Wednesday-- December 31st, 2014

Last Friday I looked at the 2014 redshirts.

Let's take a look at this year's first time  players and and freshman redshirts and what they accomplished. Redshirts who DNP not included. Forgive me if I missed anyone.

Quarterbacks:

Blake Frohnapfel GS Transfer 3345 Yards 23 TD's-- Bulger Lowe Award, First Team All-MAC, First Team All New England, First Team All-ECAC.
Austin Whipple RSFR 325 yards 3 TD's. Six game played, two start. #2 quarterback

Wide Receivers:

Alex Kenney GS Transfer 12 games played, 5 starts, 9 rec 190 yards and 1 TD.
Jalen Williams JUCO JR played 11 games, 20-307 4 TD's

TE's:

Todd Stafford RSFR One game played (Buffalo)
Jean Sifrin JUCO JR 11 games played, 9 starts 642 yards 6 TD, 1st Team All-MAC, All-ECAC
Jon Denton JUCO JR 12 games played.

RB's

J.T. Blyden FR Five games played, one start. Third in team total rushing 116 yards
Andrew Libby FR 10 games played, 6 KR for 100 Yards, 5 rec for 26 yards
Daquan Mack RSFR 3 games played, no stats
Matt Tuleja JT Transfer 11 games played, 2 starts 3-22 1 TD

DB's

Jesse Monteiro RSFR 12 games played, no starts 9 TT
Jackson Porter FR 11 games played, 8 Starts. 41 TT
Zeke Edmonds FR 9 games played 15 TT
Lucas Amato RSFR 12 games played, 1 start , 8 TT

LB/DE's

DaSean Downey 12 games played, 5 starts 35 TT, 1 BKUP

Defensive Line:

Sha-Ki Holines RSFR Transfer 12 games played, 9 starts 34 TT, 3 TFL

Kickers:

Matthew Wylie FR 2 games played 6 KO for 311 yards 0-1 field goals.
Logan Laurent RSFR 5 games played, 4-6 FG, 13-18 EP.

Punter:

Brian McDonald GS Transfer 12 starts 57 punts, 2150 yards

Long Snapper:

Nick Berus RSFR Started all 12 games

Offensive Line:

Ryan Johnson JUCO JR 11 games played, no starts
Lukas Kotler FR 11 games played, no starts

Whipple hit home runs with Frohnapfel and Sifrin. Nick Berus started all 12 games and will likely do so in 2015. The defensive secondary probably gained more experience than any other unit. Sha-Ki Holines was a force with the DL. UMass did not get a lot impact from new players in the kicking game or running backs. Both areas will probably be a focus in recruiting.

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College football continues to gain in popularity. The big shift in the sport is TV revenue. The NIU-Marshall bowl game only drew about 25,000 spectators, but 1.1 million watched on TV.

College football accounted for $7.3 billion in revenue recently.

Quote from the article:

"I love the sport of basketball," Tranghese said. "But the collegiate athletic world as we know it is absolutely controlled by the sport of football."

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