University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass' Demers Signs With Cincinnati; Peebler Headed to Philadelphia
April 25, 2005 | Football
April 25, 2005
AMHERST, Mass. - Two UMass football players who finished their careers with the Minutemen this past fall have signed free agent contracts with NFL teams one day after the league's annual draft concluded. Fullback Rich Demers (East Boston, Mass.) has signed with the Cincinnati Bengals while wide receiver Jason Peebler (Modesto, Calif.) has signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Both players will be in camps with the NFL teams in the coming weeks.
Demers had a two-year career with the Minutemen after transferring from UMass-Lowell where they dropped their football team. A hard-nosed fullback who also played tailback at UMass, Demers played in 23 games for the Minutemen, starting 13. This past season, he played in 10 games, starting eight picking up 182 yards on 44 carries. He also had 17 receptions out of the backfield for 108 yards as he had at least one reception in the first six games of the season. His best game as a senior came at Rhode Island (10/23/04), when he ran for 42 yards and scored two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.
As a junior, Demers played in all 13 games for the Atlantic 10 champions, picking up 664 rushing yards on 125 carries. He also scored five touchdowns. Demers also had 30 catches for 222 yards and five TDs. He ranked second on the team in rushing yards, third in scoring (62 points on 10 touchdowns and a two-point conversion) and fourth in receptions. His 891 all-purpose yards, third most on the team. Demers was named the Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week and Dinn Brothers UMass Athlete of the Week following the William & Mary (10/11/03) game, in addition to winning the New England Gold Helmet Award. He rushed 26 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns in the victory at William & Mary, while catching three passes for 26 yards. He also ran 28 times for 139 yards and a pair of scores in the win over Hofstra (10/18/03), in addition to posting a season-best five receptions for 21 yards. Prior to his career with the Minutemen, in two seasons with the UMass-Lowell River Hawks, rushed for 752 yards on 144 carries.
 Jason Peebler leaves as UMass' second-time leader in receiving yards.  |
|
Peebler will go down as one of the all-time great receivers at UMass. He was a preseason All-American by I-AA.org in 2004 and a preseason first-team All-Atlantic 10 wide receiver. He left UMass with the second-most career receiving yards (2,395), career receiving touchdowns (27), second-highest career per catch average (19.4) and third-most career receptions (123). Peebler was the sixth player at UMass with more than 100 career receptions. He had at least one catch in the last 22 college games he played in. He also finished his career with nine 100-yard receiving game, including the first three games of the 2004 season.
This past season, Peebler had a team-high 40 catches for 815 yards (20.4 yards per reception). He also scored eight touchdowns as a senior. He was 28th in the nation in receiving yards per game (88.7) and fifth in the Atlantic 10. He had seven catches of more than 50 yards as a senior (80, 50, 58, 64, 50 and 53). He finished his career tying his career-high for catches with eight for 161 yards and two touchdowns, including a 56-yard toss from Tim Day in the win over Hofstra (11/20/04). He went over 100-yard mark for first time since third game of the season with 101 yards on six catches vs. Maine (10/30/04), grabbed a 53-yard TD pass from Tim Day in homecoming win. He caught his 100th career reception -- for 41 yards -- at New Hampshire (10/16), as he had three catches for 51 yards. Also passed the 2,000-yard receiving mark in career in game. He opened the season with three-straight 100-yard games as he had four catches for 130 and a 50-yard touchdown vs. Richmond (9/18/04). He had four catches for 161 yards and two TD's vs. Colgate (9/11). Peebler began year with five catches for 144 yards and a pair of TD's at Delaware State.
The 2003 season was Peebler's best as he was named a 2003 CSTV second-team All-American; named to New England writers I-AA All-Star team; and was honored as a second-team All-Atlantic wide receiver in 2003. He saw action in 11 games, making nine starts and caught a team-best 50 passes for 1,003 yards and 13 touchdowns on the season. He set a school single season record with an average of 20.1 yards per catch, while placing second on the single season lists for receiving touchdowns, third for receiving yards and 10th for receptions. He also returned nine kickoffs for 186 yards, and totaled 1,187 all-purpose yards. He led the team in scoring with 78 points on 13 touchdowns. Peebler was a two-time Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week selection, following the New Hampshire (10/4/03) and Richmond (11/8/03) games. He was also named ESPN/USA Today Division I-AA Offensive Player of the Week and Dinn Brothers UMass Athlete of the Week after the victory over Richmond, in addition to being selected to the ECAC Division I-AA Honor Roll. He is a versatile player who played at running back in 2002, gaining 141 yards on 27 carries including 127 yards vs. Central Connecticut (9/7/02). - UMASS -
