5 things every Florida fan must know about UMass
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – UMass should not give Florida many problems in Week 1. Even while trying to get fans excited about the game, Steve Spurrier couldn’t pretend the game would be very close.
“UMass, they’re not a great team. They weren’t last year, but they’ll come ready to play,” Spurrier said on a Thursday radio show.
The Minutemen went 3-9 last season and are 8-40 since joining the FBS. This season they have to replace last year’s starting quarterback Blake Frohnapfel and top wideout Tajae Sharpe.
Beyond its lack of post-FCS success, here are five things Gators fans should know about UMass before Saturday’s game:
1. UMass also had a quarterback competition
Sophomore Ross Comis won the job over Andrew Ford, a former Virginia Tech Hokie who transferred to UMass after a stop at Lackawanna College. Comis saw limited action last season, going 15-of-21 passing for 171 yards and two touchdowns.
UMass coach Mark Whipple confirmed Comis’ status as starter last week, but seems worried about how his quarterback will hold up against the Gators’ pass rush.
“Everybody knows that he’s going to start the game,” Whipple told reporters. “And finish it, unless we don’t block for him.”
2. Whipple’s second go around with the Minutemen
Speaking of Whipple, he first coached the Minutemen from 1998-2003, helping building them into an FCS power.
Whipple left for a job as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2004-2008. He spent one season with the Philadelphia Eagles before returning to the college ranks, as offensive coordinator at Miami. Which brings up a connection to the current Florida staff.
3. Familiar faces
Whipple was Randy Shannon’s offensive coordinator at Miami for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. While Geoff Collins is Florida’s primary defensive coordinator, one can assume that Shannon, whose lengthy job title includes co-coordinator, will be leading the effort to scheme against his former colleague.
One amusing anecdote from their history: Shannon and Whipple once had to downplay Whipple’s sideline outburst over a Hurricanes timeout call in the 2009 Miami-Clemson game.
4. One of four FBS independents
If the Gators win over UMass – and they should cruise to an easy victory – the SEC gets some bragging rights over … UMass. This season, the Minutemen join Notre Dame, Army and BYU as the FBS’ only independents.
UMass will face two more SEC teams this fall, playing Mississippi State in Foxborough, Mass., at Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) on Sept. 24 and traveling to South Carolina on Oct. 22.
5. RB Marquis Young is part of an exclusive club
Advanced stats extraordinaire Bill Connelly of SBNation notes that UMass RB Marquis Young notched an impressive statline last season:
“Running backs with at least 150 carries, a 45 percent opportunity rate, and 6 highlight yards per carry: Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott, Notre Dame’s CJ Prosise, North Carolina’s Elijah Hood, and Young. That’s it. And Young was a freshman.”
That paragraph is a little bogged down in jargon, so let’s break it down. Connelly defines opportunity rate as “ the percentage of carries in which the offensive line ‘does its job’ and produces at least 5 yards of rushing for the runner.” Highlight yards are the yards he credits to the running back (basically anything gained beyond 5 yards).
Putting it in simple terms, last season Young was one of the most effective ball-carriers beyond the first 5 yards cleared out by the offensive line.