UMass Foothball News--August 10th, 2018

The UMass Football Twitter feed has a video on the offensive line. Coach Foley praises Larnel Coleman, who is 6-7 and now over 300 pounds. He will probably take over the LT spot.

So the starting OL could be:

RT Larnel Coleman 6-7 300

RG Lukas Kotler 6-4 315

C Derek Dumais 6-4 330

LG Jake Largay 6-4 335

LT  Ray Thomas-Ishman 6-5 350

That's a big offensive line.

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UMass announces beer and wine will be available at McGuirk this year.

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Fan Sided site "Chowder and Champions" says UMass is set to have it's best FBS season.

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Taylor Edwards/ Sarah Crosby image

Josh Walfish reports a trio of players look to replace Adam Breneman at TE. 

Taylor Edwards is up to 6-4 255.

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Coastal Carolina, who beat UMass last year and then went on to lose nine straight games (sigh) looks to improve in 2018.

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UMass Football News--August 9th, 2018

Blog Note: I'll be away from home tomorrow morning. There will be no blog update until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.

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The UMass Twitter feed has video about Minutemen RB coach Darrius Smith talking about the development of the UMass running backs.

In 2018 UMass returns:

Marquis Young 6-1 215 36 GP 531-2840 20 TD's 95 LONG 5.3 AVE 78.9 y/game. Young is currently 6th in all-time rushing yards. He needs 47 yards to pass Frank Alessio and 1,047 yards to pass Garry Pearson. He's tied for 10th in career TD's and 6th in yards/rush. His yards/game puts him 5th ahead of Jerome Bledsoe , but behind Rich Jessamy (89.0).

Bilal Ally 5-11 185 21 GP 106-466 3 TD's 57 LONG 4.4 AVE 22.2 y/game

Nick Orekoya 5-10 18 GP 15-113 1 TD 23 LONG 7.5 AVE

New to the Minutemen this year are:

Jordan Fredericks 5-10 225. Transfer from Syracuse. Sat out last year per transfer regulations. Was on two freshman All-American teams during his first year at Syracuse.

Victor Santiago 5-9 165. I blogged about Santiago back in March. Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" also had a post on Santiago's signing with the Minutemen.

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Yahoo Sports does a "coaches-on-the-hot-seat" article and mentions BYU and UMass.

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Tennessee attempts to get out of a home-and-home series with UConn.

The Huskies practice in full pads despite the heat.

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Charolotte looks for a fast start to 2018.

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Liberty adds a 3000 square foot video board.

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UMass Football News--August 8th, 2018

Isaiah Rogers/Sarah Crosby image

Josh Walfish reports the UMass defense is settled in with the second year of Ed Pinkham. (fixed link)

Whatever happens with the Minutemen defense this fall, the secondary should be a strong point. The two starting corners Moses and Rodgers are two of the top players in the group of five. Tyler Hayes started every game in 2017. The Safety position is deep with UConn transfer Brice McAlliser, Tryis Lebeau and Bakhari Goodson. Freshman Safety Joseph Norwood was the top-rated recruit in the 2018 incoming class.

The UMass Twitter feed has some video featuring the defensive backs.

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UMass dinning is rated #1 in the nation for the third year in a row.

Why would linemen even think about signing somewhere else 😀

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Former UMass QB James Sosinski has transitioned from the Kansas basketball team to a TE in Jayhawks football.

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Former UMass strength coach Joe Connolly is making an impact at Arizona.

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James Madison is ranked #2 and New Hampshire is ranked #7 in the first FCS preseason poll.

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UMass Football News--July 7th, 2018

UPDATE: Mike Traini Tweets Josh Jefferson is on campus and is enrolled.

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Joe Previte/Thom Kendall image

Josh Walfish reports depth adds competition to the Minutemen defensive line.


If I had to guess, I'd say the "base package" DL will be:

Jake Byczko 6-3 250

Charlie Timite 6-3 275

Joe Previte 6-2 265

Chris DiTommaso 6-4 275

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Yard Barker lists Andy Isabella as one of college football's 10 unstoppable wide receivers.

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Duquesne receives votes in the first FCS preseason top-25 poll.

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Nate Hopkins, who led UConn in rushing TD's last year, has left the squad and plans to transfer.

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After a devastating knee injury, Boston College QB Anthony Brown seeks to lead the Eagles in 2018.

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UMass Football News--August 6th, 2018

The Minutemen ran their first scrimmage of the Fall camp yesterday. The UMass website has an image gallery from the scrimmage.

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Not a lot of football news on the intertubes this morning. Mass Live has not done a UMass story in more than a month.

Lets look at the redshirt freshmen for 2018. If I counted right, UMass will have 18 RSFR available this year.

In the already crowded WR corps we have:

Zac Simon 5-10 180.

Jovohn Tucker 5-8 165

Patrick Volcy 6-2 210

Melvin Hill 6-2 195

One new TE becomes available.

Solomon Siskind 6-4 220

One RB.

Victor Santiago 5-9 165

Three offensive linemen.

Spencer Goldberg 6-2 280

Jaylen Larry 6-3 275

Brian Abosi 6-8 310

One LS

Harry Blair 6-3 205

One kicker

Evan Padilla 5-7 160

Seven defensive players become available:

One Safety

Claudin Cherrelus 6-1 210

Two CB's

Chris Hunt 6-0 185

Brian Roberts Jr 6-0 195

Four DL's

Chris DiTommaso 6-4 275

Zack Loan 5-11 240

Alex Piechocki 6-5 255

Caeleb Washington 6-1 250

Of the  offensive linemen Brian Abosi could make the two-deep. Maybe all of the defensive linemen might be in the rotation. Chris DiTommaso could start. The Safety position is pretty deep, but Claudin Cherrelus will get some reps.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Joseph Harper

Hudl.com image

Joseph Harper, a 6-2 230 pound DE from Houston, TX has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on UMass recruiting Harper.

First Team Division II All-State in 2017.

The Minutemen were Harper's first offer. UMass has five (if I counted right) players from the Lone Star state on its current roster.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Thomas Kiessling

Hudl.com image

Back in February, UMass offered to Thomas Kiessling, a 6-4 230 pound inside LB from St. Xavier HS in Cincinnati, Ohio.

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article has Kiessling as one of the top-19 players in the Cincinnati area.

Just named one of four captains for St. Xavier's 2018 season.

Kiessling has 14 offers including UMass and Buffalo from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--August 4th, 2018

A Georgia State student writer previews the first half of the Eagles season and predicts a 42-24 win over UMass.

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A Dawg Nation writer takes a look at Georgia's 2018 season and predicts 12-0.

The Virginia Pilot also thinks the Dogs will go 12-0 in 2018. A blog reader reminded me Georgia plays UMass the week after meeting Auburn and the week before facing Georgia Tech's triple-option running game. The Dogs might not spend a lot of time on preparing for the Minutemen. Georgia will still win, but UMass could play another respectable game against the SEC.

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A humbled, but hungry BYU team starts Fall Camp.

Quote from the article:

"You lose to UMass at home before a dwindling crowd, your winter, spring, and summer are spent cleansing the taste from your throat."

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UMass transfer Jack Driscoll was getting reps with the "2's" as Auburn opens camp.

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UConn opens its 2018 season playing UCF at home and then Boise State in Idaho. Those two teams went 23-3 in 2017.

BOISE, IT'S OUT OF CONTROL OUT THERE.

Dozens of goats invade Boise neighborhood. 

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Kym-Mani King II

Tampa Bay Times image

I've blogged about Kym-Mani King, a 5-10 170 pound athlete from New Port Ritchey, FL before.

The Tampa Bay Times has King as #19 in the Top-100 players in the Tampa Bay area.

King has eight offers with UMass as the only school from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--August 3rd, 2018

Josh Walfish reports the UMass offense is sticking with the preseason script.

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The UMass Alumni office is sponsoring a pregame reception at Boston College from 10:30 to 12:30.

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Andy Isabella is one of the top-25 flex fantasy football players for 2018.

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Boston College is replacing defensive stars.

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Georgia is ranked #4 and BC and USF received votes in the first 2018 college football coaches poll.

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Speaking of USF, they're getting new uniforms this year.

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UMass Football News--August 2nd, 2018

I called the UMass ticket office yesterday and they said season tickets will be going out next week.

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The latest version of the 2018 roster is now current to July 23rd.

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The UMass Tweeter feed has a short video interview with Coach Pinkham about the defense.

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Josh Walfish reports the Minutemen's younger receivers are following Andy Isabella's lead.

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Underdog Dynasty has a post on three games that will make or break the Minutemen's 2018 season.

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The Boston Herald has five BC players to watch during Fall camp.

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FIU News has crunch time for FIU players. Among those discussed is WR Bryce Singleton, who set a FIU freshman record with three TD's against UMass.

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Duquesne RB A.J. Hines was named to the Walter Payton Award Watch list.

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UMass Football News--August 1st, 2018

UPDATE: UMass Football Twitter has some video from today's early morning work.

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Yeah, the beginning of august! Another year of college football begins. Lots to talk about. There's actually something to watch on TV. Life is good when there's football.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts' has an interview with UMass Associate A.D. Alan Pandiani about the 2018 season, McGuirk improvements, future scehedules and more.

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The UMass Twitter feed has video from yesterday and some comments from Whip.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a story on UMass opening Fall camp.

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AJC lists the Georgia Bulldogs 2018 schedule and has a video showing Andrew Ford and Marquis Young.

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DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB, YESH.

Yesh Ginsberg of "The Comeback" critiques the ACC's OOC schedule. He calls UMass a 'virtual cupcake" and gives a grade of "D" to Boston College. Clemson gets a "B" for playing Georgia Southern. I'd remind Ginsberg of last years UMass blow-out win over the Eagles , but he does not seem to have an e-mail address. After reading the site's privacy and terms-of-service I decided not to leave a comment.

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Two Duquesne Dukes, RB A.J. Hines and WR Nehart Crawford have been named to a FCS preseason All-American team.

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Jovan Santos-Knox was named the CFL's top performer for Week #7.

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UMass Football News--July 31st, 2018

Josh Walfish has five position battles to watch during UMass' fall camp.

One interesting position is TE. The tight end has always been a big part of Whipple's offense. UMass returns 6-5 250 Kyle Horn (4 career receptions) and 6-5 255 Travis Reynolds (8 career receptions). Reynolds is coming off a knee injury that kept him out of the last four games of 2017.

One player I like is 6-4 255 Taylor Edwards. He was a three-star recruit who suffered a knee injury late in his HS career. He was red-shirted in 2016 and DNP in 2017. He could have a big upside.

Reynolds has made several athletic catches and could surprise if Ford throws to him. In addition, 6-2 260 Avien Peah is now listed as a TE. 

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a report on last weekend's recruiting event.

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The Hartford Courant has five story lines to follow as UConn Football enters Fall training camp.

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A confident FIU teams thinks they'll exceed expectations.

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Ohio was picked first in the MAC East in the league's preseason poll.

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Meanwhile at USF, the Bulls want a $240 million, 35,000 seat stadium.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Connor Grieco III

I've blogged about Connor Grieco, a 6-3 190 pound safety from Montvale, NJ a couple of times before.

Over the weekend, he verbaled to Rutgers.

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UMass Football News--July 30th, 2018

New UMass Hampshire Gazette UMass beat writer has a report on the Minutemen's first day of practice. He interviews Coach Whipple and Bryton Barr (who should be on his way to his Doctorate).

The UMass Twitter feed has a video from yesterday's camp.

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One question for the Fall camp is who is going to play fullback? Whipple sometimes runs the pro-set "heavy" (i.e. with a fullback). Not many teams run that. Last year's roster had five FB's. Andrew Libby, Matt Tuleja and Malik Lee all graduated. Avien Peah RSSO 6-2 260 is now listed as a TE on the latest roster. He could, of course, play both positions.

The only FB listed on the roster is 6-2 228 pound true freshman walk-on Adam Deese.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports UMass only RB recruit for 2018 Rashard Jackson, will not report and will instead join Lackawanna College in PA.

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True Freshmen could make an immediate impact with UConn.

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UMass Football News--July 28th, 2018

New Hampshire Gazette UMass beat writer josh Walfish introduces himself.

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I believe UMass starts Fall Camp today.  We are a month out from the opening game with Duquesne.

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Ryan Gallant reports UMass staff is backfilling historical box scores into the the Minutemen website.

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The UConn AD call out the Huskie fan base and tells them to "be accountable" and show up for football games.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Desmond Barkley III

I've Blogged about Desmond Barkley, a 6-2 320 DT from Stockbridge, GA twice before.

He has verbaled to South Alabama.

UMass was in his final five.

UMass Football News--July 27th 2018

Both Andrew Ford and Andy Isabella have been named to the Wuerffel Throphy Watch List.

The Wuerffel Trophy honors community service and academic achievement.

Josh Walfish, the new Hampshire Gazette UMass beat writer, has his first article about Ford and Isabella's being named to the list.

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Andy Isabella has also been named to the Paul Hornung Award Watch list.

The Award honors the most versatile player in college football.

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NCAA launches study to determine the ramifications of the Supreme Court's recent decision on sports betting.

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UMass Football News--July 26th, 2018

Seeing UMass opens camp Saturday, savor again the Minutemen's win over Appalachian State. BYU was our first win over a "name" team, but the Mountaineers were a much better team. They ended up 9-4 and blew out 11-3 Toledo in the Dollar general Bowl. Appalachian's only other losses in 2017 were to Georgia, Wake Forest and ULM.

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FBS Schedules has a post on UMass announcing our start times.

The Daily Stampede has a story on USF announcing the start time with UMass.

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Four Athlon Sports writers pick BYU over UMass.

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Duquesne football seeks consistency in 2018.

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Boston College unveils their new $52.6 million practice facility.

The Boston Herald says the new facility puts the Eagles on par with other ACC teams.

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UMass Football News--July 25th, 2018

At least one blog reader will be very happy as UMass releases the start times for the 2018 season.

Eleven Sports will again provide the coverage.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has coverage of the news release.

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HERO Sports says the Liberty Flames are poised to open a thrilling new chapter in their football history.

Quote from the article:

"If the Flames maximize their talent and catch a few breaks, a seven- to eight-win campaign (or more) during its transitional year is entirely doable".

That may be a little optimistic, as the Flames went 6-5 in the Big South last year and lost to Jacksonville State, St Francis and Kennesaw State.

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FBS Schedules has a post on seven national championship rematches in 2018. UMass Georgia Southern is one of them.

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Athlon Sports looks at the over-and-under for the SEC including Minutemen opponent Georgia.

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Duquesne gets picked 2nd in the Northeast Conference coaches poll.

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Boston College's A.J. Dillon is picked the ACC's preseason player-of-the-year.

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UConn has been picked fifth in the AAC's East Division.

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TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE

 Iowa DT Brady Reiff Arrested After Mistaking Police Car for Uber While Drunk.

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UMass Football News--July 24th, 2018

The UMass website has a post on Bryton Barr being named to the Butkus Award Watch list.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts' also has entry on Barr being named to the watch list.

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Outside of Joe Previte, the Minutemen returns only one career start for the rest of the available defensive linemen. Will UMass stick with the 4-3 or move to the 3-4? There are also not a lot of career starts available in the linebackers except for Bryton Barr and Jarell Addo.

Returning are:

Bryton Barr SRGR 12-12 GP-GS 45 AT 50 UT 105 TT 9-42 TFL 5 SACKS 1 INT 1 FF.

Jarell Addo RSSR 12-11 GP-GS 32 UT 35 AT 67 TT 1-8 SACKS 8-24 TFL 6 BKUP 1 FF

Cole McCubrey SO 11-0 GP-GS 10 AT 4 UT 14 TT 2 FF

Chinedu Ogbonna SO 12-1 GP-GS 5 AT 5 UT 10 TT 0.5-0 TFL 0.5 SACKS

Mike Ruane SO 10-0 GP-GS 1 AT

James Bowe JR 10-0 GP-GS 1 BKUP

Darian Green FR.

Michael Nesmith FR.

Da'Shon Ross FR

Adam Tucker RSSO DNP in 2017

 If the Minutemen start Addo, Barr and Ogbonna the UMass LB's will be 6-1 200, 6-0 225 and 6-2 215 respectively.

Boston College's reported starters will be Connor Strachan 6-0 240, John Lamont 6-0 240 and Davon James 5-11 230.

 The Minutemen do not have a lot of size in the linebacker corps. They also could move  Leon Flanagan 6-2 220 to LB.

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Penn Live has a short piece on Andrew Ford being named to the Davey O'Brien Watch list.

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Boston College has been picked fourth in the ACC East Division for 2018.The last few years the Eagles have been picked at the bottom of the ACC East.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Seth Coleman

247Sports image

On June 2nd, UMass offered to Seth Coleman, a 6-4 200 pound DE from Melbourne, FL.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

This recruiting article features Coleman.

This article talks about USF and other schools recruiting Coleman.

Coleman has 19 total offers with UMass as then only FBS school from the Northeast.

UMass Football News---July 21st, 2018

Boston 25 News has a post on Tyler Martin, an eighth grader who has offers from Michigan and UMass.

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The Tampa Bay Times has Mark Whipple as #82 as an offensive coach.

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Quincy Roche, who went through the UMass offensive line like a hot knife through butter last year is rated as one of the top AAC players ECU will face in 2018.

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College football has sixteen Award Watch Lists.

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SB Nation takes a look at JUCO football.

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UMass Football News--July 20th, 2018

Andy Isabella has been named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts also has a post on Isabella being named to the Biletnikoff Watch list.

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The Minutemen wide receiver corps should be talented and deep. UMass out gained the opposition in receiving by 90 yards a game in 2017.

UMass 272-3570 13.1 AVE 26 TD's 297.5 yards/game

Opponents 194-2484 12.8 AVE 17 TD's 207.0 yards/game

Andy Isabella 12-2 GP-GS 65-1020 15.7 AVE 10 TD's 69 LONG 85.6 yards/game

Shadiq Palmer 12-10 GP-GS 35-518 14.8 AVE 1 TD 41 LONG 69.5 yards/game

Jesse Britt 12-4 29-422 14.6 AVE3 TD's 40 LONG 35.2 yards/game

Brennon Dingle 12-2 GP-GS 21-330 15.7 AVE 4 TD's 43 LONG 27.5 yyards/game

Jacoby Herring 10-0 GP-GS 7-81 11.6 AVE 0 TD 18 LONG 8.1 yards/game

"Silky" Brown 5-0 1-7 7 AVE 0 TD 1.4 yards/game

UMass also has:

Zac Simon RSFR Redshirted 2017

Jovahn Tucker SO DNP in 2017

Patrick Volcy SO Redshirted in 2017

Melvin Hill SO Redshirted in 2017

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The Boston Herald says BC's offense will be ready to roll in 2018.

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UMass Football News--July 20th, 2018

Marquis Young has been named to the 2018 Doak Walker Award Watch list.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Young.

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In 2017 UMass totaled 1624 yards rushing and averaged 3.9 yards a rush and 135.6 yards/game.

Opponents rushed for 2375 yards and averaged 4.9 yards/rush and 197.9 yards a game.

Marquis Young SR 12-10 GP-GS 182-982 5.4 AVE 9 TD's 95 LONG 81.8 yards/game

Bilal Ally JR 12-1 GP-GS 84-369 4.1 AVE 3 TD's 57 LONG 30.3 yards/game

Nick Orekoya JR 11-1 GP-GS 15-173 7.5 AVE 1 TD 23 LONG 10.3 yards/game.

Tyshawn Ingram JR 5-0 GP-GS No rushing stats.

Joining the rushing corps this year:

Jordan Fredericks RSJR. Sat out 2017 as a transfer. Fredericks was a Honorable Mention Freshman All-American at Syracuse in 2015.

Rashard Jackson FR 5-11 180.

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KSL.com says BYU's schedule keeps getting more difficult.

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UMass Football News--July 18th, 2018

UMass QB Andrew Ford has been named to the 2018 Davey O'Brien Award Watch list.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Ford's being named to the O'Brien Watch list.

The Notre Dame blog "One Foot Down" is offended Ford is on the list and their guy isn't.

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Mike also has a story on eleven Minutemen being named to Phil Steele's 2018 All-Independent team.

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HERO Sports previews Duquesne and believes they can win the Northeast Conference in 2018.

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SB Nation says Boston College will have an offense this year. A.J. Dillon 6-0 240, running behind an offensive line that returns four starters including All-ACC tackle Chris Lindstrom 6-4 305 will be tough to stop.

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UMass Football News---July 17th, 2018

There's a new version of the 2018 roster (dated July 9th) up.

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UMass will be deep in quarterbacks this fall.

Seniors:

Andrew Ford RSSR 11-10 GP-GS 151.05 EFF 223-353-4 63.2% 2924 yards 22 TD's 69 LONG 265.8 yards/game. Ford was 18th in FBS in passing EFF and 24th in passing yards/game.

Ross Comis RSSR 10-2 GP-GS 131.57 EFF 49-87-1 56.5% 646 yards 4 TD's 69 LONG 64.6 yards/game. It'll interesting to see how Whipple integrates Comis into the offense. If he came in when it's 3rd-and-7, the defense could not assume the Minutemen would throw the ball, like they would with Ford.

RSJR

Randall West 0-2 GP-GS 0-2 passing.

Michael Curtis 0-1 GP-GS no passing stats.

RSSO

Mike Fallon DNP in 2017

Freshmen

Jaret Pallotta 6-5 205

Josiah Johnson 6-5 197.

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Duquesne adds five FBS transfers to their 2018 squad.

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This article features Don Brown and his  family and coaching career.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2020---Trey Dawson II

Hudl.com image

On June 27th, UMass offered to Trey Dawson, a 6-5 220 pound pro-style QB from Middlebury, CT.

I blogged about Dawson back on July 4th. 

QBhitlist.com has an extensive profile on Dawson.

Hudl.com has up-dated video.

Dawson has offers from UMass, Princeton and Howard.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019---Brendon Ekwughalu

Twitter image

Brendon Ekwughalu, a 5-11 215 pound Safety from the Hun School in NJ has been offered by UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Ekwughalu gets a mention in this article about a Rutgers camp in June.

Ekwughalu has 17 total offers including 5 FBS. Army and Buffalo have offered from the Northeast.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--anthony Johnson II

Christopher Horner image

Back in June I blogged about Anthony Johnson, a 6-4 225 pound DE from Jeannette, PA.

This article reports he is transferring to Cleveland Heights HS in Ohio.

Johnson was the Class A Eastern Conference (PA) Defensive Player-of-the-year in 2017.

Besides UMass, Johnson has FBS offers from Ball State, Central Michigan, Syracuse and Toledo.

UMass Football News--July 13th, 2018

A bleacher Report writer looks for the best names in college football. UMass gets a number of mentions in the "Independents" group.

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A Salt Lake City writer thinks BYU should move to the Mountain West.

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The Williamson Daily News looks at the C-USA East and has news about Charlotte and FIU.

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The Brentwood Home Page a nice human interest story about BYU QB Joe Critchlow. The UMass defense had perhaps their finest game as Critchlow went 21-45 257 yards 4 INTs 1 TD and UMass had 7 sacks.

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UMass Football News--July 12th, 2018

Liam Coen returns to LaSalle HS for his first football camp.

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The Salt Lake Tribune ranks in-state schools games for the 2018 season and BYU at UMass is one of the higher ranked ones.

Like UMass, the Cougars are looking at some changes to their kicking game.

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Liberty University image

Meanwhile at Liberty, their $40 million dollar stadium upgrade is continuing. Like UMass did in 2012, the Flames are not playing a "transitional" schedule in their first FBS year. Liberty jumps straight from a Big South schedule with one FBS game to playing Norfolk State and eleven FBS teams including Auburn, Virginia and New Mexico. The Flames gave up 448.5 yards/game last year in the Big South, so Liberty's 2018 season could be rough. Liberty did beat Baylor at Baylor last year, but also lost to St. Francis, Kennesaw State and Monmouth. Don't expect the Flames to stay down long though. They have tons of money and they're spending it to get better.

More Liberty stats:

Offense      Yards/game

Scoring 32.5
Rushing 139.3
Passing 309.9
Total 449.2

Defense

Defense  yards/game

Scoring 30.4
Rushing 225.0
Passing 223.5
Total 448.5

Highlights of the Flames victory over Baylor.
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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Desmond Barkley II

247Sports image

Last Friday I blogged about Desmond Barkley, a 6-2 320 pound DT from stockbridge, GA.

He's Tweeted UMass is in his top six schools.

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UMass Footbal News--July 11th, 2018

USF QB Brett Kean will be suspended for the first four games of the Bulls season due to academic issues. His first game of eligibility will be against UMass.

New USF AD Michael Kelley says he wants a new football performance center as fast as possible and he also wants to move the Bulls to a Power Five conference. Note that would leave a vacancy in the AAC...

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A Bowling Green transfer may help Florida International replace four-year starter Alex McGough.

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A new offensive coordinator for Charlotte hopes to turn the 49ers offense around. The 49ers were 127th nationally in scoring and #119 in passing offense.

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UConn struggled through historically low attendance figures for basketball and football in 2017.

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UMass Football News--July 10th, 2018

One big change for the Minutemen in 2018 will be the kicking game. Logan Laurant went 13-15 86.7% in field goals. His kicking was the margin of victory in the Appalachian State and BYU victories.

Logan also did all the punting. He went 65-2772 42.6 AVE 63 LONG 6 TB 17 i20 and 14 50+.

Longan and Freshman Michael Schneider (0-4 field goals 35-1960 kickoffs) are gone. Long snapper Nick Berus also graduated.

Returning are:

Mike Caggiano RSJR--Redshirted 2017. He is 1-3 in career field goal attempts. Handled all the kickoffs and PAT's in 2016.

Evan Padilla RSFR. Redshirted in 2017.

Theo Yongue RSSR. No career stats.

Joining the team this year:

Cooper Garcia JR . Lindy's Magazine picked Cooper as UMass' top newcomer for 2018. "PK Cooper Garcia: The transfer from Ventura College steps right into the kicking job, and he will be big for an offense that expects to pile up the points. Garcia was 15 of 20 on field goal attempts and 59-for-59 on PAT's last year for Ventura."

George Georgopoulos FR. Was first-team All-Region as a punter in 2016 and 2017 in HS.

UMass returns two long snappers:

Peter Comaroto RSJR: DNP in 2017.

Harry Blair RSSO: Redshirted in 2017.

The Minutemen add:

Evan Deckers FR. Highly rated LS by several kicking camps.

UMass fans have suffered through 4 1/2 years of tear-your-hair-out bad kicking and six games of great kicking. It was no coincidence that we won four of the six of those games. The Minutemen will start a new kicker, punter and LS on August 25th. We shall see...

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UMass moved to FBS in 2012 and EA Sports NCAA Football computer football game promptly died. SB Nation thinks it could come back.

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UMass Football News--July 9th, 2018

Former UMass football player Sharif Saleem signs with Owens Community College---as a basketball player

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Crescent Sports reports the Minutemen have the heaviest OL on college football.

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Get More Sports says take the under in the UMass Football win totals.

They also have a longer article on UMass' over-and-under.

Get More Sports does a longer win total article on BYU.

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UMass went 6-6 against the spread in 2017.

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Dawg Nation says Georgia fans have reasons to be optimistic in 2018.

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NCAA.com has a post on eye-popping turf fields.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Kym-Mani King

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Kym-Mani King is a 5-10 165 pound CB from New Port Ritchey, FL who received an offer from UMass back in April.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

King has eight FBS offers with the Minutemen as the only offer from the Northeast.

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UMass Football News--July 7th, 2018

I picked up Lindy's College Football Preview magazine yesterday. Lindy's has UMass' 2018 schedule predicted as follows:

Team--conference ranking--national ranking

Duquesne--Northeast Conference Champions--n/a

Boston College--ACC #10-Nat'l #49

Georgia Southern--Sun Belt #4-Nat'l #100

FIU--C-USA #8-Nat'l #108

Charlotte C-USA #13-Nat'l #126

Ohio--MAC Champions -Nat'l #51

USF--AAC #4-Nat'l #59

Coastal Carolina-Sun Belt #9-Nat'l 123

UConn--AAC #11--Nat'l # 117

Liberty--n/a-Nat'l 126

BYU--n/a-Nat'l 83

Georgia--SEC #2-Nat'l #4

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Athlon Sports has Isaiah Rogers as one of the Top-50 underrated payers for 2018.

Athlon also looks at the over-and-under for C-USA of whom we play two teams in 2018.

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Auburn Undercover ranks Jack Driscoll has #38 on the Tigers squad.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Desmond Barkley

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Desmond Barkley, a 6-2 320 pound DT from Stockbridge, GA has Tweeted his top choices will be announced soon. Barkley was extended an offer by UMass in April.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Barkley has 13 offers including a couple from Sun Belt schools. UMass is the only offer from the Northeast and is clearly the best academic choice.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Nazir Burnett

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Nazir Burnett, a 6-1 from Harrisburg, PA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

This article from PennLive.com talks about Burnett's recruiting. 

Burnett has 20 offers including UConn, Temple, BC, Syracuse and Buffalo from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--July 5th, 2018

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports the second tranche of 2018 recruits should be on campus for the second summer session.

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A Mizzou site talks about their wide receivers and mentions Andy Isabella.

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Saturday Blitz thinks UConn's uniforms are the worst in the AAC.

Speaking of the AAC, CBS Sports ranks Charlie Strong of USF and Randy Edsell of UConn as the #3 and #9 rated coaches in the league.

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Happy 4th of July, 2018

Hope all UMass fans, coaches and players have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Stay cool. Football is getting close.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Brandon Spencer II

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Back in May I blogged about Brandon Spencer, a 5-10 170 pound DB from Marietta. GA.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post about Spencer's recruiting.

Spencer is friends with Chindu Ogbonna, who is already a member of the Minutemen.

Spencer has nineteen offers including FBS offers from Army, Navy and Buffalo from the Northeast.

UMass Football News--July 3rd, 2018

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Andy Isabella is named one of college football's top-50 receivers by Athlon Sports.

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SB Nation previews Michigan and calls Don Brown "a national treasure" in coaching the Wolverines' defense.

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USA Today power ranks the AAC and has USF as #3 and UConn as #12 and last.

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Fan Sided has USF as one of five Group-of-Five teams that could compete in a Power Five conference.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Jonathan Collins II

Hudl.com image

Last Friday the Minutemen landed their first 2019 recruit when Jonathan Collins, a 6-1 170 pound Athlete verbaled to UMass.

Collins has been re-rated as a two-star recruit by 247Sports.

Collins has good size for a DB (you can't each height) and if he gains 10-15 pounds of muscle, he has the potential to be an excellent recruit for the Minutemen.

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UMass Football News--July 2nd, 2018

CFL image

Marken Michel motivated to get better. (fixed link).

This article from June 5th also features Michel

Michel's Stamps bio.

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Athlon Sports says Ohio is a clear favorite to win the MAC

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UConn will wear the bloc "C" on their helmets this year and get new uniforms in 2019.

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