UMass Football News--September 4th, 2017

Matty Vautour says Saturday's loss to Coastal Carolina was the most disheartening yet.

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Bryton Barr was Hero's defensive player-of-the-week for his 13 tackles against Hawaii.

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Old Dominion opens as a 2 point favorite against UMass. (fixed point spread).

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The Virginia Pilot says Old Dominion was less than stellar against FCS Albany.

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Elijah Wilkinson made the Denver Broncos practice squad.

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Vladimir Ducasse made the Buffalo Bills roster, his fifth team in eight years.

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If you missed it, Liberty stunned Baylor.

Liberty students were so happy, the school canceled classes.

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UMass Football News--September 3rd, 2017

OK, I got nothin'.

Friends, we could be looking at a historic season for the Minutemen.

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UMass write-up of the game.

Coastal Carolina's write-up.

Mark Chiarelli of MassLive reports the UMass defense struggled again.

Matty Vautour says UMass drops to 0-2.

Our best player, Adam Breneman was injured.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reviews the Chants game.

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Hawaii beat Western Carolina 41-18.

Old Dominion beat Albany 31-17.

Temple lost to Notre Dame 49-16

Tennessee plays Georgia Tech Monday.

Ohio beat Hampton 59-0.

USF moved to 2-0 with a 31-17 win over Stony Brook.

Georgia Southern got run over by Auburn 41-7.

Appalachian State lost to Georgia 31-7.

Mississippi State blew out Charleston Southern 49-0.

Maine had lost to UNH on Thursday.

BYU lost to LSU 27-0.

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Game Day--Coastal Carolina

I can't get ESPN3 at all. The WHYN 560 also does not work.

The UMass Twitter feed has WEEI, which does work.

The Conway, SC weather is cloudy with thunderstorms, clearing in the evening.

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As I said yesterday, this is a tough game to predict. What UMass could do is continue to score points. We scored five TD's against Hawaii. The offense can move the ball. I think they'll do so today. The option is tough to defense. Former UMass Head Coach Jimmy Reid played it when he was in Amherst and said he thought it was the offensive scheme that placed the most pressure on defenses.

I think the Minutemen defense can play a lot better than they did against Hawaii. Most of the problems were mental. We were not run over physically. Clean up the mistakes and fly to the football.

I'll be watching and cheering for the Maroon & White.

Go UMass!

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Mark Chiarelli of MassLive reports UMass hopes to shake off last week's opening loss.

Matty Vautour says the UMass offense wants produce some pressure drives.

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John Connolly of the Boston Herald reports UMass DB Isiah Rogers wants to build off a strong performance from last week.

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The Post and Courier says Coastal Carolina begins life in FBS.

Myrtle Beach Online reports the Chants want to come out swinging.

MBO has a post on what you need to know about today's game between UMass and Coastal Carolina.

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The Bears released Victor Cruz.

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Hawaii opens at home against FCS Western Carolina.

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I watched the Boston College-NIU game last evening. The Eagles looked huge, but not very athletic. BC kicked a field goal in the last three minutes and NIU missed theirs giving the Eagles a 23-20 victory.

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UMass Football News--September 1st, 2017

A quick look a Coastal Carolina.

The Chants are a difficult team to preview. It's their first year in FBS. They're missing their HC, Joe Moglia (medical reasons) and they list their QB position six-deep. Coastal Carolina went 10-2 in 2016, so you would think they would be well positioned for FBS. However, they mostly played non-scholarship FCS teams and HBC squads. No CAA teams. No Big Sky teams. No Missouri Valley teams. They do get a fairly gentle introduction to FBS as they play only one Power Five team in 2017 (Arkansas) and apparently only one in 2018. Note that UMass will have played eight Power Five teams in 2016 and 2017.

The Chants are an option team. They averaged 254.3 yards a game in 2016. That would have put them 11th in FBS (one notch ahead of Ohio State). Total offense of 387.7 yards a game would have been good for 84th (about equal with Akron). They gave up 331.8 yards a game, which would have been good for #14 in FBS.

Coastal Carolina returns three starters on offense and five on defense. They must replace their lead RB and the entire offensive line except for the center.

In the past, when UMass played an option team, the Minutemen pulled a LB and inserted an extra safety, effectively playing a 4-2-5 defense. I think Don Brown did that way during his time at UMass. Defending the option means playing your assignment. Hopefully, the Minutemen defense won't miss as many of those as they did last week.

I think UMass has enough offensive firepower to win the game. The Minutemen defense needs to stop missing coverages. I think the front seven (or six if they pull a linebacker) will play well. The defensive backfield needs to improve.

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Matty Vautour has a post and a podcast on this week's game with Coastal Carolina.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the Coastal Carolina game.

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Underdog Dynasty previews the UMass-Coastal Carolina game and predicts a Chants victory.

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Chowder and Champions previews the game and picks the Minutemen to win.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle looks at the game and talks about how a player from the Berkshires ended up down in Conway, SC.

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In Thursday night games, Holy Cross threw a scare into UConn.

Maine and UNH hooked up in a barn-burner.

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UMass Football News--August 31st, 2017

UMass has their game notes for Coastal Carolina up.

So does Coastal Carolina.

News 13 has some game notes and Coastal Carolina's weekly video press conference.

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Former UMass player and coach Bill Durkin is the running backs and special teams coach for the Chants.

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Coastal Carolina's stadium has been undergoing renovations does not, as yet have a certificate of occupancy. The state engineer will be inspecting the stadium today.

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Lucas Kotler, who's a 6-4 315 pound member of the UMass offensive line, is featured in this article by Matty Vautour. Kotler has 10 career appearances for the Minutemen.

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Saturday Down South ranks SEC defenses and has Mississippi State #12 and Tennessee as #9.

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Old Dominion's Bobby Wilder calls on his Maine roots to build the Monarchs program.

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The first Thursday night college football slate begins today. The only 2017 UMass opponent playing is Maine and the game is available on College Sports Live. Holy Cross at UConn will be on ESPN3.

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UMass Football News--August 30th, 2017

Matty Vautour has a post on Michael Schreiner being named UMass kicker. As I said Sunday, I thought Schreiner had a strong debut. If we deserve any of the snarky ridicule that comes with our performance in FBS so far, the UMass kicking game has been one area that it's been true.

Kicking has been a negative for years. We missed critical field goals. Whipple has gone for low-probability fourth-and-whatevers a number of times. My particular peeve was kickoffs. The Minutemen would score and then we would kick the ball out of bounds and give the opposing team the ball right back on the 35. In 2016, UMass was in the bottom five is scoring production from field goals. Not to mention we were in the bottom of FBS in field goal percentage.

Let's hope that Schreiner's good beginning last Saturday was the start of a outstanding career at UMass.

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Adam Breneman did alright too.

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Keepers College Football Ratings has UMass a slim 1.72 point favorite over Coastal Carolina.

Vegas Insider has the Minutemen by 2.5.

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This article reports UMass and Coastal Carolina are negotiating a home-and-home series to begin in 2019 or 2012.

The Spokesman-Review picks Coastal Carolina 9th in the 11 team Sunbelt conference for 2017.

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Sports Illustrated says the UMass-Hawaii game was the best contest of  the week zero games.

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North Jersey.com names Victor Cruz the be one of the top players ever to come out of the area.

Speaking of Victor, this article discusses his second career with Bears.

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UMass commit Shatar McClay caught a 92-yard TD in his school's opening game last week.

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IT'S PROBABLY KIM JONG'S MINIONS

The blog got 178 hits from an Asian defense news website yesterday...

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UMass Football News--August 29th, 2017

Matty Vautour has a post on the UMass Coaches are getting the team and themselves back on track. Matty says senior DL Sha-Ki Holines will be a game-time decision Saturday. He also mentions the Minutemen had two DL players make their first game appearance: RSFR 6-3 275 pound Charlie Timite and true freshman 6-3 250 pound Jake Bycko.

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Mike Traini has a post on A.D. Ryan Bamford's question-and-answer session on Facebook Live. A number of replies concern the football program.

• the football schedules for 2018 and 2019 are complete
• future games could include Rutgers and Akron
• priority improvement for McGuirk would include a new scoreboard
• UMass is considering a new indoor practice facility

There's more in the article and it's worth a read. Again, I'm impressed with Bamford. He knows what he's doing and I think we'll see the results in UMass football, basketball and hockey.

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Howard Herman has report on UMass losing to Hawaii on a late TD.

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The Sentinel and Enterprise says the Pop Warner kids at halftime had a great time.

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West Hawaii Today reports Hawaii had some breakdowns too.

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KHON TV reports on John Ursua's big night against the Minutemen. Lots of video of Ursua running free in the UMass backfield :(

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Coastal Carolina adds nine games to future schedules.

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The Virginia Pilot report Old Dominion's new QB will be Blake LaRussa.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Josiah Johnson

Hudl.com image

Josiah Johnson, a 6-5 203 pound pro-style QB from Jacksonville, FL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Prep Sports Recruiting features Johnson in this article.

Beyond the Hashmarks also has a story featuring Johnson.

UMass is Johnson's first offer. Drawing interest from Memphis, Louisiana Monroe and Old Miss.

UMass Football News ---August 28th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" recaps the UMass-Hawaii game.

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SB Nation reports UMass tried a "Hail Mary" screen pass on the last play of the game and it didn't work.

SB Nation also says the Warriors swept UMass on a historic 20,000 mile home-and-home series.

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Hero Sports has a chance to vote for the offensive and defensive college players of the week including Dru Brown, John Ursua, and Jahlani Tavai of Hawaii and Bryton Barr of UMass.

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Off Tackle Empire said UMass ran the worst Hail Mary in history.

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The Virginia Pilot has a look at Old Dominion's starters.

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Philly.com has the keys to the Owls season.

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Tennessee loses their starting MLB.

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Maine and UNH play this Thursday night. Video will be available on College Sports live.

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UMass Football News--August 27th, 2017

Well, the year later, the result was the same. Everyone said it was going to be a close game and it was. It came down to the same thing, the UMass defense could not get a stop when it counted. Hawaii's winning drive took a little longer, but the result was the same. It was an exciting, close fought game.

Adam Breneman had 9 catches for 179 yards. Ford went 21-30 275 yards and 2 TD's. He did have an INT, but it was off the hands of the receiver and wasn't Ford's fault. The muffed punt was the momentum changer.

Freshman kicker Mike Schreiner had fine debut. He averaged 59.5 yards/kickoff and all five extra points were solid.

Hawaii WR John Urusla had a mammoth night going 12-272. His 52-yard catch on the last drive was the game winner.

There was one win for the program though, 12,145 fans showed up and it looked like there were more than that. If that many show up after a 2-10 season, imagine what we'd get if we won. We just need to win some games.

The results poll only two voters out of 60 correctly picked Hawaii by <7.

Let's get after Coastal Carolina next week.

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UMass's write-up here.

Kevin Dillon of MassLive reports UMass faltered in the final minute.

Dillon says Ford, Isiah Rogers and Bryton Barr had strong games for the Minutemen.

Matty Vautour reports UMass let another one slip away.

The Honolulu Star Adviser says the Warriors scored late to win the game.

The Mass Daily Collegian says it was heartbreak again.

The Collegian said Ford, Breneman and Isabella had good nights.

Saturday Blitz report three things about the Warriors-Minutemen game: John Ursula was unstoppable, the UMass defense is still a work in progress and Adam Breneman is one of the top TE's in college football.

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Game Day---Hawaii 2017

OK, it's finally Game Day. Entering our sixth season in FBS, it's been a long tough road for UMass fans, coaches and players. Today the Minutemen have a chance to break the meme and start 2017 with a win. This UMass team has the most talent since we've gone FBS. The Minutemen need to put it together and make some football plays today.

For me, it's the start of my 41st consecutive year with UMass season tickets. I'd really like to drive back to New Hampshire with a win in my pocket.

Win or lose, I'll be there rooting for the Minutemen

Go UMass!!!!

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NOTE: Dish channel 449 has the TV feed for the game here in New Hampshire.

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Long-time Amherst youth football coach Larry Smith will serve as an honorary game captain for the Hawaii game.

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Matty Vautour reports UMass is looking for a rare good start to the season.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a game preview of UMass vs Hawaii.

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Hawaii New Now, with an interview in front of McGuirk stadium, says Hawaii is preparing for UMass with attention to details.

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The Mountain West Connection predicts a 37-31 Warriors victory.

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247Sports picks UMass to cover the spread and win the game.

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West Hawaii Today says the Warriors are familiar with trips to far away places.

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The Boston Herald has three up and three down for Minutemen football in 2017.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle reports on UMass' opening game.

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Underdog Dynasty predicts a shootout and a close UMass victory.

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Fellow Independent New Mexico State releases some future game schedules, but no games with the Minutemen as yet.

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The Post and Courier reports Coastal Carolina is embracing the challenge of moving up to FBS.

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UMass Football Recruiting--Jaqaun Webb

Scout.com image

Jaqaun Webb, a 6-1 180 pound WR from Oxford, MS has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

This article from June 2017 reports on his in-state recruiting.

Webb has an offer from Old Miss.

Webb holds 14 offers including offers from Alabama and Ole Miss. The rest of his offers are mostly from Group-of-Five schools. It would probably be better for his football career to choose a Group-of-Five team like UMass because teams like Alabama and Ole Miss would very likely be recruiting over a three-star recruit like him.

UMass Football News--August 25th, 2017

A quick look at the UMass-Hawaii game:

Most football pundits (and Las Vegas) rate the two teams as pretty even. The comparisons somewhat show the tough schedule UMass plays as an independent. Hawaii had a feel-good season last year they went 7-5 and won a bowl game, yet the Minutemen played them pretty even. The Warriors did that with a #79th ranked overall offense and a #112 ranked overall defense. They lost to Michigan, San Diego State and Boise State by a combined total of 19-170.

This year they return eight starters on offense including QB Dru Brown (335-209 2,488 19 TD's) and Diocemy Saint Juste who rushed for 1,006 yards and 3 TD's. Last November the Warriors offense rang up 479 yards of offense and averaged 7.5 yards a play against the UMass defense.

On defense, Hawaii returns five starters. They have a new defensive coordinator this year. Hawaii also lost four-year kicker Rigo Sanchez who punted, kicked off and kicked field goals.

My take is this game is that it will come down to the UMass defense. Last year after UMass had scored twice late in the fourth quarter, the Warriors took only three plays to go 78 yards for the game-winning TD.  The UMass defense got beat over-the-top several times in that game. Hawaii was also 4-4 in fourth down attempts.

UMass can win tomorrow if the Minutemen defense can play better. A stronger UMass running game would help control the clock and keep Hawaii's offense on the sidelines. I think UMass can win this game, but it's going to be a nail-biter. Someone from the UMass defense needs to make a play.

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Kevin Dillon of MassLive reports UMass is ready to open its 2017 season against Hawaii.

Matty Vautour says it'll be a rematch of last November's showdown.

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Keepers College football ratings has UMass the favorite by 3.3.

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SB Nation reports UMass and Hawaii will be playing a 20,000 mile home-and-home.

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The Boston Herald says A.D. Ryan Bamford has confidence in Mark Whipple.

The Herald also report UMass players Ford and Breneman look to revive the UMass program.

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The Worcester Telegram relates Leominster's Jerell Addo is embracing life as a UMass LB.

The Telegram also says freshman LB Cole McCubrey could contribute right away.

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Saturday Blitz has three things to watch for in Hawaii-UMass game.

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Sportsnaut has the most dangerous Group-of-Five players in the country. It includes UMass' Adam Breneman as well as Hawaii's Jahlani Tavai. UMass fans will also get to see Old Dominion's Ray Lawry, USF's Quinton Flowers and Appalachian State's Jalin Moore.

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The Knoxville News-Sentinel says in most seasons, UMass would be the weakest team on Tennessee's 2017 schedule.

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Former UMass RB Sekai Linsay gets a lot of coverage in this article on Florida Tech's fifth season.

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UMass Athletics announces some strategic leadership changes.

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UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Trumane Bell II

247Sports image

I've blogged about Trumane Bell, a 6-2 225 pound weak-side defensive end from Lake Highlands, TX before.

This article from Scout.com updates his recruiting and reports UMass is still heavily involved.

UMass Football News---August 24th, 2017

Kevin Dillon of MassLive.com has a post on Shane Huber and his decision to give up football but remain active in the program. It's a shame Huber won't get to play his senior season. Kudos to him to stay positive and try to help UMass this year.

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Matty Vautour has a story about UMass presenting walk-on Alfred Adarkwah with a scholarship.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" also has a post on Adarkwah.

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Matty also has a story about Isiah Rogers being the primary punt and kick returner for the Minutemen.

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The Boston Herald has a story about A.D. Ryan Bamford's plans of McGuirk improvements and flexibility in scheduling.

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Athlon Sports previews the Hawaii-UMass game and predicts a Warriors win 38-34.

West Hawaii Today previews the 2017 Warriors schedule and predicts a 37-34 win in Amherst.

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The Montgomery Adviser reports on Troy coach Neal Brown and his school's future schedules including a 2020 trip to UMass. I think Brown will be HC at a Power Five school by then.

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The Salt Lake Tribune has a story about former UMass LS Emmitt Odegard.

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The Jackson Free Press previews Mississippi State.

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UMass Football News--August 23rd, 2017

UMass will wear a helmet sticker to honor Michael Boland who passed away during the off season.

Matty Vautour reports on the revamped UMass offensive line and the rest of the offensive starters.

One goal for the offense is to run the ball better. UMass was #124 out of 128 teams in rushing offense in 2016. A good part of that came from playing five Power Five teams (not many Group-of-Five teams rack up big rushing totals against SEC teams), but UMass did not do much better against lesser competition. Whipple's FCS offense featured a strong running game to go with his down-the field passing. I think Marquis Young is a good RB, but he needs more room to operate. Did you see the latest two-deep chart? This year Ray Thomas-Ishman weighs 350, Lucas Kotler 315, Derek Dumais 330, Jake Largay 325 and Jack Driscoll 300. Looks like the OL beefed up. Of the ten OL in the two-deep only one weighs less than 300. Let's hope that translates into more holes for Young to run into.

Nearly all the Minutemen wins so far in FBS have been defensive grinds. The lone game where the UMass offense dominated was the 2015 game against Buffalo where Marquis Young ran for 240 yards. It would be beneficial if we could do more of that in 2017.

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Matty also reports Shane Huber is at peace with walking away from football.

Shane Huber's Twitter statement here.

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The UMass Daily Collegian says UMass is getting ready for Hawaii.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald says the opening game will tell a lot about UMass and Hawaii.

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Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" previews the 2017 Minutemen schedule.

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Hawaii flies east for the UMass game and lands in ----- New York?

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Coastal Carolina transitions from Fall Camp to in-season play.

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The Dispatch previews the Mississippi State-UMass game.

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This article reports UMass will play FCS Southern Illinois in 2020. The currently listed UMass 2020 schedule is here.

Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald reports UMass is comfortable as an Independent.

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ESPN ranks UMass fans #117 in fan happiness. We're ahead of UConn and only 8 slots behind BC.

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BTW, this was the best image I took of the eclipse. The air was not very steady here. Note the sunspot group near the sun's equator. Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

UMass Football Recruiting--Anthony Johnson III

Back in 2015 UMass offered Anthony Johnson, a 6-3 185 pound DB from Cleveland, Ohio.

I blogged about him several times before. He took a visit to UMass before signing with Penn State.

He is leaving Penn State and will seek a transfer.

Johnson was a three-star recruit.

According to Black Shoes Diary, Johnson was recruited over (something that happens a lot in Top-25 schools).

UMass Football News--August 22nd 2017

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UMass has their game notes for Hawaii up.

So does Hawaii.

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Matty Vautour reports the UMass defense looks to create more turnovers. He also has a projected two-deep for the defense.

Matty also reports that Sha-Ki Holines DT 6-4 265 will be be a game-time decision. Mario Patton 6-1 315 will back him up.

He wrote:" If the Minutemen start the lineup revealed on the depth chart, they’ll have four players making their first UMass starts — Sadiq Palmer (wide receiver), Malik Lee (fullback), Bryton Barr (linebacker) and Tyler Hayes (safety)."

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GMS Sprots previews the UMass-Hawaii game and predicts the Warriors over the Minutemen 34-30.

Sports Chat Place previews the Hawaii game and predicts a UMass victory.

A Crestview News-Bulletin writer picks the UMass-Hawaill "to be over in minutes" and the Warriors by 18.

Hawaii flies to Massachusetts today.

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A Fan Sided Tennessee writer looks at the Vols opponents and concludes UMass is "basically a FCS team"

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Mississippi State has a story with GIF's for each Bulldogs opponent.

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T.J. Sharpe is back healthy and practicing with Titians.

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Former UMass coach Dave Sollazo isn't wasting any time as new head coach at Naugatuck High School. (fixed link)

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UMass Football News--August 20th, 2017, Hawaii Game week

Matty Vautour has a post on JUCO's Jacoby Herring and Tyler Hayes. Both Herring and Hayes looked good during the season ticket holders scrimmage.

Hayes was playing with the first defense and he has good size at 6-0 215. His strong safety position will be critical in the new 4-3 defense. As the SS, he will be tasked with a lot of run support.

Herring had a least one nice catch at the scrimmage. At 6-4, he should be a physical mismatch for most CB's. At 170 pounds, he needs some muscle to go up against Power Five schools. He'll see a lot of time with Dingle, Palmer and Isabella. JUCO's don't have a lot of time to showcase their ability. Let's hope Tyler and Hayes make an impact this season.

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The Sentinel-Enterprise mentions UMass LB Jarell Addo. Addo moves to LB from safety this year.

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The Deseret News picks BYU to go 10-3 with UMass as one of the wins.

Get More sports predicts the Cougars to have 8 to 9 wins.

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Underdog Dynasty looks at the over-and-under spread of some Group-of-Five teams including UMass opponents Hawaii, Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion.

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Hawaii has a few JUCO's of their own and KHON TV says Rainbow's CB Manu Hudson-Rasmussen is making an impact with Hawaii's defense.

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RB A. J. Ouellette looks to run the football for the Ohio  Bobcats in 2017.

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Chris Ferguson will be the surprise starter at QB for the Maine Black Bears.

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UMass Football News---August 20th, 2017

Get More Sports predicts a three-win season for UMass.

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The Garden Island reports Hawaii eyes UMass in the season opener.

Hawaii News Now says Hawaii is preparing for the Minutemen's offensive weapons.

Hawaii's Twitter feed has some short video interviews with players and coaches about the UMass game.

KHON TV says the Warriors are dialed in.

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Coastal Carolina holds its final scrimmage.

The Chants just started their program in 2003, but they've sent a lot of players to the NFL.

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Sports on Earth predicts Old Dominion third in C-USA east.

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Get More Sports predicts under five wins for Georgia Southern.

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The Deseret News looks at BYU's schedule game-by-game and predicts Cougars 52-Minutemen 9.

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