UMass Football Recruiting 2020--Kevin Lemieux

Hudl.com image

Kevin Lemieux, a 6-4 235 pound strong-side DE from Ashburnham, MA has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Lemieux has six offers. Besides UMass and Tulane, Lemieux has Power Five offers from Rutgers and Syracuse.

UMass Football News--February 18th, 2019

UMass strength and conditioning coach Matt Shadeed has been running some transformation images on his Twitter feed.

Taylor Edwards now 6-4 260. Edwards went 8-1 GP-GS 5-48 9.6 AVE 16 LONG. Hope Edwards has a breakout year in 2019 as TE for the Minutemen.

Dennis Osagiege 6-0 290. Osagiege went 10-0 GP-GS 4 UT 11 AT 15 TT 0.5-0 TFL.

Bryce Wade 6-7 272 is a 2019 JUCO recruit. Wade went from 255 to 272 in  4 weeks.

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Andy Isabella makes Athlon Sports post-season First Team All-American team.

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The Oklahoman ranks the 2019 coaching hires and has Coach Bell #20 out of 27 new head coaches.

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UMass Football News--February 16th, 2019

Senior Bowl image

Big Blue View asks if Andy Isabella could be the heir to Sterling Shepard.

247Sports Cleveland Browns reports Andy grew up a Browns fan.

Dallas Cowboys mailbag discusses Isabella as slot receiver for Dallas.

We are the Texans blog picks Andy for Houston in the 3rd round.

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Will college football do away with the kickoff?

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SB Nation says running the spread offense helps win the transfer portal.

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UMass Football News--February 15th, 2019

NJ.com image

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on JUCO recruit Javon Turner bringing track speed to the Minutemen.

The WR position is one unit UMass should be deep and talented for 2019.

UMass returns:

Sadiq Palmer --12-7 GP-GS 28-419 15.0 AVE 2 TD 38 LONG
Brenon Dingle-- 12-9 GP-GS 19-269 14.2 AVE 2 TD 37 LONG
Zak Simon-- 10-2 GP-GS 15-238 15.9 AVE 2 TD's 67 LONG
Samuel Emilus-- 6-1 GP-GS 15-212 14.1 AVE 4 TD's 23 LONG
Jessie Britt --4-0 GP-GS 11 118 10.7 AVE 1 TD 29 LONG.
Melvin Hill--RSFR DNP in 2018
Will Connery--SO DNP in 2018

2019 WR recruits in addition to Turner are:

Dariyan Wiley  FR
Jermain "OC" Johnson FR

I would think Palmer would start at the "X" position. Dingle and Brett would likely start also. Turner has three years to play two for the Minutemen. That should give him some flexibility to get his degree and game time.

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Liberty releases its 2019 schedule. The Flames play four Power Five teams and visit UMass between a home game with BYU and an away game at Arkansas.

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State College.com breaks down the transfer portal by the numbers.

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MassLive.com has fifteen  2019 NFL draft prospects for the Patriots. Isabella would be a good fit for the Pats. Both the coach and the QB know how to use a slot receiver. Many teams don't.

Draftwire.com has a conversation with "stud" WR Andy Isabella.

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UMass Football News--February 14th, 2019

Hudl.com image

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on JUCO QB recruit Andrew Brito ready to get started with the Minutemen.

Things should be wide open at the QB position in 2019 due to the change in staff and the move to the spread offense.

UMass returns only one QB with game experience in 2018.

Mike Curtis 6-1 GP-GS 174.52 EFF (highest among the 2018 QB's) 26-40-412 65% AVE 4 TD's 2 INT's 44 LONG.

Also on the roster:

Mike Fallon 6-2 195
Randall West 6-4 220
Jaret Pallotta 6-5 215
Josiah Johnson 6-5 210

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Fan Sided has college football's Spring Game schedule.

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2019 opponent Akron has added Youngstown State to their 2019 schedule.

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WVNews.com has getting to know Neal Brown.

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Hogs Haven says Andy Isabella could give the Redskins passing game a boost.

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ESPN has Northwestern #19 and Army #25 in this 2019 preseason Top-25 poll.

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UMass Footall News --February 13th, 2019

If you go to the Combine website, click on participants, and then click "I" Andy's link comes up. Says his conference is the MAC.

The NFL Network has Saturday March 2nd as the workout day for wide receivers.

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Former UMass player  Ricardo Miller (2013) signs with the WWE.

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Syracuse.com has New York's top recruits for 2020. UMass has offers to four of them.

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SB Nation previews the 2019 Akron team and has UMass as a 2.5 favorite on September 23rd.

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247Sports has the top recruits in Massachusetts for 2020.

The top recruits for Connecticut in 2020.

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AN HONORARY BOSTON DRIVER'S LICENSE GOES TO

This Plaistow, NH guy.

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UMass Football News--February 12th, 2019

NJ.com reports Rutgers gets a preseason 2019 ranking of #108. The Scarlet Knights' #59 recruiting ranking is low for a Power Five team, but it's a ranking UMass could only dream about. Rutgers snagged 19 three-star recruits.

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Former UMass player and coach Mike Dawson has been hired by the NY Giants as outside linebackers coach.

Husker247 has a post on Dawson leaving Nebraska.

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Calvin Ashley, the former five-star recruit Jack Driscoll beat out at Auburn, is leaving the Tigers.

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The Cheshire Herald has a post on two Cheshire Academy grads taking their football career to UMass.

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Watch Stadium.com has UMass 2019 opponents Northwestern and Army as preseason #25 and #24 respectively.

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Former UMass player Da'Sean Downey is a member of the the new AAF Arizona Hotshots team.

Downey was signed by the Ravens but was cut last spring.

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UMass Football News--February 11th, 2019

Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle talks with Coach Bell about recruiting, weather and an uptempo offense.

Bell related the UMass playbook will similar to Coach Hal Mumme or Mike Leach's lots-of-reps-with-a-limited playbook practice philosophy.

Leach has successful with the Air Raid offense at Texas Tech and Washington State. Leach's Washington State bio. His Red Raider offense led the nation in passing yardage six times with four different quarterbacks. so it was the system, not player. In this system, the running back has to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield.

Coach Bell was asked about recruiting two QB's in 2019. He said he thought two of the current Minutemen  QB's would be leaving. Randall West is a red-shirt junior, so he could be on track to graduate.

UMass recruit Andrew Brito is 5-10 180. He  threw for 3,071 yards and 30 TD's at College of the Canyons. He also  rushed for 175 yards.

Garrett Dzuro is 5-11 200 pounds. He is a good runner who totaled 1,000 rush yards in his senior season.

Current UMass QB Michael Curtis could be the starter in 2019. His body type is similar to the players Bell recruited.

Jaret Pallotta and Josiah Johnson are both 6-5 body types favored by Whipple. However, Johnson ran the wing-t in high school so there is no reason why they could not compete in Bell's offense.

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URI head coach Jim Fleming complains about UMass poaching a couple of the Rams recruits.

Quote from the article:

“I’d love to go play UMass. Let’s go. You think you’re going to be better than us? Put ‘em on the schedule. I’d love to line up against those guys.”

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Thanks to the blog reader who sent me the Driscoll graphic.

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 Off Tackle Empire reviews Rutgers 2018 season and looks to 2019.

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UMass Football Blog news

Hi Everyone. I've been cranking out posts seven days a week since August. With LOI day over college football news will be slowing down.

So I'm going to start my off-season no-posts-on-Sunday period.

I'll be back tomorrow with some news and discussion about UMass quarterbacks.

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UMass Football News--February 9th, 2019

 Coach Bell also said at the UMass Signing Day event that the Minutemen would play a base 3-4 defense plus "situational". I have no idea how the coaching staff will populate the three-four. My guess would be Isaiah Rogers will start at one corner and the other 10 positions are up for grabs. Maybe Chinedu Ogbonna and Penn State transfer Jarvis Miller at OLB and Cole McCubrey and Mike Ruane at ILB?

Bell also mentioned 2019 recruit Xavier Gonsalves could play LB in some situations. Since UMass had zero pass rush in 2018, I would think we will see a lot of LB blitzes this year.

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The UMass website has a 2019 Winter roster up. It does not have the Spring enrollees so I would think further updates will occur.

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Brandon London and the "Daily Blast Live".

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Football Scoop has the best recruiting classes for all Ten FBS conferences. Recruiting matters. Toledo has had the top recruiting class in in the MAC the last three years. The Rockets won the MAC title all three years.

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SB Nation has the best and worst recruiting classes relative to each FBS conference.

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Tanner Davis is a determined walk-on for UMass. I've blogged about Davis before.

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Spencer Whipple joins the Cardinals as a quality control coach

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UMass Football News--February 8th, 2019

After the UMass signing event I asked Coach Bell about the type of offense he ran. Bell said it would be a run-first spread offense with one back and no huddle.

Run first will be interesting for the Minutemen as running the ball is not something we have done well since we moved to FBS.

UMass rushing rank:

2012 #118 91.5 yards a game
2013 #105 125.17 yards a game
2014 #105 109.25  yards a game (Whipple's first year)
2015 #103 142.26 yards a game
2016 #124 99.50  yards a game
2017 #100 135.33  yards a game  (highest ranking)
2018 #102 139.50 yards a game

Coach Whipple did not have trouble developing a run offense in his prior stint with UMass. Marcel Shipp and Steve Baylark were a big part of the offense. That never happened during Whipple's FBS tenure. We have never finished out of the bottom ten in rushing offense since the move to FBS.

UMass is not exactly loaded at RB going into Spring Ball. Arkansas State, a group-of-five school where Bell two years as offensive coordinator was ranked #48 in rushing offense in 2018 with 189.77 yards a game.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on what we learned from UMass' signing day.

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MassLive has Andy Isabella has been invited to the NFL Combine.

Blogging the Boys looks at three slot receivers that could figure into Dallas' plans.

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The Cape Cod News has a story featuring UMass recruit Xavier Gonsalves.

The News also has another post about Gonsalves.

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Southern Illinois announces their 2019 schedule, which includes UMass. The Salukies have been a strong FCS team in the past, but fell to 2-9 last season.

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The Tampa Bay Times thinks UConn has the AAC's easiest non-conference schedule.

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Speaking of UConn, the Huskies announced their 2019 schedule and Edsall was not happy with their bye weeks.

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MLive has a report on Kalamazoo athletes signing LOI's. Included UMass OL signee Max Longman.

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UMass Football News--February 7th, 2019

I had a grand time at the UMass signing event yesterday. Sat with a couple of UMass legends. It'll take a couple of days to catch up with all the news from the event.

The UMass write-up on the 2019 recruiting class.

Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a story on UMass finalizing coach Bell's first recruiting class.

Josh Walfish reports on Coach Bell and the 2019 recruiting class.

MLive.com has a story about UMass recruit Max Longman's journey from three-sport player to offensive line for the Minutemen.

The Hartford Courant has a post on CT players signing LOI and includes Jarvis Miller transferring to UMass.

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Bell said he still had about 3 or so scholarships to offer and was keeping an eye on adding more transfers in the spring or summer.

Luke Paschall talked about signing three WR's. He said he would normally have about 11 scholarships allotted to receivers and UMass only had six scholarship players at that position when he arrive in Amherst.

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The Minutemen's weak 2018 recruiting class took a further hit when Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reported that class' highest rated player Josh Jefferson is leaving UMass for junior college.

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247Sports has Bell's first class rated #119 in the nation. It has the Minutemen's highest ever average rating (the first class with a average rating above 8.0). In addition Bell signed 12 three-star athletes. That doubles last year's total and, if I counted right, the highest ever number of three-star athletes since we moved to FBS.

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National Letter of Intent Day 2019--UMass Recruiting

I'm going to drive down to Amherst to see the UMass Signing Day event in person. That means I won't be able to comment on any previously not covered recruits until I get back. It's a long haul for me from New Hampshire so it might take a couple of days to cover all the news.

The event will be televised live on NESN+ and the UMass all-access website.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has what to expect for the Minutemen's Signing Day.

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The Daily Service has a post on former UMass player Brandon Collier's recruiting service for European players.

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Hoist the Colors reports East Carolina, Coastal Carolina and UMass are competing for DL Rick D'Abreu. He's a 247Sports three-star player.

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My Central New Jersey reports Aditya Singh, a 6-1 245 pound OL/DL will join the Minutemen as a preferred walk-on.

Singh's MaxPreps page here.

Hudl.com has video.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Javon Turner commtts to UMass

Javon Turner, a 6-0 188 pound WR from Lackawanna Community College has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

UPDATE: Now rated as a three-star recruit by 247Sports.

Hudl.com has video.

Lackawanna bio has some stats.

Turner chose UMass over a FCS offer.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Wilson Frederic verbals to UMass

Wilson Frederic has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

Frederic is a 6-2 275 pound DT from Everett, MA. 247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Boston Herald All-Scholastic.

Frederic chose UMass over four FCS offers.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Xavier Graham verbals to UMass

Hudl.com

Xavier Graham, a 6-3 305 pound OG from Niceville, FL has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

UPDATE: Now rated as a three-star player by 247Sports.

Hudl.com has video.

Grham had nine offers with UMass as the only FBS school. Drew attention from Florida State and Miami.

UMass Football Recruiting--Andrew Brito commits to UMass

Cougar News Online image

Andrew Brito, a 5-10 170 pound QB from College of the Canyons has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

UPDATE: Now rated as a three-star player by 247Sports.

Hudl.com has video.

Canyons QB draws inspiration from tragedy.

In an article from October 2018 NJ.com reports Brito was named the 2017 SCFA National Division, Northern League Player of the Year and an All-California JUCO selection, after generating 3,246 passing yards and 34 TDs as a freshman.

UMass was Brito's only FBS offer.

UMass Football News--February 4th, 2019

UPDATE: Today (Monday) is the start of a 48-hour recruiting "dead period". NJ.com explains what's allowed and what isn't before Wednesday's Signing Day.

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Coach Bell with JUCO QB Andrew Brito and JUCO WR Javon Turner.

Not much news this morning. We're in the final hours before national signing day. I think UMass is doing well for the short time the coaching staff has had to recruit.

UMass Football News--February 3rd, 2019

The Berrkshire Eagle covers former UMass QB Liam Coen's unbelievable chance to coach in the Super Bowl.

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Vanquish the Foe has a way-to-early power ranking of BYU's 2019 opponents.

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The AOSN (whatever that is) says the Senior Bowl is more than a game.

Black and Teal says the Jags should take a second look at five Senior Bowl standouts.

The Wasserman Sports Agency will be representing Andy in the NFL Draft.

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UMass Football News--February 2nd, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has posts on recent UMass verbals offensive line Max Longman and defensive lineman Billy Woodman.

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Currently, as we go into the last weekend before Signing Day, UMass has signed or has strong verbals from:

1 Running back

2 Wide Receivers

2 Offensive linemen

2 Defensive linemen

1 Defensive end

5 Defensive backs (probably three CB's and two Safeties)

1 Transfer outside linebacker

Bell and staff have yet to sign a quarterback, tight end or inside linebacker. UMass currently has 14 players and probably have seven or so scholarships to give. Bell also convinced two starters Isaiah Rogers and Bilal Ally to return for 2019.

Some global things to think about:

• Coach Bell was hired on 12/03. He seems to be recruiting well for the short time he has had.
• We're changing offenses from pro-set to spread.
• He inherited a roster that large holes at TE, RB and basically every position on defense. This will take more than one recruiting cycle to fix.
• Bell might keep a couple of scholarships open for transfers or late additions after Spring ball. 
• After 13 commits, this year's class has a higher overall rating average than last year and more three star recruits (by two).

I'm hoping for a big finish Tuesday and an even better year in 2020.

UMass Football News--February 1st, 2019

UMass officially adds four coaches to the UMass Staff.

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NJ.com reports on the status of New Jersey's Top-50 recruits on the last weekend before signing day. Mentions UMass a number of times.

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Penn added Kevin Morris to their staff as offensive coordinator and QB coach.

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Buffalo Rumblings reports on five Senior Bowl winners including Andy Isabella.

The Morning Call has small school prospects who shined in the Senior Bowl.

I've meaning to point out the NFL has more money than God and a mind bending number of analysts, coaches, support staff and more.

All that does not necessarily mean some teams know what they are doing...

Andy needs to go to a team that understands how to use the slot receiver position. Gruden got a lot of production out of Isabella in the Senior bowl. Andy would likely thrive in the Patriots organization. If he is drafted by a team or quarterback that wants to go deep all the time that may not work for him. If he's always the third or fourth read he's not going to make the impact like he could.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Billy Wooden verbals to UMass

Billy Wooden, a 6-2 290 pound DT from Baltimore, MD has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Baltimore Sun All-Metro First Team.

Wooden chose UMass over offers from Army and Air Force.

UMass Football News--January 30th, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports recent UMass verbals Logan Darby and Nasier Currie-Sudler have been rated three-stars and two stars respectively by 247Sports.

That makes eight out of 12 recruits three-stars. It appears that Coach Bell will sign a pretty successful 2019 class given his late start. The Minutemen still need DL's LB's and RB's.

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Former UMass star player and coach Liam Coen is livin' the dream coaching the Rams at the Super Bowl.

MassLive.com says Coen is relishing the chance to coach at the Super Bowl.

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The News-Herald says comparing Andy Isabella to Julian Edelman is unfair.

Chat Sports has a podcast discussing players the Raiders could be interested in including Andy Isabella.

The Mercury News thinks Gruden will draft at least two players from his Senior Bowl team.

Press Box Online says the Ravens could be interested in Isabella.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Nasier Currie-Sudler commits to UMass

Nasier Currie-Sudler, a 5-10 181 pound Safety has verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post and an interview with Currie-Sudler.

Recruit Georgia has a write-up and some stats. Good strength numbers at 181.

MaxPreps has football stats.

Currie-Sidler had seven offers. Chose UMass over offers from Buffalo, Troy, South Alabama, Kent State and Arkansas State.

Safety is a position of need for the Minutemen. Currie-Sudler should play early.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Max Longman comitts to UMass

Hudl.com image

Max Longman, a 6-4 295 pound OL from Portage, MI has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Honorable Mention All-State.

UMass was Longman's first FBS offer.

UMass Football News--January 28th, 2019

This article has coverage of former UMass player Brandon Collier's European player recruiting service.

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Butch Dill/AP image

247Sports Oakland Raiders has a post on players from the Senior Bowl that could join that club.

Sporting News has a post on Jon Gruden slapping Raiders stickers on Senior Bowl player who made plays (Isabella got two).

The SF Chronicle has Andy Isabella keeps place with john Gruden.

Fan Sided has five players who improved their NFL draft status at the Senior Bowl.

Bleacher Report has five players who boosted their draft stock at the Senior bowl.

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Neal Brown spoke to a packed house at a Mountaineer Banquet. Mentions his time at UMass.

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A 10 year old wins his school's Science Fair with a study attempting to prove Tom Brady is a cheater.

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UMass Football News--January 27th, 2019

Butch Dill/AP image

Andy Isabella was named most Outstanding Player for the North Squad in the Senior Bowl.

UMass write-up.

The Berkshire Eagle says Isabella shined.

The News-Herald reports Isabella was the North's most valuable player.

Flo Football says Isabella led all receivers in the Senior Bowl because of course he did.

CBS Sports reports Andy Isabella impressed at the Senior Bowl.

NFL Draft Wire has the top performers at the Senior Bowl.

Bleacher Report has Andy trending up in the NFL Draft.

Was it just me or did anyone else think the two numbskulls that were announcing were talking Andy down? They mentioned he "had an up-and-down" practice week after he made a couple of catches. Then when he scored a TD after shaking two tacklers they managed not to say his name. Then they said he had a "poor" week of practice. That's not what the print media was saying.

They loved Penny Hart, who did nothing all day. Isabella also blocked on plays that did not come his way, something Hart singularly did not do.

Isabella has performed well against any level of football he has come up against. His North Squad MVP was totally deserved.

UMass Football News--January 26th, 2019

Psu.com has a post on UMass and Penn State' future meeting in basketball and football. Also has some hoops history from Penn State's time in the A10.

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Arkansas State hires former UMass DC Ed Pinkham as defensive line coach.

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The Senior Bowl is today at 2:30 Eastern Time. Be sure to watch Andy Isabella.

12up.com says Isabella is the next totally annoying Patriots receiver.

WFAA.com has a post on a Cowboys draft profile of Isabella.

A CBS writer says Penny Hart overshadowed Andy Isabella in the final day of Senior Bowl practice.

USA Today wonders if Isabella will cook cookies for the team the drafts him.

The NY Post says Isabella could make Jets fans heart race.

The Mercury News reports on five intriguing prospects for the Raiders including Andy Isabella.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Jordan Houston

Flint Hill Athletics image

Jordan Houston, a 5-10 185 pound all-purpose RB will take a OV to UMass on February 1st. He has a UMass offer.

247Sports page here.

Currently a Maryland commit.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

Houston has 26 offers including a bunch of Power Five teams. BC, Syracuse and Temple have offered from the Northeast.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Josh Wallace II

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on DeMatha CB Josh Wallace verbaling to UMass.

The Minutemen currently have three CB's and one safety in the 2019 recruiting class.

UMass Football News--January 24th, 2019

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has news of this week's recruiting visits.

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Andy Isabella creates a buzz in the Senior Bowl, says he ran a 4.26 40.

Andy Isabella meets John Gruden.

Isabella get a mention in "Standouts from Day 1 practice"

Philadelphia.com says they love Isabella.

Hogshave.com says the Redskins should consider Isabella.

NFLspinzone says Green Bay needs a slot receiver.

Inside the Star thinks Andy could replace departed Cowboys WR Cole Beasley.

The Niners Station says only Darnell Savage was able to cope with Isabella.

Quote from the above article:

"Most other defensive backs out there were lucky to be within five yards by the time the ball got to Isabella"

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Josh Wallace commits to UMass

Josh Wallace, a 6-1 170 pound CB from DeMatha HS in Maryland has Tweeted he's verbaled to UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports has a post on Wallace's joining the Minutemen.

Hudl.com has video.

Joe Bleah image

Also does hoops.

This article from March 2018 features Wallace.

Wallace drew interest from Maryland and James Madison. DeMatha is a powerhouse HS that produces a lot of FBS talent.

UMass Football recruiting 2019--Deshawn Holt

247Sports image

Deshawn Holt a 6-5 220 pound DE from Waldorf, MD will take a recruiting visit to UMass on January 25th.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Committed to Maryland in June 2018.

The Washington Post report Maryland uncertainty disrupts the Terps recruiting.

Defensive end is certainly a position of need for UMass. Holt would see lots of playing time early for the Minutemen.

UMass Football News--January 22nd, 2019

Josh Walfish has a post on Coach Bell's filling in his staff with assistant coaches.

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Fran Dumphy's position-by-position review of the Senior Bowl players. Mentions Andy Isabella.

Cleveland Browns.com has Andy as one of five NFL draft prospects Browns fans need to know.

NBC Philidelphia has Isabella as a sixth round pick for the Eagles.

Sports Day has a Dallas mock draft with Isabella as a third round pick.

247Sports has small school players to know at the Senior Bowl (including Isabella)

Steelers Depot has Isabella as a 2019 Senior Bowl Sleeper.

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Black Shoe Diaries has a post on Jarvis Miller transferring to UMass.

The Reading Eagle also mentions Miller's transfer to the Minutemen.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Sharkell Matthews

Matthews #9

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" report Sharkell Matthews, a 6-1 223 LB from Salisbury School in CT will join the Minutemen as a preferred walk-on.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats.

UMass Football News--Jamuary 21st, 2019

I watched Marquis Young play in the East-West Shrine game Saturday. Young led the East with 10 rushes for 54 yards and a 5.4 AVE. He was also 1-for-1 on being targeted for a catch. The QB he was working with threw two INT's stalling East drives or he would have had even better numbers.

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Sports Illustrated gives conference (including Independents) grades for the 2018 season.

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ESPN rates UMass' 2019 opponent Northwestern as #18 in a way-to-early Top 25.

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Football Scoop reports UConn's Randy Edsall will pay $150k of his offensive coordinator's salary.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Jarvis Miller transfers to UMass

image credit unknown

Jarvis Miller, a 6-2 223 pound OLB from Penn State has Tweeted he will transfer to UMass as a graduate transfer.

247sports story here.

Victory Bell Rings has a short post on the transfer here.

Center Post Times has a story about Miller's transfer here.

Onward State has a note on Miller's transfer to the Minutemen.

OLB is a position UMass where we could use some help and depth. Hopefully Miller will have an outstanding year in 2019. He played in 33 games for Penn State. Recorded 23 tackles, 1 SACK, 1 FF.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Cameron Roberson III

Henry A. Barrios image

I've blogged about the commitment to UMass by Cameron Roberson before.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Roberson looking to make an early impact at UMass.

Bakersfield.com has a story about Roberson and his journey to UMass.

Quote from the above article:

“Hard work does pay off and that’s what I’m bringing to UMass,” Roberson said."

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UMass Football News--January 19th, 2019

UPDATE: Marquis Young will play in today's East-West Shrine game at 3:00 pm EST. The game will be on the NFL-Network (channel 777 here in Comcast New Hampshire). Young will be wearing a UMass helmet and also wear his #8.

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"Fight on State" has a post on the future UMass-Penn State football and basketball matchups.

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The Mountaineer explains UMass and Mizzou scheduled a home-and-home because Missouri didn't want to pay about $2 million to have the Minutmen play in Columbia.

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Sporting News takes an early look at 2019 for FBS independent teams.

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UMass adds Joel Reinhardt as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Tanner Davis

Tanner Davis a 6-2 200 pound Safety from Cheshire Academy has Tweeted he's joining UMass as a preferred walk-on.

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Davis joining the Minutemen.

Davis chose UMass over offers from Old Dominion and Buffalo.

UMass Football News--January 18th, 2019

UMass announced a number of future schedule changes and additions. Football Schedules.com also has a post on the Minuteman's future opponents.

UMass has added home-and-home with Northern Illinois, and also with Eastern Michigan (four games).

The big news for Minuteman fans is a home and home with Missouri with the
Tigers playing in McGuirk on October 24th, 2024. We've played a lot of SEC teams. Having one coming to McGuirk will be exciting.

UMass will also play a money game at Penn State on Veteran's day 2023.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" also has a post on the scheduling additions.

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If you missed it, UMass RB Jordan Fredericks is hanging up his cleats. This makes the return of Bilal Ally even more critical. It also makes the Minutemen running back corps a lot thinner.

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The Eagles sign Marken Michael to a future/reserve contract.

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Coach Bell wants to upgrade the walk-on program at UMass. UMass needs all the recruiting streams it can get..

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Jamykal Neal

Twitter image

Jamykal Neal, a 6-3 315 pound DT from Hutchinson Community College has a UMass offer. His Twitter post on the offer.

His 247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Neal has six offers including Akron, South Alabama and Charlotte from FBS. According to 247Sports, Neal will visit Amherst on 01/25/2019.

UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Logan Darby II

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on Logan Darby's commit to the Minutemen.

I blogged about Darby two days ago.

Safety is a position of need for UMass. The current roster lists only Claudin Cherelus and Joseph Norwood as safeties.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2019--Cameron Roberson comits to UMass

Cameron Roberson, a 6-0 190 pound WR from Bakersfield College has Tweeted he's committed to UMass.

I've blogged about Roberson before.

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