Preseason Depth Chart (Defense)

The UMass preseason two-deep Depth Chart is out. See it here . The UMass Fanzone Blog thinks the two-deep is very close to what will be the starting lineup against Richmond on 09/01/05.

Below is the Defense. A * symbol denotes a returning starter. A number after the name () indicates a note.

Pos. No. Player Yr. Height Weight

• LE 95 Keron Williams Sr. 6-1 254 * (1)
• DT 55 John Hatchell RJr. 6-2 270 (2)
• DT 97 Jason Leonard RJr. 6-2 280 * (3)
• RE 57 Justin Schweighardt Sr. 6-1 265 *(4)
• SLB 35 L.A. Love RSr. 6-0 245 *
• MLB 51 Serge Tikum RSr. 6-0 226 * (5)
• WLB 11 Charles Walker Jr. 6-1 220 *(6)
• CB 26 Tracy Belton Jr. 5-11 175 *
• SS 23 Brandon Smith Jr. 6-1 217 (7)
• FS 6 Shannon James RSR. 5-10 196 *(8)
• CB 2 Steve Costello RSR. 6-0 190 (9)

Notes:

1 Williams was All-A10 last year. With a stronger supporting cast, he could be an All-American in 2005

2 John Hatchell is a transfer from Lehigh. He is the brother of LB Jason Hatchell. John Hatchell set UMass bench press records in 2004. Hopefully he will make a major impact at DT for UMass

3 Leonard started in 2004. Separated his shoulder against JMU. He should regain his starting position in 2005

4 Schweighardt started at DT last year. He transferred from Ball State in 2003

5 Tikum is a Tri-Captain and the subject of a prior blog

6 Walker changed his number. He played as # 56 in 2004

7 Brandon Smith backed up James Ihedigbo RJr. 6-1 202*, who played well for UMass last year, but had several game suspensions.

8 Shannon James is a UMass Tri-Captain and an All-American. See a previous blog on him.

9 Steve Costello is a former starter. He sat out 2004 with a Medical Redshirt.