University of Massachusets Athletics
No. 19 Was One Of The Best
December 09, 2003 | Football
Dec. 9, 2003
AMHERST, Mass. - Making the sixth NCAA Playoff appearance in school-history, (and third under head coach Mark Whipple) the 2003 season of Massachusetts Football will undoubtedly go down as one to remember. Finishing 10-3 including an 8-1 mark in Atlantic 10 Conference play, the Minutemen set numerous school records during the year. Winning a share of the Atlantic 10 Conference title for the first time since 1999, UMass secured its 19th football championship overall. The Minutemen also posted a school-record 10 regular season wins, started the year 9 1 (their best mark through 10 games in over 100 years and just the second time in school history, 1901 being the other, the Minutemen recorded nine wins in their first 10 games). UMass also set a school-record with eight conference victories, notched a school-record eight consecutive wins, and set a school-record for the most victories at home with a perfect 7-0 mark.
Then came the individual accolades: 11 Atlantic 10 All-Conference selections including three first-team award winners, senior defensive tackle Valdamar Brower, senior linebacker Jeremy Cain and senior defensive back Anton McKenzie. Atlantic 10 coach of the year honors for Mark Whipple, who earned the same recognition from the New England Football Writers and the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston. Five selections to the New England Football Writers Division I-AA All-Star team including Brower, who earned the honor for the third time in his career. Three selections to post-season All-Star games as Brower, Cain and Krohn were each asked to play in the inaugural I-AA College Football All-Star Classic, to take place on December 30 at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and televised on The Football Networlk. Krohn was also selected to play in the Las Vegas All-America Classic, to take place January 17 in Nevada. That game will be televised on Fox Sports Net and College Sports Television.
Additionally, the Minutemen won over 20 weekly awards in the form of Atlantic 10 Player of the Week & Rookie of the Week honors and UMass Athlete of the Week honors. Sophomore Shannon James topped this list as he captured every award out there with his performance in the Oct. 25, 19-14 win at Villanova. James totaled nine tackles including eight solo stops, one interception and had a fumble recovery he returned 39-yards for the game-winning touchdown with less than three minutes remaining in the contest. For his exploits, he was named the Gold Helmet award winner by the New England Football Writers, the National Defensive Player of the Week by The Sports Network, the ECAC Defensive Player of the Week and the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week. There were also awards off the field as well as senior linebacker Mark Kimener was named to the CoSida District 1 Academic All-American Team and the UMass 2003 Fall Scholar-Athlete.
"This team had great success," said head coach Mark Whipple when reflecting on the 2003 campaign. "Our guys have a lot to be proud of, especially our seniors. Our coaching staff came together and our players developed great chemistry." With a tremendous receiving corps, UMass was led by junior Jason Peebler (50 catches for 1,003 yards and 13 touchdowns). Peebler also averaged a school-record 20.1 yards per catch and became just the third UMass receiver in school history to surpass 1,000 yards for his career.
Jimmie Howard (37 catches, 541 yards and four touchdowns) and Dominique Stewart (37 catches, 464 yards and two touchdowns) were also key for the Maroon & White, while the Minutemen also received sizeable contributions from newcomers Rich Demers (30 catches, 222 yards and five touchdowns), Steve Baylark (22 catches for 166 yards) and Johnson Owumi (18 catches, 305 yards and two touchdowns). Mike Douglas, Glenn Opie, Sean Young and Steve Wysocki rounded out the receiving efforts, that totaled 223 passes, the third highest total in school history.
At the helm of the offense was quarterback Jeff Krohn. He owned an 18-5 record in the 23 games he played as a Minuteman, including a 17-3 mark against Division I-AA foes and a perfect 12-0 record at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Krohn won 15 of his last 17 starts, and had won 14 consecutive games against A-10 opponents before the triple overtime loss at Delaware. Krohn, who was also a second-team All-Atlantic 10 selection, ended the year with 2,961 yards completing 223 of 422 attempts (.528) with 28 touchdowns. He also totaled a team-leading 2,860 yards of total offense while starting all 13 games the Minutemen played. He ranks second on the UMass single-season list for touchdown passes and attempts, third in completions and third in yards. Over the course of his UMass career, Krohn ranks second in touchdown passes (44), third in completions (375), third in passing yards (4,993), third in passing efficiency (124.8), third in attempts (709), fifth in completion percentage (.529) and sixth in yards per attempt (7.0).
Krohn threw for over 200 yards in each of his last nine consecutive regular season games and passed for at least one touchdown in every regular season contest during the 2003 year. In 2002, Krohn connected on 152 of 287 passes for 2,032 yards and 16 touchdowns, while also leading the team with 1,957 yards of total offense. He placed sixth on the UMass single season list with 2,032 passing yards, which was also the third-highest mark in school history by a junior. Over the course of his UMass career, Krohn ranks second in touchdown passes (44), third in completions (375), third in passing yards (4,993), third in passing efficiency (124.8), third in attempts (709), fifth in completion percentage (.529) and sixth in yards per attempt (7.0). All told, throughout his collegiate career, Krohn has connected on 615 of 1,176 attempts for 8,686 yards and 75 touchdowns.
Running the ball was also a bright spot for UMass in 2003. While road to nearly 2,000 yards rushing as a team was paved with potholes galore, the Minutemen found a way to get it done as Steve Baylark (1,177 yards on 268 attempts and 10 touchdowns) who wasn't even listed on the preseason depth chart became the fifth Minuteman rusher in the past six year to surpass 1,000 yards. Rich Demers (664 yards on 125 attempts and five touchdowns) also stepped up in superbly when Baylark went down with an injury for a couple of games. A solid offensive line allowed the Minutemen to rush for 152.8 yards per game, while supplying pass protection to let UMass throw for 234.3 yards per contest. UMass surrendered only 27 sacks through 13 games including a total of just six sacks through the first seven games of the season against I AA opponents. Leading the way was senior guard Carmen Collins who started 40 games over four seasons. Other Minutemen with a good deal of experience are junior tackle Rob Kane with 33 career starts and sophomore tackle Colin Stoetzel with 19 starts. In addition, redshirt freshman center Alex Miller and redshirt freshman guard David Thompson both started all 13 games of the 2003 season.
Defensively, the Minutemen ranked No. 1 as the top team in the nation gaining 40 turnovers. With 22 interceptions and 18 fumbles recovered, UMass made a named for itself capitalizing on opponent mistakes. Leading the way was sophomore cornerback Steve Costello who ranked among the top-five individual leaders in the country with six interceptions on the season. Three others secured four picks each (James Ihedigbo, Tracy Belton and Shannon James) while seven different Minutemen intercepted a pass.
Kimener, Cain and McKenzie combined to form the backbone of a UMass defense which also ranked among the top-10 in the country against the run for most of the year. While Kimener led the team in many categories including 133 tackles, 90 solo stops, 15 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles, Cain was close to follow with 107 tackles, 73 solo stops, 14 tackles for loss, four sacks, three forced fumbles and a team-high 12 quarterback hurries. McKenzie was also a force totaling 106 tackles, 79 solo stops, 11 tackles for loss, five pass break ups and four sacks. Linebackers Serge Tikum (83 tackles, 10 tackles for loss) and Mike Ziccardi (81 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and a team-high six sacks) were also key, while upfront Mike Haynes (54 tackles), Doran Davis (27 tackles before getting injured) and Colin Christopher (64 tackles including nine for loss) anchored the defensive line.
On special teams, UMass received a solid kicking game from freshman Michael Torres who nailed 9-of-15 field goal attempts including 8-of-11 from inside 40 yards. Torres also converted 40-of-44 extra point attempts (.909) and ranked second on the team in scoring with 67 total points. Snapping him the ball was senior center Tim McDermond who was excellent with both punts and field goals, while sophomore Scott Ratliff held a majority of the kicks on field goal and extra point attempts. Freshman C.J. Koegel also had a solid year punting as he totaled 2,663 yards on 68 attempts to average 39.2 yards per punt. Koegel also dropped 19 of his kicks inside the 20-yard line and had just five touchbacks. Freshman Lorenzo Perry had a good season returning kickoffs averaging 19.0 yards per return, while, Jimmie Howard led the way at 20.4 yards per attempt.
Closing out the year with another NCAA Playoff appearance and yet another conference championship, UMass certainly had numerous superlatives both on and off the field in 2003. Already holding the highest number of football conference championships of any school in the Atlantic 10, the Minutemen will look for number 20 in 2004.
