AMHERST — Walt Bell kept looking at his first recruiting class as the foundation of his program, so it made sense that the new UMass coach locked down the foundation of any good football program.
The Minutemen received National Letters of Intent from 13 players on Wednesday, the first day of the traditional signing period for football. A little less than half of the new recruits play in the trenches with three defensive linemen and two more on the offensive line pledging to UMass: Wilson Frederick (DL), Xavier Gonsalves (DL), Billy Wooden (DL), Xavier Graham (OL) and Max Longman (OL)
In total, eight of the 20 players UMass signed are projected to play on one of the lines. They are vital positions for the Minutemen with Bell turning to a more run-heavy spread attack and an aggressive defense. Bell said the defensive line especially is always a big focus for him and he will try to accrue as much talent as possible to help harass the quarterback on the field.
“Football 101 is you never turn down a good defensive lineman,” Bell said. “The more 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3, 300-pound kids you can have on defense, the better you will be. We’re going to continue to do that as long as I’m here, and eventually we’ll have great depth that now those 6-2, 300-pound kids aren’t having to play 60-70 plays, they’re playing 30-40 plays so they can be their best selves and be more explosive.”
UMass took a hit on that front with Jaylin Bannerman’s decision not to enroll after signing in December. Bell is not allowed to comment on Bannerman per NCAA rules, but he said he still wants to find more pass rushers with the three or four scholarships still available to him. He said it was a purposeful decision not to sign to the limit with the transfer portal and other avenues for the Minutemen to add new players later in the process.
But those positions will most likely be filled with defensive playmakers, especially with the lack of depth at certain spots on that side of the ball. UMass had holes at defensive tackle and safety that Bell was able to fill, but he’s still eager for more pass rushers whatever position they might end up playing.
“The more people you can get who can affect the quarterback, the better off you’re going to be,” Bell said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we can add two. We’ve got to add people that can affect the quarterback, whether that’s on the interior or on the edge, that hasn’t changed our position.”
Bell also succeeded in his promise to add two quarterbacks to build some competition with the returning two rising seniors and two rising sophomores. Both of the signal callers who signed with the Minutemen – Andrew Brito and Garrett Dzuro – are under 6-feet, but their size is irrelevant for Bell, who has a history of winning with a variety of quarterback types over the course of his career.
The coach said he wants his quarterbacks to be good distributors and be able to push the ball down the field. However, he said what’s more important is that the quarterback excel at whatever his strength happens to be and find ways to win football games with those strengths.
“I don’t necessarily look at completion percentage, I look at bad misses, who can really hit spots and who can’t,” Bell said. “For me more than anything else, it’s somebody that has a winnable skill set. If you’re going to be a big, tall statue, you better be that much (higher) level of a distributor, if you’re going to be a guy that doesn’t throw it great, you better be able to make plays with your feet.”
Even though the first recruiting class is signed, Bell won’t be able to relax for long. After taking a few days off to spend time with his wife and allow his assistants to unpack and move to the area, it’ll be back to work as the staff prepares to work with the players already on campus. The first spring practice isn’t until March 19 with the 15 practices culminating in the spring game at 11 a.m. on April 20.
“(I can exhale) for a few hours and then you’re worried about the next evolution,” Bell said. “Finishing the strength and conditioning piece and then getting into spring football.”