QB's, Taisun Phommachanh, Carlos Davis and Ahmad Haston displayed some mobility. Haston looked amazingly polished for a really young guy. He's going to be a player for us in the future.

I would currently give the nod to Carlos Davis. We need some good QB production now. As a senior, he can compensate when the play goes bad. 

Also Gino Campiotti made some nice catches playing TE. George Johnson and Mark Pope also looked good at WR. 

On defense, Dorian Helm was around the ball all game. The first team DL was able to collapse the pocket when they were all in there.

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UMass Athletic dept write-up on the game.

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The UMass Daily Collegian has takeaways from the spring game.  

The Collegian reports the UMass defense looks to be even better this year.

The Hampshire Gazette says the Minutemen defense won on a blocked field goal.

The New England Football Journal recaps the Minutemen's spring ball. 

The NEFJ reports the UMass defense beat the offense in the spring game.

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Marcus Bradley and Cole Garcia have been selected as the Michael Boland Inspirational Award recipients. 

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UMass Spring game--April 29th, 2023

 UMass Spring game and live stream today!

The Minutemen will do their AC/DC "Thunder" quick drill and then three periods of offense vs defense with live tackling.

I'll be there despite the showers. 

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The 2023 college football playoffs will include some "midweek" games.

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UMass Football News--April 28th, 2023

 

UMass athletic dept image

The Hampshire Gazette reports the UMass defense wants to be the best unit on the field.

The Minutemen defense made a significant improvement in 2022. They went from nearly the worst in football to respectable. The defense went from last in FBS, giving up 43.1 points/game to #103 and 31.1 points/game. This year, I think we'll be able to be a more attacking defense and the results will be even better. 

As usual, playing Auburn and Penn State will hurt  the stats some, but against Group-of-Five; we'll play well.

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Speaking of Auburn, apparently they are still searching for a starting QB.

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The weather predicts showers for tomorrow afternoon. I'll be there and hope it'll hold off until the scrimmage finishes.

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Will the PAC-12 raid the Big 12?

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New details on the expanded college playoffs.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Evans Chuba

Twitter image

 Evans Chuba, a 6-4 210 pound QB from Clearwater, FL has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has some stats. 

This article recounts his visit to Syracuse.

Chuba has seven offers including UMass, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and EKU. Chuba is a mobile QB and would fit nicely in the new Minutemen offense.

UMass Football News--April 26th, 2023

 The Hampshire Gazette reports UMass' offensive coordinator Steve Casula thinks there has been real progress this spring on offense.

Fixing the offense is very likely a multi-year task. For the last four years we have been near the bottom of FBS in nearly every offensive category.  Last year, most of the effort and recruiting went into the defense and there was a significant improvement.

This year, with two transfer QBs and a much deeper RB room, the focus is on moving the UMass offense out of college football's cellar. We are a bad-weather team and a decent running game would be a good place to start. It looks like we have made a good start on increasing speed and athleticism. The offensive line may still be an area of concern, especially depth.

I'm looking forward to seeing the UMass offense this year.

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Speaking of the offensive line: images from below are from the UMass Twitter feed. Click on an image and blogger displays a larger view.

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Anyone beside me think there may be a impending train wreck at Colorado?

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UMass Football News--April 25th, 2023

 If you missed it, the UMass Spring game will be available on NESN+. It shows on my Comcast future college football schedule. If you are far away, watch live on NESN+.

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The New England Football Journal has a post from April 22nd on the sights and sounds of UMass Spring football.

The NEFJ also has 10 takeaways from UConn's spring game. As the article says, the UConn athletic dept is on a roll with dominate performances by both men's and women's basketball, a bowl game for football and good results in baseball.

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The UMass Twitter feed has video episode #4 from UMass' spring camp.

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Rashad Henry lookin' good in the Maroon & White from his official visit last weekend.

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The ESPN pre-season power index predicts 2023 opponent Liberty to have over eight wins this season. The Flames should contend for the C-USA conference title right away.

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UMass Football News--April 24th, 2023

 

The 2023 UMass Spring Game will be Saturday at Noon.    

Right now the weather is looking iffy for showers on Saturday. Bring an umbrella and come anyway.. 

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Cris Tucci image

 

The Hampshire Gazette has a post featuring Arizona transfer Jerry Roberts, Jr. Roberts started all twelve games for Power Five Arizona last year and he should be a force for the still-improving Minutemen defense.

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The NCAA adopts three rule changes for 2023 to shorten the game.

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2023 opponent New Mexico State held their Spring game last Thursday.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Rashad Henry

 

Not sure about the image credit

Rashad Henry, a 6-3 225 pound LB from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida will take an OV to UMass this weekend.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Henry has seven Group-of-Five offers. UMass has signed a number of players from Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in the past. Henry has a pro-sized body and there would be no better place to develop his skills than with Don Brown.

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Javonte Robinson

 Javonte Robinson, a 6-2 230 pound LB/Edge from Conyers, GA has a UMass offer.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hudl.com has video. 

Invited to Clemson's spring game.

Robinson could play for the best defensive coach in college football in Amherst. Playing in Don Brown's attacking defense could feature Robinson's skills.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Kyle Kelly

Arkansas State athletic dept image

 Kyle Kelly, a 6-5 300 pound OT transfer from Arkansas State has a UMass offer.

Red Wolves bio here. 

Entered the transfer portal on April 14th. 

The Minutemen still need help on the OL. A lot of playing time is up for grabs playing for Coach Miller in Amherst.

UMass Football News--April 19th, 2023

UMass Twitter image

 The Hampshire Gazette reports on Gino Campiotti's transition to tight end.

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The New England Football Journal has another in its series on UMass' spring camp. 

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ESPN's 2023 College Football Power Index has UMass at #133.

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The Albuquerque Journal says UMass' 2023 opponent New Mexico's coach Gonzales is excited. 

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Flywareagle.com reports that for Auburn, UMass #2 opponent in 2023, everything is wonderful on offense. 

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UMass Football News--April 18th, 2023

Berkshire Eagle image

 The third video installment from UMass' spring camp is up.

It features former QB Gino Campiotti. Geno has stuck with the program and I really hope he has a great final year in football. He's an athletic, tough kid and deserves some success in his final year.

Production from the TE room would really help jump start UMass dormant offense. The Minutemen have been trying to run against eight or nine in box. Some pass offense production would really help loosen the opposing defense. In addition, a quick-release pass to a TE would help on pass protection.

Also in the TE room:

Eni Falayi RSFR 6-5 240.

Nathan Fraser FR 6-2 215.

Jackson Manning RSFR 6-5 250.

Jason Weir RSSO 6-3 254.

Magnus Von Salden RSFR 6-4 255.

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CBS Sports reports former UMass player and coach Neal Brown needs to win in his fifth season.

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Big changes coming for the Service Academies.  The NCAA in a little noticed rule change, has outlawed cut blocks outside of the tackles. Army is switching to a shotgun style offense.

Playing the option really helped level the playing field for the Academies. They don't get 6-6 315 pound offensive linemen, so the option really helped fill in the size and talent gap. We'll see this year how much the change hampers the Black Knights.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Jalen Long

 

Twitter image

Jaylen Long, a 6-3 220 pound OLB transfer from Maine will visit UMass on the 20th of April.

Rivals page here.

Highlight tape here.

Black Bears bio here.

Long is from Springfield, MA and apparently drew UMass interest in the 2022 recruiting cycle. Long could play the "Viper" position and Coach Brower should be familiar with him.

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Kameron Austin

Twitter image

 Kameron Austin, a 6-0 160 pound DB from Montvale, NJ will be in Amherst this weekend.

Hudl.com has video.

Austin would have a chance to play for DB-guru Don Brown with the Minutemen. Brown has put a lot of DB's in the NFL.

UMass Football News--April 14th, 2023

Jalen John runs the rock in spring practice

 The Hampshire Gazette says recruiting does not stop for spring practice.

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The Natick report has a post on native son Josh Atwood. 

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Cole Garcia's motivational speech goes viral.

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UConn's QB position is wide open.

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New Mexico, UMass' opening 2023 opponent looks to become bigger, stronger and faster.

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UMass's #2 opponent Auburn loses a former #1 rated JUCO DL to the transfer portal.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Mark Schoonmaker

Twitter image

 Mark Schoonmaker, a 6-4 220 pound TE from Hamden Hall, CT has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Brother of Luke Schoonmaker, a potential NFL draft pick from Michigan. 

Schoonmaker has offers from UMass, UConn and Charlotte from FBS. He also has offers from two Ivies. Tight end should be a "growth" position in the new UMass offense in coming years. Schoonmaker could play in front of friends and family in Amherst.

UMass Football News--April12th, 2023

UMass athletic dept image

 New England Football Journal has two posts:

From Saturday's practice.

And from yesterday.

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The UMass athletic dept has the second installment of a video series on Spring practice.

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The Hampshire Gazette reports UMass is cultivating a good environment. 

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Athlon Sports reports Colorado may jump to Big 12. 

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UConn's QB situation is wide open.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Wyatt Terlaak commits to UMass

Twitter image

Wyatt Terlaak, a 6-4 350 pound IOL from Santa Ana College has committed to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Originally signed with Navy. Also had FBS offers from UNLV and San Jose State.

A big addition (pun intended) to UMass. Terlaak was first team All-State and first team All-Conference in California's high competitive JUCO conferences. He could be in the mix right away for playing time in Amherst.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Daniel Gonzalez

Twitter image

 Daniel Gonzalez, a 6-5 305 pound OL from Mt San Antonio College visited UMass this weekend.

247Sports page here.

Utah Tech bio here.

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Gonzalez has FBS offers from UMass, Middle Tennessee State and Akron coming out of JUCO. He could find a home (and a lot of available playing time) in Amherst in the rebuilding Minutemen offensive line.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Daylon Metoyer

Mt San Antonio athletic dept image

 Daylon Metoyer, a 6-4 315 pound OL from Mt San Antonio College in CA has a UMass offer.

Mt San Antonio bio here.

Hudl.com has video. 

Metoyer was All-league in 2022. He took a visit to UMass last weekend. There is a lot of playing time up for grabs in Amherst. "Big Lou" could find a home at UMass.

UMass Football News--April 7th, 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" (the de-facto UMass beat writer) has a post on changes in the Minutemen's spring roster.

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UMass Athletic dept image

The New England Football journal has a write-up on transfer TE Matt Smith joining UMass.

They also have a post on the sights and sounds of spring football.

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The Athol Daily news has a story about the back-and-forth dominance in spring practice. 

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Onward State has an article on Adam Breneman emerging in the media world. 

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College Football News predicts for the 2023 season Army will go 7-5, UConn 5-7 and UMass------ 1-11.

They also predict Eastern Michigan and Miami will both go 6-6 and both will win against the Minutemen.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Finn Dirstine

 

BC athletic dept image

Finn Dirstine, a 6-4 310 OL transfer OL from Boston College has a UMass offer.

Eagles bio here. 

Missed 2022 season with a shoulder injury.

BC Interruption has his decision to enter the transfer portal.

I blogged about Dirstine back on February 24, 2017.

Dirstine took an UV to Amherst last weekend. With one year left to play, he could see a lot of playing time with the Minutemen.

UMass Football News--April 5th, 2023

 The New England Football Journal has two post on UMass Spring Football:

 There's a different aura around the Minutemen. 

Five observations about UMass Spring practice. 

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The UMass athletic dept has a six minute video from the start of Spring practice that is well worth watching.

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Denver Broncos image

The Arizona Cardinals sign Elijah Wilkinson.

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College football games in the Spring?

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Could 2023 UMass opponent Auburn be in the college football playoffs by 2025?

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2023 opponent Penn State is +2000 in odds to win the national championship this year.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Matt Smith commits to UMass

 

Matt Smith, a 6-4 245 pound TE transfer from Duke has committed to UMass.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Smith's choosing the Minutemen.

I last blogged about Smith a couple of days ago.

This should be another significant addition to a UMass offense that has lacked talent during the last three seasons. An effective TE can be a big asset in an offense. During the Whipple I era Kerry Taylor was a key part of Whipple's high octane offense. 

Looking forward to watching Smith (good name) play!

UMass Football Recruiting 2024--Keishawn Mashburn

 

Twitter image

Keishawn Mashburn, a 6-2 280 pound DL from Quincy, FL has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from August 2022 features Mashburn.

De-committed from Florida State.

Mashburn has eleven total offers including West Virginia and Maryland from the east. He could play attacking football for the best defensive coach in football at UMass.

UMass Football Recruiting 2023--Matt Smith II and Ted Kushi II

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on two OV's this weekend.

Matt Smith (good name) a 6-5 245 pound TE from Duke/Needham MA will visit. I blogged about Smith back on February 22nd. 

Duke University athletic dept image

Smith has Power Five size and could make the TE position into a significant cog in the revised UMass offense. The last three years the Minutemen have had to run against eight or nine in the box. An effective TE would really help UMass run the ball as the defense would have to assign a defensive player to him rather than just crowd the line of scrimmage.

The Second OV is Ted Kushi a 6-7 310 pound OL from LIU. I blogged about Kushi back on March 17th. 

LIU athletic dept image

Kushi could study at my old school, the Isenberg School of Business, as well as potentially starting for two years on the offense line. He could have an exciting mix of education and playing against Power Five Auburn and Penn State (2023) as well as Missouri, Mississippi State and national champion Georgia in 2024. If he has NFL dreams, that would be a pretty good resume.

 

UMass Football News--March 31st, 2023

 

UMass Football Blog image

Click on image and blogger displays a larger view.

The Hampshire Gazette reports offensive line continuity provides a strong foundation for the Minutemen.

Offense line is one position UMass has struggled to develop and keep players. During our stay in the MAC, I don't think we had a first-string All-MAC offensive lineman. We've had problems running the ball, which is usually a favorite of offensive linemen. Last year, Army's smallish defensive linemen stood up the UMass O-line on a goal line stand. 

Offensive linemen don't get any stats, but the big guys lead the way.

Kayden Nystuen FR 6-2 285

Tommy Brandt RSFR 6-4 295

Jonny Hassard, SO 6-6 310 (started last year at RT)

Josh Atwood SO 6-2 330 (started last year at C)

Nick Lundeberg SO 5-11 255

Connor Vasher JR 6-3 295

Brandon MacKinnon RSSO 6-6 290

Cole Erickson FR 6-5 270

Ethan Mottinger SO 6-5 330 (started last year at RG)

Cole Garcia RSJR 6-3 300 (started last year at LG)

Tyler Leinberger FR 6-3 330

Ryan Mossesso FR 6-5 285

Phil Jeffs RSFR 6-6 275 (missed Jeffs during my morning blogging session. My apologies to Phil).

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UConn football welcomes a lot of new faces.

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UMass Football News--March 30th, 2023

 Under Coach Bell and now under Coach Brown, UMass is trying for a "run first" offense---and that's one aspect of offense we have not been able to accomplish since we moved to FBS.

Last year UMass was 67th in FBS with 1,786 total yards. That sounds decent, but we averaged 3.49 yards/carry, which was 109th.

This year we have much greater depth at RB. Carrying the rock for the Minutemen will be:

Donta Whack FR 6-0 210

Kay'Ron Adams RSSO 5-10 205

Greg Desrosiers Jr RSFR 5-11 200

Jalen John RSSO 5-11 225

Tim Baldwin Jr SO 5-11 215

Jackson Paradis RSFR 6-0 225

Six RB's recruited RB's is the most we've had in FBS. Tim Baldwin looked good before getting hurt last season. Kay'Ron Adams, Baldwin and Greg Desrosiers should be core of the running game.

UConn was 34th in rushing yards last year and the Husky's running game really fueled UConn comeback in '22.

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New England College Football Journal has five areas to watch as UMass opens Spring practice.

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Mountain West member Fresno State is drawing interest from the Big 12. Another hole in a Group-of-Five league.

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College Football News ranks 2023 opponent Penn State as having the easiest Big 10 schedule. 

They also rank UMass as #94 in strength-of-schedule (one notch above UConn's #93).

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