UMass Football News--July 29th, 2017

Matty Vautour has a post on Andrew Ford being named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award candidate watch list.

Kevin Dillon of MassLive also has a story on Ford.

Ford went 11-9 GP-GS 222-365 2665 26 TD's 14 INT's 74 LONG 61% 7.3 AVE/P 242.3 AVE/G

Ford was #48 nationally in passing efficiency.

He was in the top-25 in passing TD's and #54 in passing yards.

Ford was #44 in passing yards per game.

Since Ford only started 9 games 75% of the season, we could expect him to have some pretty impressive numbers in 2017. Playing fewer Power Five teams in 2017 should also help. Ford would seem to be the locked-in starter for 2017 and 2018. 

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UMass has five QB's on the Spring roster. Besides Ford there are:

Blaine Almeida #3 QB 5-11 191 RSFR DNP in 2016

Ross Comis #2 QB 6-0 200 RSJR 4-3 GP-GS 28-63 370 1 INT 1 TD 58 LONG 44% 5.9 AVE/P 92.5 AVE/G

Michael Curtis #17 QB 6-2 210 JUCO transfer in Spring

Randall West #13 QB 6-4 233 RSSO 3-0 GP-GS 3-5 45 yards 43 LONG

Comis' numbers were impacted because he started against #25 Florida and Boston College who had the #9 ranked defense in 2016. ACL injuries usually requires a year to heal, so he might not be 100% until later in the season.

Michael Curtis appears to have three years of eligibility.

In a 2-10 season, Randall West did not have much chance to play. 

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Joe Biddle of WKRN.com says Tennessee is a "slam dunk" winner over UMass.

Speaking of the Vols, their current running back roster has a total of one career starts.

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UMass Football News--July 19th, 2017

Andy Isabella makes the preseason Bletnikoff Award Watch list.

Matty Vautour has a post on Isabella and Brenenman making preseason award lists.

UMass has eight wide receivers on the current roster:

Alfred Adarkwah #84 WR 6-4 195 RSJR DNP in 2016
Brennon Dingle #10 WR 5-9 174 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Andy Isabella #23 WR 5-9 186 JR 10-12 GP-GS 62-801 7 TD's 55 LONG 5.2 REC/G
Connor Lemieux #25 WR 6-0 199 RSSR 0-9 GP-GS played special teams
Patrick O'Reilly, #89 WR 6-3 200 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Sadiq Palmer #6 WR 6-1 175 SO 0-9 GP-GS 9-100 1 TD 23 LONG
Elijah Robinson #86 WR 6-1 164 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Patrick Volcy #80 WR 6-3 190 FR In for Spring semester

The Minutemen did not get a lot of production from the WR's last year beyond Andy Isabella. He could get close to a 1,000 yards receiving in 2017. His 62 receptions in 2016 places him #8 on the UMass single season receptions list. That tied Tim Berra (1973). He moved Tajae Sharpe (2013) and Anthony Nelson (2010) to #10 . His 5.2 receptions/ game currently is #2 in career receptions/game behind Tajae Sharpe 5.89/career games

Sadiq Palmer is the only other returning player with some stats. He looks to be in a battle with Brennon Dingle for the "Y" receiver. Whipple could move Isabella to the slot and have Palmer and Dingle to the outside positions. Dingle had an outstanding Spring game.

UMass also brought in a pretty strong 2017 recruiting class. JUCO transfer Jacoby Herring is 6-5 and looks to get a lot of playing time right away.

Patrick Volcy was in for Spring ball and would seem to have an advantage over the other true freshmen.

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UMass is one of only two schools with two receivers on the Bletnikoff Award List.

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Charlie Strong looks to have an excellent season at USF.

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Hartford Courant reporter Jeff Jacobs says "straight shooting" Randy Edsell is back at UConn.

UConn was picked last at the AAC preseason power poll.

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The AAC pushes to be considered the 6th Power Conference.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jerome Ford

Tampa Bay Time image

Several recruiting services have report UMass has offered to Jerome Ford, a 5-11 190 pound RB from Seffner, FL.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Also runs Track & Field

Partial quote from a Scout.com article dated 05/08/17 by Corey Bender:

"Ford, who claims no leaders in his recruitment, says three schools are labeling him as a top priority at this time.

"South Florida, Oregon State, Cincinnati," Ford replied when asked which schools are recruiting him the hardest."

Ford holds seventeen offers including multiple Power Five schools. Alabama, North Carolina, Oregon State and Missouri are some of the schools offering. UMass is the only school from the Northeast.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jeremy Banks II

image by Recruiting Guru

Back in April I blogged about Jeremy Banks, a 6-2 210 pound RB from Cordova, TX.

Banks holds sixteen offers.

He recently Tweeted UMass is in his top-8.

UMass Football News--July 17th, 2017

I was listening to the Red Sox radio broadcast while drive my truck back from Greenfield, Ma yesterday.

Coach Whipple threw out the first pitch at Fenway. A couple of images are available on the UMass Twitter feed.

During the radio interview Whipple said there was a good chance UMass would be playing Auburn in the future. That should be a lucrative cash game for the Athletic Dept. Some details of Auburn's guarantees for OOC games here. Georgia Southern is receiving $1.3 million and Louisiana-Monroe is getting $1.4 million for games this year.

Jordan Hare Stadium

He also said UMass has had two good recruiting years in a row and he felt the Minutemen were much better situated to play an independent schedule.

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An Arkansas website previews Coastal Carolina.

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A Macon, GA newspaper ranks UMass two spots below New Hampshire in a review of Georgia Southern's 2017 opponents.

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Hero Sports previews Appalachian State. During Whip's interview yesterday one of the announcers stated Appalachian State is looking to leave the Sun Belt and move to the AAC.

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OT, BUT THIS MAY GIVE UMASS FANS A WARM GLOW TO START THE WEEK.

As you know, Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy has a long history of ripping UMass football and basketball.

Read his column from 10/28/14:

 "John, Tom, and Larry need to bring the Kung Fu Panda to Fenway Park. I promise never to rip Sandoval for being out of shape or going on the disabled list."

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UMass Football News--July 15th, 2017

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UMass currently has 14 defensive lineman on the roster:

Ali Ali-Musa  #90 DL 6-2 274 SR 12-11 GP-GS 16 UT 21 AT 37 TT 4.5 TFL 1 PD 2 FF
Domenico Cipriani #63 DL 6-3 290 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Basit Dennis #69 DL 6-1 268 RSJR 3-0 GP_GS 1 TT
Da'Sean Downey #4 DL 6-4 225 SR 10-6 GP-GS 25 UT 23 At 44 UT 8.5 TFL 4 FF 6 SACKS
Leon Flanagan, #54 DL 6-1 212 SO 2-0 GP-GS
DaVone Hall, #75 DL 6-3 315 RSJR JUCO transfer
D'Shan Harley #88 DL 6-5 215 RSSO 7-1 GP-GS 3 UT 3 AT 6 TT
Sha-Ki Holines #95 DL 6-3 257 RSSR 12-9 GP-GS 18 UT 26 AT 44 TT 7.0 TFL 1 FF
Roderick Jones, #11 DL 6-2 260 RSSR 10-1 GP-GS 13 TT 1 TFL
Mario Patton #96 DL 6-0 297 RSSO 12-0 GP-GS 5 UT 7 AT 12 TT 1.0 TFL 1 PD
Alex Piechocki #91 DL 6-6 260 FR in for Spring semister
Joe Previte #61 DL 6-2 269 RSJR 8-4 GP-GS 4 UT 18 AT 22 TT 4.5 TFL 1 FR
Sharif Saleem #93 DL 6-5 251 RSFR Redshirted in 2016
Charly Timite #94 DL 6-3 307 RSFR Redshirted in 2016

Although it has not been announced, most UMass fans expect the Minutemen to change to a 4-3 base defense. As football junkies know, defensive linemen are the scarcest recruits.

The college football magazines predict UMass will start Joe Previte and Ali Ali-Musa as the two DT's with Da'Sean Downey and Sha-Ki Holines as the two DE's.

Downey led the Minutemen with 6 sacks in 2016 and he could prosper in a 4-3 as there would be less unassigned offensive linemen facing the defense.

Joe Previte was having a good season before suffering a elbow injury against South Carolina.

UMass does get four new defensive linemen for 2017. Domenico Cipriani, Sharif Saleem and Charly Timite come off redshirt seasons. JUCO transfer DaVone Hall weighs 305 and could provide immediate help inside.

Charlie Timite was a 247Sports three-star recruit. Sharif Saleem was two stars. Cipriani was unrated by recruiting services.

The Minutemen brought in five defensive linemen for 2017 and Alex Piechocki and DaVone Hall were in for the Spring semester. Two-star 2017 recruits Hunter Brown, Jake Byczko and  Caeleb Washington are probably looking at a redshirt year.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Zidane Thomas

Cheryl Evans image

Several recruiting services indicate UMass has offered to Zindane Thomas, a 5-10 205 pound RB from Peoria, AZ.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Hopes to have a 3,000 yard senior season.

Besides UMass, Boise State and Iowa State have offered from FBS.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Gatlin Grisso II

I've Blogged about Texas Safety Gatlin Grisso before.

He verbaled to Washington State. The Cougars sign a "super athlete".

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UMass Football News--July 14th, 2017

Matty Vautour says Steve Casali's goals reach far beyond post-season awards.

The UMass website has a post on Casali being named to the Bronco Nagurski Watch List.

MassLive also mentions Casali being named to the list.

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Notre Dame punter Tyler Newsome is named to a Good Works Team.  Newsome holds the Irish single game average distance record 52.4 yards/punt----set against UMass.

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The Austin-American Statesman picks the USF Bulls a top-20 team.

The Bulls have three players named to the Bronco Nagurski Watch List. That's a lot of players, but the Bulls were really known for their offense last year. USF was #4 in the nation in offense and #1 in the AAC with 43.8 points per game average. The Bulls scored more than 40 points eight times in 2016.

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UMass Football News--July 13th, 2017

UMass announces some changes to the Gameday Experience at McGuirk. For season Ticket holders, there will be a cash bar at Commonwealth Club and a chance to meet some of the coaches. The Minutemen March with the band, spirit groups and the players prior to the game.

Some wins would also make this Minutemen fan's experience better :)

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Mike Chiarelli of Mass Live has a post on Adam Breneman and Logan Laurent being named to the Mackey and Ray Guy Watch list teams.

Matty Vautour also has a story on Breneman and Laurent.

AP image/Marco Carcia

In 2016 Mike Caggiano went 0-2 in field goals.

Laurent went 7-9 77.8% 3-3 20-29 3-5 30-39 1-1 40-49 LONG 44. UMass' .58 field goals/game was #115 nationally.

UMass was #79 in the nation in net punting average 36.71/attempt.

The current UMass roster has five kicking specialists:

Mike Caggiano #31 K 5-11 176 JR Handled all kickoffs and PATS
Jack Coveney #91 K 6-1 185 RSSO
Theo Yongue #92 K 5-8 156 RSJR
Logan Laurent #99 K/P 6-4 217 RSSR Stats as above
Michael Schreiner #23 K/P 6-0 220 RSFR

A vital part of the kick game is the long snappers. The current roster has two:

Nick Berus #53 LS 6-0 220 RSSR Snapped for all 66 punts
Peter Comaroto #59 LS 5-11 218 RSSO

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The Florida State site "Tomahawk Nation" previews their game against Boston College. They'e not impressed.

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CRIME IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT.

Concord woman arrested twice in five hours after returning to the police station to demand the cops return her drugs.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Adetutu Daranijo

image by Lynn Ramsey

Adetutu Daranijo, a 5-10 186 pound Safety from St. Thomas Aquinas HS in FL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Partial quote from a 2016 Scout.com article by Cory Bender:

"The 5-foot-11, 187-pound Daranijo possesses the skill set and build to line it up at both outside linebacker and strong safety, but will likely settle down at outside linebacker before it's all said and done. He flashes good change of direction when reading and reacting to the football, and is an instinctive kid that really anticipates well.

Daranijo possesses a well-rounded skill set and operates well in space, but has to continue to pack on weight and strengthen up his frame."

This article by the Orlando Sun-Sentinel mentions (at the end) Daranijo.

Daranijo holds 15 offers including Power-Five schools Pitt, Purdue and Missouri.

UMass Football News--July 12th, 2017

As everyone expected Adam Breneman was named to the John Mackey award watch list.

There's a .pdf download from the John Mackey Award people here.

The Centre Daily times mentions Breneman as well as current Penn State TE Mike Gisicki.

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Former UMass player and current Kennesaw State Associate AD Vaughn Williams is moving back to Boston College.

Earlier in the year, Williams was named the Under Armour 2017 Director of the Year. Williams was a four-year letter winner for the Minutemen (1988, '89,'90 and 1991).

Speaking of the Eagles, SB Nation thinks Boston College needs an offense. After Don Brown left, the BC defense was still stout under Jimmie Reid. The Eagles were #7 in the nation in rushing defense and #9 in total defense. The offense, however was #118 in scoring and #127 in total offense.

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UMass scored 35 points against Mississippi State at Gillette last year. Bulldog coach Dan Mullen says Mississippi State's defense will be different this year.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018-- Cade Barnard II

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal image

Back in April, I blogged about Cade Barnard, a 6-2 220 pound LB from Seminole, TX.

Mike Traini has a post on Barnard and updates his recruiting.

247Sports three-star athlete.

Also ran track & field.

Barnard is up to 15 offers, mostly from Group-of-Five schools. The Minutemen are the only offer from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--July 11th, 2017

Matty Vautour has a post about Adam Breneman's invite to "The Opening" in Oregon last week. God willing, Breneman should be UMass' first FBS All-American. He deserves it; so do UMass fans.

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Rotoworld has a story about Andrew Ford and Andy Isabella. Ford thinks Isabella is having a positive impact on the Minutemen's younger WR's.

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Saturday Down South looks at win/loss ratios of the SEC. UMass is still an honorary member in 2017 with games against Mississippi State and Tennessee.

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Athlon predicts bowl games for eight of the Minutemen's 2017 opponents: Old Dominion, BYU, Temple, Ohio, Appalachian State, Hawaii, Mississippi State and Tennessee.

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Western Carolina adds former UMass defensive assistant Michael Painter (2013).

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Former Voice of the Minutemen Bob Behler starts his 10th year as Boise State's play-by-play announcer. Time does fly.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Parker Ogle

Twitter image

Parker Ogle, a 6-3 280 pound OG/C from Palm Beach Gardens, FL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Rivals two-star player.

This article from 2016 has a section on Parker. His father played OL for Clemson.

Ogle currently has offers from Bowling Green and UMass.

UMass Football News--July 10th, 2017

Athlon ranks all 130 FBS coaches. Mark Whipple is #114.

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UMass trainer Jennifer Brodeur is honored with the College and University Athletic Trainers Committee's New Horizon Award.

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Above image is from the PFF Twitter feed.

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It being July, Coastal Carolina is officially a FBS college team.

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Georgia Southern is being sued by two fired offensive coordinators.

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The Hawaii football program offers support to a player seriously injured in a diving accident.

Speaking of the Rainbow Warriors, they just offered a scholarship to a fifth grader.

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The Orlando Sentinel ranks Old Dominion as #64 and says the Monarchs should compete for the Conference USA title.

Athlon Sports has Old Dominion as #90.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Jo-El Shaw III

Scout.com image

Jo-El Shaw, a 6-1 235 pound RB/FB from Lackawanna College has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

I've blogged about Shaw twice before. He received an offer from UMass back early in 2016.

Current 247Sports page.

Hudl.com has video from Lackawanna.

Averaged 7.2 yards/carry last year.

Shaw had an offer from Syracuse in 2016 and they have re-offered.

UMass Football News---Saturday July 8th, 2017

Mike Traini has a post on the UMass revenues for 2016.

Mark Chiarelli of Mass Live compares revenues and expenses of the New England teams.

Couple of things seem to stand out. One is the drop in ticket sales revenue from the previous years. I would think most of that would be from the Minutemen's struggles in basketball and hockey. As I have said many times, what I know about hockey would fit in a shot glass, but my impression is that of the universe of football fans, the universe of basketball fans and the universe of hockey fans, the hockey fans probably have the highest percentage of season ticket holders. They really love the sport. It was a tough year for UMass hockey in 2016. Mrs Blog and I usually attend about seven or so home basketball games. The games we went to were fairly lightly attended.

I think that explains the coaching changes in both hockey and basketball. The capital improvements in Mullins will also pay off . I like the coaching hires A.D. Bamford has made in women's basketball, men's basketball and hockey. I think the Minutemen are on the rise and that will be reflected in the numbers in future years.

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Speaking of season tickets, I've already ordered my football tickets. Get yours now.

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Saturday Down South predicts Tennessee to go 9-3 with a win over UMass.

The Vols are currently #3 in the country in recruiting and #1 in the SEC. Tennessee always recruits well and has a massively loyal fan base. My impression is the team tends to underperform the resources available.

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CBS Sports has five Group-of-Five teams that could play on New Years Day. UMass plays two of the five...

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Athlon Sports power ranks the college football conferences for 2017.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Ezechiel Tiede

Hudl.com image

Ezechiel Tiede, a 6-2 190 pound pro-style QB from Montreal, Quebec has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Member of the Under-18 Canadian National Team.

UMass continues to try to broaden its recruiting universe. Tiede has one other offer---from the evil BC Eagles.

UMass Football News--July 6th, 2017

Washington Valor image

Former UMass player Tracey Belton won the Arena Football league defensive player-of-the-week award.

Washington Valor press release.

This article features Belton.

Belton was the 2016 Arena Football Defensive Player-of-the-Year.

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The current UMass roster lists eleven LB's:

Jarell Addo #26 LB 6-0 190 RSJR DNP 2016
Bryton Barr #44 LB 6-0 225 RSJR Transfer from Towson
James Bowe, #13 LB 6-0 192 SO 11-0 GP-GS 12 UT 14 AT 26 TT
Colbert Calhoun #35 LB 5-11 219  SR 12-8 GP-GS 28 UT 30 AT 58 TT 4.0 TFL 1 PD 1 FF
Steve Casali #34 LB 6-1 236 RSSR12-12 GP-GS 47 UT 58 AT 105 TT 9.5 TFL 6 PD 1 FF 3 FR
Jake Froehlich #47 LB 6-1 245 RSSO Transfer from Oregon
Shane Huber #8 LB 6-3 237 RSSR 4-3 GP-GS 7 UT 13 AT 20 TT 2.5 TFL 2 PD
Tedrick Lowery #6 LB 6-0 221 SR 8-8 GP-GS 14 UT 23 AT 37 TT 2.0 TFL 2 PD 1 FR
Jeremy Rodriguez #49 LB 6-1 227 RSJR 12-0 GP-GS 3 UT 7 AT 10 TT
Mike Ruane #33 LB 6-0 227 FR Spring enrollee
Adam Tucker #58 LB 6-1 192 RSFR DNP 2016

Last year, new UMass defensive coordinator Ed Pinkham played a 4-3 defense at Western Michigan. I don't know if he'll do the same with the Minutemen.

In a 3-4 defense Steve Casali totaled 105 total tackles. He'll be a fixture in the 2017 defense.

Shane Huber is coming off a second knee injury. He was injured in the fourth game of the 2016 season. It usually takes about a year to recover from an ACL, so he may or may not be ready for the start of 2017. If healthy, he'll start as a senior.

Colbert Calhoun and Tedrick Lowery, both seniors had 16 starts between them. Both should see plenty of playing time.

Jake Froelich and Bryton Barr are both unknowns at this time. I would think Froelich would play inside and Barr outside.

With four senior linebackers, I would think the UMass coaching staff would like to reshirt 2017 recruit Mike Ruane.

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