University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Penn State
Massachusetts Football Heads To #6/5 Penn State On Saturday
October 10, 2023 | Football
Minutemen and Nittany Lions kickoff at 3:30 p.m. on BTN.
| University of Massachusetts Football Game Notes & Information | |
| Game 8 | Massachusetts (1-6)Â at #6/5 Penn State (5-0) |
| Date |Â Time | Saturday, October 14Â |Â 3:30 p.m. |
| Location | Amherst, Mass. | McGuirk Alumni Stadium |
| Tickets | Purchase Tickets Here |
| Series History | Penn State leads, 1-0-0 Last Meeting | Sept. 20, 2014 | Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pa. | Penn State 48, Massachusetts 7 |
| Game Notes & Team Information | Massachusetts: Game Notes | Don Brown Presser | Game Program  |  Record Book Penn State: Game Notes |
| Watch | Big Ten Network |
| Listen | WHMP 101.5 FM, 1240AM & 1400AM Â |Â WCRN 830 AM App: Download The Varsity Sports Network on your mobile device |
| Live Statistics | StatBroadcast |
| @UMassFootball | @FBCoachDBrown | |
| UMass Football | |
| UMass Football | |
AMHERST, Mass. --Â University of Massachusetts football makes the trip to University Park, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, October 14, for a 3:30 p.m. contest against #6/5 Penn State on Big Ten Network (BTN).Â
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SERIES HISTORY
The Minutemen and Nittany Lions have met once previously, with Penn State posting 48-7 victory on Sept. 20, 2014, at Beaver Stadium. Â
Penn State's Christian Hackenberg threw for 179 yards, while Bill Belton scored a pair of rushing touchdowns as did Zach Zwinak. Â
Marken Michel led the UMass offense with 104 yards receiving on six catches. Tajae Sharpe scored the Minutemen's lone touchdown on a 77-yard catch-and-run from Blake Frohnapfel to finish with 99-yards receiving. Frohnapfel finished the game with 263 yards after going 17-for-33 through the air. Â
SIMP CATCHING ON
Junior wide receiver Anthony Simpson scored touchdowns in back-to-back games to open the season and now has 33 catches for 566 receiving yards (80.90 yards/game) this season. His 566 receiving yards ranks ninth in FBS (first among independents). Simpson also has 10 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown this season.
In the season-opening win at New Mexico State, the Arizona transfer had a 10-yard TD run for the game's first score. At Auburn, he took a swing pass 58-yards for his second TD of the season. It marked the first two career touchdowns for the Bloomfield, Connecticut native.Â
Simpson posted 101 receiving yards at Eastern Michigan (Sept. 16), including a career-long 67-yard connection in the second half. His third touchdown of the season came late in the fourth quarter against New Mexico when he hauled in a 65-yard TD catch from Ahmad Haston to help send the game to overtime (Sept. 23).Â
Simpson then had seven catches for a career-high 140 yards and a 71-yard touchdown against Toledo. The 71-yard touchdown catch was UMass' first 70-plus yard reception since Ross Comis connected with Andy Isbella on a 75-yard touchdown at Georgia on Nov. 17, 2018. The 140 yards was also UMass' highest single-game total since Isabella finished that game at Georgia with 218 yards.
With that showing against the Rockets, Simpson posted a third 100-yard receiving game of the season, the most since Isabella turned in six such performances in 2018. Â
PSU CONNECTIONS
Though the teams have only met one time prior, there are several connections between UMass and Penn State.Â
Current head coaches Don Brown and James Franklin were on the same Maryland staff for the 2009-10 season, with Brown serving as the defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach while Franklin was the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterback coach. Â
Massachusetts redshirt freshman linebacker Tyler Martin's younger sister, Molly, is a redshirt freshman on the Nittany Lions women's soccer team. Â
Current UMass Redshirt junior safety Tyler Rudolph is a Penn State transfer, having played with the Nittany Lions from 2019-22 (played in 11 total games). Additional Penn State to UMass transfers include last season's leading receiver, Cam Sullivan-Brown, as well as former tight end Adam Breneman (2013-15 at Penn State, 2016-17 at UMass). Â
Massachusetts wide receivers coach Matt Zanellato, who is in his first year in that role for the Minutemen, is a former Nittany Lion wideout who graduated in 2016. He played for three different head coaches during his career at Penn State including Joe Paterno (2011), Bill O'Brien (2012 – 2013) and current Penn State head coach James Franklin (2014 – 2015). Zanellato was an All-Big Ten Academic selection and during his senior year he was the recipient of Penn State football's public service award for his work with THON and Lift-For-Life.
WOODEN LEADING THE D
Senior defensive lineman Billy Wooden ranks third on the team with 28 total tackles and second on the team with 15 solo tackles. He has a team-best eight tackles for loss and a team-best 4.5 sacks on the season. His 4.5 total sacks rank tied for 18th in FBS (first among independents).
Wooden also has a pass breakup, two quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries (t-3rd in FBS).
A Towson, Maryland native, Wooden is in his fifth season with the UMass program and has served as a game captain in each of the team's first seven games this season.Â
KAY'RON RUNNING WILD
Redshirt junior Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams is putting together a breakout season as the lead back for the Minutemen, rushing for 661 yards on 130 carries this season. He has also added 12 catches for 87 receiving yards. His 661 rushing yards ranks seventh in FBS (second among independents), while his 94.0 rushing yards per game ranks 23rd in FBS (second among independents). Â
Last week against Toledo, Lynch-Adams rushed 20 times for a career-high 157 yards including a 47-yard touchdown to put UMass ahead 7-0 in the first quarter. He has six rushing touchdowns this season (24th in FBS).
Against New Mexico State to open the year (Aug. 26), Lynch-Adams totaled two touchdowns, marking his first career multiple touchdown game. He posted 101 yards on 14 carries at Auburn, including a 28-yard run, for his first career 100-yard game. At Eastern Michigan (Sept. 16), Lynch-Adams carried the ball 26 times for 129 yards. Â
A 2023 Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent Second Team member, Lynch-Adams joined the Minutemen for the 2021 season after spending two years at Rutgers. Last season, he rushed 84 times for 297 yards and a career-long, 66-yard touchdown.
DESROSIERS DELIVERING RETURNS
Redshirt sophomore running back Greg Desrosiers Jr. totaled 244 all-purpose yards against Arkansas State (Sept. 30), including 75 yards rushing, 27 yards receiving and 142 yards on kickoff returns. Against the Red Wolves, he posted his first career two-touchdown game including a career-long, 60-yard TD run and his second TD catch of the season.Â
A 2023 Phil Steele Preseason Independent Team First Team Kick Returner selection, Desrosiers Jr. has 18 rushes for 107 yards and a touchdown this season to go along with 12 catches for 148 yards and two touchdowns. He also has 428 yards on kickoff returns for 683 all-purpose yards this season. The 428 kickoff return yards ranks second in the country, trailing only Elijhah Badger of Arizona State (470). Â
Desrosiers Jr., who hails from Lawrence, Massachusetts, joined the UMass program last season after two years at Louisville (appeared in six games for the Cardinals).
POWER FIVE TRANSFERS FOR 2023
Massachusetts added 15 transfers into the program with previous power five experience:
JB Brown - Arizona
RJ Edwards - Arizona
Jalen Harrell - Miami
Shambre Jackson - Florida State
Dashaun Jerkins - Ole Miss/Vanderbilt
Jalen John - Arizona
Tyler Martin - Arizona
Steven Ortiz - Minnesota
Taisun Phommachanh - Georgia Tech/Clemson
Mark Pope - Miami
Jerry Roberts Jr. - Arizona
Isaiah Rutherford - Arizona
Anthony Simpson - Arizona
Matt Smith - Duke
Jermaine Wiggins Jr. - Arizona
COACHING AT THE ALMA MATER
UMass employs three alums in full-time coaching roles in 2023, including assistant head coach/special teams coordinator/defensive lines coach, Ben Albert, defensive line coach, Valdamar Brower and associate head coach/offensive line coach, Alex Miller.
Albert is a 1995 graduate of the University of Massachusetts and was an All-Conference defensive lineman. During the 2002 and 2003 seasons, he served as the inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator, where he aided the Minutemen to the 2003 Atlantic 10 Conference championship.
Brower, a 2004 graduate of UMass, was a star defensive lineman for Massachusetts from 1999-2003, playing for then-defensive coordinator Don Brown during the 1999 season.
Miller developed into one of the most celebrated offensive lineman during his playing days at Massachusetts. His four years starting on the line culminated with multiple first team all-America awards following the team's appearance in the 2006 National Championship Game. Miller cemented his legacy as a durable and reliable centerpiece for the Minutemen with starts in all 50 games played during the 2003-06 seasons
Two additional coaching staff members earned a degree from UMass in analyst Jesse Monteiro '17 and Graduate Assistant Garrett Dzuro '23.
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