UMass Football News--August 12th, 2026

 The Greenfield Recorder reports UMass OC Warner "cautiously optimistic" and Pop Watson eager to lead the Minutemen.

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UMass OL Riley Bloch has been named to the Wuerffel Trophy Watch List.

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Sidelines Sport Network has ESPN's FPI projections for the 2026 MAC. 

A 5-7 record would  be the best in our FBS history and Sacramento State goes 6-2 in their first season with the MAC (?!)

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks. UMass misses Miami and Western Michigan in this year's MAC rotation.

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247Sports reports NIL and revenue sharing are draining the Northeast of its top recruits. 

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After a 0-12 season, UMass did not sign any of the top-14 recruits from Massachusetts. Coastal Carolina, Delaware and Temple did, however. 

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UMass Football News--August 11th, 2026

 

 The Minuteman Command has video of UMass OC Max Warner talking about the state of the Minuteman offense.

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 Pop Watson also met with the sports media and answered questions about how fall camp is going.

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The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" the Pro Football Network's preseason All-MAC teams.

UMass has four players on the teams: OL Greg Knox, LB Joshua Iseah, WR Devin Matthews and Edge Justin Krueger. 

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Yahoo Sports has what's new in college football in 2026.

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UMass Football News--August 10th, 2026

 

The WMUA sports team does their third preview of the 2026 Minutemen.

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Rutgers is having an old-fashioned starting QB battle between Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan and returning AJ Surace. 

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247Sports has why Rutgers looks like a sure bet in their opener against UMass.

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Sacramento State adds Oregon to their future schedule and Bowling Green adds Tennessee. 

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Akron's season ticket stunt is attracting celebrity ticket buyers. 

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Sporting News has jersey patch suggestions for 14 major programs.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Nate Ellis commits to UMass

Nate Ellis, a 5-9 190 pound RB/Slot receiver from Williston Northampton Academy has committed to UMass.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

The Minuteman Command has a post on Ellis explaining his commitment to UMass.

Sports Illustrated reports on how four surgeries failed to stop Ellis' football career. 

Ellis had FCS offers from Georgetown, New Haven, Richmond and Rhode Island. Ellis averaged 7.7 yards/carry last year. The Minutemen need all the offensive talent they can find and Ellis should add a number of options for the future.
 

UMass Football News--August 8th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports UMass defensive coordinator Jared Keyte wants cohesive play from the entire defense.

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It turns out that new court decision on a 5th year of eligibility  for  2022 players is pretty complicated.

Keegan Andrews signed with the CFL, so he may not be eligible to return. 

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 Thanks to the blog reader who sent me the above image (click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view). They chose UMass-Missouri for the illustration.

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Remember Anthony Simpson? I was watching  2025 Central Michigan-Michigan full game replay on my Android tablet last night and Simpson came into the game for Michigan. The game was a Michigan 63-3 blowout (but still much better than Naked Celebrity Jeopardy Survivor Chef  that the networks provide). Anyway, for his graduate season, Simpson went 3 GP 1 carry for six yards and zero receptions.

If he had stayed at UMass he would have been one of the featured receivers last year. Hope the money at Michigan was good..   

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UMass Football News--August 7th, 2026

 The Minuteman Command reports UMass DC Jared Keyte wants the Minuteman defense to communicate, play with violence and connect with each other.

The old saying is offense sells the tickets, but defense wins the games. UMass was dead last in scoring defense last year and that was a major factor in an 0-12 season 

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The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" previews the 2026 Minutemen.

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The College Football Playoff selection committee has made some major changes to how the teams are selected.  Under the new rules, Miami and James Madison would not have made last year's playoffs.

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MAC schools land four of the top rated linebacker recruits from Michigan.

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OT,  but remember when when UMass basketball fans were saying the MAC wasn't good enough for Minuteman hoops?

Toledo currently has the #5 ranked 2027 basketball recruiting class. Ahead of Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana and Gonzaga..

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UMass Football News--August 6th, 2026

 

Press interview with UMass defensive coordinator Jared Keyte.

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Northeast Public Radio has a post on the start of UMass' training camp. 

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The Toledo Blade thinks the Protect College Sports Act is a huge win for MAC teams.

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On3.com says Don Brown is one of the top five high school assistant coaching hires.

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Akron is letting one lucky season ticket hold script their first offensive series of 2026. The MAC blog "By-the-belt" has 10 mostly tong-in-cheek suggestions for the fan.  

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College Football News predicts every 2026 bowl game.

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