UMass officially announced the date and time of its spring football game, and coach Mark Whipple likes his teams early progress toward that.
The annual intra-squad game will Friday, April 13 at 6 p.m. at McGuirk Stadium. Future details about the game and events around it will be announced at a later date.
As has become routine for UMass, the Minuteman had one week of practice before the team scattered for spring break this week. Practice will resume next week.
“They’ve been good,” said Whipple, who used spring break as a chance to go to Arizona. “We’re a lot deeper. We’re practicing threes, which we’ve never done before in the spring.”
Whipple said the Minutemen are mostly healthy.
Tyler Hayes (shoulder) and Tyris Lebeau (undisclosed) are both out of action after offseason surgeries. Hayes won’t practice all spring, but Whipple expected him to be ready in the fall. Lebeau could be ready by the end of spring.
Quarterback Ross Comis, who’ll be a senior in the fall, hasn’t practiced after a procedure to clean up his knee but is expected to practice as some point during the spring.
TIGHT ENDS PAST AND FUTURE — Whipple was disappointed to see tight end Adam Breneman have to walk away from the game. The senior announced that recurring knee problems had caused him to retire and end his quest to play in the NFL.
“He’s an unbelievable kid. It didn’t seem to be getting better. I’m glad he was able to play for two years. I just feel really bad for him,” Whipple said. “No matter whether he played or not, he’s going to have a bright future.”
While Travis Reynolds and Kyle Horn are competing to be the team’s top tight end in 2018, Whipple said it might not be as much of a pass-catching position as it’s been in recent years.
“We might be a little more four wides at times. I think our receiver crew is a lot deeper,” Whipple said. “Jesse Britt and Brennon Dingle came on as I thought they would.”
LEGACY QUARTERBACK — UMass’ roster now includes quarterback Mike Fallon, a walk-on transfer from Sacred Heart. Fallon is the son of former Minuteman quarterback Mike Fallon who led UMass to the 1977 Division II quarterfinal before the program became Division I-AA a year later.
His 11 touchdown passes in 1977 were sixth best on UMass’ single season list until Whipple’s arrival ushered in a drastic rewriting of the school’s passing records.
The new Minutemen is a 6-foot-3, 180-pounder passer from Milton.
ROSTER UPDATES — A handful of mostly seldom-used reserves are no longer on UMass’ updated roster.
Zeke Edmonds, a junior defensive back/linebacker hybrid who made seven tackles in six games in 2017 is the most notable departure, while defensive lineman D’Shan Harley and linebacker Jeremy Rodriguez, who both saw occasional action and Cycoby Burch, who’d been a three-star recruit after the most notable names who have left the team.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage