UMass Football News--August 14th, 2026

 

Episode #4 of the WMUA summer football show.

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The Minuteman Command reports leadership comes naturally to Pop Watson.

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"Big doin's" before and after the UMass-Rutgers football game at SHI Stadium. 

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ESPN has a detailed look at preseason rankings. With all the transfers and turnover in recent years, these things are a lot more fuzzy.

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The MAC Blog "By-the-Belt" previews the 2026 Sacramento State Hornets.

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Changes to college football rules for the 2026 season.

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UMass Football News--August 13, 2026

 

UMass special teams coach Joe Castellio talks about the Minutemen's special teams for 2026.

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 UMass kicker Derek Morris talks about his role in special teams.

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The Minuteman Command reports on OC Max Warner saying he's confident we have resources in the passing game.

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FIU recaps their top-25 games in the last 25 seasons and one of them is laying 63 points on UMass.

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UMass has some images from Wednesday's practice.

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Remember a couple of blog posts ago I mentioned former UMass WR Anthony Simpson then at Michigan? Well, he's now at Toledo.

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The MAC blog "By-the-Belt" previews the Bowling Green Falcons. UMass closes the 2026 season on November 28th at Bowling Green.

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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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