UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Dennis SirVocea

SirVocea #17/Roger Hagen image

This article from NJ.com reports UMass is showing interest in Dennis SirVocea, a 6-1 208 pound OLB from Syracuse NY.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Syracuse.com has a post from September of last year featuring SirVocea.

SirVocea has an offer from Dartmouth. Also showing interest from the Northeast are Syracuse, Rutgers and UConn.

UMass Football News--May 18th, 2018

Matty Vautour's farewell column at the Hampshire Gazette. Matty was the only beat writer for UMass sports after MassLive decreased their UMass coverage. He did a good job coverning UMass sports and never tried coaching the various teams through his stories.

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Gus Malzahn is excited about Jack Driscoll joining his OL at Auburn.

Malzahn shares his thoughts on graduate transfers.

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Athlon Sports ranks UMass ahead of McNeese State, Hawaii and New Mexico State in BYU's 2018 schedule.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kalel Mullings

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Kalel Mullings, a 6-2 215 pound OLB from Milton, MA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article talks about his offer from Penn State.

Mullins has 15 offers nearly all from Power Five teams including BC, Syracuse and Rutgers from the Northeast. 247Sports has him the #2 ranked recruit in Massachusetts.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Jaden Dottin

Hudl.com

Jaden Dottin, a 6-3 185 pound WR from Cambridge, MA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article from April of last year features Dottin.

247Sports has a post from January of 2018 featuring Dottin.

Dottin has five offers including BC, UConn and Michigan.

UMass Football New---May 15th, 2018

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports UMass is requesting upgrades to McGuirk and Garber Field.

McGuirk would get upgraded bathrooms, concessions and a permanent video board.

Also in play would be some sort of indoor practice facility. The cost of the improvements seem to be less than discussed earlier, so there appears to be some options still to be decided.

Any upgrades to McGuirk and practice facilities are a net positive to the program. We'll have see how it plays out.

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Da'Sean Downey has signed a free agent contract the Baltimore Ravens.

Mike Traini also has a post on Downey's signing.

The Baltimore Ravens web site also has a story on Downey's signing.

Raven Wire also has a comment about Downey signing with Baltimore.

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Matty Vautour, the UMass beat writer for the Hampshire Gazette is leaving for a postion at MassLive.

He says the Gazette will still cover UMass Sports.

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Bob McGovern is leaving the Boston Herald. Let's hope the Herald recovers from its current financial troubles. The Herald was one of the few Boston news outlets that game UMass athletics a fair shake.

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Kentucky signs Jalen Geiger, a three-star DB from Columbia SC. Geiger had a UMass offer.

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The Salt Lake Tribune predicts a BYU win over UMass in 2018.

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UMass Football News--May 14th, 2018

UMass, Army and Western Michigan will join Rutgers and Ohio State at a football camp hosted by the Scarlet Knights on June 1st.

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The NFCA 7-on-7 Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament started on May 12th. Attending was UMass 2020 offer Chris Long. I've blogged about Long before.

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A Fox Sports writer thinks Duquesne could upset UMass on August 25th.

The CAA will play 12 FBS teams in 2018.

Athlon Sports does not list UMass-Duquesne among it's list of 10 potential FCS-FBS upsets.

Athlon also has five potential FCS vs Power Five upsets.

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Boston College signs a three-star pro-style QB.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Haskett Luqman

Bill Tiernan image

Hasquett Lugman a RB from Virginia Beach, VA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

Hudl.com has video.

2017 All-District.

This article features Lugman.

Lugman also has an offer from North Carolina State.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Valerian Agbaw, Jr.

Kelley J. Huff image

Valerian Agbaw Jr., a 5-11 185 pound Athlete from Powder Springs, GA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article from September of 2017 mentions Agbaw.

Agbaw has five offers with the Minutemen as his first FBS team.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Adrian Cole

Hudl.com image

Adrian Cole, a 5-10 165 pound CB from Plantation, FL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Cole has eight offers including Pitt and Buffalo from the Northeast.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Rickey Thomas

Hudl.com image

Rickey Thomas, a 5-10 185 pound CB from Blinn College has Tweeted he's received an offer from the Minutemen.

247 Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Blinn College bio here.

Thomas has nine offers including New Mexico and South Alabama from FBS.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Brandon Spencer

Spencer #21/ AJC image

Brandon Spencer, a 5-10 170 pound Safety from Marietta, GA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Took an UV to Virginia Tech in March.

Spencer has eleven offers with UMass and Buffalo from FBS. He's a good student and has three Ivy offers.

UMass Footbal News--May 8th, 2018

USA Today ranks college football teams after Spring ball. UMass is #75, which is the highest any source has ranked the Minutemen since the move to FBS. It's probably too high. Our rebuilt front seven on defense would really have to come through. OTOH, the Orlando Sentinel's rank of #120 is too low. The Minutemen offense should roll this year. I would rank the Minutemen in the #95 to #105 range...

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Ryan O'Keefe, a 5-10 165 pound WR who had a UMass offer, signs with UCF.

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SB Nation reports 2018 opponent USF is loaded with talent.

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Coastal Carolina's field is turquoise, Boise State's is blue, Incarnate Word has camo endzones. Maybe the opposing teams won't be able to find them?

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UConn will have a new offensive coordinator this year. the Huskies want to run a no-huddle fast paced offense.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Daraun McKinney

Detroit News image

Daraun McKinney, a 5-10 170 pound Athlete from River Rouge, MI has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from November 2017 features McKinney.

Set the state record in TD's from kickoff returns.

McKinney holds nine offers with Indiana offering from the Power Five. Excluding UMass, all his other offers are from MAC schools.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Kervens Bonhomme

Hudl.com image

Kervens Bonhomme, a 6-2 234 pound LB from St. Catharines, ON has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Member of the Under 19 National Canadian team

Besides UMass Bonhomme has an offer from Maine.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Nicktroy Fortune

247Sports iamge

Nicktroy Fortune, a 5-11 176 pound CB from Lawrenceville, GA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from September of 2017 features Fortune.

Fortune currenly has 16 offers including Rutgers, Syracuse and Temple from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--May 4th, 2018

SB Nation has an upbeat preview of the 2018 UMass Minutemen. Hopefully, UMass will change the dynamics of our situation this year. Being an Independent means we have to play a greater-than-average number of Power Five teams. That impacts our win total every year. If we can break through to a .500 or better season, those number should translate into success in C-USA or the Sun Belt. A league, any league, would be a big help. And, of course, if we have a chance to join the AAC, a winning record would be a positive selling point.

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Kip Daily, former Kansas State CB who had two INT's against UMass back in 2013, is now catching crooks.

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Despite the addition of UMass transfer Jack Driscoll, the starting  Auburn offensive line is still up in the air.

Driscoll's arrival is complicating things for former five-star OL recruit Calvin Ashley.

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The Orlando Sentinel has Hawaii, who managed only three wins last year (one of them against UMass) as #116 in 2018.

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TMG Sports says A.J. Dillon is good enough to power the Eagles over UMass in BC's season opener.

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Speaking of making a bowl, the 2018-19 college bowl schedule is out. Since most of the bowls have league tie-ins, the Frisco Bowl with an AAC team vs at large would be our only hope, unless some of the other Group-of-Five leagues can't supply enough bowl-eligible teams.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Joe Girard II

Joe Girard, a 6-2 180 pound Athlete from Glens Falls, NY has an offer from UMass.

I've blogged about Girard before.

He's also a highly rated hoops recruit with offers from national champion Villanova, Duke, Syracuse and more.

This article reports UMass and Tulane have offered for football and he says he would try to play both for those schools. He's still undecided as to where he'll comit.

Hudl.com has football highlights.

Scored 60 points in a game in February.

American Family Insurance ALL-USA state team Player of the Year.

Girard would be a big addition to the UMass sports world. Tulane and UMass are both good academic schools, but UMass has a better football offense and is closer to home. I believe Minutemen hoops is on the rise and Girard would help that happen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Khalil Hunter

Yesterday, Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" wrote a post on players who attended the Spring game.

One of the preferred walk-ons was Khalil Hunter, a FB I've blogged about before.

See the comments about the revision.

UMass Football News--May 2nd, 2018

Da'Sean Downey and Jackson Porter have been invited to  Baltimore Ravens mini-camp.

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The Toledo Blade has a story about European players being recruited by US colleges. Mentions Brandon Collier and UMass.

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This article by MassLive covers Western Massachusetts players attending a regional recruiting combine. Mentions UMass recruit Eiljah Johnson.

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Dawgs Nation on 247Sports has a post on Georgia CB Deandre Baker.  The article thinks he's awesome and a sure 2019 draft pick. Why is he great? Well he's second in nation in his covering grade-----just behind some guy named Isiah Rogers...

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A Hero Sports writer has some early lines for Week#1 of the college football season. Mentions BYU and says he still can't get his head around the Cougars losing to UMass last year.

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UMass Football News--May 1st, 2018

Coach Whipple's contract extension is announced. Nothing too exciting in the details. Whipple remains on the low end of FBS coach's salary's.

The UMass website announcement.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on the extension.

The Berkshire Eagle has a story on the extension.

NBC Sports has a post on Whipple's extension.

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Steve Casali gets an invite to the Detroit Lions mini-camp.

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Mike Traini also has a post on the recruits and potential recruits that visited UMass during the  Spring game.

Perhaps the most interesting are the preferred walk-on's. Several of those I haven't mentioned here on the blog. I'll remedy that this week.

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