Saturday, December 30, 2017

UMass Football News--December 30th, 2017

Tournament of Roses image
More stories about the UMMB at the Rose Parade:

Southcoast Today has the UMMB at the Tournament of Roses.

Metro West has local musicians playing with the UMMB in the Rose Parade.

The Keene Sentinel has local musicians at the Tournament of Roses with the UMMB.

WAMC has a short audio interview with UMMB diretor Tim Anderson.

WWLP Springfield has the UMMB prepares for the Rose Parade.

The Rose Parade Twitter feed.

The Rose Parade's official site.

Security is high in Pasadena.

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Tennesse RB John Kelley declares for the NFL draft. He had 101 yards against the UMass defense.

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OT, but ATL Today reports Georgia basketball is having a great start to their season. (except for a "baffling" loss to UMass).

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Friday, December 29, 2017

UMass Football News--December 29th, 2017

The Worcester Telegram has the UMMB is headed towards the Rose Parade.

The Hampshire Gazette has an editorial that says UMass shows its prowess with its band, a battery and dirt.

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Fellow Independent New Mexico State plays Utah State today in the Arizona Bowl at 5:30 pm.

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If you missed it, James Madison will meet North Dakota State in the FCS Championship on January 6th. That's a long season for the teams that make the championship game.

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BC coach Steve Addazio feels the Eagles future is bright with ACC Rookie-of-the-year A.J. Dillon.

UMass fans will get to see Dillon in person when the Minutemen play BC on September 1st, 2018 at the Heights.

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Thursday, December 28, 2017

UMass Footbal News--December 28th, 2017

UMass image
MassLive has the UMMB is Pasadena bound.

The Salem News has locals that will march with the UMMB on New Years day.

Northeast Public radio says the UMMB is preparing for the Rose Parade.

The Boston Globe says it's a long haul for the UMass Marching Band.

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I watched the Boston College-Iowa game last evening.  I can't help regretting UMass did not get A.J. Dillon when we recruited him. He's just an awesome back. He would have changed the program here.

IMHO, Dillon is the most NFL-ready back in the nation. It'll be interesting to see how long he stays at BC.

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OT, but Georgia hoops picked up a Top-60 basketball commit. Those home-and-home games with UMass that came with the 2018 football game are really helping the Dogs with their recruiting :)

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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

UMass Football News--December 27th, 2017

Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a post on long time UMass assistant and head coach Jimmy Reid.

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UMass recruit Elijah Johnson was named to the 2017 All-State Super 26 football team. The team is selected by the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association.

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Another MAC team lost a bowl game yesterday as Duke dominated Northern Illinois.

That put the MAC at 1-4 for the 2017 bowl schedule. UMass opponent Ohio supplied the MAC's only win.

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BC meets Iowa today in the Yankee Stadium in the Pinstripe Bowl.

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Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas--2017



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.Hope your Christmas is merry and bright! 2017 brought some wins for UMass fans. Let's hope 2018 bring more improvement.

There will be no blog post tomorrow (the 26th) as Mrs Blog and I will be traveling.

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Sunday, December 24, 2017

UMass Football Recruiting 2018-- Jake Ounsted

Jake Ounstead, 6-0 260 pound DT from Mt Douglas, British Columbia, Ca has been offered by the Minutemen.

This article reports Ounstead will take an official visit to UMass and will likely sign.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Ounstead's NSCA profile here.

This article features Ounstead.


Video from the US Army All-American combine also highlights from an all-star game.

UMass Football News--December 24th, 2017


Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a writeup on the 14 signees UMass landed in early signing period.

UMass still probably has 6 to 8 scholarships to give. The Minutemen have two verbals still unsigned, so if they do, the number of slots to fill would drop to 4 to 6.

UMass still needs a TE and a kicker. Whipple has hinted the Minutemen staff could look to go the JUCO route for those positions. I'd add a JUCO or transfer offensive lineman also.

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OT, but Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle says maybe it was a good thing Pat Kelsey bailed on UMass hoops.

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Appalachian State crushed Toledo 34-0 in the Dollar General Bowl. 

I watched that game and Toledo looked like they forgot to get off the bus. That's the second dominating win by a UMass opponent. Ohio was all over UAB 41-6.

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Saturday, December 23, 2017

UMass Football News--December 23rd, 2017


UMass added another commit Friday.

Ezewike is a 247Sports three-star player.

I blogged about Ezewike back on December 14th.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a post on the Minutemen's early signing period.

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Dr. James Ralph, physician to UMass athletics for many years has passed away at the age of 83.

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Former UMass assistant coach Ted Roof has joined the North Carolina State staff.

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Ohio dominated UAB in the Bahamas Bowl 41-6. What has not been mentioned much is UAB whio was picked #130 in preseason articles, won eight games this year and went to a bowl. Lots of progress in one year.

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Appalachian State meets Toledo today in a contest featuring two league champions.

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Friday, December 22, 2017

UMass Foothball News--December 22nd, 2017

Mark Chiarelli of MassLive has a story about UMass' first early signing day.

Quote from the article:

"Whipple expects multiple transfers from the junior college ranks (he's had success nabbing tight ends who take circuitous roots to Amherst) to enroll at UMass in January, and signee Parker Ogle will graduate high school in December and enroll as well."

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Matty Vautour has a post on Whipple's comments on UMass' early signing day.

Matty says there will be a number of late transfers, which could include a kicker.

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Texas CB Eric Hallett did not sign with Washington State. His other visit was to UMass, so he may still be in play.

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Liberty announces 2020 and 2021 schedules that include UMass.

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Temple beat FIU 28-3 in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Two more of UMass' 2017 opponents play today. Ohio meets UAB in the Bahamas Bowl and Appalachian State plays Toledo in Dollar General Bowl.

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Thursday, December 21, 2017

UMass Football News--Day 2 of the Early Signing Perido

UPDATE: The UMass website has bios for all of yesterday's commits.

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Since yesterday's blog post two more recruits have signed:



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Matty Vautour has a story on the 12 recruits who signed yesterday.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on what we've learned so far in the early signing period.

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247Sports has UMass currently at #105 in the 2018 recruiting class rankings. The Minutemen will probably sign 6 to 8 more recruits, which should push us at least into the 90's.

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MassLive.com has a story on East Longmeadow's Elijah Johnson signing a letter-of-intent with UMass.

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Some who got away:

Julius Welschof, who camped at UMass and was discovered by UMass alum Brandon Collier, signed at Michigan.

Two New England players with UMass offers, Jehlani Galloway and Ryan Betro signed with Boston College.

Will Lewis and Pat Freiermuth, both with UMass offers, signed with Penn State.

Will Froumy an OL from Exeter, NH signed with Syracuse over a Minutemen offer.

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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

December 20th 2017--Early Signing Period starts





 Moulton a 247Sports two-star recruit.

This article from Philly.com features Mouton.



Hudl.com has video of Ross.

MaxPreps has Ross' stats.


Green's 247Sports page.

Hudl.com has Green's video.

MaxPreps has Green's stats.



Kyeremeh's 247Sports page.

Hudl.com has video.

Rated as a Top-Five recruit from Canada.


Mbembe's 247Sports page.

Hudl.com has video.

Canada Football Chat's #1 Canadian prospect.

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News about UMass' early signings probably won't come in for a while.

Mike Traini had a post on early signings on the 19th.

The UMass website has a story on the Early Signing and how to follow along.

UMass Football Twitter feed.

UMass Signing day site.

I'll likely be doing some updates later in the day.

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The Shreveport Times covers future games for LA Tech and mentions their 2019 game against UMass.

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Lancaster Online reports Jose Barbon, a 6-0 180 pound WR from Conestoga Valley verbaled to Temple over an offer from UMass.

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Temple is a seven-point favorite over FIU in tomorrow's Gasparella Bowl.

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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

UMass Football News--December 19th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on tomorrow's Early Signing Day.

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Mike also has a post on Ryan Bamford's question-and-answer session from yesterday.

Several point are relevant to UMass Football: He's working on more package football and basketball series. This is a smart move. Scheduling games as an Independent can be difficult. Bundling makes us more attractive and gives us options with scheduling. 2016 is a year when we had no options and we don't want that situation to reoccur.

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My wish list for recruiting starting with tomorrow's early signing (and/or February's LOI ) Day:

1. Recruits for the front seven on defense. I liked the work of Joe Previte and Jake Byczko this year.  Cole McCubrey and Jarell Addo also showed promise. We've had two HC's since we moved to FBS. Both coaches were offensive guys. In six years of FBS football, I can only remember one game (Georgia Southern) where we offensively blew out the other team. All the rest of our wins were defensive grinds. We scored 95 points against Ohio and FIU and lost both games.

2. A kicker. Consider Temple; we've played twice and twice played well enough to win. Temple had a kicker and we didn't. I'm not asking for an All-American, but we can surely ask for a guy as good as the Owls have.

3.  A tight end. Whipple's offense works best with a pass-catching TE. Travis Reynolds looks like a good athlete, but did not get targeted a lot, which is understandable with Breneman on the roster. If we don't have a pass-catching TE on the roster, then we need a transfer or JUCO.

4. A JUCO or transfer offensive lineman, preferably a RG to pair with Jack Driscoll so we can get our running game going.

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Former UMass QB James Sosinski is doing well as a forward on Kansas' hoops team.

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OT, but Georgia HC Mark Fox said it wasn't UMass, it was the schedule. Somehow we never play good, the opposing team is always off their game.

BTW, I like what's happening with UMass Hoops and Hockey. I was expecting a 8-22 season with basketball, but if UMass keeps playing like they did Saturday, the Minutemen could get an NIT bid.

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Monday, December 18, 2017

UMass Football Recruiting--Kaymen St. Junious

Hudl.com image
Kaymen St. Junious, a 5-10 170 pound Safety from Pearland, TX has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports page here.

Hudl.com has video.

Besides UMass St. Junious has an offer from Oregon State.

UMass Football News--December 18th, 2017

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" reports UMass looks to add more games with Coastal Carolina.

Myrtle Beach online has the original article.

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A Bleacher Report writer has a post on coaches who will start 2018 on the hot seat. The list includes two UMass opponents: BYU and Charlotte.

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An Appalachian State DB points to the Mountaineers' game against Andrew Ford as a learning tool against Toledo on December 23rd. Ford and Comis combined for 20-33-190 2 TD's against Appalachian State. The Mountaineers finished second in both scoring and total defense in the Sunbelt.

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With the Winter Solstice coming up, join the UMass community at the UMass Sun Wheel near McGuirk Stadium.

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Sunday, December 17, 2017

UMass Football Recruiting--Joseph Girard III


Joseph Girard III, a 6-1 180 pound QB from Glens Falls, NY has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

He's also a three-star hoops prospect.

Hudl.com has football video.

This article features Girard as a two-sport athlete.

This article says Girard could be open to playing both sports.

Scored 60 points in a game recently.

Girard has 14 hoops offers including BC and Penn State.

Tulane has also offered in football.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--UMass finalists for Caleb Okechukwu

247Sports image
247Sports report Caleb Okechukwu has UMass as one of his two finalists in his recruiting.

Okechuikwu is a 6-4 252 pound DE from Washington, DC.

247Sport page here.

Hudl.com has video.

2017 2nd team All-Metro.

Okechukwu has five FBS offers.

UMass Football News--December 16th, 2017

Nine Minutemen on Phil Steele's first team All-Independent squad. Six more on the second team.

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Athlon Sports has UMass ranked #106 ofter week 13 of college football. The bowls won't change UMass' ranking.

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Today's UMass hoops game is part of a football/basketball package with Georgia. UMass will play the Bulldogs in Athens for the last game of the 2018 season.

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The Boston Herald picks all the 2017 bowls.

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Troy University, led by former UMass coach and player Neal Brown plays North Texas in today's New Orleans Bowl.

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Friday, December 15, 2017

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Hansky Paillant

Scout.com image
Hansky Paillant, a 6-2 230 pound DE from Hollywood, FL has Tweeted he's received an offer from UMass.

247Sports two-star player.

Hudl.com has video.

This post from Miami CBS local features Paillant.

Named defensive MVP in 21st annual BCAA All-Star Classic.

Paillant is currently an Appalachian State commit. He has five offers mostly from Florida schools.


UMass Football New--December 15th, 2017

USA Today has a story (mentions UMass) about the finances of the FBS Playoffs. A true playoff, like the ones we have talked about here in the past would be a huge moneymaker for everyone involved. Currently, the bowls retain a disportionate amount of influence on FBS post season.

With viewers down from the social media revolution, a true playoff would reclaim some the eyeballs lost to social media. The current bowl system is archaic.

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The UMass Martching Band prepares for its appearance in the Rose Parade.

The UMMB will display their new uniforms at Saturday's hoops game.

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The NY Post picks the winners of every 2017 Bowl.

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Thursday, December 14, 2017

UMass Football Recruiting 2018--Uchenna Ezewise verbals to UMass

Ezewike making the sack/Mike Laughlin image
Uchenna Ezewike, a 6-3 220 pound DE/LB from Fort Lauderdale, FL has Verbaled to UMass.

247Sports three-star player.

YouTube has video.

Broward County Top-50 player.

This article from October 2017 features Ezewike's recruiting.

Mike Traini of "Fight Massachusetts" has a post on his verbal to UMass.

Ezewike chose UMass over six other FBS offers including Pitt and Kentucky.