UMass Football News--April 23rd, 2026

 

Coach Harasymiak says Joe Griffin has to be "the guy" for UMass.

Griffin's UMass bio. 

Harasymiak also, during his press conference, praised Freshman WR Drew Alsup. 

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The Hampshire Gazette reports UMass is ready to feature the new UMass team in Saturday's Spring Game. 

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2026 opponents:

UMass opens with Rutgers on September 3rd. The Scarlet Knight added QB Dylan Lonergan, who transferred in from Boston College . Lonergan had transferred to BC from Alabama the year before..

UMass's second opponent is Sacred Heart on September 12th. The Pioneers closed Spring ball and named captains last week. 

That #67 is one big dude. 

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UMass Football News--April 22nd, 2026

 

Coach Harasymiak's end-of-spring-practice video conference.

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Learfield Sports, the Media partner of UMass and a number of other MAC teams has been sold for the fourth time in ten years. 

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 Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view. Above is the full 2026 schedule for the MAC conference.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Brayden Atwood

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 Brayden Atwood, a 6-4 220 pound TE from Nashville, TN has a UMass offer.

Hudl.com has video. 

UMass is the first offer for Atwood. UCF and Jax State are showing interest. Atwood has a big frame and TE's are a big part of Coach Warner's offense. He could find a home and lots of playing time with the UMass Minutemen. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Braylyn Simmons

Brent Woronoff image

 Braylyn "Juice" Simmonds, a 6-0 180 pound Athlete from Daytona Beach, FL has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

MaxPreps has stats. Simmons had 1360 all-purpose yards and 12 TD's in 2025.

This article from 2024 explains his nickname.  

Simmons has Power Four offers from Florida State and Pitt. UCF, FIU, Liberty and UNLV have offered from Group-of-Five. He probably projects as a WR in college. Simmons could find a lot of opportunity and playing time with the UMass Minutemen.

 

UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Chase Hyacinth

 

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Chase Hyacinth, a 6-4 220 pound Edge from Eagle Academy/Brooklyn, NY has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Hyacinth has a Power Four offer from Syracuse. Delaware, East Carolina and Temple have offered from the Group-of-Five. Coach Harasymiak is a defensive guy and  Chase could find a home and some early playing time with the Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2027--AJ Fry

 

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Anderson "AJ" Fry, a 6-0 200 pound WR/Safety from State College, PA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

MaxPreps has stats for both offense and defense. 

Fry has FBS offers from Army and Navy. Buffalo and Eastern Michigan have offered from the MAC. He also has offers from several Ivies and Fordham. He could play FBS-level football and also get a high quality education in Amherst with the UMass Minutemen.

UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Nick Rotondo

 

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Nick Rotondo, a 6-4 230 pound LB/Edge from Bridgewater, MA has a UMass offer.

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Rotondo has FBS offers from all three Service Academies.  Harvard, Penn, Yale, Dartmouth and Colgate have offered from FCS. He could get an excellent education and play FBS-level football with the Minutemen in Amherst. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Jack Hinspeter

 

The Minuteman Command has a post about UMass' interest (and offer) to Jack Hinspeter, the younger brother to Timmy Hinspeter.

Hinspeter's 247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

He gets a mention in this game summary from September 2025. 

UMass is the first offer for Hinspeter. He's drawing interest from Delaware and JMU. Coach Harasymiak is a defensive guy. Hinspeter could thrive in his system. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2026--Curtis Kimmonds transfers to UMass

 

Curtis Kimmonds, a 5-10 220 pound transfer RB from NAIA Southeastern University has committed to UMass.

I've blogged about Kimmonds before. 

The Minuteman run game was a train wreck last year. UMass was #131 out of #134 teams in rushing offense.  The Minutemen averaged only 82.4 yards/game. 127 of the 134 FBS teams averaged 100 yards or better. Kimmonds has good size at 220 pounds and hopefully he will be part of a much improved UMass rushing attack.

UMass Football Recruiting 2028--Jacarry Johnson

 

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Jacarry Hohnston, a 6-1 160 pound WR/DB from Novi, MI has a UMass offer.

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

At 6-1 Johnson has the frame to grow. In college, he could play either way. He could find a home and play FBS-level football in the reviving Minuteman program. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2029--JJ Chevalier

 JJ Chevalier, a 6-2 215 pound RB/LB from Detroit, MI has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

As a Freshman, Chevalier already has Power Four offers from Michigan, Maryland and Missouri. UMass, UConn, Colorado State and UNLV have offered from the Group-of-Five. In Amherst, he would have the chance to be the featured RB and receive an excellent education. 

UMass Football News--April 10th, 2026

 

New OC Max Warner talks about Spring practice. I think he'll have more talent to work with than in 2025. The QB room and the WR's look to be much improved. I think the jury is still out on running backs and offensive line.

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To that end, The new MAC conference blog thinks Pop Warner will be a impact transfer for UMass. They also talk about MAC expansion and the looming 2027 MAC Media package. 

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 UMass LB Timmy Hinspeter talks about the UMass defense to the press. The middle of the Minutemen should be one of the deeper units on the 2026 Minuteman team. 

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The Daily Collegian has a post on the 15 transfers added to the Minuteman defense in the off season.  Five or six of the transfers should start and several more will be in regular rotation and defensive packages.

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UMass has more updates to the Spring Game for fans. 

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UMass Football Recruiting 2029--Jahir Charles

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 Jahir Charles, a 6-1 165 pound QB from Springfield, MA has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Freshman stats here. 

UPDATE: The Minuteman Command has a post on Charles' offer. 

Charles is an up-and-coming athlete who is likely to be a talented recruit by the time he's a senior. UMass is his first offer. He could keep the Springfield-to-UMass pipeline going and play in front of friends and family in Amherst. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2027--Gavin Brady

 

Gavin Brady, a 6-1 195 pound WR/Safety from Northampton-Williston has an offer from  UMass

Hudl.com has video. 

Last year went 56-805 14 TD's and 1,400 all-purpose yards.

He has good size for a skills player and could play either side of the ball. Brady has an offer from Georgetown and is receiving interest from most of the Ivies. He could play FBS-level football in Amherst and get an excellent education too. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2026--Joshua Tripp commits to UMass

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Joshua Tripp, a 6-3 195 pound WR/Athlete from Nashua, NH has committed to UMass as a preferred walk-on.

Senior highlights here. 

This article covers his offer from New Hampshire. 

This article features Tripp. 

2025 All-Conference. 

Tripp has a big frame and could play on either side of the ball.  He can develop his craft, earn a scholarship and play FBS football with the Minutemen.

UMass Football Transfer Portal Recruiting 2026--Curtis Kimmons, Jr

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 Curtis Kimmons, Jr, a 5-10 220 pound RB grad transfer from NAIA Southeastern University is visiting UMass today.

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Southeastern Fire bio here. 

The Minuteman run game in 2025 was god-awful. Kimmons would add depth and talent to the running back room.  He could be a good fit with UMass.

UMass Football News--April 4th, 2026

 The new MAC blog "By the Belt" has a report from UMass' Pro Day.

UMass LS Jovani Borbon 5-8 220 , on the NFL bench press standard did 26 reps! That's better than a lot of 300 pound linemen.

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Pop Watson says he thrives on pressure. 

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 TJ Magee speaks to the press after last week's practice.

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An Executive order limits college football players to five years of eligibility and one transfer. 

Don't think the courts are going to go along with this one.

Now that there is NIL, the players are basically employees of the school. Suppose a player in is an educational program at a university and is playing on the team. The player wants to continue to play and the coaching staff wants to keep him on the roster. Can the NCAA (or anyone else) tell him he cannot continue to use his skills? Isn't that restraint of free trade or something? Five years of eligibility is totally arbitrary..

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UMass Football News--April 3rd, 2026

 

UMass DC Jared Keyes gives an update on the UMass defense at the start of Spring Ball. I recently re-watched the Missouri and Iowa games from last year. We were actually pretty competitive on defense. The downfall was being run over by the bottom of the MAC. The Minuteman defense was not FBS level in any unit. With a lot of new transfers, I hope we can improve.

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 New UMass QB Pop Watson talks about joining the Minutemen. We all hope Watson takes the reins of the program and absolutely runs away with it. Another year of swapping out three QB's would be very discouraging.

The Greenfield Recorder says Pop Watson seeks to transform the UMass program. 

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 Myles Donato of the Daily Collegian reflects on the opening week of Spring camp. 

The Collegian looks at 10 transfer additions to the UMass offense.

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If you missed it, UConn brought in 56 transfers, 35 of them three stars. 

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UMass Football Recruiting 2028--Brandon Hardy

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 Brandon Hardy, a 6-1 180 pound WR/Athlete from Orchard Lake, MI has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here. 

Hudl.com has video highlights. 

Hardy has a Power Four offer from Syracuse. Temple, UConn and Kent State have offered from Group-of-Five. Hardy would be a good fit in the new UMass offense and get an excellent East-Coast education to boot. 

UMass Football Recruiting 2026--Jaylen Harris

 Jaylen Harris, a 6-3 315 pound NT transfer portal recruit has a UMass offer.

Central Missouri State bio here. 

Video highlights here. 

Harris is an agile big man in the middle and could be a valuable addition to the rebuilding UMass defense. He could find a home with the Minutemen in Amherst.