UMass Football News--August 5th, 2025

 The Minuteman Command looks at the rebuilt UMass defense line.

The Minuteman defensive line was a problem in 2025. UMass had only 13 sacks in 12 games and rarely had defensive pressure on the QB. In addition, bad teams ran the ball on us. Mrs Blog and I drove all the way to Kent State to watch the Golden Flashes run the ball right up the "A" gap for eight yards a pop.

UMass brought in nine DL transfers. Most people think the starting four will be Josh Nobles,  Zakar Morris, Justin Krueger and William DePaepe.

Additional transfer DL's include Zachary Betts,  Kamarion Thomas, Aubrey Melvin, Andrew DePaepe,Hollis Dirstine, and Colin Reynolds.

Romando Johnson and  Tim Passmore should also be in the mix.

UMass should have enough bodies to have some defensive rotation and find an effective starting four. This unit could be the most improved position for 2026.

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Don Brown joins the First Baptist Academy (Florida) staff.  We all wish him well.

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Western Michigan gets some votes in the AP preseason Top-25 poll.

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Yahoo Sports has takeaways from Rutgers first day of fall practice. 

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Sacred Heart places two players on the preseason All-CAA team.

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UMass Football News--August 4th, 2026

 UMass has a couple of picture galleries to get you pumped up here and here.

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Coach Harasymiak's press conference. The video starts about the 10 minute mark.
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The Minuteman Command reports Coach Harasymiak  excited as fall camp opens.

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The Hampshire Gazette says Coach Harasymiak meets with media after first practice. 

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WWLP has a short video on the opening of fall practice.

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College Football News ranks UMass #137 (out of 138) in a preseason list.

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The MAC Reporter Online (which does not have UMass in their site banner) previews the 2026 Minutemen. 

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" lists the MAC preseason Maxwell Award nominees.

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UMass Football News-August 3rd, 2026

 Fall camp starts today.

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Rutgers opens as a 30.5 point favorite over the Minutemen. 

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A federal court has ruled 2022 football recruits have a fifth year of eligibility. 

That released chaos on college football general managers. 

Ryan Mosesso and Keegan Andrews are two players UMass could be interested in from the 2025 roster. 

The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" has All-MAC players who could return for a fifth year of eligibility. 

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 ESPN has listed the non-Power Four CFP chances. Most pundits have been picking Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) to be in the MAC Championship game.

To be in the CFP a non-power four would have to run the table and Toledo clearly has the best chance in the MAC. The Rockets play Michigan State, Temple and San Diego State. Athlon picks Michigan State 17th in the Big Ten (behind Rutgers). 

Western Michigan gets Michigan, Boise State and Rice.  

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UMass Football News--August 1st, 2026

 Minuteman players report tomorrow and Fall camp starts Monday.

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 The WMUA sports team looks at the 2026 UMass defense.

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Central Michigan adds Tennessee and Michigan to their future schedules. 

UMass' schedule takes a step up in difficulty next year when the Minutemen meet Indiana and in 2028 play both Penn State and Colorado on the road.

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Ohio State will earn $17 million and Notre Dame $20 million for jersey patches. Could UMass sell the rights to a Massachusetts company? It would help if we were not totally hopeless on the field.

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UMass Football News--July 31st, 2026

 The Minuteman Command previews the 2026 UMass running backs.

The Minuteman run game was perhaps the biggest bust of the 2025 season. UMass averaged 2.70 yards/run and 81.4 yards a game. 

A great deal of hype is being centered around Pop Watson, but if he's consistently coming up to the line of scrimmage and it's 3rd and seven or eight all the time he's not going to have good stats. It's a good rule of thumb if you can run the ball, you've got a good looking QB.

Last year Rocco Griffin was a bust. He had a good first quarter against Temple and disappeared for the rest of the season. Part of the problem was the offensive line, but still..

With Jordan Washington out for the start of the season,  UMass will lean on Justin Williams-Thomas and Curtis Kimmons. 

I like freshman RB's TK Davis and Justin Lewis. NCAA rules allow a player to play in four games without burning his redshirt and if the running game sputters again, I'd give the two freshmen a shot.

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The MAC Conference blog "By-the-Belt" looks at the declining willingness of Power Four teams to play at MAC venues.

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Sacramento State begins a "fast,violent and physical" fall camp. 

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UMass Football News--July 30th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports Coach Harasymiak remains committed to the plan.

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Tyler Martin gets included in the East-West Shriners Bowl 1000.

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Ball State President Geoffrey S. Mearns is named to the College Football Playoff Board of Managers. 

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Sports Illustrated has a post on how Northern Illinois' move to the Mountain West will work out (be sure to watch the the Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion commercial).

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The clock is ticking for a 24-team college football playoff.

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UMass Football News--July 29th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports Coach Harasymiak wants a more violent defense in 2026.

Any discussion of the defense needs to be preceded by  how bad the the offense was in 2025. UMass was #128 in time of possession last year. Any defense that's out there the whole game is going to have bad stats.

The Minutemen were #132 in rushing defense. Bad football teams ran the ball successfully against the Minutemen.

UMass was #127 in sacks (13 sacks in 12 games). One of the best pass defense attributes is a pass rush. We did not have one.

The Minutemen were #127 in total defense giving up 433.4 yards/game and 6.32 yards/play. 

We were dead last in scoring defense giving up 38.8 points/game. 

UMass should start a whole new defensive line with Josh Nobles, Zakar Morris, Justin Krueger and William DePaepe being likely starters. The defensive line has the chance to be maybe the most improved unit in 2026.

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HERO Sports previews the 2026 minutemen, and says the Minutemen could win three games.. 

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Arizona State is now offering a degree in being an influencer. Google says the UMass football blog had 14,211 clicks yesterday..

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