Recruiting 2015--James Oliphant

Mark Randall image

The Sun-Sentinel reports that James Oliphant, a 5-9 170 DB/Athlete St. Thomas Aquinas HS in FL will take a recruiting visit to UMass.

Sun Sentinel article here.

Oliphant averaged 34.4 yards per kickoff return. He had 23 punt returns for 459 yards and 2 TD's

Hudl.com has video highlights.

ESPN has some stats.

Also receiving interest from BC.

Thursday--March 31st, 2016

Blake Frohnapfel wins the Desmond "Tuss" McCaughry Award as Western Mass' top student-athlete.

Impressive work by Frohnapfel as he graduated from Marshall in three years and added double Master's degrees in two years at UMass.

The Detroit Lions recently met with Frohnapfel.

CBS Sports has Frohnapfel as the #23 QB in the 2016 NFL Draft.

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Coach Costello's UMass bio. His UMass player bio.

He mentions three DB's having a good Spring so far:

Lee Moses RSFR
James Oliphant SO
Jackson Porter RS JR

Costello will also have one JUCO and one returning starter in 2016

Khary Bailey-Smith (former starter coming off a knee injury, five career starts)
Teddy Lowery JR (JUCO)

Also available are:

Jordan Hamilton JR
Micah Morel RS FR
Charan Singh RS SO (five starts)
Jesse Monteiro RS JR (three starts)
Brandon Mangram RS FR

FWIW, I would predict Bailey-Smith and Teddy Lowery as starting safeties and James Oliphant and Jackson Porter at corner.

In August the Minutemen will also add their highest-rated ever DB recruiting class.

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Victor Cruz says he's in it for the long haul with the Giants.

Victor says he wants to stay a local hero.

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Monday--October 12th, 2015

If you missed the offensive totals from Saturday's game it was 725 (school record for Bowling Green) and 516 for UMass. Total 1,231 yards.

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Rodney Mills stock is up, but that was about it for the Bowling Green game.

Dan Malone says the Minutemen defense hit a new low.

UMass opens as a five point favorite for homecoming. 

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Temple, Bowling Green and Notre Dame open as favorites and Colorado and FIU as underdogs.

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Matty Vautour has a post on the return of Rodney Mills. He also mentions James Oliphant and Dan Jonah scored their first TD of the season. Mrs Blog and I talked with Jonah's parents at rest stop out in Ohio on the way back from Notre Dame. His folks noticed my "UMass Football' sticker on my truck and came over to say "Hi". Nice people.

Jonah also played baseball for UMass.

Khary Bailey-Smith was the last UMass player to return a kickoff for a TD. He ran it back 93 yards against Miami (Ohio) on 10/4/14. Oliphant's return was the 7th longest in Minutemen history.

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Kent State's only points against Toledo was a recovered errant snap in the endzone as the Golden Flashes lost by 31.

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All the scores and stats from Saturday's MAC conference games.

Toledo jumps to #22 in the AP poll.

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James Ihedigbo says the Lions are the worst he's seen.

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Tuesday--September 1st, 2015

Dan Malone has a podcast with Mark Chiarelli about UMass camp news and more.

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Dan has ten players who need to step up for the 2015 campaign.

UMass picked up two first-place votes in the MAC coaches poll. Dan has some comments.

Malone has notes for Monday's practice. Coach Whipple says James Oliphant has been playing well and may make the two-deep.

The Sun Belt Conference picks up Coastal Carolina.

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Matty Vautour also has a post on Oliphant as well as the defensive backfield as a whole. New players Jordan Hamilton and Kelton Bracket join the group getting regular rotation.

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Hustle Belt looks at the current 2016 MAC recruiting results.

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Anthony Chiusano of the Daily Collegian says the Minutemen are looking for Robert Kitching to anchor UMass' defensive line.

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MLive thinks Western Michigan may go bowling this year.

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Sports Illustrated has Notre Dame's TV schedule and starting times.

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Hustle Belt previews the Stony Brook-Toledo game. As I've mentioned here a couple of times, former UMass RB Stacey Bedell leads the Sea Wolves.

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The Montgomery Adviser features former UMass player and coach Neal Brown in his new role as HC at Troy.

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The Lansing State Journal previews Michigan State-Western Michigan.

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The Colorado blog "Ralphie Report" previews the Buffs 2015 schedule and predicts a one to two TD win over UMass.

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Sports Chat Place has Florida International a 16.5 point underdog for UCF.

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Saturday-- January 31st, 2015

UMass Athletic Dept image

Slow day on the Intertubes for UMass football stories, so let's look at where UMass stands on recruiting as we go into the final stretch before Wednesday's Letter-of-Intent Day.

UMass has some visits planned this weekend.

The Minutemen currently have 16 verbals.

My take on UMass' needs going into this year's recruiting cycle were:\

1. a kicker
2. running back
3. defensive help everywhere especially in the front seven.

On the kicking front, UMass has a verbal from Michael Caggiano. Most teams make kickers walk-on (even highly rated ones), but the Minutemen apparently offered a scholarship to fix the most glaring need from last year. 

UMass has verbals from two running backs: Sekai Lindsey and Marquis Young (both rated three stars by 247Sports). Lindsey could have an immediate impact in 2015.

The Minutemen have commits from five offensive linemen: Joe Parsons, Michael Yerardi, Jack Driscoll , Derek Dumais and Reche Thomas. UMass will now have 20+ offensive linemen on the roster. All the recruits are true freshman and will help down the road. Thomas is probably the highest rated recruit in this class (so far).

The conventional wisdom in FBS is to recruit a QB every year. This year James Sosinski a 6-7 230 pound QB from Chandler, AZ joins the team. 

The Minutemen have only one receiver, TE Artayvious Lynn a 6-6 200 pound player from Bossier City, LA.

On defense UMass has two defensive linemen: Mario Patton (three stars from 247Sports) and Aaron Kinsey. The de-commitment of Desjon Robinson hurt this group.

For linebackers the Minutemen have: Tom Rodrick (may not play in 2015) and D'Shan Harley from Wichita Falls,TX

UMass has commits from two defensive backs: Lee Moses from Warwick, RI and James Oliphant from  Fort Lauderdale.

Ten of the 16 verbals are offensive recruits. It seems we have addressed some critical needs on the offensive side of the ball. On defense, thus far, it does not look like this recruiting class will have an immediate impact. We could use some JUCO or FBS transfers on the defensive side.

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The NY Giants blog "Big Blue" takes a look at the more than 500 prop bets available for the Super Bowl.

BTW, Mrs Blog and I met at a Super Bowl party. If you're planning one for tomorrow, be sure to invited your single friends.

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Wednesday--July 1st, 2015

The ink was barely dry from my highlighter when the UMass website puts up another iteration of the 2015 roster. This time all the freshmen are included and most have bios.

Latest roster

Marquis Young--RB 5-11 200 wearing #8 same as Shane Huber
Randell West--QB 6-5 22 wearing #13 worn by Jordan Broadnax last year
James Sosinski--QB 6-6 240 wearing #17 same as Jovan Santos-Knox
Micah Morel--DB 6-0 200 wearing #22 same as Shadrach Abrokwah
Andy Isabella--RB 5-10 185 wearing #23 and J.T Blyden is still missing
Mehki Williams--RB 5-9 180 wearing #25 same as Joe Colton
Mike Caggiano--K 5-11 170 wearing #31 worn by Iric Harris last year
Sekai Lindsey--RB 5-9 210 wearing #35 worn by Stanley Andre last year
Lee Moses--DB 6-1 190 wearing #40 worn by Jon Lucier last year
Brandon Mangram-- DB 5-11 180 wearing #43 worn by Matthew Wylie last year (transferred)
Kenny Kearn--RB 6-0 227 wearing #46 same as Lucas Amato
James Oliphant--DB 5-8 165 wearing #48 number not assigned last year
Mike Yerardi--OL 6-4 295 wearing #50 worn by Mike Wynne last year
Joe Parsons--OL 6-4 305 wearing #56 worn by Sam Zeff last year (transferred)
Reche Thomas--OL 6-4 315 wearing #57 worn by Leo Krizanovic last year
Peter Comaroto--LS 5-11 215 wearing #59 number not assigned last year
Derek Dumais--OL 6-5 325 wearing #72 worn by Rich Queen last year (transferred)
Lamarriel Taylor--WR 6-2 185 wearing #86 worn by Shaquille Harris last year (now wearing #14)
Jon Derolus--WR 6-0 175 wearing #81 same as Kevin Lovaincy
Travis Reynolds--TE 6-5 245 wearing #87 same as T.J. Kelley (G'Day mate!)
Jack Coventry--K 6-1 180 wearing #91 worn by Chris Carter last year
Jesse Noel--WR wearing #93 worn by Seamus Murray last year
Kyle Horn--TE 6-4 250 wearing #95  same as Sha-Ki Holines
Mario Patton--DL 6-4 315 wearing #96 worn by Brian McDonald last year
Aaron Kinsey--LB 6-4 210 wearing #97 worn by Daniel Maynes last year
D'Shan Harley--LB 6-5 210 wearing #98 worn by Ryan Heath last year
Dejion Evans--WR 6-3 no number assigned
Tom Rodrick--LB 6-3 230 no number assigned

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The Notre Dame blog "One foot down" discusses the Irish's 2015 including UMass as a "layup" game.

Scout.com has a story about the strengths and weaknesses of Notre Dame's opponents.

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Marshall fans complain about the Herd scheduling Appalachian State.

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Bloguin.com has five MAC conference story lines for 2015.

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Some UMass fan compiled this Minutemen pump-up video. It's well done.

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Thursday--August 25th, 2016

UMass has a 2016 Press Guide here. It's a .pdf download. Staples or Kinkos will print it out and bind in spiral format for about $10 or so.

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The first UMass football luncheon will be held on August 31st.

There will also be a Pep Rally at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Friday September 9th, which is the day before the Boston College game.

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Dan Malone has a post on James Allen, the player formerly known as James Oliphant. UMass needs all the defensive help it can get, so Allen's resurgence would help. His kick returns would also help to give the offensive a shorter field. Allen went 34-785 23.1 AVE 1 TD 97 LONG in 2015.

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Matty Vautour has a story about Jackson Porter returning to the defensive backfield.

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The Sentinel & Enterprise has a story about UMass featuring DL coach Matt Dawson.

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SEC Country mentions Ross Comis being named starter for the Florida game.

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Alligator.com predicts Florida's season.

The Gators will start working on their game plan for UMass today.

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The Montgomery Advisor looks at South Carolina.

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Victor Cruz is looking better at camp.

247Sports remembers when a undrafted free agent had a breakout game against the Jets.

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Thursday--February 5th, 2015

Some takeaways from Coach Whipple's press conference:

UMass will have 20+ more players taking part in Spring ball. Close to a hundred players are on campus , which is a lot more than 2014.

Whipple is OK with Sosinski and Lynn being interested in basketball. He said "it's our scholarship, so basketball, will be happy." Sosinski was touted as a DI basketball prospect as a power forward. Sosinski's MaxPreps basketball page here. Matty Vautour has a post on Sosinski and Lynn's basketball interest.

Whipple said repeatedly that one goal of 2015's recruiting was more "length", which is the current coaching buzz word for tall players.

Spencer Whipple said UMass' pro-set offense is a recruiting tool in the fact that many colleges are going to the spread offense. UMass not only plays the pro-set "heavy" (with two backs), the Minutemen use NFL play terminology. Spencer Whipple related Sekai Lindsay came to UMass because he wanted to run from the pro-set.

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Dan Malone has a post on the seven UMass Spring Enrollees.

Dan also looks at the wide-ranging recruiting localities of this year's recruits.

Finally, Dan has five takeaways from this year's recruiting class.

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Matty Vautour looks at the 2015 Minutemen recruits.

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Max Moore of Hustle Belt says UMass signs an impressive class.

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The UMass Daily Collegian has two articles on Letter-of-Intent Day here and here.

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The Boston Herald says UMass prospects improve.

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The Boston Globe says UMass bolsters the offensive line.

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Nj.com has an article on kicker Mike Caggiano joining the Minutemen. The News-Transcript also has an article on Caggiano.

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MassLive has a story about offensive line recruit Michael Yerardi.

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The Boston Herald has a post about Xaverian players Joe Parsons and Kenny Kern joining the Minutemen.

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The Shreveport Times says Artayvious Lynn like snowball fights.

UMass football yesterday

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The TC Palm has some images, including Reche Thomas, during the Varo Beach signing day ceremony.

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St. Thomas Aquinas has 17 players, including James Oliphant, sign letters of intent yesterday.

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Buford HS had 15 signees, the most ever, including Brandon Mangram.

Access North Georgia has more on Buford's signees.

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The News-Herald says UMass recruit Andy Isabella set the Ohio state record in the 60-yard dash last week.

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Tomorrow, my thoughts on the 2015 recruiting class.

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Monday--January 26th, 2014 UMass gets seven verbals

Dan Malone reports UMass received seven verbals from it's recent campus visits.

The UMass Daily Collegian also has an article on the commitments.

Some are recruits I've blogged about before; four are new. On the ones previously covered click on the link for images, bios and other links posted at that time.

Verbaling were:

Michael Caggiano, a 5-10 kicker from Manalapan, NJ. See previous blog coverage. NJ.com has an article on Caggiano's verbal.

James Oliphant, 5-9 170 pound DB/Athlete from St. Thomas Aquinas Fl. See previous blog coverage.

Reche Thomas, a 6-4 325 pound OL from Varo Beach, FL. See previous blog coverage.

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New to the blog are:

Hudl.com image

Artayvious Lynn, a 6-6 200 pound TE from Bossier City, LA.

Lynn's 247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has highlights.

Rivals page here.

Was highly rated while participating in a national prospects camp.

Lynn chose the Minutemen over an offer from South Alabama.

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Hudl.com image

Arron Kinsey, a 6-4 225 pound weakside DE from Miami, FL

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has 15 ways to kill a quarterback.

Rivals two-star recruit.

Chose UMass over an offer from UAB

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247Sports image

Sekai Lindsay, a 5-10 205 pound RB from Melbourne, FL

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Originally verbaled to Pitt.

Chose the Minutemen over offers from Appalachian State, Cincinnati, FIU, Georgia Tech, Indiana, North Carolina, Pitt, South Alabama and Temple.

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Harley #15/ Patrick Johnson image

D'Shan Harley, a 6-6 220 pound OLB from Wichita Falls, TX

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Max Preps has some stats and video.

The Time-Record has a story about Harley verbaling to UMass and some stats.

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This weekend's commits look like a good group. Michale Caggiano has a chance to be a four-year starter for the Minutemen. UMass fans hope he fixes a two-year train wreck in the UMass kicking game. Kicking is offense. Punting is defense. Caggiano has the potential to also be a strong punter.

Running back Sekai Lindsay is another player UMass fans hope pans out. Despite the fact the Minutemen had several three-star running backs on the roster, the last two years have finished with former walk-on Shadrack Abrokwah as the starting RB. The UMass ground game is nowhere at the level of the Blake Frohnapfel and the passing attack. UMass needs better production from the running backs to be even in the middle of the MAC for a quality running game.

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Boston College was the lone vote against cost-of-attendance for college athletes.

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Friday--September 4th, 2015

Florida International pulled off an upset by beating UCF (a team many pundits picked to win the AAC East) by the score of 15-14.

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Hawaii beat Colorado 28-20. More here.

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VMI, one of the traditionally weaker FCS teams, scored 36 points in their loss to Ball State.

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Villanova turned the ball over and missed a chip shot field goal and lost to UConn 15-20.

San Jose State rolled over New Hampshire 43-13. All the college football scores here.

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Stacey Bedell was running well against Toledo, but weather canceled the game.

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All the MAC results here.

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After a walk-through at Gillette, UMass football had a day at the beach.

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Matty Vautour reports UMass is preparing for mile high Boulder. He says three true freshman players have made the travel squad to Colorado: RB Sekai Lindsay, K Mike Caggiano and DB James Oliphant.

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The Boston Herald says the Minutemen are eyeing a winning season.

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The UMass Daily Collegian reports on the kicking competition between Blake Lucas and Mike Caggiano.

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Cincinnati.com says the Miami Redhawks are young and ready to improve.

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Saturday--December 17th, 2015

Hey, it's snowing here in Jaffrey. First snow of the season. It's been weirdly warm so far this year. Last year it was a snow apocalypse all year.

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Seven Minutemen received All-Conference awards from Phil Steele. Tajae Sharpe was named an All-American. Marquis Young and Rodney Mills were named to offensive teams and Jovan Santos-Knox, Trey Seals were on the defensive teams. James Oliphant was named to the special teams honor role.

All of Phil Steele's MAC selections here.

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CAA standard-bearer Richmond got smoked by North Dakota State last night. I watched that game and I don't remember the Spiders getting a first down in the first half.

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Boston College picks up a fifth-year transfer QB as former Kentucky QB Patrick Towles says he'll play for the Eagles.

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The Salt Lake Tribune says Terry Bowden has made Akron into a winner.

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Monday--September 14th, 2015

We did have a few positive things happen in Boulder. Tajae Sharpe had a big day (11-138 yards).

UMass had receivers open most of the first half. The Minutemen also had good looks at a number of new players as a whole bunch of redshirt freshman made their debut.

From the UMass notes:

The first-time Minutemen were Jarell Addo, Kelton Brackett, Ross Comis, Sharif Custis, Larry Franklin, Jordin Hamilton, Dan Jonah, Jake Largay, Connor Lemieux, James Oliphant, Joe Previte, Jeremy Rodriguez and Marquis Young. Brackett (UAB) and Franklin (Vanderbilt) have NCAA Division I FBS experience prior to transferring to UMass ahead of the 2015 season.

Marquis Young looked like he had good speed to go with some shifty moves. He went 7-62 0 LOSS 8.9 AVE.

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Dan Malone looks behind the numbers at Colorado.

Dan also reports what I said here yesterday: Frohnapfel looked rusty.

Dan looks at the Minutemen's bowl watch.

Dan says it's too early to draw any conclusions about the Minutemen. What he says is true about the Minutemen's whole OOC schedule. Colorado at Boulder would be a tough draw for most Group-of-Five schools. We seem to have a knack for running into teams having their best season in years. Remember Texas Tech with Michael Crabtree? Maine had their only CAA championship in 15 years in 2013. And this year Temple beats Penn State for the first time since the Wisconsin Ice Age. Notre Dame is being touted for a playoff birth.

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Matty Vautour looks at UMass' play at Colorado.

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Philly.com says two big wins give Temple fans a reason to dream.

Temple RB Jahad Thomas has run for 332 yards in two games and also has a 102 yard kick return.

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The Westside Gazette says FIU is legit.

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Brian Kelley believes the Irish can play for the National Championship.

Notre Dame moves on with DeShone Kizer as quarterback.

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Tuesday--October 27th, 2015

UMass has their game notes for Ball State up.

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Matty Vautour parses the unbeaten college football teams.

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Dan Malone reports the Minutemen are slight underdogs against Ball State.

Coach Whipple says Sekai Lindsay's status is uncertain as of Monday. He said Marken Michel and James Oliphant look as if they will be available for Ball State. He does not mention Trey Seals or Kelton Brackett, both of whom did not dress for the Toledo game.

Cardinal QB Riley Neal, according to Whipple, continues to improve.

So far in 2015 Neal has gone 7 GP 121.6 EFF 156-260-2 60.0% 1522 yards 11 TD's 53 LONG 217.4 AVE.

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Sports Chat place picks Ball State to win the game and cover the spread.

The News-Sentinel says the Cardinals are an improving but incomplete team.

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Bob McGovern says Coach Whipple went for the future in last year's recruiting.

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The UMass Daily Collegian says the Minutemen must play better in the easier section of their 2015 schedule.

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Cleveland.com has the good and the bad from the MAC Conference's eighth week.

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Toledo HC Matt Campbell said UMass was faking injuries to slow down the Rockets offense.

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CBS Sports says the AAC leads the Group-of-Five conferences.

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SB Nation awards Toledo's Matt Ely a half-a-Heisman for his performance against the Minutemen.

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Wednesday--October 28th, 2015

Ball State has their game notes for UMass up (.pdf download).

The Cardinals' website has video from Pete Lembo's weekly press conference.

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Matty Vautour has injuries updates for the Minutemen. Sekai Lindsay's ankle injury will require surgery and he's out for the season.

From the article:

Marken Michel, Trey Seals, Kassan Messiah, Lucas Amato and James Oliphant all missed practice Tuesday.

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Dan Malone also writes on UMass' injuries situation.

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If you noticed an improvement in the UMass announcing over the last couple of games it's due to Todd Robbins, who is the new stadium voice of the Minutemen.

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Former Ball State WR Willie Snead is doing well with Saints.

Ball State's QB Riley Neal can run with the ball if the situation requires.

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After Week #7 Cleveland.com has UMass as #11 in it's MAC power rankings.

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Notre Dame expects a four-quarter battle with Temple.

NBC Sports discusses Temple's success this season (mentions the blocked extra point at UMass).

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Victor Cruz is still battling his calf injury.

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Game Day--Buffalo November 27th, 2015

Yes!!!

From Matty Vautour:

My wet last tweet didn't go. UMass won 31-26. Lot of happy people outside UMass locker room

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Like everything else this year, today's game is going to be a tough row to hoe, Only two days of practice and the injury situation should make the Minutemen a fairly large underdog.

The 09/03/15 defensive backfield depth chart:

CB Randall Jette
SS Trey Dudley-Giles
FS Khary Bailey-Smith
CB Kelton Bracket

If Randall Jette is not available, today's starting defensive backfield could be:

CB DuVaughn Beckford
SS Jesse Monteiro
FS Joe Colton
CB James Oliphant

The Bulls have turned the ball over in recent games. If UMass can get some momentum, maybe we could get the upset. It would certainly be a morale booster to the team and us fans.

I'll be watching and rooting for the Minutemen.

Go UMass!!!

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UPDATE: Dan Malone has how to watch today's game.

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Joe Colton is subject of this essay by Bob McGovern.

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The game will be live on ESPNU.

Matty Vautour reports UMass may be without Blake Frohnapfel and Randall Jette.

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Buffalo blog Bull Run simulates today's game.

The Buffalo News previews the Minutemen-Bulls game.

The Buffalo News also says the Bulls defense needs to step up.

The Niagra Gazette says Buffalo needs a win to be bowl eligible.

With only one win over a team with a wining record, the Bulls may not be picked for a bowl anyway.

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#24 Toledo tries to avoid an upset by Western Michigan.

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