Baylark, Thompson and London sign Free Agent Contracts

Well, no UMass player was drafted. A complete list of FCS/I-AA players drafted is here . Four A10 players were drafted.

There is an upside and a downside to not being drafted. On the down side teams tend to give a draft pick more time to develop since cutting the player reflects badly on their draft choice. The good side of not being drafted is usually the player has a choice of several free agent contracts and he can choose a team that needs help in his position thereby increasing his chances of sticking.

UMass has an excellent article on the three UMass players here . London is going to the Giants. Baylark to the Cardinals. Thompson to the Rams.

I think Alex Miller, Christian Koegel and James Ihedigbo will also sign free agent contracts in a day or so.

UPDATE I: The CAA has an article up about the four A10/CAA players drafted .

UPDATE II: Matty Vautour has an article (with quotes) about the three UMass players to sign a free agent contract.

UPDATE III: The UMass website article (second link in this blog post) has now been updated showing James Ihedigbo has been invited to the Bengals rookie camp.

UPDATE IV: Matt Dougherty of the Sports Network has a long article on the FCS/I-AA players chosen in the draft.

UPDATE V: Under the "Dead Tree Media can't figure out why they are loosing readers" category, NY Times NFL draft analyst has never heard of Ivy League football.

I've moved historical material to a web album

I've moved the historical material that has been published this year to a Picasa Web album.

Future scans will be displayed here and also added to the album to allow easy access.

I've added a permanent link in the "UMass football Links" section to the album.

Official CAA Football Schedule out

The CAA has it's official 2007 schedule out.

We'll be talking a lot about the schedule and it's impact on the CAA and UMass' chances of making the playoffs in future post.

Today, lets consider that UMass has one of the latest off dates (Oct 6th) in the CAA. Having an off week is a good time to heal up and get some rest from the long grind of the season. Having an off week at week six is lot better than a off week in early September.

Ten of the twelve CAA teams play BCS/I-A teams this year. The following is my estimate on the chances for an upset.

Pretty Good:

• Maine @ UConn . The core of the Black Bear's killer defense is still there. UConn has been fading as a I-A program the last couple of years.
  
• UNH @ Marshall. It will be interesting to seen if New Hampshire still has it's offense now that Davis Ball has graduated. They still have Ricky Santos and that may be enough against Marshall, which is another I-A program on the decline.

Fair:

• URI @ Army. The Cadets are weaker than when UMass played them in 2005, but URI was not competitive against UConn last year. The Rams have a chance in bad weather.
• Delaware @ Navy. The Hens have beaten Navy in the past. Last year Delaware was last in A10 giving up 397/yards/game in 2006. Their chances hinge on improving that statistic.
• UMass@ Boston College. The Minutemen should be again one of the top FCS teams in the country. We go for speed over size and the Eagles should use their huge offensive line to bulldoze their way to a win. Let's hope for a monsoon on that day.

No chance:

• JMU @ North Carolina. The Dukes graduated their QB and both starting TB's. JMU will still have good talent at the FCS level, but not enough to beat a ACC team.
• William & Mary @ Virginia Tech. The Tribe has been on a down cycle for the last few years and there is no indication that they will be competitive with the Hokies.
• Villanova @ Maryland. The Wildcats loose their QB Burroughs this year. Maryland just has too much talent for 'Nova to deal with.
• Richmond @ Vanderbilt. The Spiders loose nine starters on the defense that ranked second in the A10 in 2006. Richmond's offense was not that good and now with a new defense, they should not be competitive with Vandy.
  

Friday Odds & Ends

UMass has the latest edition of Jason Hatchell's Spring Practice Blog here (this version has links to the players he's talking about).

The rest of the CAA player blogs are here .

The League also has a review of Spring Practices around the CCA here.

Matty Vautour weighs in with a very nice article on the UMass players who are waiting for the NFL draft. Worth reading.

Former UMass assistant appointed Head Coach at Idaho State

Matt Dougherty of College Sports News has a long, well-reasearched article on FCS/I-AA coaching changes for 2007.

Most of the coaching changes are centered in the West or the HBC's. However, there is one UMass connection. Idaho State has hired John Zamberlin, former UMass assistant coach under Jimmy Reid. Zamberlin was linebacker coach for UMass 1987-90.

Patriots fans may remember him as a linebacker for New England in the 1970's.

Matt Vautour writes about UMass running backs

Matty Vautour has an article about the 2007 UMass running backs here.

He states that two UMass starters Matt Austin and Brad Listorti are sitting out spring practice with injuries.

Spring Game 12:00 Noon May 5th

The UMass football website has the Spring Game at 12:00 noon on May 5th, 2007.

I've updated the count-down clock to reflect the Noon starting time.

UMass Friends of Football will be holding a meeting at 9:00 am on the same day. As an aside, I just renewed my membership for the coming year. Received "Thank You" letters from Coach Brown and Bill DeFlavio from the Friends. I hope all UMass football fans belong to the Friends. They are crucial to the success of UMass Football.

This Blog will be at the Spring Game rain or shine. Any other Blog-Friends going?

Boston Herald covers UMass pro prospects

Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald has a nice article on some of UMass' prospects here .

He mentions Brandon London, Steve Baylark, James Ihedigbo and Christian Koegel.

Steve Baylark NFL Draft Articles

Football1 has left us some Steve Baylark NFL draft links in the comments section of the previous blog. If there is a way to have a active link in comments, I have yet to figure it out.

So, courtesy of that gentleman, here are four Baylark mentions:

• Orlando Sentinel
  
• Rocky Mountain News
• Dallas News
• Dallas Morning News

Globe Article mentions Alex Miller and David Thompson

The Boston Globe has an article about the NFL draft here that mentions UMass seniors Alex Miller and David Thompson.

Recruiting 2007---DT Matt Goods

I've blogged before (scroll down after clicking. Blogger will display the result below this post) about UMass DT recruit Matt Goods. At the time the orginal recruiting list was released, Goods was the only recruit with no football bio attached. Several Google searches did not turn up any more information beyond that listed on my previous blog.

The UMass website has now updated his recruiting information:

Before UMass: Played at St. Mary's High School in New Jersey ... Helped St. Mary's to the New Jersey State Group I Parochial Championship ... Was named the MVP of the state title game after he racked up eight tackles and three tackles for loss ... As a senior tallied 56 total tackles and 10 sacks ... Named a First-Team All-League honoree ... Honored as All-Bergen County ... Born June 27, 1988.

This article (scroll after clicking) has some additional information about his signing.

UMass has achieved NCAA division I certification for it's sports programs. Article here . More information on the process is here .

Fourth installment of Jason Hatchell's Spring Blog is up

The CAA website has the fourth installament of Jason Hatchell's Spring Blog.

Also included are blogs by Villanova's Matthew Sherry, Maine's John Wormuth, Richmond's Tim Hightower, Rhode Island's Mark Stolte (brother of UMass' Matt Stolte), and Hofstra's All-America kicker Rob Zarrilli.

William & Mary does not do HTML bios of their players, so no link for the Tribe's Derek Cox.

Maine, the way life should be

I'll be away for a long weekend in Maine.

The UMass Football Blog will continue to cover UMass football on 04/23/07 (Monday)

Running backs in the CAA 2007

In yesterday's blog we looked at the four running backs on the UMass roster.

I think the team of Lawrence and Nelson will be a good one for UMass. We will switch from a power running game to speed.

But how about the other teams in the CAA? Well, the list below is top running backs in 2006 (with the seniors deleted).

RUSHING Team Cl G Att Yds Avg TD Yds/G
----------------------------------------------------------

Eugene Holloman..... JMU JR 10 192 1085 5.7 8 108.5 (note #1)
Maurice Murray...... NU JR 11 216 1061 4.9 11 96.5
Joe Casey.................. URI SO 11 191 874 4.6 6 79.5
Tim Hightower......... UR JR 11 177 850 4.8 5 77.3 (note #2)
Kareem Huggins....... HOF JR 11 136 572 4.2 4 52.0 (note #3)
Josh Vaughan........... UR SO 11 91 569 6.3 5 51.7
Omar Cuff ..................DE SO 7 124 547 4.4 8 77.3

1. Holloman's bio has not been updated for 2006
2. Hightower has also just been appointed captain for the 2007 Spiders
3. Hofstra's web master does not do much for bios

UMass' 2007 Tailbacks

With the graduation of Steve Baylark, the biggest change in the UMass football team will be a new featured running back.

Returning in 2007 are:

• Tony Nelson 47-235 5.0 yards/carry 3 TD Long 25
• Matt Lawrence 34-174 5.1 yards/carry 2 TD Long 55
• Alphonus Aguh Redshirt Freshman
• Sloan Russett Redshirt Freshman

That's all the running backs on the roster. Any other running back would be a fullback. Aguh is probably a walkon. He had 2,200 yards and 30 TD's in his last two years at Amherst High.

Sloan Russett would be a 20-year-old freshman after a year of prep school and a redshirt year with UMass in 2006. It will be interesting to see how much playing time he receives in 2007. After sitting out two years, he should be ready to play. He was the all-time leading rusher in New Hampshire history.

Another CAA Football Team?

Georgia State, a member of the all-sports Colonial Athletic Association has hired Dan Reeves as a consultant for a FCS/I-AA football study.

If Georgia State should add football, that would be the 13th member of the league. Thirteen is obviously not an even number. I would think that the CAA would be looking to add another team to even off the schedules. Stony Brook is going independent this year. They would balance the addition of another southern team. However if Old Dominion University, which is adding football in 2009 should join, it would only add to the southern tilt of the league.

This could have long-term effects for UMass Football.

Monday Morning odds and ends

As the rains continue here New Hampshire, spring practice continues around the CAA. We've blogged before about CAA teams here and here (scroll down after clicking. Blogger displays results below this one)

Our CAA North Rival UNH has a report on the Wildcats spring progress.

Northeastern has already had its spring game. A report is here .

And look who is on the cover of the Towson Spring Prospectus (pdf). Towson is changing the status of the CAA South. They are 2-0 against Delaware over the last two seasons. They return a veteran team in 2007 and they are doing all this while still below 63 scholarships. Their prospectus is worth reading.

Douglas and Cobbs in the Pros

We've blogged before about Mike Douglas (scroll down after clicking. Blogger will display the results below this post). His NFL Eupope Cologne Centurions page is here.

R.J.Cobbs (scroll down after clicking, etc) is still listed on the current roster of the NY Giants.

FCS/I-AA internet audio links

UNH superfan Travis Liles has a web page with links to the audio feeds for the entire FCS/I-AA universe.

Useful if you want listen to the other side of a UMass game or you want to check on the status of one of UMass' rivals.

I've added a permenent link in the "Other sites of interest" section of this blog.