Thursday, December 20, 2018

UMass Football News--December 20th, 2018

UMass signs eight recruits in Coach Bell's first signing day.

Josh Walfish has a post on yesterday's recruits.

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The eight included a couple of recruits I haven't talked about.


Jaylen Bannerman, a 6-4 240 pound DE/LB from Arizona Western JUCO.

Bannerman's Tweet he's joining the Minutemen.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

ACCAC has stats.

Chose UMass over FBS offers from Liberty, UTEP and Western Kentucky

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Keven Brown, a 6-0 225 pound RB from Everett, MA also joins the Minutemen.

Currently unrated by 247Sports, but probably will be two-stars shortly.

Hudl.com has video.

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Another addition is Helber Fagundes, a 6-5 290 pound OL who grayshirted last year.

I blogged about Fagundes back in Febuary of last year.

2017 Globe All-Scholastic.

Quote from the article:

"Standing 6-5 and 300 pounds, the senior is an imposing linemen. Everett coach John DiBiaso calls Fagundes the best offensive tackle in Massachusetts, a claim backed by the Tide’s dominant rushing attack that resulted in 41.8 points per game."

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UMass did lose one committ when Mike Ciaffoni flipped to Boston College.

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My take on Coach Bell's first recruits:

I think UMass fans should be excited about Bell's first efforts. With only two weeks to make offers and a very short staff, Bell landed five three-star recruits and filled some obvious needs. Four of the seven are defensive players including two DL, which was a huge need for the Minutemen. Three of the players are JUCO's designed to fill immediate needs. While I would love UMass recruit mostly four-year players, the Minutemen need to bring in some JUCO's and transfers every year.

Consider Mike Ciaffoni flipping to BC. Boston College is a freaking Power-Five school and they made the effort to flip a lightly recruited OL. It shows how scarce FBS recruits are in New England.

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UConn signs twelve players.

Boston College signed 18.

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