Sunday, August 14, 2016

Sunday--August 14th, 2016



I went to the Season Ticket holders town meeting last night. We met with Whipple, had a tour of the Performance Center and watched a spirited UMass practice that lasted over two hours.

Whipple praised Andy Isabella as a much improved receiver and felt Isabella would give us a deep receiver threat.

Of the redshirt freshman, he said Jack Driscoll was going to start on the OL.

Whipple that the coaching staff was upwardly surprised by the strength of Andrew Ford's arm.

He said TE transfer Adam Breneman has been healthy and would likely start.

He was pleased with Sekai Lindsay and Marquis Young. Whipple also said FR RB Bilal Ally was running well in practice.

On defense, Whipple said Shane Huber and Steve Casali were both up to about 240. He also likes the JUCO's that joined this supper. Whipple said the UMass coaching staff made a concerted recruiting effort for defensive linemen, but DL's are scarce. He said the defensive staff sent him a list of D-lineman they wanted to offer and he didn't think any of them were good enough to play in Amherst. All five ended up getting Power Five offers. He said it shows how competitive recruiting DL's really is.

Whipple said All-American JUCO Rod Jones arrived out of shape.

Whipple thought the return of Khary Bailey-Smith would be a good help to the young Minutemen defensive secondary.

He said Travis Reynolds could be the back up punter, kicking Australian Rugby style.

I'll have more on the practice and some images in tomorrow's blog post.

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Howard Herman of the Berkshire Eagle has a post on the Ford-Comis competition.

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The Salt Lake Tribune has a feature on UMass going Independent.

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Underdog Dynasty says UMass is a must win game for FIU and the Panthers "unquestionably" have more talent than the Minutemen.

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Boston College hopes new players will turn the Eagles fortunes around.

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Mississippi State's coach Dan Mullen feels the Bulldogs have a lot of work to do.

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Tajae Sharpe is being evaluated for a concussion after the Titans first preseason game.

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Victor Cruz returns to practice after suffering a groin pull.

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