At the rate the commitments are flying in, Walt Bell might secure his 2020 recruiting class before he even coaches a game for UMass.
The first-year coach was very aggressive in the spring and summer on the recruiting trail, putting a large focus on three main areas: Washington D.C./Maryland/Northern Virginia (DMV), Massachusetts and New Jersey.
So far, Bell and his staff have hit home with the first two regions with the 2020 class. The Minutemen have 15 verbal commits for that class with 12 of those players hailing from either the DMV or Massachusetts. That doesn’t include Notre Dame transfer cornerback Noah Boykin, who played his high school ball in Washington D.C. and announced his commitment to the Minutemen on Friday.
After talking about a lack of depth in certain areas during the spring, Bell has addressed those concerns with the 2020 recruits. UMass has received verbal commitments from four offensive linemen and four defensive backs, two of the most important needs for the Minutemen. But Bell has also recruited one running back and a pair of athletes who could help fill the void in the backfield, an underrated need for the team.
Bell and his staff have two more days of recruiting before Thursday when a monthlong dead period begins, coinciding with the start of training camp on Friday. Yet after hosting a barbecue and one-day camp on Saturday, there is still time for Bell to tweet out his signature explosion tweet to signify another commit before the Minutemen begin the season Aug. 30 at Rutgers.
KEEPING IT LOCAL — There was one thing that stood out about the UMass women’s basketball non-conference schedule released last week — it’s regional.
The Minutewomen will travel no further than Queens, N.Y. before Atlantic 10 play begins in January. Every opponent UMass plays hails from a state that borders Massachusetts with two in-state road trips of the five away games on the schedule.
The regional schedule does produce a lack of quality opponents on the slate this year. Both of the Big East teams UMass is playing — Providence and St. John’s — ranked in the bottom half of the league last season in a year when only two teams and only four teams on the 13-game schedule finished with winning Division I records a year ago.
The good news is that three of those games are at the Mullins Center this season — Providence on Nov. 9, Hartford on Nov. 17 and Holy Cross on Dec. 8. The fourth is a trip to Boston University on Dec. 11.
HOCKEY KEEPS ADDING — The UMass hockey team officially announced two new additions last week that had been known for a bit.
Alex Camarre will be the team’s third-string goalie barring a stunning camp in which he overtakes Filip Linberg and Matt Murray for the net. He spent the past two seasons with the Odessa Jackalopes of the North American Hockey League and posted a 3.06 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in 68 appearances.
The Minutemen also welcomed Finnish defenseman Jaakko Haarti as the ninth and final freshman in the class. Haarti scored 61 points (24 goals and 37 assists) over 102 regular season games in two seasons for the Blues U20 of the Jr. A SM-Liiga, the same league where Lindberg played before arriving in Amherst.
Haarti was named the league’s best defenseman last season while helping the Blues to the league’s silver medal.