Wednesday News---March 31st, 2010

A couple of Vladimir Ducasse articles: a Bleacher Report Denver Broncos mock draft here and a Kansas City Chiefs mock draft here.

A sports blogger for a New Orleans newspaper has Ducasse as one of his sleeper picks.
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Former Richmond Coach Mike London's off campus practice for the Cavs went well.

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JMU's Arthur Moats is visiting a number of Pro teams.

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Now that UMass is starting spring practice, how about adding some plays from the Wildcat offense for Octavious Hawkins? He's a big strong kid and he would be threat to run and throw. Villanova used the occasional Wildcat formation to great effect in last year's National Championship game.

It would certainly add another thing to think about when UMass' opponents face our Pro Set Offense.

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Off topic, but interesting, is Boston College's firing of Al Skinner. The Blog had a couple of classes with Skinner back in the day. You have to wonder what BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo wants in a coach. Skinner took the Eagles to eight post season sessions in thirteen years...

Matty Vautour adds some thoughts here.

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2 plus 2 equals 4 (p.m.) for Temple-Villanova

Blame Friday game on shore and Joe Banner, not in that order.

There's this thing called The Shore and it's a phenomena peculiar to Philadelphia that the town virtually empties out the weekend of Labor Day

So I'm driving on I-76 today and thinking how It's too bad I don't have a digital camera.
(When I get enough donations to buy a camera and a portable computer called a netbook, so I can take Temple Football Forever on the road with me and post daily news and photos on the Owls, I will.)
Back to the desire for a digital camera, though.
I'm driving by at 50 mph in a monsoon today on the Schuylkill Expressway and I see a Temple billboard that proclaims "Friday, Sept. 3" as the date of the home football opener with Villanova.
It meant only one thing. Temple's "negotiations" with the Eagles over its preferred date, Sept. 2, fell through.
Then I put two and two together and come up with four.
Oddly enough, that's the starting time of the game but it's not how this mostly mathematical equation was solved.
Two plus two equals 4 p.m. basically because Sept. 2, the date Temple AD Bill Bradshaw long sought as primo time for the game was denied the Owls by the landlord Eagles, leaving 4 as the only logical time for the game.
Hmm.
Temple could have played on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend, when no one would have been in town. There's this thing called The Shore and it's a phenomena peculiar to Philadelphia that the town virtually empties out the weekend of Labor Day, leaving only the homeless and poor behind. Philadelphia is unique because The Shore (capital T, capital S) is only 50 miles away and Philadelphians see this weekend as their abosolutely last chance to get away before a long, cold, winter. The magnetic attraction of that to a region of 6 million people cannot be minimized.
So Saturday was out.
The Eagles could have done the "community" a favor and moved their game to Sept. 3 and allowed Temple and Villanova to play on the date best suited for a big college crowd. The Eagles being the Eagles could have gotten their 70K on either date but, no, the Eagles had to put the screws to Temple and Villanova.
"We want to play Thursday night," was basically what Joe Banner told Bradshaw.
"But, Joe, you'll get your crowd either night...."
"No, we still want to play Thursday night. Good luck, though."
Typical Eagles.
The Phillies were already scheduled for Friday night (7).
Since two crowds in excess of 40,000 (hopefully for Temple, definitely for Phils) would be showing up at the same time, the Owls reluctantly were forced to pick 4 p.m.
It's a stroke of genius, in my mind.
The Temple and Villanova fans get to arrive, say, at 2 p.m. for tailgating, taking all of the tailgate spots used by Phillies fans.
Phillies fans arrive at about 4, then start frantically texting "WTF?" messages to their fellow 20-somethings.
If there's a silver lining to this scheduling nightmare, that's it.
Now let's get a crowd large enough to steal all of their parking spaces.
Better yet, let's get them into our game first by offering half-priced tickets for those who show Phils' stubs.

Tuesday News -- March 30th, 2010

Former UMass assistant coach Eddie Morrissey has been named OL coach at Princeton.

I've blogged about Morrissey several times before.

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Interesting article on the business of selling a college education. UMass gets to keep the tuition of out-of-state students, while in-state tuition goes to the state's general fund. Now we know why state colleges "cost" (in the accounting sense) out-of-state football scholarships the way they do.

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Don Brown is making an impact on the Terps recruiting.

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UMass' 2010 OOC opponent Holy Cross has a 28 page Spring Prospectus up here (pdf download). Besides UMass, the Crusaders' OOC schedule has them tangling with Howard, Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth in 2010.

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Looks like Syracuse is going to end up with two FCS teams on their schedule this year.

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Monday news-- March 29th, 2010

Former UMass RB Korey Davis becomes eligible to play this year after transferring to Liberty.

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Josh Buchanan has a seven round "Small School' mock draft and guess who is the number 1 pick!

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Over on the CAA website they have a Spring Football blog going with some entries by William & Mary players.

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The NFL changes the rules for overtime. It's like a truncated college rule: "The crux of the rule is to make overtime outcomes less dependent on the coin flip. If the team that has possession of the ball first scores a touchdown, the game is over. But if it kicks a field goal, the other team would get a possession and would win with a touchdown. If nobody scores on the first drives, or if both teams kick field goals, the game will revert to sudden death."

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Saturday News ---March 27th, 2010

Something called Rotoworld.com says Vladimir Ducasse improved all his marks over what he did at the Combine at Thursday's UMass Pro Day.

MassLive.com has a photo gallery from the UMass Pro Day here.

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The Maine Black Bears deal with more funding cuts to the Athletic Dept.

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Seven Villanova players attended Temple's Pro Day.

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The NCAA now says a FCS school looking to move to FBS must have a bona fide offer from a FBS league to start the reclassification process.

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UMass Pro Day --March 25th 2010

UMass has an excellent report on UMass' Pro Day here. Photo Gallery here. YouTube video here.

Eleven current UMass players attended as well as five UMass alums. Attending for UMass were Vladimir Ducasse, Chris Zardas, Victor Cruz, Tony Nelson, Jeremy Horne, Armando Cuko and Joe Sanford from the offense.

On the defense side were Jeromy Miles, Brandon Collier, Kyle Harrington and Michael Hanson.

UMass Alums were Courtney Robinson, Ian Jorgensen, Sean Smalls, R.J. Cobbs and Ben Coblyn.

Also attending was Holy Cross QB Dominic Randolph. The Worcester Telegram has an article about Randolph's session at the UMass Pro Day here.

As usual, Matty Vautour has probably the best coverage here. More coverage by Adam Miller of the UMass Daily Collegian here.

MassLive has a video feature here.

The Boston Globe has an article here. The Globe mentions MIT running back Deron Brown---who led the Division III nation in rushing.

USA Today has an article that say offensive linemen will be at a premium in the NFL Draft and picks Vladimir Ducasse as #8.

Thursday News---March 25th, 2010

CBS3 in Springfield reports on the UMass Football team's bone marrow registration drive.

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The Sun-Chronicle reports on preparations for the UMass-UNH game at Gillette and mentions one thing that may entice students to go to the game: beer.

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Off topic, but congrats anyway to Tony Barbee on his appointment as HC at Auburn.

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Two players from Hofstra are walking on at Syracuse University (fourth paragraph). More here.

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Speaking of transfers, yesterday I looked at the 2010 CAA transfer list. It contained 18 transfers, three of them from BCS.

Last year, the CAA had 14 transfers, six from BCS.

• Delaware (1) Penn State
• Hofstra (3) South Dakota State, Lanier College, Riverside CC
• JMU (1) San Mateo JC
• Maine (2) Iona, Sacred Heart
• UMass (2) Diablo CC, New Mexico State
• Northeastern (0)
• Rhode Island (4) Rutgers
• Richmond (0)
• Towson (1) Middle Tennessee State
• Villanova (0)
• William & Mary (0)

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The top football recruit in 2009, Bryce Brown has left Tennessee.

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Wednesday News---March 24th, 2010

I received this updated UMass Pro Day information. I does not seem to be on the UMass website as of 7:30 AM.

UMASS FOOTBALL PRO DAY ON THURSDAY, March 25

CONTACT � Jason Yellin 413-687-1756 (jyellin@admin.umass.edu)

AMHERST, Mass. -- All 32 NFL teams are expected to be in attendance at UMass Football Pro Day on Thursday, March 25. More than a dozen UMass seniors and several other area college seniors will compete in agility, strength and combine style drills. The portion open to the media starts at 11 a.m., at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. It will run for roughly 90 minutes.

Among the players who will be on hand is All-American offensive lineman Vladimir Ducasse, who is projected by most outlets as a top 50 selection in the NFL Draft. Also gaining high interest are fullback Chris Zardas, safety Jeromy Miles and wide receiver Victor Cruz.

These players will be available or interviews following the pro day activities on the field.

--
Jason Yellin
Associate Athletic Director/Media Relations
UMass Athletics

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James Madison is having the biggest Pro Day in their history.

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Jets Confidential at Scout.com has an update on Vladimir Ducasse. He has confirmed visits with the Browns, Cowboys, Chiefs and Vikings.

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More info from the Appalachian State Pro Day. First saw the link over on Draft Daddy.

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$500 to Mott Children's hospital while entering the stadium will get you a sideline pass to the Michigan-UMass game.

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From the front page of Keeper's College Football Ratings:

Note of interest: After all the games have been played, William & Mary stand alone in Division I for positive net yardage in every game. Good bet for FCS co-favorite in 2010.

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Tuesday News---March 23rd, 2010

The UMass football players will be out in force tomorrow to try to add members to the Bone Marrow Registration Drive sponsored by the CAA.

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Yesterday we were talking about transfers. The following is from the CAA Signing Day Recap. If any team as signed additional transfers since then, I don't know about it.

Delaware (3)

• Quincy Barr DE 6-3 250 Hofstra
• Kyle Hunte LB 602 205 Northeastern
• Darryl Jones DB 5-10 Northeastern

James Madison (0)

Maine (0)

UMass (6)

• Galen Clemons DL 6-2 255 Central Michigan
• Anthony Dima OL 6-7 271 Hofstra
• John Griffin TB 6-0 Northeastern
• Chade Hunte LB 6-0 205 Northeastern
• Anthony Nelson WR 5-10 Hofstra
• Greg Nyland OL 6-5 305 Northeastern

New Hampshire (0)

Rhode Island (5)

• Nick Baker DL 6-2 245 Dean College
• Stanley Dunbar DB 5-9 Dean College
• Chris Edmond DB 6-0 Hofstra
• Billy Morgan WR 5-9 160 Hofstra
• Steve Probst QB 6-2 215 Hofstra

Richmond (1)

• Aaron Corp QB 6-3 200 USC

Towson (2)

• Jordan Dangerfield DB 5-11 Hofstra
• Chris Hart QB 6-3 210 Georgia Military College

Villanova (1)

• Jordy Paulemon OL 6-3 300 Hofstra

William & Mary (1)

• Mike Paulus QB 6-4 215 North Carolina
  

I've already blogged about the UMass transfers. Other than UMass, the CAA has five transfers from Hofstra, two from Northeastern, two from Dean College, one each from USC, North Carolina and Georgia Military College.

Monday News---march 22nd, 2010

William and Mary has a Spring Prospectus up on their Athletic Dept website. It's a excellent 42 page 3.7 meg pdf download here. William & Mary had an 11-3 record and went to the NCAA Semifinals in 2009.

The Tribe signed probably the CAA's biggest BCS/I-A transfer with Mike Paulus from North Carolina.

An article about the Tribe's Proday here.

The Tribe visits UMass on Sept 4, 2010 for our first game of the season.This game should give UMass fans a quick check on our 2010 prospects. UMass went a combined 1-5 against CAA South teams in '08 and '09.

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Kyle C. Harrington's strong showing in his first NFL draft workouts has propelled him onto the latest version of Josh Buchanan's "Top 100 Small School" NFL draft list.

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UMass plays Michigan on Sept 18, 2010. Forbes.com has named Ann Arbor the Top College Sports town.

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Appalachian State's Armanti Edwards works out for the Panthers.

Edwards has his own NFL Draft journal here.

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March 20: The first day of spring (practice)

Temple fans want to see more sacks like this one.

I have a feeling the Owls are going to find a couple of reliable long-snappers, a quarterback who has moxie and becomes a weapon both with his arm and feet and a defense that can provide a relentless pass rush

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story, someone once said.
I've never believed that because I think the facts around the story are often more interesting than the story itself.
I'll relent, though, when it comes to headlines.
Yesterday, not today, was the first full day of spring football practice at Temple University. It's just a better headline when you combine the first day of spring with the first day of spring practice.
It was also the last full day of the men's basketball season, the only other marquee sport at Temple University.
Coincidence?
No doubt.
An interesting fact?
Yes.
I've never hided that I consider Temple men's basketball nothing more than a worthwhile distraction between the final day of the football season and the first day of spring practice, but I didn't think the two would run so seemlessly as they did this year.
I often get grief from my Temple football friends on why I only attend two or three basketball games a year, but I tell them the same thing I write here.
I just don't enjoy the sport as much as football.
I understand, though, that many of them do.
For me, though, it's not even close.
I like the fact that a football field is split in two and that strategy is involved in both protecting your turf and probing into the enemy's.
If you have better men and material, like the Union did in the Civil War, you are probably going to win the war. If you have a better Field Marshall, like the Nazi's did with Rommel in the Sahara and the Confederates did with Johnson and Stewart at Bull Run, you are going to win your share of battles.
There's some of that in basketball, but when a dude sticks a 35-footer three straight times down the court, that game is a little too skewed for my taste. So hat's off to Fran Dunphy and crew, who did this university proud by winning three straight A-10 titles and 29 games this season. There are few people who do more for this university than Fran Dunphy. In fact, I can't think of any. There are no two better ambassadors for this great university than Fran Dunphy and Al Golden.
As I write this, it is 10 in the morning on the Saturday on the first day of spring.
The birds are chirping, it's going to be a 75-degree day, and my beloved Temple (Football) Owls are working to find better ways to defend their turf and grab as much of the bad guy turf as possible.
The particulars will unravel over the next month.
What we already know is that 17 of the 22 starters return from a 9-3 team and some of the redshirts who sat  last year may be better than a handful of the starters, let alone as replacements for the five departed.
Defensively, I see this team as perfectly suited to a 3-4, rather than the current 5-2 alignment. That way, you have two athletic 6-5 defensive ends (Mo Wilkerson and Kadeem Custis) coming at the quarterback with a future NFL tackle in Levi Brown playing nose guard and being a lock-down run-stopper. You can move Adrian Robinson to linebacker and just have him blitz on every passing down, but from all different gaps.  If I was a quarterback facing that, I'd run the other way.
Offensively, I'd like to see a quarterback who can make plays both running and passing. I think that quarterback is here.
On special teams, I'd like the see the long-snapping situation tighten up.
Fix all of those fixable items and you have a team with designs on much better than 9-3.
I have a feeling the Owls are going to find a couple of reliable long-snappers, a quarterback who has moxie and becomes a weapon both with his arm and feet and a defense that can provide a relentless pass rush.
Hope springs eternal, but this time the hope comes with a lot of supporting facts.

Saturday News --- March 20th, 2010

Former UMass OL Todd Tinker (lettered 91,93,94) has been appointed HC at Monument Mt. HS.

According to my 1994 UMass press guide Tinker was a 6-3 264 pd OG who was blocking for Rene Ingoglia.

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Former UMass four year letter winner (2003,'04,'05,06) Tracey Belton has joined the Milwaukee Iron AFL team. Belton was All-CAA in 2004 and 2006.

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Former UMass star James Ihedigbo led a group to Haiti to assist in earthquake recovery efforts.

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I had a good time at my Kitt Peak adventure. The two long travel days sandwiched around two all-nighters at the telescope made for a tiring week, but it was worth it.

While I was waiting in Chicago-Midlands airport to make a flight change, the following announcement went out over the public address system (and I'm not making this up):

" Will the passenger who forgot their frozen meat please report back to Gate C-21 to retrieve it"

Frozen meat???

Blog News 03/15/10

Dear readers, the UMass Football Blog will not publish again until Saturday, March 20th.

I'll be at Kitt Peak National Observatory AOP for my second observing session.

If you want to keep an eye on me, there are a couple of Kitt Peak webcams here.

Monday News ---- March 15th, 2010

This article says there will be a (another?) UMass Pro Day on March 25th.

Actually, UMass has an article up about this very thing.

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A couple of Vladimir Ducasse NFL Draft mentions here and here.

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Forbes.com has an story on the Top College Sports Towns. The best according to Forbes? UMass' FBS OOC opponent's Ann Arbor, Mich.

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Savannah State has started spring football with 33 players unavailable.

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This article from the Penn State Daily Collegian explains the economics of BCS teams playing FCS squads.

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Big expectations for former Montana HC Bobby Hauck at Nevada Las Vegas.

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Saturday News ---March 13th 2010

Another article on Boston College's Mike McLaughlin with references to his father Mike and uncle Joe, both of whom played for UMass.

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Brian Bozek, a 5-10 195 pd athlete from Laconia HS signed with St. Alsems (remember when we played them in basketball?). That's the same HS as UMass RSFr DB Christian Birt. The article has a number of UMass references.

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Back on March 1st I did a blog post with a link to a Bleacher Report on how the UMass Marching band was one of the top bands in football. The UMass Daily Collegian follows up with an article on the band , with some interesting facts about the UMB's history.

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Over on the FCS website "Championship Subdivision.com" , there is a post on the results of some Pro Day workouts. The complete post is here and worth reading. From the post:

RB Tony Nelson, UMASS
5091, 208 pounds
40- 4.55-4.57
reps- 17
vertical- 36
broad jump- 10'4
3-cone- 6.62
short shuttle- 4.33

DT Kyle Harrington, UMASS
6036, 287 pounds
40- 4.93-4.95
reps- 40 (Wow!)
vertical- 27.5
broad jump- 8'9
3-cone- 7.23
short shuttle- 4.40

WR Victor Cruz, UMASS
5114, 208 pounds
40- 4.48-4.50
reps- 13
vertical- 41.5
broad jump- 10'5
short shuttle- 4.33

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I believe Maine Black Bears are among the leaders in the FCS division producing NFL players over the last decade or so. The Bangor Daily News has an article on Maine's Pro Day. I first spotted the article over on the Draft Daddy Blog.

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Alabama LB and NFL prospect Rolando McClain reveals that he has Crohn's Disease. So do I. Good luck to Rolando. He's going to have an interesting life.

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Recruiting 2010--Daniel Maynes

The Daily News Tribune reports that Daniel Maynes a 6-4 260 pd DL from
Waltham, MA will attend UMass as a walk-on.

Maynes is a member of the prestigious "Super 26 All-Star Team".

He was DCL Large Division Defensive Player-of-the-Year.

Waltham's coach is UMass legend Paul Mayberry, First Team All-American 1990.

Maynes is the fifth 2009 Coaches Massachusetts All-State Super 26 member to choose UMass. Also joining UMass from the team were Stanley Andre, Matt Campbell, Mike Delaney and Ryan Izzo (Lacrosse).

Welcome to the Minutemen Daniel!

Thursday News--- March 11th, 2010

Another NFL Draft preview on Vladimir Ducasse, this time by the Jets Confidential. BTW, the official NFL draft site is here.

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Former UMass HC Dick MacPherson is going to be Grand Marshal of the Syracuse St. Patrick's Day parade. This long interview with Coach Mac includes a number of UMass stories.

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The Patriot Online has an NFL Pro Day interview with New Hampshire's Scott Sicko.

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Success in in Big East basketball is breaking down to schools that have football and those who don't.

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Speaking of non-success, the Wall Street Journal looks at the troubles of the MAC, which has a .182 winning percentage in its last 8 bowl games.

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NFL writer Pat Kirwan says 6-5 243 pd Fordham QB John Skelton stole the show at the NFL Combine.

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Wednesday News---March 10th, 2010

Another NFL Draft list with Vladimir Ducasse ranked #56 ----and two slots ahead of Tim Tebow.

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UMass' FBS OOC opponent Michigan will hold its spring game April 17th. And No, I still don't have a confirmed date for the UMass spring game.

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According to this article the NCAA ban on FCS schools moving to FBS comes to an end in August of 2011.

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Armanti Edwards works out for the Jags.

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New from Yankee Stadium in 2010----The Pinstripe Bowl.

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Tuesday News----March 9th, 2010

The Boston Globe has an article on the various incentive clauses in UMass coaches' contracts. The Blog is in favor of academic incentives. The players should graduate and the coaching staff should have academics as a real goal.

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More foolishness from the Bleacher Report. Michigan is castigated for playing non-BCS teams (one of them UMass). Playing FCS teams by FBS teams is a good financial deal for both schools. That's why they are doing it. Feel free to complain about your school's OOC schedule as long as you have contributed $100,000 to support field hockey.

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Pretty soon there will be more bowl games than teams available to play in them. Could that lead to FCS teams getting a bowl bid?

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More on QB passing ratings (NFL).

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Monday News---March 8th, 2010

Vladimir Ducasse gets another mention here as one of the top nine "Small School" players in this year's NFL draft.

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UMass plays Holy Cross as an OOC team in 2010. The Crusaders just added a 6-8 220 pd DE/TE from Phillips Exeter Academy.

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This Hofstra grad didn't like the way The Pride handled the termination of its football program.

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Ever have a bull session about the greatest players of all time and how they would do in today's sports? A couple of professors have developed a method of adjusting for the different eras. There is an article at Physics arXiv Blog covering the development. Check out the last few pages of the original article for the adjusted rankings (baseball) available in pdf format. The same method could apply to football.

The Wolfram Blog has an article on the use of Mathematica to compute a quarterback's efficiency rating. The Mathematica workbook is for NFL QB's. The source code would have to be modified to use the college football efficiency rating algorithm.

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We attended the UMass-Rhode Island basketball game Saturday at Mullins. Mrs. Blog said it was the best UMass basketball game we had been to in the last couple years.

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The strong case for a 3-4 defense at Temple

If I'm Mark D'Onofrio, I'm seriously considering going to a 3-4 with Amara Kamara and Robinson returning to their natural outside linebacker positions and using Robinson as a "rush" linebacker, like the Giants did with Lawrence Taylor

Every once in a while, I check in with what Al Golden has to say on Twitter.
You can, too.
It's permanently on the sidebar of this website, about halfway down the right side.
According to Al's latest tweet, the coaching staff is in the film room right now.
Here it is:
"Spring practice is getting close," Al said. "Only a couple of weeks for the staff to fine tune and evaluate the film from the fall to improve the team."

Evidently, they haven't come out because the last tweet was on Feb. 22 and that was four days before the last big snowfall and that seems like a long time ago.
Well, we've been studying the film, too.
We've got high definition DVDs of many of the games and this is what I would do to improve the team:
1) Have a real competition for starting quarterback. Take the red shirts off and allow the guys to get hit. Allow them to run the ball against a live defense. Let them throw the ball with a guy in their face.
If somebody gets hurt, so be it.
They'll have all summer to get healthy.
We're going to need to find a gamer at that position and you don't find that person in a seven-on-seven passing drill. Mike McGann was the greatest seven-on-seven practice passer I ever saw at Temple, yet when he got into the game he had this annoying habit of throwing to guys who weren't wearing Cherry or White jerseys.

You can't have a turnover machine at that position or someone who can't duck out of a pass rush and make positive yards.
The Owls need more than a "game manager" at that position this year. They need a "game changer."
I think they'll find one. God, I hope so.
At last count, they have Vaughn Charlton, Chester Stewart, Chris Coyer, Mike Gerardi at the top of the depth chart. They have other guys who have played the position in high school either already here or coming in, like Aaron Haas, Matt Falcone, Andre Coble, Connor Reilly.
2) Get the gang of 100 players in a circle and ask who snapped the ball in high school. Ask them to have their high school coaches send film of them snapping. Pick the best three and have a competition. If one, two or three are excellent or even good, make long-snapping a part of their daily routine (even five minutes). Long-snapping is a routine play at about 118 other Division IA schools. Let's make it that way again at Temple.
3) Improve the pass rush. I'm a big fan of blitz packages that send more than one linebacker or safety on certain down-and-distance situations. Temple needs to turn up the heat on opposing quarterbacks. Adrian Robinson is the best pass-rusher in the league, but wouldn't it be nice to consistently collapse the pocket with another "Adrian Robinson" coming from the other side.
If I'm Mark D'Onofrio, I'm seriously considering going to a
3-4 with Amara Kamara and Robinson returning to their natural outside linebacker positions and using Robinson as a "rush" linebacker, like the Giants did with Lawrence Taylor. Moving Robinson all over the field will make him harder to find.
I'd use Big Mo Wilkerson as one defensive end, Levi Brown as the nose guard and Kadeem Custis as the other defensive end and rotate guys in after that. Imagine, if you will, what a nightmare, say, Chris Whitney's life would be if he had two 6-5 athletic guys coming at him from both DE positions and still had to account for Robinson's presence? I'm liking it already. I want to see Whitney and every other quarterback who plays Temple hit the ground hard multiple times before being able to release the ball.
I'm hoping that is the plan Al Golden and staff have come up with between Feb. 22d and now.
The time to implement it would be in a few days when spring practice starts.

Saturday News---March 6th, 2010

Villanova's Matt Szczur is still planning to be a bone marrow donor on March 15th.

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Virginia's HC Mike London has an innovative idea. He's moving open practices around to various sites such as Old Dominion to build contacts with the people of Virginia.

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CAA defensive ends Arthur Moats (JMU) and Adrian Tracey (William & Mary) took part in the NFL Combine last week.

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Friday News----March 7th, 2010

The ACC plays 13 FCS teams this year, including Richmond, William & Mary and JMU.

Note that Big South member 0-11 Presbyterian gets to play @ Clemson and @ Wake Forrest.

The Big East plays 11 FCS teams this year including Maine and New Hampshire.

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Coastal Carolina has been carrying 35 walk-ons on its roster. Now that is being reduced because of title IX considerations. Walk-ons count for Title IX??

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The state of UMass 2010---Linebackers

This will be the fifth unit review for 2010. Previous editions include:

• Defensive Line
• Offensive Line
• Running Backs
• Receivers

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Losses for 2010:

• Eric Dickson -RSSr 10 Starts, 95 TT, 5 BKRP, 2nd on team in TT, 6th in CAA TT

Returning 2010 (class rank for 2010):

• Tyler Holmes- Jr, 10 Starts, 2nd Team All-CAA, Led UMass 110 TT, 2nd in CAA and 8th in NCAA in TT, led UMass in INT's and tied for most BKRP's
• Perry McIntyre -Soph, Played 11 games-started 7, 3rd on team with 64 TT, CAA Rookie-of-the Week Sept 26th Stony Brook
• Kurt Filler - Sr (?) Played 4 games started 4, season ending knee injury 9/26. Not sure if he wants/will get medical redshirt.
• D.J. Adeoba - RSSoph, Played 8 games-started one. CAA Rookie-of-the-week 9/5 Kansas State, injured during that game 12 TT
• Nick Haag - RSSoph , Played 11 games-started 0, 12 TT
• Mike Mele -SR, Played 3 games-started 1, 11 TT
• Scott Duggan -RSSR, Played 8 games-started 0, 8 TT
• Chris Chamberlin -RSSoph, Played 11 games-started 0, 5 TT
• Dawan Nolton -RS Soph, Played 3 games-started 0, 1 TT

Red Shirt Freshmen for 2010:

• Tim Brandt
  
• Tom Brandt, Scout Team Defensive Player-of-the-Year
• Devin Linsey

True Freshman recruits:

• Stanley Andre 6-1 250
• Matt Campbell 6-1 230

Transfers:

• Chad Hunte -Soph, Transfer Northeastern-Played 11 games, 32 TT
  

Notes: Dickson's graduation causes UMass to lose 29% of their 2009 linebacker tackles. A commenter in another post stated that Nick Haag has transferred to Assumption. I have no information about that. We probably won't know if Kurt Filler took a redshirt year until the spring roster comes out.

Even if we are without those two, there will still be seven returning linebackers who played in 2009. Also available will be three redshirt freshmen and one transfer. So we will have at least eleven linebackers and maybe thirteen available in 2010. UMass will have five linebackers (six if you count the Hofstra transfer) who started at least one game in 2009.

The linebacker corps is the only UMass position unit that returns an All-CAA player for 2010: Tyler Holmes. This has to be the deepest unit on the team. It would seem the two true freshmen linebackers will almost certainly be redshirted unless they are switched to another position.

UMass appears to have a lot more linebackers than defensive linemen. Would UMass consider playing a 3-4 defense----or even a 3-5-3 (gaining popularity to defense the spread) ?

Northeastern transfer Chade Hunt played as a true freshman for the Huskies. I wonder if UMass would like him to take a redshirt year? He is more of a safety in size --- 6-0 205. The UMass secondary could probably use him more than the linebacker corps.

Wednesday News ---March 3rd, 2010

A Chattanooga columnist hopes the FCS Championship in Frisco is a fiasco.

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Remember, the FCS Championship expands to 20 teams this year. Added will be the league champions of the Northeast Conference and the Big South. The move will also add to at-large bids, which should help the deep CAA. William & Mary was left out of the playoffs in 2008 with a 7-4 record include one FBS loss. With two extra at-large bids, a CAA team with that record will likely make the playoffs.

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A slow news day on the intertubes. I'll be back tomorrow with a 2010 UMass position review---linebackers.

Tuesday News--March 2nd, 2010

If you haven't seen the video of Vladimir Ducasse working out for the Combine on the main UMass football page, you should. Remember when watching how huge Ducasse is. I think it is a remarkable display of agility for a man of that size.

The Boston Herald says Vlad tops local NFL prospects.

Ducasse's NFL Combine page here. Note that he did 29 reps in the bench press test.

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UMass' Jeromy Miles gets a mention about NFL safety's draft prospects.

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UMass LB David Ransden had a 4.0 semester in Biology this fall.

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The Richmond Spiders add two coaches.

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Temple Vs Villanova will open the season at the Linc.

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Still working on Spring Game info...

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Thoughts on the 2010 schedule

(some dates and times unofficial :) )
Fri., Sept. 3: VILLANOVA Lincoln Financial Field, 5 p.m.

Thu., Sept. 9: *CENTRAL MICHIGAN Lincoln Financial Field, 7 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 18 CONNECTICUT Lincoln Financial Field, 12

Sat., Sept. 25 at Penn State University Park, Pa., 3:30

Sat., Oct. 2 at Army West Point, N.Y., 12

Sat., Oct. 9 *at Northern Illinois DeKalb, Ill., 1

Sat., Oct. 16 *BOWLING GREEN Lincoln Financial Field, 12

Sat., Oct. 23 *at Buffalo Buffalo, N.Y., 12

Sat., Oct. 30 *AKRON Lincoln Financial Field, 2

Sat., Nov. 6 *at Kent State Kent, Ohio, 1

Tues., Nov. 16 *OHIO Lincoln Financial Field 8 p.m. ESPN2

Tues., Nov. 23 *at Miami (Ohio) Oxford, Ohio 7 p.m. ESPN2

I don't know about you, but I've given up on circling wins and losses on a schedule a long time ago.
It was about the season that Jeff Garcia replaced an injured Donovan McNabb and took the Eagles on a six-game winning streak.
That was the year the Birds were at Giants, at Redskins and at Cowboys all in consecutive weeks.
All the talking heads had the Eagles losing all three.
When McNabb got hurt, they all said it was over.
Wrong on all counts.
The Eagles won all three and did it without McNabb.
Who knows what the future holds for any team, although it appears the Owls are swifter, stronger, more talented and more experienced than any other team in their league.
I wouldn't bet against them.
When this schedule came out, though, I thought this was the perfect for me schedule because:
1) I hate byes
2) It opens up with three straight home games.
After the way the team opened up last year against Villanova, don't think that they aren't excited about getting that bad memory out of their heads forever.
I think they will.
If they do, it sets up a well-attended next two games.
If they win those, the attendance momentum will just continue.
Picture, for example, the EagleBank Bowl experience in terms of a roaring loud crowd and a real homefield advantage and you'll get what I'm talking about. At the EBB, I saw a loud, involved, Temple crowd. It stunned UCLA and it sure stunned a lot of us who had season tickets for the past 30 years.
A good start brings that kind of excitement back in a way nothing else can.
I'm selfish about the byes. I know they sometimes help heal an injured team, but I don't see the use in them.
Kids are, what, between 18-22, and they should be able to play every week.
Plus, the Owls get 10 days between a couple of games so it shouldn't hurt them too much.
I hate byes because that means a week without Temple football and my autumns have been consumed with the Owls.
That's why this is the perfect schedule for me.
I get to talk, breathe, blog and live Temple football each week.
It's a good schedule.
Bring it on, the sooner the better.

Monday News ----March 1st, 2010

Vladimir Ducassse gets more ink in the NFL Combine here and here and here.

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Yet another Michigan blogger writes for Bleacher Report and compares UMass with Delaware State. BTW, I'm pretty sure that's one of my images.

However, the same blogger has the UMass Marching Band as one of the top six college bands in the USA.

Another Michigan prediction article from Bleacher Report.

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Former Wisconsin DE Obrien Schofield tore his ACl at the Senior Bowl going against Vladimir Ducasse.

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This article talks about BC's Mile McLaughlin and mentions his father Mike and his uncle Joe who both played for UMass.

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