UMass1863 covers recruiting

UMass1863's excellent UMass Football page continues to expand.

Now he's added a 2008 football recruits section. It's worth reading and has a number of recruits I was not aware of.

This is somewhat similar to what is done on the Delaware "GoHens" site. You have to be registered to view the Hens recruiting information.

AFAIK, this is the first time anyone has tracked UMass recruiting. It's a great time to be a fan of UMass football!

Forty-Three Days until football and #43

Wearing #43 again for UMass will be RS Senior Jason Hatchell. He's a 6-0 240 pd LB from Mullica Hills, NJ.

Hatchell was the team leader in tackles in 2006. He played in all 15 games. Had 59 UT 75 AT 134 TT 6.5-30 TFL 1.0-6 sacks 6 BkUp 2 Fumble Recoveries 2 FF.

He has also already received his Degree. He's an All-American in several Pre-Season polls.

Jason, thanks for all your good work for the program! Hope you have a great senior season.

UMass picks up a Penn State Transfer

Bob McGovern breaks the story over on his excellent UMass All-Sports Blog "From Mullins to McGuirk"

UPDATE: I've added an image of Ridenhour (he's #37 in the image above). His Penn State page is here (read it quick before they "sanitize" it)

His Rivals page is here . Another Penn State Blog reports his transferring here .

Recruiting 2008--OLB Christopher Thomas

UMass is interested in Christopher Thomas a 6-0 195 pd OLB from Staten Island, NY.

His Scout.com page is here . An article about him here . He's a Scout.com one star recruit (scroll down).

Drawing interest from Northwestern, UConn, Buffalo and Temple. In FCS/I-AA, UMass, Fordham, Lehigh, Marist and UNH are interested.

Chris, UMass has the best defense and the best defensive coaches in the division!

This was first brought to my attention by a post from search engine Wizard Rocks22 over on the UMass football message board.

A tale of two Blogs

A couple of Blogs I read:

The Wizards of Odds--- a BCS-I-A blog (lots of info about college football)

The double A Zone-- the official blog of the NCAA

Forty-four days until football and #44

Only forty-four days until Holy Cross!

Wearing #44 again for the Maroon & White is E.J. Barthel a 6-1 240 pd FB from Becton, NJ. He's a RS Senior. Barthel played in 14 games and started in 3 in 2006. He had 2-7.0 carries 1- 20 receptions and 4 tackles on special teams.

E.J., hope you have a great senior season!

SME Network lists UMass #3 Pre-season

The SME network, which is the successor to the now defunct I-AA Waves internet radio show has UMass ranked #3 in the nation in its FCS Pre-Season Poll.

The first FCS radio show is scheduled for August 29th.

Draft Daddy rates the BCS to FCS transfers

Draft Daddy has an article on the 2007 BCS to FCS transfers. UMass' Jeromy Miles is rated #8 on the list.

Other CAA teams on the list are Delaware (three mentions) and Towson (one).

Recruiting 2007---LB Blake Vanderwiel

Joining UMass' 2007 recruits is Blake Vanderwiel a 5-10 200 pd LB from Torrey Pines, CA.

His high school website has him playing for the Minutemen (scroll to end).

His MaxPreps page is here . The MaxPreps page has three video highlight films of him playing QB and LB. the last video is of him playing defense, which is the position he'll be playing for UMass. I can't get Blogger to link directly to the video. You'll have to click on the video after moving to the MaxPreps page.


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

Forty-Five days until football and #45

Only forty-five days until we open with the Crusaders!

Wearing #45 again for the Minutemen will be George Byrd, a 6-1 220 pd LB from Naples, FL. He's a Junior this year.

Byrd had a great year in 2006 with 11 UT 21 AT 32 TT 3.0-16 TFL 1.0-7 Sacks 1 BkUp 2 FF and 1 Kick blocked.

George, hope 2007 is a great year for you and the Minutemen!

UMass adds six players to roster

The 2007 UMass football roster shows six new players (sorta)

• Victor Cruz is back. The highly touted, but seldom seen WR is back wearing #81
• Breyone Evans a 6-0 239 pd FB transfer from Syracuse. Grad student. Played in all 11 games for the Orange last year.
• Jared Chivers a 6-3 240 pd OL from Dalton, MA. On the scout team in 2006.
• Jonathan Herandez a 5-11 200 pd TB from Leominster, MA
• Scott Wallace a 6-3 185 pd QB from Wilmington,DE
• Jeremy Horne a 6-2 190 pd WR transfer from Syracuse. RS Sophomore.

UPDATE: Evans MaxPreps page is here . Horne's MaxPreps page is here . This article mentions both of them.

Scott Wallace gets mentioned here .

CSN Pre-Season All-Americans announced

CSN has announced its Pre-Season All-Americans. The UMass announcement listing Matt Austin and Jason Hatchell as members is here .

The CSN article with all 75 players listed is here .

The list is a little strange. Only five CAA players are granted All-American honors. Perhaps the strangest pick is Tim Washington a DE from Appalachian State. He's a transfer from LSU, where he had nine career tackles.

Jeromy Miles from UMass had 61 tackles with Navy and was All-East, ECAC Freshman of the Year and Honorable Mention All-American---and he is not picked.

UPDATE: The CAA website has an article about the five CAA players selected here .

Forty-Six days until football and #46

Forty-Six days until we open with Holy Cross.

Number 46 for UMass will be Michael Hanson a 6-2 240 pd RS Sophomore from Teaneck, NJ.

Hanson played in 13 games in 2006. He racked up 4 UT 7 AT 11 TT 2.0-9 TFL and 1.0-6 Sacks.

Michael, hope you have a great Junior season!

UMass 2007 Audio-- Games and Coach Brown's Show

The UMass football games and Coach Brown's weekly show will switch from Sports Juice to WRNX this year.

The link is at UMass Sports on WRNX.

The Award winning team of Bob Behler and Matt Goldstein will be covering UMass Football again this year. I always listen to Coach Brown's show on Thursday nights at 7:00pm. The first show is set for August 30th. Since I live out-of-state, the live streaming audio is great.

Follow UMass football anywhere in world!

UPDATE: I've added a permanent link in the sidebar to the UMass/WRNX audio site.

Shannon James with the Calgary Stampeders

Former UMass All-American Shannon James is playing for the Calgary Stampeders.

His Calgary bio is here . The UMass website has an article about him playing at the Stampeders here .

James is wearing #23 for Calgary. He's playing outside linebacker. The Calgary depth chart is here .

I believe former UMass DL Ed McAleney was All-Pro during his stint with Calgary (1977-1983).

Adrian Zullo also spent a year with the Stampeders (2004),

A couple of new sites

There is yet another NFL draft site with 2008 UMass prospects here . It lists Matt Austin and Brad Listorti as NFL draft prospects .Hopefully, after 2007 J.J. Moore, Rasheed Rancher and other seniors will be added.

There is also a new FCS/I-AA message board here .

UPDATE: Just corrected the message board link. It should work now.

Forty-Seven days until football and #47

Only forty-seven day until Holy Cross!

Wearing number 47 again this year for the Minutemen is Chris Zardas a 6-1 230 pd FB from Wakefield, MA. Zardas will be a RS sophomore this year.

He DNP in 2006. Chris, hope 2007 will be a great year for you!

Northeast Conference to get auto playoff bid

In some news that has ramifications for UMass, it has been reported that the NEC champion will soon receive an auto-bid to the FCS-I-AA playoffs.

The Northeast Conference may be playoff eligible as soon as 2008.

As FCS/I-AA football fans know, NEC teams racked up two major upsets last year when Albany beat Delaware and CCSU stunned GSU. Both Albany and Stony Brook have committed to full scholarships and want to increase their football standing.

Since the FCS/I-AA playoff match ups are selected by region, not by seeding, UMass could be seeing a lot of NEC teams in the future first rounds of the playoffs.

Forty-Eight Days until football and #48

Only forty-eight days until football in 2007.

Wearing #48 again for UMass this year will be David Burris a 6-0 248 pd DL from Southbridge, MA. He's a RS Senior.

Burris---a former walkon, had a monster year in 2006. He tied for forth in total tackles on defense, which is really good for a DL. He was 2nd team All-A10

He had 31 TT 46 AT 77 TT 16-69 TFL 8.5-54 Sacks 2 Pass Breakups 2 Fumble RCVR 1 FF. Burris has 24.5 career TFL.

David, hope you have an All-American senior year!

Forty-Nine days until football and #49

Less than fifty days until we open with Holy Cross. Wearing #49 for UMass is Anthony Monette a 6-2 240 pd DE from Spencer, MA.

Monette appeared in five games in 2006. He's a RS Sophomore with lots of playing time in his future.

Hope you have a great 2007 Anthony!