UMass Week: Prepare for the Unexpected, Now More Than Ever Before
UMass Week: Prepare for the Unexpected, Now More Than Ever Before
It'll be the fourth year in a row these two teams have faced each other as non-conference foes. The returning faces in this matchup are so few and far between.
Once we get to Saturday, it’ll have been 252 days since the last time Eastern Michigan strapped up their chinstraps against another team. At which point, this team would like to stop talking about last year and how things ended. This year’s team doesn’t want to be compared to last year’s, much like how last year’s team didn’t need to be held up against the 2022 squad.
This EMU squad wants to feel fresh, and it’ll certainly look the part. Only 53 new players joined Eastern Michigan’s roster this offseason — the 25th-highest mark in the country. Of the 22 listed starters on offense and defense this week, eight are first-year transfers. Left guard Mickey Rewolinski and tight end Jere Getzinger lead the EMU offense in experience in Ypsilanti, each with 14 total starts.
UMass returns the big QB that it got through the portal last year, but he didn’t play against EMU last season. Now, he greets EMU with a bunch of new wide receivers that he didn’t have last season.
Not to mention some defensive talent, like former EMU defensive tackle Tim Grant-Randall, through the portal as well.
Even though this is the fourth non-conference matchup in a row for these two teams (with many more to come), these teams are still largely introducing themselves to each other on the sidelines, let alone preparing for and knowing what kind of punches will be thrown Saturday.
Metaphorically speaking, of course. Remember, UMass will be part of this MAC family again.
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Starting the season with UMass
No, this series probably won’t reach the point of being labeled a ‘rivalry’.
But the series as a regular conference matchup? Once UMass re-joins the Mid-American Conference in 2025, I think seeing recent years of one-possession games will add a small dose of excitement for the two fanbases. These are two programs that have had recent runs of awfulness, and UMass would like to finally see some success as an FBS-level program.
UMass won an FCS-level national championship in 1998 and has been chasing for more ever since. It took 14 years for UMass to finally make the FCS-to-FBS leap. In 2012 it joined the MAC as a football-only member. The MAC wanted full membership moving forward after a three-year trial period. UMass didn’t take the offer. Over the last eight years as an FBS independent, UMass has posted an overall record of 16-72.
In the 2010’s, the EMU-UMass games had to be some of the most ignorable matchups this country had to offer. Since Don Brown re-took the reigns as head coach in 2022 at UMass, these two teams have played in tight, physical contests in back-to-back seasons.
EMU holds the series’ all-time record at 3-2 and is riding a 3-year winning streak; UMass won the first two contests in 2014 and 2015 as a MAC school. Saturday’s season kickoff will complete the schools’ 4-game, home-and-home agreement. As MAC opponents, UMass won the first games by scores of 36-14 (2014) and 28-17 (2015), then EMU flipped the record books with a non-conference win on the road 42-28 (2021) two home wins with scores of 20-13 (2022) and 19-17 (2023).
With some recent contests, there’s a sense that Creighton and his team ought to know what Brown and UMass are going to throw at them.
But Creighton’s no rookie to any of this. This season will be his 35th year as a coach — 28th as a college head coach, and 11th at EMU. He’s no stranger to how much mystery scouting the other side can present, even when you think you’ve had all the time in the offseason to figure out your first opponent’s strategies and strengths of the year.
“You just never can forget that 8-9 months of preparation. New coaches, all of that, the self-scouting and what they did well, what they want to improve on. You always have to be prepared for the unexpected in Game 1, more so than in any other year with the transfer portal,” Creighton said. “Now you not only have to worry about different schemes that could happen, but it’s almost impossible to know what a team’s personnel is going to be like.”
Going off of ESPN’s returning production percentage, UMass returns 55% of last year’s team (#86 nationally) while EMU has 42% of its team coming back (#117). For as much as EMU has replenished or maybe even upgraded in some of the spots on the roster with new faces, there has to be a level of respect that UMass, yes, even UMass, can feel like things look better for them without having played any games yet.
Just how good are UMass’ new players?
What about WR Anthony Simpson, a second-year transfer from Arizona? Is he still a problem?
What about newly-hired offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery? He coached Cole Snyder at Buffalo in 2022.
“They’re like us - they’ve got some new faces,” Creighton said. “They’re obviously very well-coached. They have a new offensive coordinator who we faced… have great respect for him. He’s really good at what he does, and obviously, with Don Brown running their defense, they’ll be really good on D. Not that that’s not going to change, but the coordinator hasn’t changed in that way.
“Just first game of the year, they were sensational in their first game last year, went to New Mexico State, who ended up having a fantastic season, beat them at their place. So this will be a huge battle.”
The football this Saturday ought to speak for itself. Whether or not EMU can add-in 53 new players to its roster in one offseason — which is somehow only the 25th highest mark in the FBS — and be a good football team will be evident between the lines.
But operating a football program is so much more than coaching the games and leading practices during the week.
There’s something to be said for, in the transfer portal era, more and more guys trying to get up-to-speed with their new teams and fewer and fewer returning guys to help introduce them. EMU’s has its best efforts, but as a team, you either have experience playing together or you don’t.
“I think with a bunch of new players, I’ve had to just remind myself that 53 guys from this point on haven’t done things with us that I ordinarily would not have to think about. So that goes from how we sit in team meetings or how we travel, but then, yeah, playing together. We’re going to have new faces out there,” Creighton said. “And I feel really good about camp, went through the other night when we were closing camp about how many hours of meeting time and how many periods, we had 345 periods of practice I think it was. Went through how many punt reps or all of those things, two live scrimmages. But until you play, I think there’s going to be, not unknowns, but you just don’t gain experience until you do it.”
Cole Snyder vs. Taisun Phommachanh
That’s a program that used the transfer portal heavily to find new front-end talent since Brown re-took the reigns in Amherst, Mass. Last year, EMU avoided Brown’s biggest catch last year — former 4-star QB and Clemson signee Taisun Phommachanh — due to nagging knee injuries.
At the weekly UMass press conference, Brown said that Phommachanh’s previous injuries are a “non-issue” to him.
“Great summer. He has not missed a practice, has gone about his business. You can tell he’s confident in putting both feet in the ground and going where he needs to go, and doing it as fast as he wants to do it,” said Brown.
Last year, Phommachanh led UMass to a 41-30 win at New Mexico State, a squad that wound up winning 10 games. He was 10/17 passing for 192 yards, and ran for 96 yards on 17 carries with one score in that department.
In Snyder’s two season-opening games with Buffalo, Snyder went 18/35 for 160 yards with no scores in a 31-10 loss at Maryland (2022), and 26/41 for 194 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 38-17 loss at Wisconsin (2023). Snyder was a 56.9% passer for 5,138 yards with 31 TD thrown to 17 interceptions.
“He’s just an excellent fit for our program in turns of our culture, who he is, his character,” Creighton said on his new quarterback. “He’s very mature, he’s very serious about football, he’s a guy that takes copious notes and is in the building outside of, you know, time where we’re going through meetings and practice. Obviously been in the MAC for two seasons, so he’s a seasoned veteran. Real smart football player.”
WEEK 1 STARTING QUARTERBACKS IN CREIGHTON ERA
2024: Cole Snyder (at UMass)
2023: Austin Smith (W vs. Howard, 33-23)
2022: Taylor Powell (W vs. Eastern Kentucky, 42-34)
2021: Ben Bryant (W vs. St. Francis, 35-15)
2020: Preston Hutchinson (L at Kent State, 27-23)
2019: Mike Glass III (W at Coastal Carolina, 30-23)
2018: Tyler Wiegers (W vs. Monmouth, 51-17)
2017: Brogan Roback (W vs. Charlotte, 24-7)
2016: Todd Porter Jr. (W vs. Mississippi Valley State, 61-14)
2015: Reggie Bell (L vs. Old Dominion, 38-34)
2014: Reggie Bell (W vs. Morgan State, 31-28)
Tim Grant-Randall
If your eyes are adjusted to recognizing Grant-Randall as #98 for the green and white (and gray), they’ll need to recalibrate this weekend. He’ll be in the #10 jersey for the maroon and white (and also gray).
Grant-Randall, from Texas and went to Blinn Community College before he transferred to EMU in 2021, made the move to UMass this offseason to be a starting D-tackle for the Minutemen.
In his 24 games with EMU, Randall, made 48 stops with 8 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, and even broke up 5 passes with one INT.
So it’ll be a funky reunion of sorts. Not too many times guys transfer outside of their original conference and square off against their former school, let alone opening the season against your former school on your new, green, home turf.
Nobody’s expecting it to be 60 minutes of handshakes and hugs with him though.
Said Creighton, “He’s starting for them, so he’s obviously made a huge impact for them. Tim Grant-Randall, you know this, you’re going to get everything he’s got. He brings it. He’s super-competitive, strong, cares, and so we’re going to get everything he’s got.”
The Deuce
Last year’s selection of The Deuce seemed pretty obvious. Not only did Tanner Knue have his rise as a former walk-on to starting wideout, but just look around. There weren’t any other starting seniors to contend with here.
This year’s roster does feature J.B. Mitchell, who made 11 starts last year. But after just a few days of getting to meet and watch the undersized Hutchinson Community College recruit in the winter, Creighton knew Oran Singleton was somebody that he couldn’t ignore.
When the head coach voiced his opinions about the 5-foot-7, 151-pound receiver looking for a second chance in the MAC after leaving Akron in 2022, Creighton said the U-word.
He said: “I think he’s unguardable.”
“I think he’s going to be a tough matchup for people, tough to cover. Quiet, loves football, great teammate, just goes about his business. He’s got one of those fires that burn but again he’s not a real loud, bring-attention-to-myself kind of guy,” Creighton added.
The Deuce, Creighton said, goes to the player who is “our most-senior and best player,” which doesn’t really limit things to seniors, or even just wide receivers. Thomas Odukoya, a former tight end, earned the honor as a junior.
Still, this is easily the quickest any player has received this honor. Everybody that got to wear The Deuce at least spent a year playing with the team before they received the jersey honor.
“It means a lot. It’s an honor to rock The Deuce at Eastern,” Singleton said Monday. “The way the guys talk about The Deuce, the way D. Reed’s [father] talked about his son, describing his son, the way he loved to compete. It’s an honor to wear The Deuce.”
Since arriving on-campus, Singleton’s focus has been on being a team-first guy, having high-level reps and practices with his teammates, and being “gritty every day.”
Singleton noted that the team’s current group of receivers is one of the best he’s worked with.
But it’s not just the receivers that push Singleton to get better.
“Joshua Scott — he’s one of them ones. Daiquan (White). Markus Allen, Terry Lockett, I mean, it’s a lot. I could go on. They push me every day,” said Singleton.
Singleton is currently listed as a starting slot receiver and punt returner for EMU in his first game with the team. In 2021 with Akron, Singleton caught 11 passes for 112 yards with one TD, and rushed the ball three times for 14 yards. In the return game, he had five kick returns for 89 yards (17.8 avg.), and two punt returns for 17 yards (8.5 avg.). With his former JUCO program, Singleton caught 31 passes for 419 yards (13.5 avg.) with 7 touchdowns. He also fielded three punts for 26 yards.
Having moved a long way from home in Clewiston, Fla. just to be in Akron, Ohio in the first place, then went the junior college route just to come back to the MAC. Singleton said that he looks at his opportunity at EMU as a second-chance to have an electric college career.
And with UMass first up on the schedule, what kind of goals does Singleton have for himself?
“Just training with the guys, being able to go against somebody else instead of your teammates. Just to see the way we’re going to come together and try to get this win. We’re going to get this win, and it’s going to be exciting.”
By the Numbers
0
Without a conference to play in (which is obviously changing next season), the Minutemen only play for bowl eligibility — which is something that this program hasn’t accomplished since it made the FCS-to-FBS leap in 2012.
3
On Saturday, we’ll see a new football rule be in place where, at least three hours before kickoff, EMU will have to submit an availability report for its team to the league to create public knowledge.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced today the introduction of a gameday student-athlete availability report for all football games during the 2024 season. Each MAC institution will be responsible for submitting gameday availability reports prior to every contest this season. The new policy was approved in July by the Council of Directors of Athletics.
3-9
Last year, UMass went 3-9. That was UMass's best showing since it went 4-8 in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018, led by Mark Whipple.
6:6
UMass QB Phommachanh finished the 2023 season with six TD and six INT thrown over nine games.
8.2
Last year’s contest featured 214 rushing yards on 26 total carries from EMU’s offense. Samson Evans had 89 yards on eight carries, Jaylon Jackson had 83 yards on 12 carries with 1 TD, and Austin Smith had 45 yards for 4 carries. Smith and Evans both had rush averages for at least 11 yards and Evans had the longest rush of the day: 59 yards. However, just before rushing across the goal line, a UMass defender got Evans to fumble the ball loose and create a turnover.
50%
EMU’s Smith was a 50% passer in last year’s UMass game (13/26, 157 yards), and finished with a game-winning 50-yard throw-and-score to Hassan El-Zayat.
96th
After having the nation’s #126 scoring offense in 2021 (16.3 ppg) and dead last in 2022 (12.5 ppg), UMass made a noticeable rise up to #96 last year (23.2 ppg).
99
Brown has 99 career wins as a head coach. He went 25-6 leading D-III level Plymouth State (1993-1995), 27-20 leading FCS Northeastern (2000-03), 43-19 in his first stint with UMass (2004-08), and 4-20 in his two seasons returned. He has a 99-65 record across all levels, 47-39 all-time with UMass.
101
The good news for EMU is that only one receiver from last year’s 23-catch, 340-yard performance returns this year. The bad news is the one guy who it’ll recognize had the biggest performance: Anthony Simpson, now a second-year transfer from Arizona, had 4 catches for 101 yards (long: 67) against EMU. The QB, Carlos Davis, was 23/41 passing with 1 TD and 3 INT in the game.
127
By 247sports composite scores, UMass signed the #127 ranked recruiting class among FBS schools this year. In previous years, UMass had classes ranked #126 last year, #117 in 2022, and #118 in 2021. Over the same time, EMU signed classes ranked #93, #87, #124, and #96.
191
Creighton has 191 career victories to his name as a college head coach. Creighton went 34-9 leading NAIA Ottawa (1997-2000), 63-15 leading D-III Wabash (2001-2007), 44-22 at FCS Drake (2008-2013), and 52-68 through 10 seasons at Eastern. He has a 191-114 head coaching record across all levels.
300 lbs.
If there’s any truth to UMass’ roster, then it’s safe to say that UMass is going to be very light at the point of attack with its defense. There are only two defensive linemen listed at 300 lbs.
