University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Refuses To Look Ahead
August 18, 2006 | Football
Aug. 18, 2006
By Chris Maza
Fitchburg Sentinel
AMHERST -- Take it one step at a time.
That's the philosophy of the 2006 UMass-Amherst football squad, even though people around them are buzzing about a National Championship.
"We're not talking about the end result right now," said Minutemen head coach Don Brown during Tuesday's Media Day. "We're looking at the season as 11 different entities. Right now, we're just focusing on preseason and Colgate."
Maybe that's the best thing for them. Last year's team was ranked 18th in the country with a 7-2 record and two games remaining and -- thanks to losses to Army and Hofstra -- ended up missing the postseason entirely.
"Did we fall short of out aspirations? Yes, I think we did," Brown said. "Army's a good (Division) I-A program that's really finding itself and we just dropped one to Hofstra."
This year, according to All-Conference running back and team captain Steve Baylark, the team's entire outlook is different this season.
"Our problem last year was we were looking too far down the road," Baylark said. "This year, it's a different attitude. We're getting ready for one game and once that game's done, then we move on to the next one."
The second half -- of both the season and individual games -- seemed to be a problem for the Minutemen, something Baylark doesn't foresee being a problem this year.
"I expect us to play better in the second half," he said. "Last year, we didn't finish games strong and that hurt us."
What also hurt the Minutemen was the constant bites by the injury bug, which even took out a pivotal member of their passing attack in J.J. Moore, who suffered a broken leg.
But Moore is back this season and after a slow start to his recovery, is now looking good, according to Brown.
"I was a little worried about J.J. this spring. When you break a leg, you're not going to jump right back in there and bounce around, fly around with the kind of disregard you did before," he said. "It takes time to build confidence that you're going to be OK. But (Moore) showed flashes of that in the spring and has played well so far."
Showing that he has confidence in Moore, Brown has inserted him back into the punt and kick return role as well as one of the team's starting receivers.
Joining Moore on the depth chart at wideout are Brandon London, who led the team in receptions and receiving yards with 60 snags for 774 yards and two scores, Rasheed Rancher and Mike Omar. Among those fighting for the fifth receiver slot is Leominster native and Fitchburg graduate Ryan Logan, who is in his second year of the transition from middle linebacker to wideout.
The offense will be run once again by Liam Coen, now a redshirt sophomore, who took over the starting role three games into the 2005 season whose 2,175 yards is second All-Time for UMass freshmen behind Matt Guice's 2,236 in 2001.
Adding depth under center is Scott Woodward, a Mahar Regional grad who almost single-handedly dismantled Lunenburg in the Central/Western Mass. Division 3 Super Bowl with four touchdowns in 2004.
Baylark, a perennial 1,000 yard rusher, will of course lead the running attack, but it is one of deepest positions on the team and Brown hopes to spread out the touches.
Matt Lawrence will act as the primary backup with Tony Nelson, Division I-A transfer Tim Washington and freshman Alphonsus Aguh all waiting in the wings.
"We need to be good at tailback and I feel good about our depth there," Brown said. "Tony Nelson is a good, young redshirt and Tim Washington can carry the ball and is a very good pass receiver, so we have to figure out ways to get him the ball. Alphonsus Aguh has also done a good job in practice."
Clearing the way for the offense will be one of the best offensive lines in the country, led by captain and center Alex Miller.
"Miller is the best center in (Division) I-AA football," Brown said. "His teammates are very important to him and he has a lot of intangibles."
The Minuteman blocking corps, coached by Leominster native Brian Piccuci, allowed only 11 sacks in 11 games, good for eighth in the country.
Defensively, the Minutemen return a good core with not much needing to be changed. Still, a few adjustments are being made.
Brandon Smith will be moving from the strong safety/dog safety position to free safety and Sean Small will act exclusively as a cornerback this year.
Charles Walker will also be returning to his middle linebacker slot after being medically redshirted in 2005.
"Charles always plays at a high level," Brown said. "On passing plays, he's like a safety playing middle linebacker and on running plays, he can go back to being a linebacker."
The one question mark on the defense is at defensive end, where Brown says he's not quite sure how it's going to end up.
"We're fooling around with several different combinations and rotations," he said.
Among the other changes UMass has this year is McGuirk Stadium's new field turf, which was played on for the first time Tuesday.
"It's getting rave reviews," Brown said. "It's fast, it's consistent. It's nice to have a great facility."
UMass enters the season ranked anywhere from sixth to 23rd in preseason polls and second in the A-10 poll behind New Hampshire.
But Brown isn't paying much attention to that.
What he's focusing on is his team and so far, he likes what he sees.
"I feel like from 0-90, this is the deepest we've been since I got here," Brown said. "Bottom line, you have to have quality offense, defense and kicking. If you have those three things, you can talk about a National Championship. We're striving to be as good as we can in all three areas."
The Minutemen kick off their season against Colgate Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
