Wednesday--February 4th, 2015 Letter-of-Intent Day

Lots more recruiting stuff tomorrow, pant, pant :)

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UPDATES:

Spring Enrollees:

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Marquis Young, 6-0 200 RB from Milford Academy. I've blogged about Young before.

Randall West, 6-4 220 pound QB from Lawrenceville, NJ. I've blogged about West before.

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Lamarriel Taylor, 6-3 WR from Chula Vista, CA. I've blogged about him before.

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Thomas Rodrick, 6-3 230 LB from Liecester, MA. I've blogged about him before.

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Morel #6/ Boston Herald image

Micah Morel, 6-0 190 pound Safety from Milford Academy.

ESPN describes him as one of the best safeties in MA in this 2012 article.

Hudl.com has video.

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Image credit as above

Darrian Josey, 6-2 165 pound WR from Boyton Beach, FL. Transfer from Hawaii.

Whipple said UMass recruited Josey last year. Whipple also said Josey ran the 2nd fastest 100 in the state of Florida in 2014.

Hudl.com highlights. This article from January 2014 features Josey. So does this article.

Rivals two-star player.

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247Sports image

Dejion Evans, 6-3 200 pound WR from Boston, MA.

Hudl.com video.

ESPN player page.

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OK, I've got to do a couple of things and then I'm going to drive down to Amherst to go the 3:00 PM press conference. More updates to the blog in the evening.

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Travis Reynolds joins the Minutemen. Apparently they play football in Australia (Reynolds video highlights)

Bayside Ravens Football Club.

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James Sosinski joins the UMass QB corps.

This article from MaxPreps features Sosinki.

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Boston Globe image

ESPN reports that Kenny Kern, a 6-0 227 pound fullback from Xaverian Brothers will join UMass as a preferred walk-on.

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Jack Driscoll joins the UMass offensive line

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Reche Thomas signs with UMass

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Artayvious Lynn joins the Minutemen

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247 Sports image

Sam Franklin, a 6-4 185 pound WR from Crystal River, FL signs with UMass

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com video.

Rivals two-star player with offers from Cincinnati, Indiana, Kentucky and South Alabama.

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Aaron Kinsey signs with the Minutemen.

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Mario Patton joins UMass.

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James Bowe signs with the Minutemen. I received an e-mail from a UMass fan in Georgia saying Buford is a powerhouse program that has supplied a lot of talent to FBS teams in the past.

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Mike Caggiano joins UMass.

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D'Shan Harley signs with the Minutemen.

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Sekai Lindsay joins UMass Football/

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Brandon Mangram signs with the Minutemen.

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Lee Moses joins UMass

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Hudl.com image

Marshall Robinson a 6-4 330 pound DL from Mars Hill, PA signs with UMass.

Robinson's Hudl highlights.

Also had offers from Temple and Bowling Green.

From the UMass feed:

Fun fact about Marshall Robinson - he can dunk a basketball from a standing position according to coach Sollazzo

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From John Sinnett's office:

Fans are invited to join UMass football Head Coach Mark Whipple and his staff for a College Football Signing Day Party tomorrow, February 4th at the Amherst Brewing Company starting at 5:30 PM. The event is free to attend and light hors d'oeuvres will be provided. The Amherst Brewing Company is located just off the UMass campus at 10 University Drive in Amherst.
Coach Whipple will highlight his incoming class of newcomers for the 2015 season and will be joined by his coaching staff to speak with fans about the newest additions to the UMass football family. The evening celebration will cap off what is sure to be a day of great excitement with players signing their National Letters of Intent beginning that morning.

SECOND RECRUITING EVENT CELEBRATION IN BOSTON

This event will be held at the UMass Club in Boston on February 26th, 2015. This is another opportunity to get to know the newest additions to the maroon and white family, and hear what Head Coach Mark Whipple and the UMass Football coaching staff have in store for the upcoming season.

To RSVP or for more information, please contact Jason Germain in the Minutemen Club Office at jag@admin.umass.edu<mailto:jag@admin.umass.edu> or 413-577-0267.

SIGNING DAY COVERAGE
For full coverage of the day along with an interactive blog check out www.UMassAthletics.com<http://www.umassathletics.com/>. Fans are also encouraged to follow twitter.com/CoachWhipUMass<http://www.twitter.com/CoachWhipUMass>, twitter.com/UMassFootball<http://www.twitter.com/UMassFootball> and twitter.com/UMassAthletics<http://wwww.twitter.com/UMassAthletics> to get the news of each signing as soon as it happens.

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The UMass website has a Signing Day Central Page up.

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Dan Malone says this year's recruits will lead the Minutemen into a unknown future.

MassLive.com will also have live updates.

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Looks like UMass Lax may be playing at McGuirk this season after Garber Field suffered unspecified "damage' from the latest storm.

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BC signs seven Massachusetts players.

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Campus Insiders thinks Sekai Lindsey will be star of the Minutemen's 2015 recruiting class.

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Future UMass opponent BYU got a big boost after it was named a honorary Power Five team.

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Tuesday before Boston College--September 6th, 2016

UMass has it's game notes up for the BC game.

A cut-and-paste from the game notes:

"UMass featured 10 first-time starters on offense and defense at No. 25 Florida. This total does not include tight end Adam Breneman, who made his first start as a Minuteman but previously started for the Penn State program.

On offense, the new starters included Ross Comis (QB), Marquis Young (RB), Jack Driscoll (OL), Jake Largay (OL) and Raquan Thomas (OL).

On defense, Ali Ali-Musa (DL), Steve Casali (LB), Tedrick Lowery (LB), James Allen (CB) and Lee Moses (SS) marked the first-time starters.

Seventeen members of the UMass football program made their first appearances as Minutemen during the 2016 season-opener at No. 25 Florida. These 17 include Ali Ali-Musa, Bilal Ally, James Bowe Jr., Adam Breneman, Colbert Calhoun, Jack Driscoll, Derek Dumais, Andrew Ford, Malik Lee, Tedrick Lowery, Brandon Mangram, Martin Mangram, Sadiq Palmer, Mario Patton, Travis Reynolds, Isaiah Rodgers and Raquan Thomas."

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Transcript from BC coach Steve Addazio's weekly press conference for UMass.

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Keepers College football ratings has BC over UMass by 24.02 (a .pdf download).

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The Gators felt UMass made it too close for comfort.

247Sports has a 132 image gallery from the Gators-Minutemen game.

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Andrew Ford

The UMass Daily Collegian features transfer QB Andrew Ford.

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BC Interruption kicks off its UMass week coverage.

Paul Johnson says Georgia Tech was lucky to beat Boston College.

Cillian Shields of the Boston Herald says, despite the loss, the Eagles trip to Ireland was a big success.

The Atlanta Journal reviews the BC-Georgia Tech game.

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The Minutemen's next foe after Boston College is Florida International. The Panthers play Maryland this week. 247 Sports takes a look at FIU after their loss to Indiana.

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For the first time since 1936, New Hampshire will play in a new stadium as they open in Wildcat Stadium.

Too bad they didn't take the opportunity to get rid of the track. I think tracks just ruin the atmosphere at football game by moving the fans back from the field. I've been to UNH games more than a dozen times and there is plenty of room next to the field to relocate the track.

UMass Football News--July 24th, 2018

The UMass website has a post on Bryton Barr being named to the Butkus Award Watch list.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts' also has entry on Barr being named to the watch list.

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Outside of Joe Previte, the Minutemen returns only one career start for the rest of the available defensive linemen. Will UMass stick with the 4-3 or move to the 3-4? There are also not a lot of career starts available in the linebackers except for Bryton Barr and Jarell Addo.

Returning are:

Bryton Barr SRGR 12-12 GP-GS 45 AT 50 UT 105 TT 9-42 TFL 5 SACKS 1 INT 1 FF.

Jarell Addo RSSR 12-11 GP-GS 32 UT 35 AT 67 TT 1-8 SACKS 8-24 TFL 6 BKUP 1 FF

Cole McCubrey SO 11-0 GP-GS 10 AT 4 UT 14 TT 2 FF

Chinedu Ogbonna SO 12-1 GP-GS 5 AT 5 UT 10 TT 0.5-0 TFL 0.5 SACKS

Mike Ruane SO 10-0 GP-GS 1 AT

James Bowe JR 10-0 GP-GS 1 BKUP

Darian Green FR.

Michael Nesmith FR.

Da'Shon Ross FR

Adam Tucker RSSO DNP in 2017

 If the Minutemen start Addo, Barr and Ogbonna the UMass LB's will be 6-1 200, 6-0 225 and 6-2 215 respectively.

Boston College's reported starters will be Connor Strachan 6-0 240, John Lamont 6-0 240 and Davon James 5-11 230.

 The Minutemen do not have a lot of size in the linebacker corps. They also could move  Leon Flanagan 6-2 220 to LB.

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Penn Live has a short piece on Andrew Ford being named to the Davey O'Brien Watch list.

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Boston College has been picked fourth in the ACC East Division for 2018.The last few years the Eagles have been picked at the bottom of the ACC East.

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Wednesday--April 20th, 2016

Coach Michaels is the latest "Made in Massachusetts" video.

Coach Michaels is the special teams coordinator and OLB coach.

This year he'll be working with:

Da'Sean Downey 6-4 241 JR 9-3 GP-GS 21 UT 22 AT 43 TT 4.5-13 TFL 1-5 INT
Leon Flanagan 6-3 200 FR FR (Early enrollee)
D'Shan Harley 6-3 218 RSFR
Aaron Kinsey 6-4 205 RSFR
Teddy Lowery 6-0 225 JR JUCO Transfer
Peter Ngobidi 6-2 218 SR 8-0 GP-GS 7 UT 10 AT 17 TT 2.5-10 TFL 1.0-4 SACK

In addition, Michaels will have the following:

James Bowe, Jr 6-2 200 FR (early enrollee, OLB as recruited, listed as ILB on roster)
Taylor Riggins 6-2 213 FR three-star recruit (listed as RB/OLB in recruiting)

The OLB postion should have more talent and depth this year. Downey and Ngobidi will probably be listed as the "1's". Lowery and Flanagan should be in the rotation.

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James Ihedigbo is an inspiring guy to be around. Wonder if he'd be interested in coaching after his NFL career.

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In some bulletin-board material, the Orlando Sentinel has UMass #128 (dead last) in it's 2016 preview. I don't know where they're getting that.

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During 2016 opponent Tulane's Spring Game, defense ruled the field.

The local paper has six takeaways from the Green Wave's Spring game.

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Thursday--March 24th, 2016

UPDATE: The UMass Football Twitter feed has some video and images from Pro Day.

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Today is UMass' Pro Day. There will be images and updates from the Athletic Dept later today.

Dan Malone has the list of players participating here.

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Spring practice #4 above.

Dan has an image gallery from practice #4.

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Dan Malone has a post on Ross Comis' bid to the Minutemen's starting QB in 2016.

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Matty Vautour has a story about Lamarriel Taylor and the other UMass WR's who are looking for playing time in 2016.

Jalen Williams and Bernard Davis are coming off medical redshirts.

Shakur Nesmith leads the returning receivers in catches. He went 9-5 GP-GS 15-204 13.6 AVE 3 TD's 56 LONG in 2016 (fifth in receiving).

Andy Isabella, at 5-9 187 and with his speed,  could be a threat as a slot receiver.

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Andrew Cyr of the UMass Daily Collegian report Shane Huber looks to be the leader of the defense at the MLB position. Huber mentions LB Steve Casali, LB James Bowe, Jr and LB/Safety Teddy Lowery as having good Spring practices.

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Monday-- February 2nd, 2015-- Two more verbals

Bob McGovern reports UMass has added two more verbals.

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Miami Herald image

Joining the Minutemen will be: James Bowe, Jr, a 6-1 205 pound OLB from Killian Varsity HS in Miami, FL.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has more.

Was third team All-State Group 8A in Florida.

Played in the Miami-Dade All-Star game.

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Mangram #24/ Jason Getz image

Also joining UMass is Brandon Mangram, a 5-10 170 pound CB from Buford, GA.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video and reports a 4.32 40.

MaxPreps page here.

Rivals page here.

Second Team All-Region.

Also had offers from East Carolina and Wake Forest.

UMass Football News--October 3rd, 2019

Josh Walfish has a post on the progress of James Bowe, Jr at safety and Claudin Cherrelus at linebacker.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a report and interview with 2020 LB recruit Mathieu Masse-Pelletier.

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The  Berkshire Eagle has a story on Mike Curtis' rise to the #1 QB.
53-329
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Last year against FIU the Minutemen ran for 34 times for 199 yards, which was the fourth-most rushing yards the Panthers gave up in 2018. However, FIU ran for 53-329, which was a season high for the Panthers. For the second straight year, FIU scored 63 points on the Minutemen.

This Saturday it would be a goal of the Minutemen defense to contain the Panthers rushing attack and stop those long breakaway runs that killed UMass last year. At least slow the Panthers rushing game down.

Some ball-control offense would also help keep the score manageable.

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Hustle Belt has five things learned from the UMass-Akron game.

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After nearly three years of working without a contract, Randy Edsell signs his UConn contract.

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UMass Football News--October 11th, 2019

LA Tech HC Skip Holtz's weekly press conference for the UMass week.

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The Amherst Wire has a short video segment on this week's game.

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Josh Walfish reports Jesse Britt and James Bowe, Jr have left the team for personal reasons.This was the second time Britt left. Britt previously left under Whipple's tenure. Neither are critical losses.

There are usually a fair number of players leaving a program during a coaching change. Different offensive and defensive philosophies change the type of player in the new systems. We did not initially have many players leaving when Coach Bell was hired.

To me, it was more a concern when Coach Whipple could not keep recruits as a number of his commits never made it to  campus. That made weak recruiting results even worse.

UMass could bring 25 scholarship players this year. The total could actually be higher as the Spring enrollees could be assigned to the previous year's class if UMass was under the scholarship limit, as they very likely were.

The Minutemen currently have 18 hard commits in the 2020 recruiting class, so there are number of scholarships to give. Even so, UMass will likely not reach the 85 scholarship limit for next year.

The current #78 recruiting class ranking by 247Sports is the highest in Minutemen history and if we add another five players or so, it will be even higher. UMass still could use another RB, DL's and LB's. Some JUCO signings for TE and defense would be immediate help for next year.

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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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Game Day--Liberty November 3rd, 2018

Looks like the rain will blow out by gametime. Windy after that. Liberty is a solid club with a QB who likes to stay in the pocket and sling the ball. The UMass defense, which has eight sacks in nine games can help the cause with some pressure on Calvert.

The Minutemen had 247 yards of rushing last week. Today would be an excellent day to continue those results. With a high wind warning for this afternoon, it may be difficult to pass. Let's hope Marquis Young and the offensive line can win the day for us.

Hope to see everyone on Homecoming.

Go UMass!

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Josh Wallfish has his weekly "Inside the Press Box" with Liberty beat writer Damien Sordelett.

Josh also reports UMass LB James Bowe has been making an impact on special teams.

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Jay Burnham will be the new voice of UMass basketball. Josh Maurer is moving to Boston College hoops. He will broadcast the remaining UMass football games. Not clear who will be doing the football games next season.

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The Lynchburg News says with the UMass game on tap, Liberty has plenty to play for.

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Underdog Dynasty picks UMass 37-33 over the Flames.

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Liberty Blog " A sea of Red" predicts Liberty 37-UMass 34.

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Sunday--August 23rd, 2015

The wins in 2015 poll ending yesterday showed a nice normal curve centered around seven wins:

four wins-7 votes
five wins-10 votes
six wins-19 votes (I voted for six)
seven wins-30 votes
eight wins-18 votes

eleven wins-two votes
twelve wins-two votes

A couple of Notre Dame haters voted for 12 wins. The two 11 win votes could be UMass fans, but I'll have what they're drinking :)

Six wins would make us bowl-eligible, but I think one of the wins would have to be Colorado or Temple to not get passed over. Seven wins would probably get us a bowl. Temple was not invited at 6-6 last year. Toledo went 7-5 in 2013 and didn't get an invite.

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Lots of interesting news from Saturday's scrimmage.

First on 2014 recruits not on the Fall roster:

Thanks to the blog reader who sent me notice that two-star TE 6-6 250 recruit Artayvious Lynn from Parkway HS in Louisiana will enroll at Milford Academy.

Bill McGovern reports James Bowe, Jr a 6-2 200 pound LB from Miami, FL will gray shirt.

He also reports Marshall Robinson 6-4 340  an unrated DT from Mars, PA will attend Lacawanna Community college.

No real surprises on depth chart. Khary Bailey-Smith and Fabian Hoeller are currently out. Both were 2014 starters at Safety and LG respectively.

Dan also has more notes from the first scrimmage. Dan reports Zeke Edmonds has been moved to LB. Edmonds received a lot of praise in last year's Fall camp. He played as a true freshman. If he's healthy this year, he could be a nice addition to the Minutemen defense.

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Dan also has five questions with new UMass RB coach Darrius Smith. Smith's UMass bio.

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Mark Chiarelli of Maroon Musket catches up with Vanderbilt transfer Larry Franklin.

Franklin's UMass bio.

Chiarelli also has what UMass was looking for in Saturday's scrimmage.

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Hustle Belt previews Central Michigan.

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A Daily Local News writer says Temple will beat Penn State this year.

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Houston Courier report the AAC wants to turn the Power 5 into the Power 6.

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UMass Football News--September 3rd, 2019

 UMass has their game notes up for Southern Illinois.

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Saluki HC Nick Hill looks ahead to the UMass game.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the Rutgers game.

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The Boston Herald reports Coach Bell finds positives in the Minutemen's opening loss.

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UnderDop Dynasty says UMass and UConn should play twice a year.

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Young Minutemen. UMass had 16 out of 53 players at Rutgers who were playing their first ever game for the Minutemen. That's 30.1%. In addition, there were a number of players like Brian Abosi (two career appearances) and Melvin Hill (one career appearance) who had minimal playing time prior to Saturday.

Starters:

10-O.C. Johnson WR
35- Shannon Junior II BUCK
2-Jarvis Miller WILL
5-Donte Lindsey CB

 12-WALLACE, Josh, 1-BRITT, Jessie, 13-BOWE JR., James, 23-NESMITH, Michael, 4-DINGLE, Brennon,12-BRITO, Andrew, 16-JOHNSON, Josiah, 17-OGBONNA, Chinedu, 18-EDWARDS, Taylor, 19-EMILUS, Samuel,20-CHERRELUS, Claudin, 23-ROBERSON, Cam, 28-LEWIS, Justin, 30-CAGGIANO, Mike, 31-DARBY, Logan, 33-RUANE, Mike,34-BROWN, Kevin, 37-GARCIA, Cooper, 39-NARDI, Dante, 42-WOODEN, Billy, 54-WEIR, Johnathon, 55-FREDERIC, Wilson,60-MOULTON, Timothy, 67-TOMLISON, Dalton, 68-FAGUNDES, Helber, 73-DITOMMASO, Chris, 80-TURNER, Javon,82-HILL, Melvin, 88-GEORGOPOULOS, George, 90-DECKERS, Evan, 92-WASHINGTON, Caeleb

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