Wednesday--April 4th, 2011

Linebackers, not the sanest of individuals

Continuing our series on the UMass defense. The Minutemen lost only one linebacker out of the last two-deep chart I have. But it was a big loss as Tyler Holmes graduated. He was the leading tackler on the team going 11-11 GP-GS 69 UT 49 AT 118 TT 6.0 TFL 2.0-17 SACKS 1-0 INT  7 BKUP. Holmes also led UMass in pass BKUP.

UPDATE: As a commenter pointed out I missed Shane Viveiros and Courtney Jackson. Actually, I picked up that this morning, but Comcast dropped a 10 hour service outage on me for the rest of the day.

The Minutemen also lose Shane Viveiros 6-6 GP-GS 15 UT 11 AT 26 TT 3.0-17 TFL 1-26 INT 2 BKUP. The UMass defense was a lot better when Viveiros was in there. Also graduating was Courtney Jackson 8-3 GP-GS 7 UT 5 AT 12 TT.

Returning in 2011:

• D.J. Adeoba RSSR 11-3 GP-GS 15 UT 15 AT 30 TT 2.0-4 TFL 1-2 INT 3 BKUP
• Stanley Andre RSSO 1-0 GP-GS 1 UT 1 TT
• Tim Brandt RSJR 11-0 GP_GS 24 UT 9 UT 33 TT 3.5-15 TFL 1 BKUP
• Tom Brandt RSJR 9-1 GP-GS 7 UT 2 AT 9 TT 1.0-4 TFL 1.0-6 SACK
• Matt Campbell RSSO 
• Ryan Delaire RSSO 10-0 GP-GS 3 UT 6 AT 9 TT 10.0-4 TFL 
• Chad Hunte SR 11-10 GP-GS 37 UT 21 AT 58 TT 2.0 TFL
• Perry McIntyre SR 11-10 GP-GS 53 UT 63 AT 116 TT 11.5-56 TFL 6.5-43 SACKS 2 BKUP
• Carlito Weaver RSJR 3-0 GP-GS 2 UT

The Minutemen return the #2 and #4 leading tacklers on the defense. Counting dual-position players there are five possible LB's on the the 2012 recruiting list.

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Matty V reports the UMass offensive line has impressed Coach Hudson.

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Ron Chimelis has a story about the improved UMass hoops program and covers the four MAC games we will play next year. Ohio's run to the Sweet Sixteen should make a good home for UMass fans.

A couple of NCAA appearances would not hurt UMass' image if we try for a BCS league in football in the future.

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Victor Cruz is a restricted free agent, so he is stuck with his contract. He can't imagine holding out.

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