UMass Football News--December 20th, 2025

 If you missed it, Western Michigan won the Myrtle Beach Bowl over Kennesaw State 41-6.  Of all the bowls, only the Myrtle Beach Bowl matched two conference champions. The Broncos got the MAC off to a strong start in the bowl season with a dominate win over the Owls.

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Keegan Andrews was named (so far) to two All-America teams.

 

 Lost in all the losing was the fact that Andrews and Derek Morris were, by far, the best kicking combo in our FBS era. Morris could have been even more of a weapon with a better offense. He went 10-16 for the year, but 2 of his misses were from 40+ yards and 3 were from 50+

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Long snapper Jovoni Borbon was also a PFF All-American.

 Long snapping is often overlooked, but it makes a big difference to the kicker and punter. Borbon was a big part of the most effective kicking game in decades..

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UMass Football Recruiting 2026--Robert Ekins signs with UMass

 Robert Ekins, a 6-2 260 pound Edge from Don Bosco Prep and Ramsey, NJ signed with UMass on LOI day.

247Sports page here. 

I blogged about Ekins almost a year ago. Wow, that went fast..

Hudl.com has senior season highlights. 

MaxPreps has stats. 

First Team All-Defense United Red Division in 2025. 

First Team All-Bergen County defense in 2025. 

Ekins also had an offer from Army. Ekins has a strong motor and UMass is in dire need of DL talent. I look forward to seeing him play for the Minutemen. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2026--Matthew Tybor signs with UMass

 Matthew Tybor, a 6-4 240 pound TE from Lawrence Academy and Groton, MA signed with the Minutemen on LOI day.

247Sports page here. 

I blogged about Tybor back in March. 

Hudl.com has senior video highlights. 

MaxPreps has stats. 

Tybor chose UMass over FBS offers from Army and Liberty. In addition he had eight offers from FCS schools. The Minuteman TE room is one of the better groups on the roster. Tybor is a big in-state recruit and should be a force in future years. 

UMass Football News--December 17th, 2025

 Taking a break from recruiting for a day.

If you've not heard the December 11th Planting the Flag podcast, it's well worth your time. The interview with coach Harasymiak is very interesting. He gives some details of recruiting and  roster structure as he goes into his second season. Harasymiak said he want two dual-threat QB's. I totally agree. quarterback has been a long time deficiency in the FBS era. Except for Andrew Ford and Blake Fronapfel in the Whipple era, we have not had FBS-level QB's. We do not have (yet) the offensive infrastructure for a pocket passer, i.e. the O-line and wide receivers. He also says he wants to build from the inside out. Most sports gurus believe the big difference between FBS and FCS is offensive and defensive line talent.

I've said several times before in our first stint with the MAC, in four years, we had one third string All-MAC offensive lineman. That record still stands as we had none in 2025.

One more first down (when we needed it) would have won the Buffalo and Bryant games. Improving the offensive line production should be a major focus in 2026.

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Hustle Belt has one story line for each MAC 2025 bowl game.

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Three MAC defensive players made the AP All-America team.

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UMass Footbal Recruiting 2026--Will McNamara signs with UMass

 

Will McNamara, a 6-5 275 pound OL from Colpoy's Bay, ON signed with UMass on LOI day.

247Sports page here. 

I blogged about McNamara back in June. 

Outside of Fanstake.com thinking UMass is FCS, this is a decent capsule bio of McNamara. 

On3.com has him as a top-11 player in CT. 

McNamara had six offers including an FBS offer from New Mexico. As college football fans know, the difference between FBS and FCS is usually the offensive and defensive line talent. UMass badly needs an upgrade on the O-line and I look forward to seeing McNamara being part of the improvement. 

 

UMass Football Recruiting 2026--David Moore signs with UMass

 

David Moore, a 5-11 180 pound Athlete from West Orange, NJ signed with UMass on LOI day.

 247Sports page here.

I blogged about Moore back on June 6th. 

MaxPreps has senior stats. 

Hudl.com has senior highlights. 

This article from December 10th mentions Moore. 

Moore had 15 offers including Duke, Pitt and West Virginia from Power Four. Central Michigan and Toledo offered from the MAC. JMU, Old Dominion and Temple offered from the Group-of-Five. Moore can play both ways, but will probably be tasked with making  the plodding UMass offense more explosive. The Minutemen need playmakers on offense and Moore should see early action. 

 

UMass Football Recruiting 2026--Justin Lewis signs with UMass

 Justin Lewis, a 5-10 195 pound RB from Santa Ana, CA signed with the Minutemen last week.

247Sports page here. 

I blogged about Lewis back on August 5th and August 2nd. 

Hudl.com has senior highlights. 

Lewis ended up with 13 offers including all three services academies from  FBS. He's pushing 200 pounds and should, along with fellow RB recruit Tauqueer Davis, provide a solid talent injection into the anemic UMass rushing attack. Lewis should have a chance to see some meaningful action in 2026.