Five Days before the start of the 2008 season 08/25/08

Warren Wilson the transfer WR from Boston College is the feature of an article from the Lawrence Eagle Tribune.

Matty Vautour has a mention of the article in his Sports Blog and some additional comments on the UMass receiver corps.

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Jeff Thomas of the Springfield Republican has an article about the UMass defense and the end of training camp.

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The Schenectady Gazette has an article about the Albany Great Danes killer schedule. Indeed Albany’s opening games are a load few FCS/I-AA teams would like to lift.

• @ UMass 8/30
• @Hofstra 9/13
• @New Hampshire 9/20
• @ Delaware 9/27

Another Great Danes article from the Albany Times-Union here . The Gazette has an article about Albany’s struggle for recognition.
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UPDATE: Matty Vautour muses on the new season.

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Wisdom of the Blog—- Top UMass Quarterback

The greatest quarterbacks blog poll came directly from the career top 10 list in the 2008 UMass press guide. The 100 Blog votes went like this:

1. Liam Coen- 05-08 39 votes. Liam leads UMass in career TD’s, Season and career passing efficiency, total yards and most yards gained in a single game (three of the top four). Coen has played in a lot of games and that adds to his career statistics. He played in 15 games in 2006, which was almost two seasons for the old time quarterbacks.
2. Todd Bankhead- 98-99 23 votes. Todd is the only UMass QB to win a national championship. Coach Whipple offered a scholarship to a QB he never spoke with in person from a JUCO in CA. A couple of months later, Bankhead was all over the Delaware defense and the single greatest season in UMass history was in motion. Bankhead played two years and holds the top two single season yards gained record. He put UMass on the map in the modern era.
3. Greg Landry 65-67 13 votes. Landry is UMass’ only first round NFL Draft pick. His 1965 QB efficiency rating of 145.4 still stands as the UMass record. All-Pro for Detroit in 1971. Again, it would be interesting to see Landry in Whipple’s offense.
4. Dave Palazzi. 85-88 13 votes. Palazzi was a I-A level QB. He was somehow missed by BC, Syracuse or Penn State. If he had played for a I-A team, he would have had several bowl trophies sitting in his rec room. Palazzi’s 3rd in all-time career passing. Remember he was playing in an option offense.
5. Jeff Krohn 02-03 5 votes. After UMass’ national championship, the question was open if UMass was going to have to wait another 20 years for a top level FCS/I-AA team. Krohn answered that question. Jeff kept the lights on in the Minutemen’s reputation as a national and conference power. In his time before UMass, he led the PAC10 in passing…
6. Tim Day 02-05 1 vote. Tim is 6th in career passing for UMass and third in career passing completion average.
7. Mike McEvilly 77-79 1 vote. Mike is 9th in career yards passing.
8. Andrew McNeilly 92-95 1 vote. McNeilly is 10th in total yards passing. Another QB who played in an option oriented offense. He never had more than 86 completions in any season.
9. Gary Wilkos 89-90 1 vote. If any UMass QB reminded me of Tom Brady, it’s Wilkos. Gary had that kind of demeanor as a QB. He only played 1.5 seasons before suffering a spinal injury that ended his career. He’s still the #3 ranked freshman QB in UMass history.
10. Peil Pennington 71-73 0 votes. Maybe UMass’ best pure passing QB. Still #6 in total yards passing.
11. Jerry Whelchel 62-64 0 votes. Played in the old-old Yankee Conference “three yards and a cloud of dust” offenses. He’s #11 in total yards passing.

The results show a tendency to favor the more recent quarterbacks (as you might expect). Many of the older QB’s played in offenses that were far removed from Whipple’s high-octane passing game. Parsing the list by yards per attempt is fairer to the older QBs and looks like this:

1. Liam Coen 8.6 yards per attempt
2. Jerry Welchel 8.4
3. Tod Bankhead 7.5
4. Gary Wilkos 7.2
5. Tim Day 7.1
6. Noel Reebenacker 7.1 (1950-1952)
7. Dave Palazzi 7.1
8. Jeff Krohn 7.0
9. Greg Landry 7.0
10. Brian NcNally 6.7
11. Peil Pennington 6.6

One week to go!

Time to get your game faces on. We’re going live in seven days. Get your tailgating equipment together. Find your Maroon & White shirts. Got your “UMass Football’ hat. Are you ready for some football?

Matty Vautour has a nice story about UMass WR Victor Cruz. It looks like three years of potential is finally going to make it to the field.

Sean Smalls is named a preseason All-American by Sporting News.

Our I-A opponent Texas Tech has sold out its season tickets for the first time ever.

Next week’s opponent the Albany Great Danes are cautiously optimistic . Another story from the Great Danes’ Media Day.

Besides Comcast Sports broadcasting of CAA games, they also plan significant weekly coverage of the CAA in their “SportsNite on Campus” show.

Without comment—–Hofstra’s new helmet.

Friday Moring stuff 08/22/08

Jeff Thomas has an article about the 2008 UMass offensive line here .

Looks like the lineup for the opening game is:

• LT Valdimir Ducasse Jr. 6-5 315 17 games and 12 starts
• LG Ben Coblyn RSr. 6-8 300 9 games 2 starts
• C Sean Calicchio Rsr. 6-5 300 26 games 22 starts
• RG Josh Samuda RFr. 6-3 305 0 games 0 starts
• RT Bob Getek RJr. 6-6 295 10 games 0 starts at OL

Top backups are John Ihne RSo. 6-5 280 0 games, Chauncey Incarnato RSr. 6-7 300 0 games, Justin Sawicki RFs. 6-5 305 0 games and Brian Ostaszewski RF. 6-5 285 0 games.

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Matty Vautour has a long article about Joe Sanford . Sanford played in 12 games and had 4 catches for 71 yards and 2 TDs.

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NESN has video interviews of Coach Brown and a number of UMass players here .

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Many FCS/I-AA teams play at least one BCS/I-A game. Those contests tend to generate a lot of fan interest on the FCS level.

The Georgia Southern- Georgia game is turning into the “Suspension Bowl” Eight GSU players are suspended from the game here and here . And it’s kinda tough to keep track of how many Georgia players are suspended.

Thursday news 08/21/08

I received an e-mail from Comcast sports about this year’s UMass TV schedule. Bob McGovern is all over it on his UMass all-sports blog “Between Mullins and McGuirk“, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel.

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Matty Vautour has an article about UMass being ranked #5 in the Sports Network Preseason poll.

In his Sports Blog, he gives his preseason top 25.

The UMass Football Blog’s preseason top 25 runs like this:

1. Appalachian State
2. JMU
3. Richmond (the most returning starters in the CAA)
4. Eastern Washington
5. UMass
6. Northern Iowa
7. Cal Poly
8. North Dakota State
9. Wofford
10. McNeese State
11. Delaware
12. Montana
13. Youngstown State
14. Southern Ill
15. Eastern Ill
16. Elon (I’m not sure Elon is as good as everyone thinks)
17. Georgia Southern
18. Villanova (maybe too low)
19. UNH
20. Montana State
21. The Citadel
22. Fordham
23. Holy Cross
24. Harvard
25. South Dakota State

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Keeper’s has his FCS team and conference power rankings up.

He has UMass ranked #7 in power rankings and he rates UMass’ schedule difficulty as #1 in the Division with a predicted 9-3 2008 record.

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UMass has a new cheerleading coach . The cheer leaders do a great job at McGuirk and usually have a squad at the away games. The UMass cheerleading webpage is here (needs updating).

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Did you know the UMass Dance Team has an active Blog with images, video and more? Well they do.

The Dance team is first rate, but their videos could use some improvement. Anyone want to volunteer as their Videographer?

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Matty Vautour has an article about Sean Callicchio’s move to center.

Media Day Practice and comments

Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

On August 12th I attended the UMass Media Day and a practice at McGuirk. A thirty-three image Picassa web album is here. Click on the “slide show” button or view individually.

Truth-in-blogging note, I was asked not to take images of offensive or defensive sets. And the athletic dept asked to see the web album before I published it. The reason being that this was a “live” practice and they didn’t want potential opposing teams having any more information than was necessary. As we bleed Maroon & White here at the UMass Football Blog, I had no problem with that.

The kickers felt that the addition of Travis Tripucka had solved the long snapping problems I witnessed in the spring. At 6-2 215 he looks like a football player and I did not see a bad snap during the practice. Both Armando Cuko and Brent Arnold kicked well in this practice.

Both Liam Coen and Sean Smalls sat out the practice with minor physical problems.

I was impressed with RFr Spencer Whipple . His throwing mechanics seemed excellent, as you might expect given who’s son he is. He’s 6-2 200. He was moved around in high school because his father was hired by Pittsburgh and he ended up only starting one year. He could be a steal as a walk-on. A concentrated year in weight room and learning the UMass offense could place him in contention for a starting job when Coen graduates.

The UMass offensive line looked like athletes. For a while, it seemed every team had to have 315+ pound offensive linemen. Seems like the pendulum has swung to taller and leaner players.

This year’s “Best Biceps” award goes to Captain Brandon Collier. At 6-1 280, he looks like he could bench-press a pickup truck.

I was impressed with the speed of Terrance Farris and Sam Besong. Our defensive teams speed could be second to none in FCS/I-AA. We have some defensive line depth this year. In 2007 UMass had five DL with numbers in the 90s on their chest. This year we have eight. Transfer Ray Jones at 6-4 275 and JUCO Theluxon Pierre at 6-3 260 have some size.

The players looked motivated. This could be a fun year for UMass football fans.

Tuesday Morning articles 08/19/08

The Berkshire Eagle has an article about Liam Coen.

The UMass Athletic website has more information about Marcel Shipp’s signing with the Texans and includes a video link. Houston Texans story here .

The Bleacher Report has a Marcel Shipp story here .

The CAA has a UMass 2008 preview up on their website.

I hope to have my UMass Media Day article up tomorrow. Today is a “Honey do” day

Recruiting 2009 –Keith Bourne & Russell Braithwaite

UMass is recruiting two of the top 10 Massachusetts players not committed for 2009.

Keith Bourne a 6-4 270 pd OL from Fitchburg, MA is a rivals two-star recruit. Also being recruited by Boston College and Temple.

Bourne’s TruPreps page is here (with a couple of images)

Russell Braithwaite is a 6-2 185 pd DB from Southborough, MA. He’s another Rivals two-star. Also being recruited by Boston College, Syracuse and UNH. He’s also getting looks for hoops .

Hope they both consider UMass!

Monday Morning Odds & Ends 08/18/08

The CAA has started a “Press Box” of team and league information. They also have been running a football preview of the CAA teams on their front page.

UMass’ freshman DB recruit Dan McLaughlin’s brother Mike McLaughlin has been named a captain at Boston College.

And Marcel Shipp has been signed by the Texans (as reported by everybody)

UPDATE: The Giants play tonight at 8:00 pm EDT on ESPN. Brandon London should get quite a bit of playing time. I’ll probably be watching with the sound off as ESPN announcing drives me nuts. Maybe WFAN 660 NY will stream the Giants audio feed…

Defensive line article

Image was taken by me at the UMass Media Day. Click on the image and Blogger displays a larger view.

Jeff Thomas has an article about the 2008 UMass defensive line here .

Thomas reports that the starting UMass line will be:

• Darnel Delaire RDE RSr. 6-2 240
• Kyle C. Harrington NT RJr. 6-3 285
• Brandon Collier RJr. DT 6-1 280 (Captain)
• Michael Hanson LDE RJr. 6-2 260

UMass looks to be deeper this year with a number of players with game experience as backups Darrlyn Fenner DE RSr. 5-11 230 (12 games), Shaun Allen RSr. DL 6-3 255 (7 games) and Bob McLaughlin DT RSo. 6-2 265 (13 games).

Other DL expected to contribute this year are Anthony Monette DE RJr. 6-2 245, Theluxon Pierre DL JUCO Junior 6-3 260, Ray Jones DL RSo. 6-4 275 (9 games in 2006 for Delaware) and Courtney Jackson DE RFr. 6-2 235.

Other DL on the roster includes:

• Nicholas Collilouri Fr. 5-11 260
• James Gilchrist RFr. 6-3 250
• Charles Thompson Fr. 6-3 290

Three of the starters will return in 2009, so this is young group. Looks like more talent and more speed than in the past. This will be an exciting group to watch.