University of Massachusets Athletics
Competition Should Help
August 25, 2006 | Football
Aug. 25, 2006
The wild fluctuations in the University of Massachusetts kicking game are a thing of the past.
At least, that is what the Minutemen are striving for this preseason, having brought in a junior college player to compete with sophomore Armando Cuko for the placekicking job.
Chris Koepplin, a transfer from Nassau Community College, is battling Cuko for the starting job, giving the Minutemen their first real competition at kicker since 1999, when Jason Cherry and Doug White fought for the job.
"It's been really good for both guys because they help motivate each other and that's what competition is about," special teams coach Steve Tirrell said. "There's no complacency for anyone to feel like they have the job."
Cuko was the only placekicker on the roster in 2005 as a true freshman and he had his ups and downs. He started the year by making his first two collegiate field goal attempts in the team's win over Richmond.
The following week he missed a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter of a 17-14 loss to Colgate. His most amazing kick was a 41-yarder in the mud at McGuirk Alumni Stadium that gave UMass a 10-7 win over James Madison, a kick JMU coach Mickey Matthews is still talking about.
Despite that, it was a subpar year for kicking, with Cuko making only six of 13 field goal attempts.
"Armando stayed up here all summer long and had a great summer of conditioning," Tirrell said. "Chris tweaked his knee coming out of the spring so it was Armando's job, but they both came into camp knowing there was going to be competition. They've handled it well, they both want what's best for the team, but they both want to be the guy."
Tirrell said both kickers have been excellent on kick-offs, routinely putting the ball in the end zone. Their field goals have been charted throughout camp and Tirrell says it's too close to call.
"If you were to ask me today I couldn't tell you who would be the starter," Tirrell said.
He did say they will likely have both on the travel roster for away games.
Koepplin is also a punter but there's no competition there. All-American Christian Koegel, one of the top punters in the nation last year and the 2005 Atlantic 10 special teams player of the year, is the starter with Koepplin as insurance.
NEW RULES: In an effort to speed up the college game, the NCAA made some rule changes to keep the clock running.
The clock will now start when the football is kicked off, not when the ball is touched by the receiving team. The clock will also start as soon as the ball is placed after a change of possession.
The NCAA also reduced from two inches to one inch the size of the kick-off tee in an effort to cut back on touchbacks.
"It's really not that big of a deal for us," UMass coach Don Brown said. "The rule was really made to shorten the game to three hours on TV."
Brown said the impact on games will be to reduce the number of plays by 13 to 15.
NEW COACHES: The Minutemen have a quartet of new coaches for the 2006 season, three on the defensive side and one on offense.
Bob Shoop will handle the defensive backs. Shoop, a 1988 Yale graduate who played under coach Don Brown, spent the last three seasons as the head coach of Columbia. Prior to that he coached the secondary at Boston College for four years.
He has also coached at Yale, Army, Villanova and Northeastern.
Mike Wood comes to UMass from Gettysburg College where he held various positions in three of the last four years. He spent the 2003 season as an assistant coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Wood will coach the tight ends for the Minutemen.
Steve Militello worked as an assistant to Mike Hodges, director of football operations, last season but will help with the defensive line, linebackers and defensive specialties this year.
A 2005 Northeastern graduate, Militello played defensive end under Brown for three seasons.
Damien Mincey comes to UMass from after being an assistant coach at his alma mater, Passaic (N.J.) High School. A 2002 graduate of New Haven, Mincey played on the offensive line for three years and the defensive line as a senior.
Mincey is the assistant linebackers coach.
