UMass Football News--October 31st, 2020

 Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle reports Coach Bell has adjusted his staff as the Minutemen prepare for Marshall.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FBS Schedules.com reports UMass has rescheduled two football games for the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Charleston Gazette says undefeated Marshall is looking to maximize scoring.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former UMass WR Marken Michel was activated for the Carolina Panthers Thursday night game against the Falcons.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not a fan of social media, so I don't read much of it. However, this Tweet by Maroon Musket made me laugh.

The Globe supporting UMass Athletics, just when I think 2020 can't get any weirder...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There will be 37 college football bowls this year.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Riley Engelhard

Hudl.com image

 Riley Engelhard, a 6-5 230 pound TE from Jireh Prep has a UMass offer as a PWO.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

Drawing interest from Western Kentucky, Charlotte, New Mexico State plus FCS schools.

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Nathaniel Trzpuc

 

Twitter image

Nathaniel Trzpuc, a 6-5 310 pound OG from Coffeyville C.C. has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Coffeyville bio here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

This article from July of 2020 features Trzpuc.

Besides UMass, Trzpuc has FBS offers from East Carolina, South Alabama and UAB. The Minutemen still need help on the offensive line and Trzpuc could see a lot of playing time while attending a nationally-ranked university.

UMass Football News--October 28th, 2020

 The UMass Daily Collegian remembers the Minutemen's win over Appalachian State in 2017.

2017 also featured UMass road win over BYU. Those were (and are) the two best wins of the FBS era. In 2018 UMass started it's defensive slide as six Minutemen opponents scored over 55 points.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports UMass has parted ways with OL coach Jim Jackson. 

Right now it appears Michah James will take over as the head offensive line coach.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next 2020 opponent #25 Marshall has a game against FIU postponed. That's the third game the Herd has had postponed in 2020.

Marshall is in both the Coaches and AP Top-25 poll.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watch Stadiums.com predicts bowl bids for Marshall and potential 2020 opponents Army and Liberty.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2022--Ryan Butler

Scott Faytok image

 Ryan Butler, a 5-11 200 pound RB from Bergen Catholic HS in NJ has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

MaxPreps has some stats.

Recently North Jersey Male athlete-of-the-week.

Besides UMass, Butler has four offers from Ivy schools. Running back is a thin position for the Minutemen and Butler could see a lot of playing time in Amherst.

UMass Football News--October 26th, 2020

 UMass A.D. Ryan Bamford relates the Minutemen have had 4 positives out of 4,223 tests.

One thing about this I don't understand. Why do the UMass players have to take a week off practice after a road game? I can understand them quarantining from the rest of the campus population, but from each other? They were already together at the game and the trip home.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 2020 version of the UMass Football record book is available on the UMass website. Since the NCAA banned press guides (another awesome decision by the NCAA), I've been taking the .pdf to Staples and printing it out. 2019 was a year to forget, but the new record book has Isaiah Rogers records and more.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 247Sports UMass recruiting page has the latest ratings for the Minutmen's 2021 recruits. UMass is currently ranked #101 (about in the middle of the Group-of-Five). The Minutemen should be signing five or so additional recruits. Twelve of the current 16 recruits are rated three-stars. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liberty remained undefeated in a 56-35 win over Southern Mississippi.

Marshall remained undefeated and moved in the AP Top 25.

Army moved to 6-1 with a blowout win over Mercer. Army also accepted a bid to the Independence Bowl.

Undefeated Coastal Carolina held Georgia Southern's offense to 218 total yards. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Tom Weston

 

Twitter image

Tom Weston, a 6-3 200 pound punter from Perth, Australia has received a UMass offer.

Chris Sailor kicking profile here.

Kicking video here.

UMass is the first offer for Weston. The Minutemen only have one scholarship punter on the roster George Georgopoulos who will be a junior in 2021. There should be a lot of playing available in Amherst in the future.

UMass Football Recruiting 2022--Jonathan White

Twitter image

 Jonathan White, a 5-10 203 pound RB from Hutchinson C.C. has received a UMass offer.

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Hutchinson bio here.

MaxPreps has HS stats. Averaged nearly 7 yards/carry.

This article covers White's signing with Hutchinson.

White's offer (his first) is, I think, the fifth offer by UMass to Hutchinson players. UMass is thin at RB and he could see a lot of playing time in Amherst.

UMass Football News--October 22nd, 2020

 

 

UMass adds Liberty to the 2020 schedule.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on the Marshall game.

It's great UMass is playing. This will help recruiting, retention and player development.It will pay dividends in 2021.

However, 2020 wins may be tough to acquire in the revised schedule. The original schedule had UConn, New Mexico State, Albany and Akron. The Minutemen would have had a good chance against all those teams. The revised schedule looks like we will play all high-end teams. This will trigger the anti-football trolls, so UMass fans need to be prepared. You could probably write the Globe hit piece yourself.

Liberty is undefeated and they dominated Power Five team Syracuse.

Army is 5-1 and my pick to win the Commander-in-Chief trophy.

Marshall is also undefeated. And all these games are going to be away.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Moran of Gazette says the Minutemen are eager to return to the practice field while sitting out the quarantine week.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack Driscoll has been ruled out of the Eagles game against the Giants.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BTW, this post is the 8,000th UMass Football Blog entry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Arlund Bengu commits to UMass

 

 

Arlund Bengu, a 5-11 190 pound Punter from Avin, Ohio has verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here. 

Kohl's kicking bio page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

KickingCoach.com also has a bio page here.

This article has coverage of Bengu.

Cleveland.com also has a post covering Bengu.

Bengu chose UMass over four FCS offers. George Georgopoulos is a junior, so there should be ample opportunity for Bengu in the future in Amherst.

UMass Football Blog--October 20, 2020

 

UMass adds a game with Marshall on November 7th, 2020.

Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a story about the game.

Mike Moran of the Gazette also has a post on the game.

UMass and Marshall last played on Sept 8th, 2001. Mrs Blog and I were there. We had a good time talking with the friendly Herd fans. Like many of Whipple's games, UMass moved the ball on Marshall, but UMass could not stop Byron Leftwich and the Herd's offense.

Marshall is ranked #22 on the AP poll and is the third-highest ranked Group-of-Five team.

The AP poll is here. Army and Liberty, two other potential 2020 opponents are receiving Top-25 votes.

The FBS coaches poll has Marshall as #25.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting--Jamarcus Chatman II

 

Logan Stanford image

Jamarcus Chatman, a 6-3 261 pound DT from Rome, GA has entered the transfer portal from Florida State.

I originally blogged about Chatman back in February of 2017 when Chatman received an offer from UMass.

He's now received another offer from the Minutemen.

Florida State bio here.

Opted out of the 2020 season.

This article covers his entry into the transfer portal.

Since his entry into the transfer portal, Chatman has received offers from Troy, Arkansas State, FAU, UAB and JSU. He'd make an excellent addition to what looks like a improving UMass defensive line.

UMass Football News--October 18th, 2020

 Well, UMass looked like a team playing their first game with minimal practice time. However, I saw some promising signs. For one thing, the defense looked much faster and more athletic. The defensive backfield blew two coverages in the first half and the whole defense was sucked in during a reverse. After the first quarter, the defense played well.

However, the d-line played good all game. GSU did not get much rushing yardage between the tackles. We had five TFL and the defense, operating on the UMass side of the field all day, made a number of stops. By the second half, the defense looked strong and did not fade. GSU gained 308 yards rushing, just about their average.

I liked the play of Viczaril Alobwede, Mike Ruane, Te'Rai Powell and Gerrell Johnson.

The offense was less successful. Primarily because we could not run the ball. Ellis Merriweather had no holes to run to all game. The offensive line did not get any push even against GSU's second stringers in the fourth quarter. We need better results from the UMass offensive line. 

All three QB's UMass played looked decent. The Minutemen had terrible field position all game and that limited the play choices somewhat. 

On special teams, we shanked a punt and missed a field goal. Punt and return coverage was pretty good except for one return.

I thought the team looked like we have a lot of potential. Many of the freshmen are going to be good players for us. We need more practice time...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass write-up of the game.

GSU write-up here.

Mike Moran of the Gazette said UMass' first game was a dud.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you missed it, Liberty dominated Syracuse 38-21 in a game that was not as close as the score indicates.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Boston College got run over by Virginia Tech 40-14.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game Day--Georgia Southern 2020

 Today UMass kicks off the 2020 season. As usual, the Minutemen are doing things the hard way playing a team with three games under its belt. I expect UMass to have some trouble with execution and assignments. Still, I'm looking for improvement in most areas.

i.e.

1. Quarterback play. You remember Randal West gave us 20 minutes of ecstasy against Rutgers. He got flushed out the pocket in the second period, ran down the sideline, came up limping and left the game. After that he was never the same. Andrew Brito has a cannon arm, but could not see over the OL and repeatedly threw into double coverage. Mike Curtis played well in one game and never hit the same level again.

    I'm looking for a QB who looks like he's an FBS QB. Since it's going to be the first game for whoever starts, I expect some first-game jitters, but I'd like a guy who some command of the offense and moves the team. Last year UMass was #125 in team passing efficiency.

2. Rushing offense. Last year the Minutemen were #114 rushing offense. We've never been above #100 in our eight years in FBS. Being able to run the ball usually means your offense looks good and helps the QB. 

3. Rushing defense. The Minutemen were dead last in rushing defense in 2019 (by a huge 40 yards-a-game margin). Run-offense heavy GSU is a tough team to start against, but I want the UMass defense to look competitive. GSU is currently 3rd in FBS in rushing offense with 299 yards/game. The Eagles are #53 in total offense with 387 yards of total offense a game. Keeping them in the 400's would be a real improvement. 

Anyway, I want to see a lot of players get reps. Today is a building block for 2021.

Go UMass!!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Moran of the Gazette says the UMass defense is ready to contend with GSU's triple option.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GSU will wear its "away" uniforms today to help out UMass who's road uniforms have not yet been received.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Action Network's guy picks UMass to cover the spread.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Georgia Southern game.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football News--October 16th, 2020

 Mike Moran of the Gazette says UMass is ready to break out of the Amherst bubble.

Quote from Bell in the article:

"There will be guys not on that two-deep that play in the football game and get significant reps.” 

That's what the truncated 2020 season is going to be all about----player development. It would be nice to win a game, but with all the twists and turns of this season, it'll be great to be playing and getting set to play a real schedule in 2021.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The UMass Daily Collegian reports UMass is getting ready for their season opener against Georgia Southern.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Athlon Sports previews the game and predicts a 44-7 Eagles victory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

College Football News predicts Georgia Southern 45 UMass 20.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vegas Insider has the Eagles as 31 point favorites. BTW, Vegas has Liberty by three over Syracuse...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

The Eagles-Minutemen game will be on ESPN2.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In his last game against ULM, GSU running back J.D. King 5-11 220 rang up 196 rushing yards.

UMass will also have to contend with dual-threat Eagles QB 5-11 205 pound Shai Werts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Statesboro Herald says GSU is prepping for an impromptu game.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football News--October 15th, 2020

Mike Moran of the Gazette reports Coach Bell "excited" about what the Minutemen offense could bring in the first game of the season.

UPDATE: UMass has their Georgia Southern game notes up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the recent depth chart for the Georgia Southern game, there are nine freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the offense two-deep.

Will Koch QB 6-3 201

Jared Cole RB 5-9 190

Onuma Dieke WR 6-5 195

Zamar Wise WR 6-2 188

Jackson Manning TE 6-5 235

Johnny Hassard LT 6-5 285

Joe Horn C 6-1 325

Max Longman RG 6-4 326

Xavier Graham RG 6-2 330 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fourteen (!?) redshirt or true freshmen on the defensive two-deep.

Aaron Beckwith DE 6-4 285

Josh Atwood NT 6-3 360

Cletus Mathurin DT 6-1 305

Hugo Klages DE 6-3 285

Viczaril Alobwede Buck (DE/LB) 6-4 240

Nahji Logan LB 6-4 228

Abdoul Krone LB 6-3 218

Miles Turner MLB 6-1 235

Gerrell Johnson WLB 6-3 225

Tristan Armstrong CB 5-11 183

Te'Rai Powell S 6-0 190

Osei Dixon S 6-2 192

Cody Jones DB 6-0 188

Cody Jones CB 6-0 188

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four freshmen or redshirt freshen on the special teams two-deep.

Cameron Carson K 6-0 150

Garrett Dzuro H 5-11 200

Te'Rai Powell KR 6-0 190

Zamar Wise PR 6-2 188

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass football News--October 14th, 2020

 

UMass chooses Larnel Coleman, Samuel Emilus, Cole McCubrey, Ellis Merriweather and Josh Wallace as 2020 team Captains. The Minutemen have not had a sophomore captain or a first year transfer captain in a long time, if ever. Hopefully they embody a new spirit in the team.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass has released the following images as the depth chart for Georgia Southern

I would not get too excited about the details of this release. I think nearly all the "ors" will play and there might be some names missing due to injury. It's rare (or unheard of) for a team to come out of camp with 100% of the players available.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle says Bell is not ready to commit to a starting QB. He points out only Mike Fallon has had more than a limited number of reps with the offense. I still think we'll see a lot of the younger QB's this season, if not necessarily at Georgia Southern.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Moran of  the Gazette also has a post on the QB situation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Augusta Journal says GSU has questions about UMass.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football recruiting 2021--Tray Pettway verbals to UMass

 

Tray Pettway, a 6-2 185 pound WR from Hutchinson C.C. in Kansas has committed to UMass.

I blogged about Pettway on September 28th.

Pettway chose the Minutemen over an offer from South Alabama. 

Other Hutchinson players being recruited by UMass include WR Cortez Braham, OL Kingsley Ugwu and highly rated RB Tiyon Evans.

UMass Football News--October 12th, 2020

 

Isaiah Rogers had a 101 yard kickoff return for the Colts yesterday.

Rogers had a 42.4 yard return average and more against the Browns.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Georgia Southern added a game less than 10 days before kickoff.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Potential 2020 opponent Liberty earns Top-25 votes for  the first time in program history.

On Saturday the Flames routed ULM 40-7 to stay undefeated. Liberty has a six game win streak going back to last year.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Army, another potential 2020 foe just escaped a upset loss to FCS Citadel Saturday. The Black Knights are 4-1, but two of the wins are against FCS teams.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Carter Scudo commits to UMass

 

Twitter image

Carter Scudo, a 5-11 190 pound WR/FS from Milford, MA has verbaled to UMass as a PWO.

Hudl.com has junior highlights.

This article from November of 2019 features Scudo.

Scudo is the third 2021 commit from Milford. He joins teammates QB Brady Olson and LB Dominic Schofield. Hopefully, Scudo will earn a scholarship and have a great career at UMass.

UMass Football News--UMass to start 2020 season October 17th.

 

UMass Announcement here.

Georgia Southern announcement here.

MassLive has a post on the Georgia Southern game.

The Gazette also has a story on the game. 

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a story on UMass playing Georgia Southern.

The Eagles are 2-1 in their 2020 season. All their games have been close with a one-point win over Campbell and a 2-point loss to #19 Louisiana. 

This game is good news for the Minutemen football program. It avoids a entire year of no football. It gets UMass back in sync with the rest of FBS football. Except for UConn, a spring season would have been difficult time to find opponents. Whatever the win-loss ration turns out to be in 2020, playing football with be good for program development and recruiting.

A cut-and-past from a UMass athletics newsletter I received yesterday afternoon from A.D. Ryan Bamford.

"On a positive note, on Monday, September 21, we announced that our football team would return to play this fall and will open the season on Saturday, October 17 at Georgia Southern (4 p.m. ET on ESPNU). Given the success of extremely stringent health protocols and rigorous testing this fall, we felt that a reversal of our August 11 department decision to postpone this season was in the best interest of our program.  Since our announcement, three more FBS conferences have reversed course, as well, and now all but a handful of the 130 FBS teams will be playing this fall. Stay tuned for future announcements of additional games as we move through October [my italics]."

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Moran of the Gazette also has a post on Larnel Coleman and Josh Wallace using experience to help teammates.

 

Coleman praises new OL players Max Longman, Johnny Hassard and Reggie Marks III. 

Wallace remarks on new Minutemen DB's Te-Rai Powell, Tristan Armstrong and Cody Jones.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Sterling Berkhalter

Twitter image

 Sterling Berkhalter, a 6-4 186 pound WR from Cincinnati, OH has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

Chosen for the 2020 SWOFCA All-Star game.

Participated in the 2019 Cincinnati Under Armour All-America Camp.

Berkhalter has 13 total offers with UMass, Army, Navy, Liberty and Northern Illinois offering from FBS. There should be lots of playing time available in Amherst in the next few years.

UMass Football News--October 7th, 2020

 Mike Moran of the Gazette has a post on UMass' recent scrimmage gives Coach Bell insight into the Minutemen depth chart.

Bell mentioned freshman LB's Gerrell Johnson and Abdoul Kone, Myles Turner.

Bell also mentioned freshman DL Viczaril Alobwede and Senior DL Avien Peah's ability to play at several positions on the d-line.

He also mentioned RB Ellis Merriweather being impressive and big and fast.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If I got a phone call from UMass saying "Frank, the entire coaching staff has been kidnapped by terrorists from Carjackistan and the terrorists are demanding two pounds of enriched uranium each to give them back and the state dept won't comply, so we want you to install your offense! Save us!", I'd do the following:

I'd play a dual-threat QB with a "10" base personal package (i.e. one running back and zero TE's). That would mean four WR's.

Because..

If I'm an opposing defensive coordinator I'm thinking "I'm going to stop Merriweather. UMass ain't got anything else".

With four wideouts, the opposing defense can't play eight-in-the-box to load up on Merriweather. At QB I'd play someone who can run like Zamar Wise or Garrett Dzuro. The opposing defense is going to be keying on Merriweather anyway, so I'd have the QB put the ball in his stomach and look to see if Merriweather has any room to roll. If not, I'd pull it out and have the QB run (or throw).

At WR I'd have "OC" Johnson, Cam Roberson, Dariyan Wiley, and Samuel Emilus. And I'd have one of those guys in motion on every play.

If I needed more blocking I'd play TE Taylor Edwards (he's the only UMass TE over 230). For a two-TE set I'd add freshman Jackson Manning.

On the offensive line I'd play Larnel Coleman and Bruce Wade as my OT's. Dalton Tomlison at center. At guard I'd have Reggie Marks III and Michael Sullivan.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2022--Sullivan Weidman

 

Twitter image

Sullivan Weidman, a 6-6 300 pound OL from Brookline, MA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

This article features Weidman's offer from BC.

This article features Weidman's offer from West Virginia.

Weidman has twelve total offers mostly from Power Five schools. UMass, BC, Buffalo, Rutgers, Syracuse and UConn have offered from the northeast. The Minutemen are still rebuilding their offensive line and there will be lots of playing available in Amherst.

UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Zack Magdis

Hudl.com image

 Jack Magdis, a 6-2 225 OLB from Worcester Academy in MA is currently a freshman on the UMass roster.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Was offered walk-on opportunities at Hawaii and Syracuse.

Inside the Loud House also has a post on Magdis walking on at Syracuse.

One of the articles mentions the Orange having a lot of LB's on the roster. That is not the case in Amherst and Magdis should have an excellent chance to win a scholarship and lots of playing time with the Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2022--Maxime-Olivier Cabana

Twitter image

 Maxime-Olivier Cabana, a 6-5 270 pound OL from Williston Northampton School in MA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video highlights.

Cabana currently has offers from UMass and Penn. Drawing interest from Temple, Tulane, Miami (Ohio) and more.

UMass Football News--October 2nd, 2020

 Mike Moran reports UMass senior linebackers Cole McCubrey and Mike Ruane are excited to be back.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The UMass Daily Collegian's staff discusses the Minutemen's return to football and the outlook for the fall season.

The Collegian also has an update from the first week of practice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Boston Herald says Coach Bell is doing a makeover of the Minutemen and the QB position is up for grabs.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you missed it, Andy Isabella had two TD's against the Lions last week.

Fan Sided says Andy is finding a role in the Cardinals offense.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Denver Broncos placed Elijah Wilkinson on injured reserve.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" looks at the Madden ratings for Minutemen alumni in the NFL.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gee, actual UMass football news!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UMass Football Recruiting 2021--Davante Dennis

 

Image credit unknown

Davante Dennis, a 6-6 215 pound DE/Athlete from Red Lion, PA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

MaxPreps has stats. Dennis had 14 TFL and 5 sacks last year.

NCSA Sports profile here.

Hudl.com has video.

This article features Dennis.

First Team All-Conference and team captain in basketball.

Dennis also has an offer from Central Michigan. Defensive end is a position UMass needs help. The tall and athletic Dennis could have a great career in Amherst.