AMHERST — At first, neither one of them could really believe they were about to make their first collegiate start.
All last week, Helber Fagundes and Dalton Tomlinson were practicing with the first-team offense, but there were few indications they would actually start against Coastal Carolina. Fagundes was alternating with senior Ray Thomas-Ishman at left guard and the freshman assumed his experienced counterpart would be ready to go for the game. Even when Thomas-Ishman told Fagundes in the middle of the week that the freshman would start, Fagundes shrugged it off as a joke.
Tomlinson at least had a better sense that redshirt sophomore center Jaylen Larry might not be ready for Saturday’s game. He knew Larry’s knee was bothering him and had prepared himself to start, but the sophomore still didn’t learn he’d get the nod until the team arrived at its hotel on Friday.
“The whole week I just prepared in my head ‘something’s wrong with Jaylen, I need to be prepared to start,’ so I just treated the whole week like I was going to start the game,” Tomlinson said.
Now, with Larry sidelined with a knee injury for an extended period and Thomas-Ishman suspended indefinitely, the pair is thrown into the spotlight for the UMass offense. Both Fagundes and Tomlinson had played in the previous three games for the Minutemen as either spot substitutions for a drive or extended playing time in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand, so it wasn’t as if they had been thrown into the starting role without prior experience.
Offensive line coach Jim Jackson counteracted the narrative when discussing the progress his two new starters have made since arriving on campus. He said both of them have put a lot of work into the weight room over the summer with strength coach Matt Shadeed and have practiced well as backups in preparation for a situation just like the one the Minutemen are currently facing.
“The idea that those guys were just kind of thrust into it and had to get ready to go, it’s kind of a false negative,” Jackson said. “I’ve watched Dalton Tomlinson work his butt off all summer, he’s prepared for this moment and he’s done well in those regards. The same with Helber. Now we have to seize the moment and seize the opportunity and execute when we get our number called.”
One thing that helped the younger players during Saturday’s loss to Coastal Carolina was being positioned next to experience offensive linemen in the trenches. Fagundes played alongside redshirt junior left tackle Larnel Coleman while Tomlinson was next to redshirt senior right guard Mike Yerardi. Both Fagundes and Tomlinson said they relied on their veteran teammates at various points in the game to make sure they understood their assignments and took tips on how to read the defense from those more experienced players.
That was especially important for Tomlinson, who assumed control of making the calls along the offensive line. He said there were a few times when he checked calls with Yerardi or when Yerardi alerted him to the need to make a different call based on the movement of the defense.
“Mike really helped me a lot,” Tomlinson said. “We communicated really well, especially Mike, he would help me. If I didn’t know something, I’d turn to him and be like ‘Hey, Mike, is this the right call?’ or he saw something that I didn’t see and he would tap me and say ‘Hey, this backer is coming’ and help me make the right calls.”
What was evident about Fagundes on film Saturday was how well he knew the offense and where he was supposed to be. Jackson said he was pleased with how often his freshman guard was in the right spot and blocking the correct defender with the next step being finishing those blocks and neutralizing the defender better. But it was no surprise given what Jackson has seen from the Brazilian-born Fagundes in the meeting room.
“The best thing about Helber has been a sense of calmness and understanding in the meeting room,” Jackson said. “Very rarely does Helber not understand what’s going on. … He understands everything that’s going on in the meeting room, he can make all the calls like a center would. So when you throw him in the game, you’re not dropping off from an assignment standpoint.”
NORWOOD LEAVES TEAM — UMass suffered yet another big hit to its defense with the announcement that sophomore safety Joseph Norwood has left the team.
Coach Walt Bell said Norwood has not yet entered the transfer portal, but that is was a potential option for the Chattanooga, Tennessee, native. Bell said he has been homesick over the past few months. Norwood had started the first four games at safety for the Minutemen, but he is still eligible to take a redshirt year so that he doesn’t lose the year of eligibility if he elects to return to UMass or transfer elsewhere and apply for a hardship waiver.
INJURY REPORT — Bell said the Minutemen were not much healthier Wednesday than they were Tuesday, and announced a few players would miss Saturday’s game against Akron.
He said freshman defensive tackle Billy Wooden is questionable with his ankle injury, but freshman Wilson Frederic was doubtful. Also on the defense, linebacker Tyris Lebeau is out with an undisclosed injury. Meanwhile, quarterback Andrew Brito is doubtful as he still has concussion-like symptoms and has not advanced in the protocol.
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.