UMass Football News--August 14th, 2023

 Ellis Merriweather talks about his TD against Chiefs and how everyone back at UMass was cheering for him.

Ellis' TD catch. 

Three Saints (including Merriweather) who made a strong case in their New Orleans debut. 

Saints Wire says New Orleans' best RB wasn't a draft pick. 

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I was watching Georgia Tech's 2022 upset of North Carolina on the ACC network last evening. Taisun Phommachanh, splitting series with another QB, had 10 carries for 45 yards. He went 2-5 with 1 INT passing.

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USA Today ranks Auburn QB Payton Thorne as #11 in the SEC.

Fly War Eagle.com says Thorne may be #3 in the preseason battle.  They also state it won't matter anyway against UMass as Auburn will be up double digits at the start of the second quarter.

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UConn is also having a preseason QB battle. One of the competitors is ex-Maine QB Joe Fagnano. He went 16-27 209 yards and 2 TD's in the Black Bears win over UMass in 2021.

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UMass Football News--August 13th, 2023

 Check out this run by Greg Desrosiers! We didn't put pressure on opposing defenses with our running game last year. 2023 is going to be different.

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Chancellor Reyes took in UMass practice yesterday.   

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The New England Football Journal has updates on UMass' running backs and linebackers.

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In Auburn's first scrimmage the offense shined early, the defense later. 

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I was watching last year's game between Arizona and Colorado on the PAC 12 network last evening. Jerry Roberts led the Wildcats in tackles and was praised several times by the announcers. 

Check out this catch by Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan at 19:30 of the highlight reel.

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UMass Football News--August 12th, 2023

 

The Hampshire Gazette says the UMass football team is making strides during preseason.

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New Mexico State's defense looks to reload with transfers from Penn State and Arizona. The Aggies defense lost nine starters to graduation and the transfer portal off season.

Mountain West Wire previews the 2023 Mexico State Aggies.

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The Fighting Irish Wire looks at the helmets of the four independents and decides UMass is the worst and Nortre Dame's the best. Go figure.

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2023 opponent Arkansas State holds the first full pad practice of Fall camp.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail previews the Arkansas State Red Wolves. 

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Fox Sports looks at the over & under and win totals for UConn. The Huskies play four Power Five opponents: North Carolina, Duke, BC and Tennessee. UConn plays James Madison (8-3 last year), Sacred Heart and UMass in their last three games. Going 3-0 will probably give the Huskies another bowl game.

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A 247Sports writer says the era of transfer quarterbacks is upon us.

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UMass Football News--August 11th, 2023

 

UMass single game tickets are available. Miami, New Mexico and Arkansas State kick off at 3:30 pm. Toledo kicks off at 1:00 pm.

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The UMass "X" feed has some video on the offensive & defensive lines.

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The New England Football Journal has a post on UMass' OC Steve Casula's take on the 2023 offense.

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Fan Buzz.com previews the 2023 Minutemen. They predict three wins.

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Vegas odds.com has New Mexico State as a 7.5 to 10 point favorite over the Minutemen.

They also have Auburn as a 38.5 to 39 point favorite over UMass. 

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The Liberty blog "A Sea of Red" has UMass as a potential trap game for the Flames. 

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The Miami Redhawks lost two OL starters to  Power Five schools, but they return 60 starts.

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UMass Football News--August 10th, 2023

 The UMass Athletic Dept received a record amount of donations in 2022.

The UMass Gridiron Club is the football-specific organization that supports Minutemen football. Any donation will help Coach Brown bring back a winning tradition to UMass Football. This year the Gridiron club donated funds that increased the number of lifting stations in the Performance center.

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Jeremy Horne visited UMass practice. Horne lettered for the Minutemen in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Horne recorded 85 catches for 1,343 yards and 11 TD's for UMass.

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Three takeaways from the first half of New Mexico State's Fall camp.

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Auburn added over 40 players during the off season. Five who have impressed in Fall camp.

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An Eastern Michigan play gives his scholarship to a teammate who was struggling to pay for college.

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MSN predicts Toledo as MAC champion and possibly a New Years Day team.

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Liberty mourns the death of a 19-year old freshman payer.

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UMass Football News--August 9th, 2023

 The UMass athletic dept has a nine minute video of the offense's status in Fall camp.

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BTW, at Saturday's practice, Brady Olsen was wearing #2 instead of 12.

On offense Stony Brook transfer Shawn Harris, Jr was wearing #12.

PWO QB Conner Whitson was wearing # 18.

Greg Desrosiers. Jr.

Greg Desrosiers, Jr was wearing #3, now #20. 

Arizona transfer RB Jalen John was wearing #21.

Arizona transfer LB Tyler Martin was wearing #5.

Miami transfer Mark Pope was wearing Ellis Merriweather's old #7.

Arizona transfer Mark Simpson was wearing #8.

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The UConn Blog (good name) looks at the Huskies QB battle.

Connecticut governor Ned Lamont visits the Huskies camp and weighs in on conference realignment and UConn's prospects. 

Can you imagine the Massachusetts governor visiting UMass football? I can't either..

Update: Dennis Hernandez, brother of Aaron Hernandez threatens UConn football.

"I've got a bullet for everybody", he said.

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Auburn's Toomer Oaks can be rolled this year returning one of the War Eagles cherished traditions.

Notes from Auburn's training camp.

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UMass Football News--August 8th, 2023

 The 2023 edition of the UMass Football record book is up.

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More training camp images.

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The New England Football Journal has Q&A with coach Brown after Monday's practice.

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The first USA Coaches poll is out. Penn State is #7. Toledo got five votes. No other UMass 2023 opponents appeared.

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Former TCU coach Garry Anderson visits New Mexico State's training camp.

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Former Springfield Catholic star Tyson Riley is primed for big season with Army football. 

Army opens Fall camp. UMass and Army play October 28th at West Point.

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UMass football News--August 7th, 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" does a position review of the 2023 Minutemen specialists.

Studies have shown good (and bad) special team plays account for about one third of victories or defeats.

Last year CJ Kolodziey went 79-2873 yards. He averaged 36.4 yards a kick. He had 16 inside the 20 (opponents had 12) and 7 50+ yards (opponents had 5). He started slow, but improved throughout the year.

Cameron Carson went 13-18 in field goals (opponents also went 13-18). Two of his misses were over 50 yards. Carson scored 52 points, which was almost 35% of all the points scored by UMass in 2022.

With a better offense, Carson should have more opportunities this year.

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New Mexico State finishes their 2nd scrimmage of Fall camp.

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UMass' first home opponent Miami (Ohio) will meet their namesakes Miami (Fl) on September 1st.

The Redhawks had a tough off season losing 17 players to the transfer portal. Two of their starting OL signed with Power Five schools.

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ATTN MIDNIGHT RIDE COLLECTIVE

The West Virginia collective signed a deal with New Trust Lager that pays 15% of beer sales to the collective. I see a lot of five-star players in the Mountaineers future..

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UMass Football News--August 6th, 2023

 

UMass held an open practice yesterday and I drove down to watch.

My observations:

Be of good cheer Minutemen fans, because I thought UMass looked impressive. First, numbers: if you remember the home game when it looked like BYU's travel squad substantially out-numbered the players UMass dressed for the game, then we had a full complement yesterday.

Size: again remembering looking at FCS Southern Illinois and thinking they looked bigger across the board than the Minutemen. Southern Illinois is a pretty good FCS team. If you missed it, the Saluki's beat a Big Ten team last year. UMass has a lot of big guys this year.

As I was walking past the end zone, I said "Hi" to Eni Falayi, who looked every bit of the 6-5 height listed in his bio.

Offense: the Minutemen offense held it's own against Don Brown's killer defense and made some nice plays. There were good catches by Mark Pope, Anthony Simpson and more. UMass gained yards running the ball inside and outside. The QB's looked good passing and pulling the ball out and running. This offense looks as if it has much more talent than we've seen in a long time.

The defense also looked good with close coverage of receivers and closing on run plays.

I don't know how many wins all this will produce in 2023, but I do think this is the most complete UMass team we've had since we moved to FBS..

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The New England Football Journal was there and they report the UMass QB battle heats up. 

The NEFJ also has the Minutemen defense looks dangerous. 

The NEFJ also has some video from the practice here, here and here.

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UMass Football News--August 5th, 2023

 

UMass will UConn at McGuirk on November 25th.

FBS Schedules.com also has a post on game.

Actually, this is better. Wouldn't it be great if the game meant bowl eligibility for either or both teams? A UMass-UConn game with something on the line would be like old times. 

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The Hampshire Gazette reports the UMass defense is further along than it was last year. The Minutemen defense made strides last year, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

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Fan Buzz asks if New Mexico State can be C-USA contenders? The article says the Aggies should be easy winners over UMass.

Sports Gambling Podcast takes a look at the New Mexico State Aggies.

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UMass Football News--August 4th, 2023

 A new UMass podcast "Outside Amherst" introduces the Midnight Ride Collective and also has an interview with Minutemen legend Coach Jimmie Reid.

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A College Sports.com writer thinks the MAC conference is the only conference option for UMass.

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The Liberty site "A Sea of Red" previews the 2023 Flames-Minutemen game.

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 More images from this week's practices.

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Hugh Freeze is excited about the 2023 edition of Auburn's offensive line. 

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Chron.com reports UConn opens Fall camp with higher expectations.

The CT Insider says UConn's revenue from the Big 12 would be ten times the income from Big East basketball. Like it or not, football is the sport you have to plan your athletic department around.

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NCAA.com predicts Merrimack to win the NEC conference crown.

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UMass Football News--August 3rd, 2023

 

Jordan Mahoney named to the Bronco Nagurski Watch List.

Nagurski had a great name and a legendary career in college football and the NFL.

From his Wikipedia bio:

'A time-honored and perhaps apocryphal story about Nagurski is a scoring run that he made against the Washington Redskins, knocking two linebackers in opposite directions, stomping a defensive back and crushing a safety, then bouncing off the goalposts and crashing into Wrigley Field's ivy-covered brick wall in the back of the endzone. On returning to the huddle for the extra point try, he reportedly said: "Jeeze, that last guy hit me awfully hard."

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More images from Monday's practice.

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Yahoo Sports reports New Mexico State will lean on a young linebacker corps. 

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New Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is resurrecting the War Eagles' recruiting in Alabama.

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Fox Sports has the over-and-under and win total odds for the Liberty Flames. 

Last year the Flames played four Power Five opponents and beat two of them. The two losses were by a combined two points. This year, Liberty does not play a Power Five opponent. Based on their past production, a C-USA championship and maybe a 10-2 record should be reasonable..

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UMass Footballl News--August 2nd, 2023

 Nice video from the UMass Athletic dept on opening Fall camp.

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The New England Football Journal has thoughts from Coach Brown after Day three of football camp.

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Cole Garcia talks about the O-line and Amherst (fixed link). Every time I hear him talk, I think he's born to be a coach..

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Jordan Mahoney

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" concludes his 2023 position reviews with Minutemen defensive backs.

This is a deep and talented group. If any unit at UMass is competitive with Power Five schools, it's the defensive secondary. Jordan Mahoney is probably UMass' best player.

Coach Brown loves defensive packages. The UMass secondary can play nickle or dime sets. He should be able to scheme down-and-distance sets to keep opposing offenses guessing. UMass was 9th nationally in pass defense in 2022. We were #118 in rush defense. I think the rushing defense will be better in 2023 and that means opponents will have to throw more. With more attempts against them, this year's numbers might not look as good, but will result in more wins for the team.

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Miami of Ohio picked to finish 2nd in the MAC East. UMass' first home opponent.

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The Casper Tribune previews 2023 opponent New Mexico. 

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Florida A&M pauses Fall camp after a locker room incident.

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UMass Football News--August 1st, 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a 2023 position review of the Minutemen linebackers.

Last year Jalen Mackie had 98 TT and 14-37 TFL. This year senior transfer Jerry Roberts 6-2 240 should step into Mackie's role. He started all 12 games for Arizona last year. His brother, Jyree Roberts 6-1 225 should keep the Roberts family name in the UMass box score in future years. Gerrell Johnson, Nahji Logan and Jalen Steward are experienced LB's.

When I attended that practice in 2021, UMass had five LB's practicing. This year, we have significantly more speed, numbers and size. I think this is a talented group and should be an effective part of Coach Brown's attacking defense.

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The UMass Twitter feed has video from Day #2 of practice.

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Happy belated birthday to Coach Brown.

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Jay Burnham has a video interview with Jordan Mahoney.

Mahoney's UMass bio. Lost in UMass' 1-11 season was Mahoney's brilliant play last year. He rang up 42 tackles (28 solo, 14 assisted), 3.0 TFL (six yards), three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries (22 yards), three interceptions (105 yards) and six pass breakups..

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Yahoo Sports has story lines from Auburn's Fall camp.

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UMass Football News--July 31st, 2023

 The UMass Twitter feed has video from Sunday's practice.

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Coach Brown said the team will be in full pads today.

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 UMass 2024 WR commit Kenyon Massey took in Sunday's practice.

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Conner Whitson, a 6-2 198 pound Pro-style QB CA has joined UMass as a PWO.

MaxPreps has some video of Whitson.

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Saturday Blitz says Auburn is the hottest team in college football recruiting right now.

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UMass Football News--July 29th, 2023

 

Yesterday was the first day of Fall Practice.

Some video from the practice here.

Also an interview with UMass WR George Johnson III. Lots of new faces in the WR room. This is a unit that needs more production in 2023. They did not get a lot of help from the QB's last year, but also had some drops. The WR's can make a big contribution to an improved UMass offense this year.

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The Greenfield Recorder reports UMass opens Fall camp on a sweltering July day.

The New England Football Journal has five things to watch in the Minutemen's Fall camp.

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Andy Isabella signs with the Buffalo Bills.

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UMass Football News--July 28th, 2023

 Yesterday was report day, so UMass opens Fall camp today.

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Mke Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" continues his 2023 position review with UMass' Edge Rushers.

This group has been a multi-year problem for the UMass defense. Since the move to FBS the Minutemen have lacked size, athleticism and above all, speed on the edge. The Minutemen have been able to put pressure on opposing QB's and have not been able to maintain defensive contain on the outside.

The Minutemen had 18 sacks for 118 yards in 2022. Opponents had 25 for 169. UMass and opponents tied for 11 forced fumbles. 

The edge is the heart of Brown's pressure defense. UMass improved significantly in 2022. With more depth and talent, I'm hoping the Minutemen defense improves even more in 2023. 

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New Mexico State opens Fall camp.

The Aggies participate in their first ever C-USA Media Day. 

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Sports Illustrated predicts a 97.2% chance of an Auburn victory over UMass. 

Auburn's QB competition is still open.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Joshua Robinson

Twitter image

 Joshua Robinson, a 5-6 154 pound WR from Clearwater, FL has a UMass offer.

247Sport page here.

Hudl.com has video.

MaxPreps has stats. 1529 All-purpose yards last year. 

Robinson has five offers including Charlotte from Group-of-Five. The speedy Florida WR would add some octane to the reviving Minutemen offense and he could find a home in Amherst.

UMass Football News--July 26th, 2023

 Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has another 2023 position review this time of the defensive line.

Since our move to FBS the defensive front seven have been a deficit for the Minutemen. We lagged on speed, size and athleticism. Coach Brown has made an impressive turn around in two years. In 2022 the Minutemen had 72-223 TFL and 18 Sacks. There is no better defensive play than a DL or LB in the opposing team's backfield.

I once read a post on NFL defensive linemen. The study said the average DL took three times the number of steps than an offensive lineman did during a game (because the defensive has to chase the play). Having enough depth so DL's can be rotated in and out prevents the defense from being gassed in the second half.

Transfer JB Brown could be in the regular rotation if he could return to his 2018 form where was one of Arizona's most effective players.

This is the deepest, most athletic group of defensive linemen we've had. I'm looking forward to watching them play.

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College Football News predicts one win for UMass in 2023.

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Fan Duel looks at 2023's Week 0 match-ups including UMass-New Mexico State.

Possibly written by an AI writing assistant? The story has the Minutemen and the Aggies as the bottom two in FBS last year, which is not true as New Mexico State went 7-6 and won a bowl game. That's probably from 2021.

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Western Mass News has 2023 UMass over-and-under plus projected win totals. 

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2023 opening opponent New Mexico State cancels a four game series with UTSA. 

The Aggies exuded excitement at the C-USA Media Day. 

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UMass Football Recruiting 2025--Ali Uaisele

 

Twitter image

Alai Uaisele, a 6-0 200 pound LB from Cincinnati, Ohio has a UMass offer.

247Sports Page here.

Hudl.com has video. 

Uaisele looks like he'd be a excellent fit into Don Brown's "viper" position. He could play for the most creative defense coach in college football. He has a Power Five offer from Kentucky and is drawing interest from Cincinnati.