Buford HS is a talent pipeline UMass will want to visit again in the future. Good work by the UMass coaching staff to establish a recruiting beachhead there.
ODU envisions a facility that seats 28,000-30,000, constructed to easily expand if desired. North Texas, among the Monarchs' Conference USA rivals, and Tulane of the American Athletic Conference recently built stadiums of that size for approximately $80 million.
I purchased the 1978 UMass Football press guide off E-Bay. It's in good shape after 38 years. The 1978 squad took UMass to the first FCS National Championship game. I've added five or so scans of the contents to the UMass Historical Scans section of the Blog. It's a great addition to my collection of UMass press guides and game programs.
The '78 press guide has bios of the coaches and players. I've included the "preview" section. Checkout the 230 pound offensive linemen who took us to the National Championship game.
Partial quote from a 09/15 Scout.com article on Jones County:
Behind Wilson will be Pascagoula freshman Ramon Patton (6-0, 215). "Ramon was with us in the spring," Bilderback said. "He has really improved so much since January. He will factor in a lot either as 'Bobcat' or free safety. With his development, all Ramon needs is experience. He is very good against the run and fast enough to be good against the pass as well. "In terms of ball skills, he is probably the best secondary guy we have."
UMass will have a Signing Day Celebration for the Boston-Area UMass fans. From an e-mail:
2016 Football Signing Class Celebration with Coach Whipple February 25, 2016 5:30 p.m. The Colonnade Hotel 120 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02116 Mark Whipple, the architect of one of the University of Massachusetts football program's most successful eras, is entering his third year of his second stint leading the UMass football program. He was previously at the helm of the Minuteman program from 1998-2003 when he led the Minutemen to the NCAA I-AA National Championship in his first season while making two additional postseason appearances in the following five years. Attend to meet Coach Whipple while also supporting the UMass football Gridiron Club. Any donations received will serve as a charitable contribution towards the program. No cost to attend. *Charitable donations accepted. Seating limited, RSVP required. Please RSVP by February 22, 2016. Questions? Contact the Minutemen Club at minutemenclub@admin.umass.edu.
Four games in Gillette: Boston College, Mississippi State, Tulane and Louisiana Tech. Whipple said they tried to get Tulane to Amherst, but they said no. Visiting teams want to play in the pro venue.
The two Amherst games, FIU and Wagner are early in the schedule, so the weather should be good.
Western Michigan again led the MAC in recruiting. You remember the Broncos went 1-11 in 2013. Since then Western Michigan has gone 16-10 and went to two bowls. Their recruiting has made a dramatic change in their record.
1. Whipple said he expects the 2017 class to be even better.
2. Whipple and several of the assistant coaches inferred that recruits were more excited about playing nationally known teams than going to DeKalb or Akron.
3. The UMass staff received positive feedback from other college staffs about the recruiting process in Amherst.
4. I like the number of defensive recruits. In our first four years, UMass wanted to jump-start the offense. Usually the numbers would be like 13 offensive recruits and 8 defense. This year, with the big class, UMass signed 16 defensive players and five of them will be on campus for Spring ball. So far, we have not been winning shootouts. Last year in our three wins, the defense gave up 14, 17 and 26 points. In four losses, the defense also played well enough to win. I think the improved depth and more size and talent will pay big dividends in the future (just don't expect UMass to beat all those SEC teams).
5. Whipple said UMass will be adding four or more "preferred walk-ons" in a couple of weeks. A number of Massachusetts players will be in that group.
Dan has a post on UMass signing three-star QB
Andrew Ford. With the possible exception of Jeff Krohn, who was starting quarterback for a PAC10 team, Ford is the highest rated QB ever to sign with the Minutemen.
Looking at 247Sports UMass recruiting page, it looks like the Minutemen signed all their verbals except for Zuriel Davis. That might be a paperwork thing. It appears nobody flipped at the last minute. That's good news.
