UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kolbe Burrell

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Kolbe Burrell, a 5-9 189 pound RB from Philadelphia, PA has a UMass offer.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Penn Live.com has a story that has a paragraph about Burrell's receiving an offer from Temple.

Besides UMass, Burrell has FBS offers from Bowling Green, Buffalo, Rutgers, Temple and Toledo. Running back is a position of need for UMass.

UMass Football News--June 29th, 2019

UConn signs contracts for FCS games with Central Connecticut and Lafayette.

The Tampa Bay Times says don't be shocked if after UConn's exit, the AAC stands pat.

The AAC commissioner says there is zero chance the AAC will keep UConn football.

The Republican-American says UConn does not have a plan.

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How Don Brown was instrumental in Michigan signing the top-rated recruit from Massachusetts.

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How chicken and college football made Atlanta a sports Mecca.

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UMass Football recruiting 2019--Joe Gjinaj

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Joe Gjinaj, a 6-1 210 pound RB/LB from Fairfield, CT will be walking one at UMass.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article covers Gjinaj's playing in a senior all-star game this Saturday.

This article from August of 2018 features Gjinaj.

Gjinaj plays running back and linebacker, two positions of need for the Minutemen.

UMass Football News--June 27th, 2019

UMass trainer Jennifer Brodeur receives the 2019 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award from the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA).

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The CT Post says UConn's move to the Big East leaves the football program in transition.

A writer for Medium.com has 12 reasons UConn will regret moving to the new Big East.

The Huskies Board of Trusties says the Big East is a "better overall fit".

NJ.com says Husky fans deserve pity not scorn from Rutgers fans.

247Sports reports independence is the likely path for UConn football.

The UConn Blog reports Randy Edsall supports the move to the Big East. What else could he have said?

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The NCAA tightens transfer rules.

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UMass Football News--June 26th, 2019

Bob McGovern says UMass can't afford to be left behind again.

If UMass should get an invite to the AAC, we should take it. Consider the fact University of Tulsa, 3,174 undergrads, is thriving in the AAC. The Golden Hurricanes manage six men's sports, nine women's sports and a lot of travel considerations without apparently breaking into a sweat.

As Lincoln kept asking his generals "Can't we at least claim to be the equal of the Confederates?"

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WTOP reports UConn is heading towards independence. Multiple quotes from UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford.

College Sports Maven says don't expect many conference realignment aftershocks from UConn's leaving the AAC.

The Blade says the MAC should just say no to UConn football.

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FBS Schedules has the eleven longest awaited football reunions in 2019. Has UMass-Rutgers.

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This is interesting: Fan Duel Sportsbook has released its win totals for every FBS team. It has UMass with 4.5 wins ! Somebody must be impressed with what Coach Bell is doing at UMass.

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OTOH, UMass opened as an 11 point dog to Rutgers and that's moved to 14.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Joe Lusardi verbals to UMass

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Joe Lusardi, a 5-10 164 pound CB from Summit, NJ has verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Lusardi scores five TD's in one game.

UMass was the first offer for Lusardi. Drew interest from Rutgers, Ohio and Yale.

UMass Football News--June 25th, 2019

A bright spot for UMass is the UConn jump to the basketball Big East will probably force UConn into an Independent football status. In turn, UMass and UConn would be a good tandem and good media market for being included in another league. The two schools together should have more negotiation clout than UMass had on its own.

The Conference USA rumor would be a good fit for the Minutemen. We already play a lot of C-USA teams. They have a crappy media package, but seven bowl tie-ins. However, I strongly doubt BYU would join. The Cougars already turned up their noses on the Mountain West, remember?

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Josh Walfish doesn't think UMass should jump to the AAC. Followed quickly by the Boston Globe no doubt...

Fansided says the MAC and Conference USA don't want UConn football.

Forbes says with UConn leaving, the AAC could face some difficult choices.

The Deseret News wonders if BYU will take UConn's place in the AAC.

Cincinnati.com says the AAC is unlikely to replace UConn.

Meanwhile, the Huskies unveil new uniforms and a new locker room.

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The Deseret News reports BYU gets a preseason Top-25 ranking in one poll.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Tristan Armstrong verbals to UMass

Tristan Armstrong, a 6-0 183 pound Safety from Washington, DC has committed to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

#149 in Scout.com's top 2020 Safety recruits.

Chose UMass over FBS offers from Charlotte, Liberty, Louisville and Toledo.

UMass Football News--June 24th, 2019

As you have probably heard already, UConn is leaving the AAC for the Big East.

This is probably a really bad move on the part of the UConn brain trust. They're trying to recapture the magic in basketball where the Huskies were a perennial top-15 club. It rarely works that way.

For UMass, this opens up a number of gambits. If UMass should be offered a place in the AAC, then we should take it. The AAC has a 12-year $1 billion media deal with ESPN. UMass' share of that, even if delayed a year or two like the MAC did to us, would make a big improvement in the cash flow of the athletic dept. In addition, it would solve most of UMass' scheduling problems. The AAC has an eight game schedule and a conference championship. The Minutemen could still have four OOC games to play some money games.

At the very least, it looks like a regular yearly game with UConn if they go independent.

Should the AAC instead poach one of the C-USA teams, that would give UMass the possible option of applying there as well. The C-USA's media contract is really poor compared to the AAC's but a possible football-only membership could come into play. They do have bowl tie-ins which would be a plus for the Minutemen.

Matty Vautour has some thoughts on UConn's move.

The Spun has what UConn football is planning to do after they leave the AAC.

NJ.com wonders if this could lead to a new football conference.

College Sports Maven thinks UMass and UConn should join the MAC.

NJ.com thinks Rugers won't be able help UConn as an Independent for a while.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Joe Horn

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Joe Horne, a 6-1 301 pound OC from the Hun School has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from April 2019 covers his performance at a NJ camp.

247Sports has a Q &A where he names UMass one of his top 3 choices in recruiting.

Horne has eight total offers including UMass, Navy and Central Michigan from FBS.

UMass Football News--June 21st, 2019

Today is Summer Solstice Day. Please celebrate responsibly.

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UMass adds a home and home series with Ohio in 2023 and 2024.

The Minutemen have also added a 2023 and 2024 home and home series with Miami of Ohio.

UMass has a 1-3 record against both teams. The Minutemen lost a 42-58 shoot-out to Ohio last year. UMass last met Miami in 2015.

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Athlon Sports ranks UMass as the 11th toughest opponent in BYU's 2019 schedule.

The Lawless Republic explains the Cougars should beat UMass by double digits.

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Andy Isabella sets the bar high for a rookie season.

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Philadelphia News says Marken Michel is ready to make a name for himself.

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Jovan Santos-Knox is on the Edmonton Eskimos roster.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Johnathan Riley

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Johnathan  Riley, a 6-3 200 pound DB from Kilgore, TX  visited UMass this week.

247Sports page here.

This article features Riley.

Hudl.com has video.

Riley would be a great addition to the 2019 recruiting class. He has offers from UMass, Cincinnati, Virginia Tech, Texas Tech and Baylor.

UMass Football News--June 19th, 2019

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on UMass hosting over 30 prospects from Brandon Collier's Dream chasers tour.

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The Action Network has a downloadable preseason power ratings for all 130 FBS teams.

They also have the home field advantage for all of FBS here.  According to their formula the Minutemen has a 2.09 advantage at McGuirk.

They had UMass #114 at the end of 2018 and rate the Minutemen #126 preseason. That's entirely reasonable given the magnitude of the UMass' graduation losses. I think Coach Bell has done a lot in the short time he's been here. Convincing Bilal Ally and Isaiah Rogers to return, defensive additions Jarvis Miller and Logan Darby should be a big help. He also added the best recruiting class (in my opinion) since we went FBS.

Bell needs a couple more recruiting cycles, but things are on the upswing.

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Athlon Sports ranks UMass' Big 10 opponents Rutgers and Northwestern's OOC schedule.

Speaking of Athlon Sports they have UMass as #129 in their preseason power rankings.

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How Syracuse signed DE Leon Lowery, who had a UMass offer.

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UMass Football News--June 18th, 2019

Coach Bell doing cleans at 5:30 AM at the UMass Performance Center. Impressive, especially since it turns out I missed a 225 pound squat Monday morning. That would have been a P.R. for me.

Wish I could work out just once at the Performance Center.

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Brandon Collier's European player recruitment service gets some ink in Neal Brow's West Virginia.

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Liberty blog "A sea of Red" previews 2019 common opponent Rutgers.

Sea of Red also has a 2019 meeting with Maine.

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Speaking of Rutgers, NJ.com looks to see if there are any impact players in the group that have transferred to the Scarlet Knights.

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Bleeding Green Nation has a somewhat incoherent paragraph about Marken Michel.

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Andy Isabella ditches his bicycle.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2022--Devin Kargman

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Devin Kargman, a 6-2 190 pound pro-style QB from Camden, NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article reports on his recent offer from Rutgers.

This article says he was one of the top performers in the National 7v7 Championships

Besides UMass, Temple and Rutgers have offered.

UMass Football News--June 17th, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has some UMass news and notes including some roster deletions. Alex Piechocki (DNP in 2018), Leon Flanagan (8 GP-8 GS 17 UT 24 AT 46 TT 4.0-9 TFL), Hunter Brown (DNP in 2018) and Bakhai Goodson (DNP in 2018).

In addition OL James Reilly (DNP in 2018) is leaving the program.

Except for Flanagan, all the leaving players were reserves. UMass has four offensive linemen and four defensive linemen coming in the 2019 recruiting class. A number of those are three-star recruits and playing time was probably going to be limited for those who left. In addition, there are three more OL verbaled for the 2020 class.

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CBS Sports Fantasy Football section covers the Arizona Cardinals including Andy Isabella.

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Syracuse signs DE Leon Loweery, who had a UMass offer.

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UMass Football News--June 15th, 2019

Underdog Dynasty has seven of FIU's top plays of 2018. One of them is Maurice Alexander's 63 yard TD punt return against UMass.

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Zack Vaughan, a 6-6 260 pound OL from Milton, Mass who has a UMass offer, signed with Wake Forest.

Maryland lands a commit from OL Santana Saunders, a 6-4 270 pounder who had a UMass offer among others.

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This article looks at the college success of the graduates of Cobb College including UMass' Chiendu Ogbonna.

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HERO Sports looks at the 30 toughest schedules in FCS football this year. Six CAA teams make the list and a number of them play two FBS teams. Southern Illinois, who plays UMass and Arkansas State is ranked #8.

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Fan Sided picks Angello Bertelli as the best all-time college football player from Massachusetts.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Gerrell Johnson commits to UMass

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Gerrell Johnson, a 6-3 195 pound athlete from Owlings MIlls, MD has Tweeted he's verbled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats. Averaged 9.4 tackles per game...

Ran a 12.0 hundred meters.

UMass was the first offer for Johnson. His commit pushes UMass to seven players in the 2020 signing class.

UMass Football News--June 14th, 2019

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BTW, former UMass player Marken Michel is making a splash at the Eagles camp.

Michel is trying out for the Eagles after walking away from a good gig in the CFL.

NJ.com says Michel is making it at the Eagles camp.

Inside the Iggles reports Michel is standing out in a crowded unit.

NJ.com reports Michel was one of the players who boosted their stock at the camp.

Philly Sports.com asks if the Eagles have found a hidden gem in Michel.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" report on the Minutemen's first camp with the new coaching staff.

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The Southern Illinoisian previews the Saluki's future FBS opponents and points out UMass is not in Boston.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kaleb Walton

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Kaleb Walton, a 6-5 200 pound WR/TE from Middletown, RI has drawn interest from UMass.

Hudl.com has video.

Took a UMass visit in March.

This article from NJ.com reports Walton performed well at a recent Rutgers East Coast Camp.

Walton is also drawing interest from Rutgers, Army and UConn.