Recruiting 2017--Chris Hunt verbals to UMass

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Chris Hunt, a 6-1 177 pound CB from Virginia Beach, VA has verbaled to UMass.

Article by Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" about Hunt's verbaling to UMass.

I've blogged about Hunt twice before.

Hunt chose UMass over offers from Army, East Carolina, Navy and Charlotte.

Hunt's verbal brings the Minutemen to five three-star recruits so far.

Claudin Cherelus verbals to UMass II

247 Sports image

Back On January 24th, 2017 I blogged about Claudin Cherelus, a 6-2 195 pound Safety verbaling to UMass.

The Naples Daily News has a story featuring Cherelus and other Naples area players signing with various college teams.

Xavier Steele verbals to UMass

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Xavier Steel, a 6-0 180 pound DB from Orange Lutherian has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

OC Varsity.com has a post on Steele's verbal to UMass and link to an article featuring Steele.

Tuesday--January 31st, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on what to expect in tomorrow's UMass Signing Day.

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SBNation has an aticle on how college football teams build their recruiting board. Numerous quotes from UMass coach Charles Walker.

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James Ihedigbo on playing through a broken leg: "I'll just tighten my shoe.".

James Ihedigbo: "On why some outside of New England are rooting for the Patriots".

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Victor Cruz on the Giants WR's notorious Miami trip:  "It definitely wasn't worth it.".

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Recruiting 2017--Dylan Meeks

The Orlando Sentinel profiles Dylan Meeks, a 6-2 220 pound LB from Orlando, Fl, who after suffering a torn labrum in his senior season, has zero offers.

Meeks is a 247Sports three-star player and the #45 ranked linebacker recruit in the nation.

Hudl.com has video.

Also 3.9 GPA.

Recruiting 2018--Jake Bobo

Hudl.com image

Jake Bobo, a 6-5 175 pound WR from Belmont, MA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Rivals two-star player.

Besides UMass, Bobo holds FBS offers from Army, BC, Wake Forest and Duke.

Recruiting 2017--Official Visits this weekend

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on some of the players making official visits this weekend.

Two RB's in Mike's group. Suddenly, that's a position UMass needs to recruit.

The verbal totals so far:

Inside LB --2  Ruane, McCubrey

QB--1 Curtis

OL--2 Larry, Abosi

Outside LB--1 Cherelus

Safety -- 1 Roberts

WR--2 Herring, Hill

DE-- 3 Byczko, DiTommaso, Washington

DT--1 Brown

No RB's, CB's or special teams verbals so far.

Sunday--January 29th, 2017

There's a 2017 version of the UMass Football Roster up. There'll be several more iterations before Spring is over.

Missing are:

Sekai Lindsay RB- Lindsay was UMass's 2nd leading rusher going 33-156 4.7 AVE 1 TD 22 LONG. That leaves the Minutemen with only two scholarship RB's Marquis Young and Bilal Ally.

Peytton Pickett RB. Pickett redshirted in 2016.

Brandon Mangram CB. Mangram had already Tweeted he was leaving UMass.

Cody Banks TE. Banks redshirted in 2016.

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The Berkshire Eagle has a post on UMass' 2017 schedule.

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A December signing period could reduce the drama of LOI Day.

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Recruits love hitting the buffet line.

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Recruiting 2017--Elijah Bryant

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Elijah Bryant, a 6-2 290 pound DT from New York, NY has Tweeted he's received a walk-on offer from UMass.

Hudl.com has video and some stats. A 4.78 40 @ 290 pounds is impressive.

Saturday--January 28th, 2017

UMass announces its 2017 schedule.

Nick O'Malley of MassLIve points out a schedule with nine bowl opponents is a tremendous challenge.

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Randy Edsell has 17 verbals so far. One reportedly chose UConn over UMass.

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By a razor-thin margin, Boston College moves out of the ACC's recruiting cellar.

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ESPN has a post on every recruits dilemma: Coach or School?

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P.J. Fleck, who's recruiting prowess moved Western Michigan from an 0-11 season to the top of the MAC, is doing it again at Minnesota.

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Recruiting 2017--Jesse Britt redux

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Jesse Britt, a 5-10 170 pound Athlete from Auburndale, FL

Traini's article here.

I blogged about Britt back on January 23rd 2016.

247Sports three-star player.

This article talks about Britt's medical clearance to play at Arizona.

Friday --January 27th, 2017

Part II of the "Nine Early Enrollees Join Spring Ball".

Mike Traini in yesterday's post indicates three of the newcomers are preferred walk-ons.

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Jake Froehlich LB 6-0 220. Froehlich was All-New England in HS and three-time Globe All-Scholastic. His Oregon bio here.

Hudl.com has video.

Ran a 4.58 40 in HS.

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Spencer Goldberg OG 6-4 290. Played at Milford Academy.

NCSA Recruiting profile here.

Hudl.com has video.

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David Weinstock DT 6-1 287, Played for IMG Academy, from Hamburg Germany.

EA365 Sports.com bio here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article features Weinstock.

IMG Academy has more video.

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Wednesday--January 26th, 2017--Nine January Enrollees join Spring Ball

Part 1

UMass has announced the Minutemen will have nine enrollees in for Spring Semester and Spring ball.

UMass announcement here.

Matty Vautour has a post here.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a longer post on the newcomers here.

Joining UMass will be three defensive grayshirts:

Patrick Volcy 6-3 190 pound Safety from Naples FL. I've blogged about Volcy before. He was a 247Sports two-star player. He's also friends with Claudin Cherelus, who just verbaled to UMass on Tuesday.

Alex Piechocki 6-6 260 pound DE from Attica, NY. Piechocki was not rated coming out of HS. I've blogged about Piechocki before.

DaVonn Hall 6-3 315 DL. Hall was not rated coming out of HS. I've blogged about Hall before.

We've been talking about how the defense struggled in 2016. These three additions fill needs on the DL and defensive secondary. Defensive linemen are the rarest recruits. Piechocki had Power Five DE size. Hopefully, he make some of those schools regret they didn't recruit him. Hall will have two years of eligibility and should be in the defensive line rotation. Volcy also has FBS size in a Safety. With Spring Ball and Fall practice he may not redshirt.

UMass also add three early enrollees:

Mike Ruane 6-1 220 pound LB from Rumson, NJ. I've blogged about Ruane multiple times before. Ruane is the second-highest rated UMass recruit (so far). He seems like a high-energy positive guy who could be a future captain for the Minutemen.

Jaylen Larry 6-4 290 OL from Milford Academy. I've blogged about Larry before. He was a ESPN three-star player coming out of HS with two other FBS offers. Offensive linemen do not often start as freshman, but Larry is older and he could contribute this year.

Mike Curtis a 6-3 205 QB from Trinity Valley Community College. I blogged about Curtis in December. With Ross Comis out of Spring ball and likely only limited availability for Fall Camp, Curtis could be in the mix for the #2 slot this fall.

All in all this is a nice group. All FBS-level players.

I'll look at the three preferred walk-ons in tomorrow's blog post.

Brian Roberts verbals to UMass

Twitter image.

Brian Roberts, a 6-0 182 pound Safety from Jacksonville, FL has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

I've blogged about Roberts before.

Another three-star recruit for a Minuteman recruiting class that's starting to show some heft. Roberts had 12 FBS offers including Toledo and Troy. Hopefully he'll be part of a Renaissance in the UMass secondary.

Wednesday--January 25th, 2017

UPDATE 4:45 pm. My Dish Network sports package lists the UMass-St Louis hoops game tonight at 8:00 PM on channel 418.

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UMass will be moving its October 7th game with Hawaii to August 26th. Hawaii athletic dept notice here.

This is a good move by UMass. It will give the Minutemen a bye week in the middle of the 2017 season as apposed to a 12-week marathon. Since the move to FBS the Minutemen have had mostly late bye weeks or effectively none at all in 2014. UMass will also be able to start practice one week early.

As the "Week Zero" game maybe a national network will pick it up and generate some publicity for the program.

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UMass will have its Signing Day event televised by ESPN-3 on February 1st.

Andrew Cyr of the Daily Collegian has a post on the ESPN-3 event as well as other UMass football notes.

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Mike Trani of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post about last weekend's official visits.

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David Williams, the South Carolina RB who started against UMass last Oct 22nd, will transfer to UConn.

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Claudin Cherelus verbals to UMass

Claudin Cherelus, a 6-2 195 pound Safety has verbaled to UMass.

I've blogged extensively about Cherelus before.

Cherelus is a fast OLB who should play early for the Minutemen. He's a big get for UMass.

Recruiting 2017--Caeleb Washington

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According to Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" Caeleb Washington, a 6-3 260 pound DE/DT from Georgia Prep Sports Academy picked up an offer from UMass this weekend.

NCSA Recruiting Profile here.

Hudl.com has video.

247Sports page here.

Jacoby Herring verbals to UMass

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Jacoby Herring, a 6-5 180 pound WR from Riverside C.C. in CA has verbaled to UMass.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" had a post on Herring on 01/17.

Hudl.com has video.

Was a three-star Rival.com player coming out of HS with offers from PAC-12 Washington State as well as Colorado State, San Diego State, UNLV and Wyoming.

Recruiting 2017--Jake Byczko verbals to UMass

Jake Byczko, a 6-3 240 pound DE/LB has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

Originally a UConn commit. I've blogged about Byczko before.

That's four Massachusetts recruits this cycle.

Recruiting 2017--Gerrik Vollmer

Hudl.com image

Back on January 17th, UMass offered to Gerrik Vollmer, a 6-5 280 pound OT from Germany.

247Sports page here.

Originally verbaled to Louisville.

Hudl.com has video.

Played for the German state and national team.

Besides UMass, Vollmer has offers from Temple and Buffalo.