Spring Scrimmage 05/03/08

First, read Matty Vautour's article here .

There is a 41 image Picassa web album here . Note the special guest. I could not stay to the end as I had to pick up Mrs. Blog. I did not get any images of the cookout or the Bone Marrow drive. I'm not eligible to be a donor, so I did not skip the bone marrow registery intentionlly. I would have participated if I could.

Game day was cold (high 40's) and the drizzle held off for most of the session. I had to leave at 1:00 pm and the game started late, so I did not get to stay until the end.

A number of players have been injured this spring and UMass had six surgeries after the 2007 season ended, so not everybody played in the scrimmage/practice. Matt Vautour states in his article that Sean Callicchio, Ian Jorgensen, Liam Coen and Bob McLaughlin have been out with injuries. Chris Zardas is also recovering.

Anthony Rouzier and Chad Arango were at the scrimmage, but were not in pads.

One of the fun things about the Blog is meeting parents and UMass fans. I talked with the uncle (?) of Anthony Monette. Scott Wallace's father stopped by to say "Hello" and I had talked with Scott Woodward's dad earlier.

The big surprise of the scrimmage was the fact that Brandon White was getting a lot carries. Matt's article states that he is now the #2 tailback. No one saw that coming. He looked good though, big power runner.

The receiving star was Warren Wilson with three excellent catches. Lots of drops by the rest of the receiver corps though. One frustrated UMass fan yelled "Catch the ball, UMass!"

The starting OL at the session was Vladimir Ducasse LT, Ben Coblyn LG, John Ihne C, Josh Samuda RG and Sean Calicchio at RT.

The roster given out at the scrimmage lists 66 active players. Since FCS/I-AA rules allows 63 scholarships spread over 85 players, it appears we have a couple of scholarships to give even with the recruits coming in.

I think, Coach Brown thinks, he has a good team. I'm looking forward to 2008 season.

UPDATE: The Daily Collegian has an spring scrimmage article here . Nothing from the Springfield Republican yet.

UPDATE II: Matty Vautour has an article about the scrmmage here .

UPDATE III: The UMass website has a flash album of 123 images here . Some nice images. The photographer is not listed as far as I can see.