Reception for Coach Morris

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Blog and I have a prior commitment, so we will be unable to attend Coach Morris' reception. Anyone can attend, even if they not a member of the UMass club or Friends of Football.

I've been to several of the Friends functions at the UMass Club and they are excellent. If any blog reader has an open night on April 23rd, I highly recommend the event.

Tuesday News -- 03/31/09

Our old friend Adam Nettina has an article about FCS football in yesterday's post on the "In the Bleachers" Blog. Nice to see that Adam continues his interest in FCS football. He has a bright future in sports journalism.

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More CAA Pro Days, this time Richmond.

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More rounds of Josh Buchanan's "Small School" NFL mock draft.

• Round four
• Round five (with Liam Coen)

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This writer for Newsday thinks that the Big 10 should add Temple. That would include Temple basketball.

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Only three days until UMass Spring Football

Monday Meanderings - 03/30/09

Results from Hofstra and Appalachian State's Pro Day here.

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Round #3 of Josh Buchanan's Small School NFL mock draft ----- with three UMass players on it.

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Not much football news on the wires this morning. This week I'll be publishing scans from UMass football programs I collected back in 1984.

I'll have some original content about Spring football, recruiting and more.

Only four days until the first practice!

Sunday News --- 03/29/09

People have been asking for news of the UMass Pro Day. Here is 0ne write-up. It covers Ben Coblyn and Sean Smalls.

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Josh Buchanan's "Small School" NFL Mock Draft Day 2.

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Old Dominion will be joining CAA Football in 2011. They start their first year of of football fully funded and hope for a .500 season. Old Dominion's 2009 schedule here.

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Only five days until UMass Spring Football.

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Saturday News ---- 03/28/09

If you're keeping an eye on Miami now that Mark Whipple is their OC, then this spring preview article gives him some ink.

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Maine's Pro-day was Thursday; and the big attraction was Jovan Belcher.

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Report on Spring Football for William & Mary.

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Six days until UMass Spring Practice starts.

Friday News --- 03/27/09

Josh Buchanan has Day1 of his "Small School Mock NFL Draft", with Richmond DE Lawrence Sidbury as the #1 pick.

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Former UMass assistant coach Frank Forucci has been named Defensive Coordinator and DB coach for the Northeastern Huskies.

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Dave Coulson has FCS/I-AA news here.

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The main UMass Athletic Dept page has a video interview with Liam Coen and Courtney Robinson about the UMass Pro Day. It'll be moved eventually to the the football page.

Robinson states he ran a sub 4.4 40 and Coen seemed to believe he had done better than during the Boston College Pro Day.

If I hear anything more on the results, you'll be the first to know.

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A couple of stories about 2009 opponent Stony Brook: here and here.

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Sept. 5th UMass opponent Kansas State looses a couple of players.

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Only seven days until Spring Football starts!

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Thursday news -- 03/26/09

The UMass website is reporting that today at 10:00 am is UMass' Pro day. They promise reports.

UPDATE: The UMass site has a image gallery here. Participating in the Pro Day were Ben Coblyn, Liam Coen, Courtney Robinson, Sean Smalls, Ian Jorgensen and Brian Ellis.

Note to UMass webmaster: Sean is still listed on the Spring 2009 roster.
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Former UMass assistant coach Eddie Morrissey has been hired at Fordham. So has former UMass player Malik Hall. Story about both of them here.

Ive blogged about Morressey before; and I've also reported on Hall.

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Like UMass, James Madison will be starting a new quarterback this fall.

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Big Doin's in Delaware. Like most states, Delaware has financial problems. The state has proposed that Delaware allow Sports betting.

If the law passes, the NCAA will not allow the University of Delaware to host playoff games, which would make a huge impact in the CAA.

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The CAA has the latest edition of their Spring Football Blog up: including reports from Villanova and Northeastern.

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Wednesday Wanderings -- 03/25/09

The University of Albany Great Danes have released their 2009 schedule. As usual, Albany plays a killer OOC, including this year @ Georgia Southern, @ UMass and Maine. The article points out that Coach Morris started his coaching career as an assistant with the Great Danes in 1986 and 1987.

BTW, UMass has updated Coach Morris' bio.

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This article mentions former Salem RB Melikke Van Alstyne, who signed with Bridgeton Academy. In HS, VAn Alstyne drew interest from UMass, Bryant, UNH and Delaware.

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This article discusses the growing trend of FBS teams scheduling one or even two FCS teams.

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This article covers the competition between Ethan Albright and former UMass star Jeremy Cain to be the long snapper for the Washington Redskins.

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Spring 2009 Roster up-- 03/24/09

Thanks to Blog reader "Dennis Dent" for alerting me that the UMass Athletic Web site has the Spring 2009 Football Roster up.

Non-Senior deletions:

• Reshaude Goodwin DB
• Terrance Farris LB
• Anthony Rouzier LB
• Kevin Macon OL
• Gilbert Parson OL
• Dan McLaughlin DB
  

Numbered Roster Additions:

• Kyle Havens QB Jr, wearing #12. Number last worn by Liam Coen. The only other low number available was Courtney Robinson's #4.
  
• Adham Talaat OL Fr, wearing #65. Talaat graduated HS a semester early. Number last worn by Michael Boyle in 2007.
• Michael Binkowski OL Rs Soph. Wearing #68 (last worn by Matt Austin '07). Wore #64 in 2007. Not on the 2008 roster.
• Scott Duggan Rs Soph. Wearing #99 (last worn by Wilner Alexis in '07)

The 2009 UMass schedule is now posted in the regular format.
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Raw Data:

• Northeastern's 2009 roster
• William & mary's 2009 roster
• Richmond's 2009 roster
  

Nobody else in the CAA has their spring rosters up.

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Monday News -- March 23, 2009

With UMass players going through the local Pro-Days, ever wonder what college teams function as the biggest farm clubs for the NFL? Answer--- Miami and USC.

The NCAA has limits on the number of coaches a football program can employ. So recently Alabama has hired former Virginia Offensive Coordinator Al Groh ------ as a graduate assistant.

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The CAA Spring Football Blog has been updated with essays by Rob Varno, Adrian Tracey and David Caldwell of William & Mary, as well as Charles Graves of Delaware.

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The UMass Lacrosse has a news booster website: UMass Laxbackers. I'll add it to my sidebar links.

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The latest iteration of Josh Buchanan's "Small School NFL draft" list includes Courtney Robinson.

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Report from the National Champion Richmond Spiders ProDay.

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Maine just signed the State of Delaware Basketball Player-of-the-Year -----to play football.

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Recruiting 2010 --- Jay Kenney

UMass is interested in Jay Kenney a 6-6 300 pd OL from Matignon HS in Cambridge MA.

His Scout.com page here . A Scout.com article mentions UMass here .

A YouTube highlights page here .

Image by Scout.com

Also interested are Rhode Island, Northeastern and Boston College.

Recruiting 2010 --- Dominic Wooten

UMass is interested in Dominic Wooten a 6-7 220 pd TE from Norwell, MA. His Scout.com page is here.

An article from Scout.com that mentions Wooten and UMass is here .

Wooten is also getting looks from Boston College, Harvard, Rhode Island, UCF and South Flordia.

With Matt Silver and Andrew Kervis the only veteran TE's on the UMass Spring roster and with Rob Blanchflower as the only incoming TE recruit, Wooten should be in line for some playing time fairly early if he chooses UMass.

Vernal Equinox ---- March 20, 2009

Today is the First Day of Spring (at 11:44 Universal Coordinated Time). The earth is tipped at an angle of 23.5 degrees in respect to the plane of its orbit. So the Sun appears to move north and south of the ecliptic during the year as the earth completes its orbit. When the apparent motion of the Sun makes its northward crossing of the ecliptic, that's marks the 1st Quarter Day or the Vernal Equinox.

Holidays connected with the Vernal Equinox include St. Patrick's Day --sowing of peas in Ireland, Eostre's Day (Saxon goddess of Spring) and Easter (the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox).

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The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (home of the FCS Championship game) went 0-11 in DI games last year. They hope to do better. They lost yesterday to UConn 103-47 in the first round of the NCAA Tourney. Is sportsmanship a UConn virtue or what?

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Former Delaware QB and NFL player Joe Komlo was killed in Greece in a car accident.

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I'll be back tomorrow with some recruiting news.

Rainy Thursday News --- 03/19/09

UMass Football has released its Spring Football Practice dates. Spring Game May 2nd at 1:00pm.

From the UMass website:

"2009 UMass Football Spring Practices
Friday, April 3 - 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 4 - 11 a.m.
Tuesday, April 7 - 5 p.m.
Thursday, April 9 - 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 11 - 9 a.m.
Tuesday, April 14 - 5 p.m.
Thursday, April 16 - 5 p.m. Saturday, April 18 - 11 a.m.
Monday, April 20 - 11 a.m.
Thursday, April 23 - 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 25 - 4 p.m. (After UMass-Syracuse lacrosse game)
Tuesday, April 28 - 5 p.m.
Thursday, April 30 - 5 p.m.
Friday, May 1 - 5 p.m.

Spring Football Game<
Saturday, May 2 - 1 p.m."

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The Wakefield Observer has an article on Martin Hyppolite. UMass recruited him hard last fall.

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Chris Setian, a 5-10 220 pd FB/LB from East Longmeadow will be joining the UNH Wildcats this summer.

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The CAA is repeating its Spring Players Blog that it has run in past years. First up is Patrick Weldon, a LB from the Richmond Spiders. His Richmond bio is here .

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Wednesday News -- 03/18/09

The UMass website has an article on Courtney Robinson. This Blog covered the article back on March 4th with some additional information.

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The CAA will cover Spring Football both on it's news site and on Twitter.

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Several times a year Florida alumni call the school about having their ashes scattered on the football field. Note that everybody wants the fifty yard line.

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CAA team Villanova is mentioned in an article that covers the 2008 teams that had great seasons in football and basketball.

St Patricks's Day --- March 17, 2009

Josh Buchanan has another iteration of his "Top 50 Small Schools NFL Draft Prospects". He addes recent 40 times and projected draft rounds.

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Chuck Burton of CSN News has an article on scholarships and the Patriot League.

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I found this interesting. This is the CAA Football Policy manual (pdf). The link was first posted over on Any Given Saturday message board. Lots of football trivia on film exchange, league polcies and other stuff. Worth reading or printing out for football junkies.

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Applachian State will not have a spring game this year.

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Arena football may re-open next year.

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Monday News ----- 03/16/09

New hope for old football knees.

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The New Hampshire Football report has a link to an article about former UNH star David Ball.

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The College Football Palace has a fair amount of FCS coverage.

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In 2008 we played the Red Raider of Texas Tech. Their OT Rylan Reed has not had an easy time of it.

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The Wizard of Odds has links to a series on sports Blogging. I'll link directly here:

• The Sports Blogger Part I
• The Sports Blogger Part II
• The Sports Blogger Part III

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BTW, I thought John Calipari's Memphis Tigers got screwed by the selection committee.

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Ides of March ------- 03/15/09

No UMass players and only two CAA teams represented in Josh Buchanan's latest "Top Fifty Small School NFL Draft List"

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Former UNH OC Chip Kelly is now Head Coach at Oregon.

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The Bleacher Report calls for Arena College Football.

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Saturday News ------- 03/14/09

A Matt Rocheleau/Collegian image.

The UMass football team was on offense this week trying to get people to register for a bone marrow donor registration drive. Pictured is UMass QB Octavious Hawkins.

The bone marrow donor registration was originally the brainchild of Villanova Coach Andy Tally. His Wildcats bio has some more details. Another article here .

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This article does not mention UMass, but does say 20 NFL teams were represented at the Boston College Pro-Day.

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New Hampshire colleges look to cut back.

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Friday News ----- 03/13/09

A Boston Herald/Ted Fitzgerald image.

An article (not linkable) said five UMass players took part in yesterday's Boston College Pro Day.

This article from the Boston Herald (who else?) features Liam Coen. The article also has a image gallery.

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I don't usually cover other UMass sports, but this story about Rick Pitino (I had a couple of classes with him back in the day), is nice.

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The New Hampshire Football Blog reports UNH is suspending WR Terrance Fox for the season.

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Holy Cross returns to the UMass schedule in 2010. They just released their 2009 recruiting class.

Check out the last line of the bio of Pat O'Connell, a 6-1 223 pd LB from Framingham, MA. Given Holy Cross' history, Pat O'Connell is a great name for a Crusader LB.

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The rich get richer. Texas Tech received a verbal from Scotty Young a 6-3 190 QB from Texas who threw for 4,495 yards and 65 TDs in his last year of high school.

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