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| Hudl.com image |
Atwood and Mottinger started last year. UMass needs to replace Johny Hassard, Cole Garcia and Marcellus Anderson who were the starting LT, LG and RG respectively.
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The UMass feed also has an interview with Minutemen DC Keith Dudzinski. He has good words for transfers Jalen Hudson and Tim Grant-Randall.
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Hero Sports takes a minimalist look at UMass' 2024 schedule.
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2024 opponents Georgia and Missouri are #1 and #10 in this pre-season 2024 ranking
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Continuing on with Coach Bell's comments from the Gridiron Club Zoom meeting. At the end of the meeting someone asked about players coach Bell felt had made improvements or had impressed so far in camp. Again, I did not have my voice recorder and Bell went through the names really fast, so I missed a few.
1. Running backs Ellis Merriweather and Jared Cole. Bell said Merriweather could be UMass' best offensive player. The Minutemen were #114 in rushing offense in 2019 and #126 in Time-of-Possession. A better running game would go a long way towards making UMass respectable.
2. He mentioned TE Taylor Edwards was bigger and stronger.
3. Bell mentioned defensive linemen Taishan Holmes and freshman Josh Atwood. Bell said Holmes could be the starting NT.
4. In the defensive secondary Bell mentioned freshman TeRai Powell. He also mentioned Notre Dame transfer Noah Boykin. Bell noted Josh Wallace started in eight of the 2019 games. Bell mentioned redshirt freshman Taj Jones. I have no idea how good the UMass secondary coverage is because the Minutemen front seven were so porous last year.
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If UMass ends up playing Army, that could be a tough game. The Black Knights have outscored their two 2020 opponents 79-7. I watched both games and Army dominated Middle Tennessee and Louisiana-Monroe.
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AND YOU THOUGHT THE MEDIA'S CREDIBILITY COULD NOT GET ANY LOWER.
Reports states New Jersey is the most physically and mentally fit state.
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The starting OL for UMass on August 31st 2024 was:
RT Luke Painton RG Ethan Mottinger C Josh Atwood LG Wyatt Terlaak LT Brayden Rhome
2nd string:
RT Jaxon King RG Benjamin Roy C Peyton Miller LG Mao Glynn LT Ryan Mosesso
In the transfer portal UMass added two first-team All Ivy OL's.
Mike Entwistle from Harvard and Kyle Brown from Dartmouth. As Grad transfers and All-Ivy I would think they would be plug-ins at RG and LG. The Minutemen Command reviews Kyle Brown and Mike Entwistle.
The Minutemen also added Sullivan Weidman from West Virginia. He appeared in all 13 games for the Mountaineers in 2024 in special teams and some at guard.
If all the above are healthy in 2025 UMass seems to fairly well set along the offensive line. They currently have 13 O-linemen on the roster (not counting the transfers). Three of the thirteen are true freshmen.
This seems a solid group to enter the MAC with. In our previous stint in the conference UMass had only one All-Mack offensive lineman (Anthony Dima 2013 Third Team) in four years. The O-line leads the way and hopefully this group will lead us to some victories in 2025.
UMass has its game notes for Eastern Michigan up.
Eastern Michigan's game notes for UMass.
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Chris Tucci has a really nice photo album of the UMass-BC game on Flickr.com
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Coach Bell hopes the students get to have a football tailgate. The Hamp Gazette reports nine players did not practice Monday. "Nine UMass starters did not practice Tuesday: quarterback Tyler Lytle, defensive lineman Taishan Holmes, defensive back Bryson Richardson, defensive lineman Xavier Gonsalves, wide receiver Jamir Roberts, running back Kay’Ron Adams, offensive lineman Brian Parish, defensive lineman Josh Atwood and linebacker Zack Magdis"
I don't think all those are starters. Hope to get most of them back for Saturday.
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With the student tailgate closed, a lot of them ended up in Amherst.
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Play Michigan looks at the odds for the Eagles-Minutemen game.
After Coach Bell's announcement of the injuries the Vegas odds jumped to EMU by -22. I donno. UMass plus 22 points at home looks pretty good to me.
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EMU's HC Chris Creighton gets a contract extension.
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Our old friends over at Hustle Belt looks at the results of the Eastern Michigan-Wisconsin game.
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Meanwhile, the suffering in Tallahassee is intense. We feel your pain, Seminole fans.
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Another excellent effort by the UMass defense. The Minutemen held Arkansas State to 68 total yards in the first half. They had 3 SACKS and 8 TFL. For the second time this season, the defense held an opponent to zero third down conversions, going 0-8 against the Red Wolves. Arkansas State was held to 275 yards of total offense.
The offense woke up. UMass had 475 yards of offense and actually scored TD's in the second half. I stand by my contention all UMass' offense needs is an effective QB.
Olsen continued to struggle with his accuracy. He still tends to float passes high and that led to a pick-six that was the winning points for the Red Wolves.
Two bad calls and one great call:
In the second quarter quarter UMass drove to the AK State two. A gadget pass by George Johnson went incomplete. An option run by Olsen was run down from behind. I would have put Campiotti under center and run right over Josh Atwood's ass three straight times. Even a field goal in that series would have ultimately won the game.
One great call: on the two-point conversion try to tie the game, the pass call was perfect. When the ball left Druzo's hand it looked like a sure score. However, the Arkansas State defender absolutely blew up Isaac Ross and stopped him short of the goal line.
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UMass Write-up here.
Arkansas State write-up here.
The UMass Daily Collegian says the Minutemen came up inches short.
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Upsets weekend.
Tulane lost to UCF and will probably fall out of the top-25.
Toledo and Buffalo played earlier in the week.
Stony Brook lost to Towson.
Eastern Michigan had a bye.
Temple gave up a TD with 40 seconds to play and lost to Houston.
UConn continued their amazin' run and upset Liberty. That makes the Huskies bowl eligible and knocks the Flames out of the Top-25.
Texas A&M lost a defensive struggle to Auburn.
Army lost another defensive struggle to Troy 10-9.
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Josh Atwood and TeRay Powell have been awarded the 2024 Michael Boland award.
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Corey Schneider explains the Midnight Ride Collective. The MRC will help us win in the MAC. Join here.
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During the spring game Tulsa transfer Cookie Desidero took most of the run snaps. He' so new UMass does not have his bio up yet. I blogged about Desidero back on January 17th.
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Former UMass DT Viczaril Alobwede is in the transfer [portal again.
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The game will be available on ESPN+. Subscription is $5.99/month. You can unsubscribe after the first month.
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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Herd-Minutemen game.
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The Herdzone says unbeaten Marshall welcomes UMass.
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College Football News previews the game and predicts Marshall 45 UMass 6.
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Mike Moran of the Hampshire Gazette reports the Minutemen face a big challange in #16 Marshall.
Moran reports SR defensive lineman Jake Byczko 6-3 260 is now healthy and back in the rotation.
He also mentions FR linebacker Gerrell Johnson 6-3 225 and FR DT Josh Atwood 6-3 360 improving in practice and will see more reps in today's game.
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The Charleston Gazette-Mail says the Herd marches ahead against UMass.
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I thought the UMass defense gained confidence as the GSU game went on. They looked visibly much faster than 2019. Today's game should give the young Minutemen defense more experience and all this will pay dividends in 2021.
The Minutemen offense has a tough task in facing the Herd's defense, which is nationally ranked in just about any defensive category you would care to name. Last week UMass' longest runs were QB scrambles and the longest pass completion was only 15 yards. The Minutemen need to improve on that today.
I'll be there watching.
Go UMass!!
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The Hampshire Gazette reports on Alex Miller's work with the UMass offensive line.
The Gazette notes Josh Atwood 6-3 330 has been moved to center.
The starters for the last game of 2021 (New Mexico State) were:
RT Johnny Hassard 6-5 290
RG Max Longman 6-4 315
C Dalton Tomlison (in transfer portal)
LG Helber Fagundes 6-5 325
LT Ethan Mottinger 6-5 315
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UMass announces the details of the Spring Game. The big news is the game will be available on NESN, so non-local Minutemen fans can see the game.
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The Gazette says playing in pads helps separate the gamers from the pretenders on the practice field.
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Notebook from week #2 of Spring practice at Stony Brook. UMass has lost three in a row to FCS teams.
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UConn signs a home-and-home with Wyoming.
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Indiana is learning to master "significant changes" with Coach Bell's new offense.
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The UMass website previews the 2022 Minutemen defensive line.
The Minutemen have had few FBS-level defensive ends since the move from FCS football. In general, we have not had a pass rush and little in the way of edge contain. The MAC had some very good QB's and some really average FBS-level ones. We made most opposing QB's look very well indeed.
In 2022 UMass was ranked #128 in sacks (less than one/game). The Minutemen were #127 in tackles for loss (3.5/game).
Hopefully, transfer Marcus Bradley 6-3 275 and Marcus Cushnie 6-2 250 will be blocks Coach Brown can build a defense around.
This year UMass will have eight DL's with game experience and two true freshmen. Someone did a study of NFL defensive linemen and found the average DL took almost three times as many steps per game than offensive linemen did (because DL's have to chase the play). So DL line depth is an issue. You have to rotate defensive linemen or they're gassed by the fourth quarter. We'll see starting with Tulane if the UMass defensive line has made progress.
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The Hampshire Gazette reports Josh Atwood has traded defense for offense.
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An ESPN writer ranks all 131 FBS teams in tiers. Save time and scroll to the end.
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ESPN details it's opening week coverage of college football. Announcers Jack Benjamin and Brian Kinchen will call the UMass-Tulane game on ESPN+.
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Fan Duel looks at the odds for UConn's opener against Utah State.
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Action Sports predicts six wins and a bowl game for Tulane in 2022.
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Whitaker's Rutgers bio here.
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The UMass Daily Collegian has a nice story about UMass center Josh Atwood.
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After a head coaching change, 12 Ball State players (including the MAC Freshman-of-the-Year) have entered the transfer portal.
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The Toronto Argonauts sign former UMass WR Mark Pope.
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| Jalen John runs the rock in spring practice |
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The Natick report has a post on native son Josh Atwood.
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Cole Garcia's motivational speech goes viral.
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UConn's QB position is wide open.
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New Mexico, UMass' opening 2023 opponent looks to become bigger, stronger and faster.
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UMass's #2 opponent Auburn loses a former #1 rated JUCO DL to the transfer portal.
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The UMass Sports Insider Show will air biweekly on NESN.
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The UMass website has an interview with Coach Miller and breakdown of the Minutemen offensive line.
I think Josh Atwood at center and Max Longman at one tackle position are locks to start. Maybe Ethan Mottinger and Cole Garcia at guard. Probably Ben Bohnenberger or Johnny Hassard for the other tackle.
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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the 2022 Minutemen special team players.
There have been a number of studies that indicate special teams are involved in victory or defeat in about one third of all games. Missed field goals cost UMass two or three wins during the Whipple era. George Georgopoulos was an excellent punter, but it did not make much of a difference because opposing offenses scored no matter what their starting position was.
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Yahoo Sports has Tulane at -29.5 for the Minutemen game.
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College Football News picks Nevada to beat the spread over New Mexico State.
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I think we've got a shot at winning this game. First, UConn has played a stunningly mediocre group of opponents. Have they beat anybody with a winning record?
Second, the Minutemen offense has come alive in the last three games. The QB duo of Ahmad Haston and AJ Hairston have moved the ball even against SEC teams. Little noticed was the offensive line reshuffle moving Josh Atwood to RG and Benjamin Roy to C. The new-look UMass O-line repeatedly caved in Georgia's defense front. The Minutemen rushing game has markedly improved over the last three games.
I'll be there cheering for the Maroon & White. Go UMass!!
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The Hampshire Gazette says UMass has one last shot at an FBS victory.
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The New Haven Register reports UConn believes "It's a big week for us".
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The UConn Blog (good name) previews the Minutemen-Huskies game.
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Winners and Whiners thinks UMass will beat the spread.
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Fox News 61 report UConn looks for their 8th victory of 2024.
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Georgia needed eight overtimes to beat Georgia Tech last night.
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Mike Moran of the Gazette reports Coach Bell "excited" about what the Minutemen offense could bring in the first game of the season.
UPDATE: UMass has their Georgia Southern game notes up.
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In the recent depth chart for the Georgia Southern game, there are nine freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the offense two-deep.
Will Koch QB 6-3 201
Jared Cole RB 5-9 190
Onuma Dieke WR 6-5 195
Zamar Wise WR 6-2 188
Jackson Manning TE 6-5 235
Johnny Hassard LT 6-5 285
Joe Horn C 6-1 325
Max Longman RG 6-4 326
Xavier Graham RG 6-2 330
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Fourteen (!?) redshirt or true freshmen on the defensive two-deep.
Aaron Beckwith DE 6-4 285
Josh Atwood NT 6-3 360
Cletus Mathurin DT 6-1 305
Hugo Klages DE 6-3 285
Viczaril Alobwede Buck (DE/LB) 6-4 240
Nahji Logan LB 6-4 228
Abdoul Krone LB 6-3 218
Miles Turner MLB 6-1 235
Gerrell Johnson WLB 6-3 225
Tristan Armstrong CB 5-11 183
Te'Rai Powell S 6-0 190
Osei Dixon S 6-2 192
Cody Jones DB 6-0 188
Cody Jones CB 6-0 188
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Four freshmen or redshirt freshen on the special teams two-deep.
Cameron Carson K 6-0 150
Garrett Dzuro H 5-11 200
Te'Rai Powell KR 6-0 190
Zamar Wise PR 6-2 188
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Click on an image and Blogger displays a larger view.
As I said last time, I did not get very good images of the UMass defense.
The first team DL seemed to be Billy Wooden and Cletus Mathurin ---and #62 (Taishan Holmes ?). Viczaril Alobwede and Avien Peah as the DE's/rush LB's.
The "2's" seemed to be Devin Baldwin, Josh Atwood, Timothy Moulton and one other player I did not get a number on. Other defensive linemen that could see time would be Aaron Beckwith, Uchenna Ezewike, Xavier Gonsalves and Hugo Klages.
The defensive line sets the performance of the entire defense. There is no better pass coverage than a defensive pass rush. Holding the line of scrimmage enables the LB's to get to the ball carrier.
In 2019 the Minutemen defensive line was probably the most over-matched unit on the team. In 2020, in limited duty, it looked as if some significant progress had been made. Hopefully, in 2021 the D-line will continue to improve.
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| Jakobie Keeney-James/Chris Tucci image |
Josh Atwood also spoke at the presser.
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As of Week #2:
UMass is #89 in total offense.
UMass is #119 in penalties.
UMass #70 in total defense.
UMass is #110 in scoring offense.
UMass is #114 in scoring defense.
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Georgia remains #1, Missouri jumps to #6 and Northern Illinois, with their win over Notre Dame, leaps into the Top-25. Liberty is in the "receiving votes" list.
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Buffalo's 38-0 shutout against Missouri was the first time the Bulls had been held scoreless since 2016.
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I blogged about Mathews back on June 27th and June 19th.
Mathews' lifting totals are impressive for his age. A college training program should provide even more upside.
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The Athol Daily News has a post on how UMass players rate in the new College Football 25 game.
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Josh Atwood gets a mention in this post by Metro-West on local players in EA Sports College Football 25.
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SB Nation has one transfer for each MAC school who will make a difference in 2024.
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The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal looks a changes in college football for 2024 including playoff expansion and helmet communications.
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