Good morning!
The UMass football team’s spring game is a week from today, and all eyes will be on quarterback William Watson III, aka Pop Watson, the pride of Springfield.
Watson’s the second Gatorade Player of the Year to come to UMass, the first being Liam Coen who played for coach Don Brown from 2004-08 and still holds the school record for career passing yards (11,031) and passing touchdowns (90).
Both Watson and Coen were coached by their fathers, William Watson at Central, and Tim Coen at LaSalle Academy in Providence.
During an April 2 press conference, Watson said UMass offered him a scholarship while he was still in the 8th grade, when Mark Whipple was the coach.
Whipple’s been the best of the four coaches since the so-called upgrade. He was fired after the 2018 season by AD Ryan Bamford who hired Walt Bell. “I think we got a great head coach out of [the hiring process],” said Bamford.
Bell was fired after 25 games and a 2-23 record.
Watson committed to Nebraska to learn under Whipple who was the Huskers’ quarterbacks coach but decommitted after head coach Scott Frost and his staff were fired.
He wound up playing for Brent Fry at Virginia Tech in 2023 and got an NIL deal with Dale’s Place Food Pantry. What he’s getting to play at UMass is anyone’s guess. Last year’s highest paid player was said to be making $80,000, an unnamed grad transfer who may have been quarterback Grant Jordan from Yale.
Three weeks into his first regular season at Virginia Tech, Watson was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. His father posted on Facebook that young Pop had missed a team curfew.
UMass coach Joe Harasymiak — “Coach H” to Watson — hopes he’s getting the quarterback who put 37 points up against Virginia in front of 65,632 fans at Frank Lane Stadium on Nov. 30, 2024, and not the one who was sacked, fumbled, intercepted and garnered a 15.4 quarterback rating in his next start, a 24-14 loss to Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Watson saw the handwriting on the white board after he couldn’t beat out Kyron Drones for the starter’s job last season. Pry was fired after an 0-3 start and the Hokies finished 3-9. In November, former Penn State coach James Franklin was signed to a five-year, $41.75 million contract and brought Ethan Grunkemeyer with him to be the starter.
UMass landed Watson in January, not long after he entered the transfer portal. “It was an easy decision,” he said at the April presser. “You go where you feel wanted,” adding that the coaching staff is “getting me NFL ready.”
Uh-huh, him and Tyler Lytle, Randall West, Andrew Brito, Taisun Phommachanh and all the others that’ve come through the UMass pipeline since Liam Coen.
We can believe it with our own eyes next Saturday. Kickoff will be at high noon.
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Mike Cadran reports that the only Franklin County schoolboy players to average over 30 points a game in a regular season were Greenfield’s Grayson Thomas in 2026, Pioneer’s Adam Harrington in 1997 and Arms Academy’s Jim Alden in 1964. “I saw all three play and Alden was the best jump-shot artist of the three,” claims Cadran.
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Beth Davenport (GHS class of ’79) wrote regarding Florida’s frosty February weather. “I was in Jacksonville for a marathon during that Florida cold snap. A few residents living along the route hadn’t bothered to turn off their irrigation systems and the water turned the roads to ice — Not what I was planning on for a Florida marathon.”
Davenport, who’s living in Sante Fe, has completed 371 marathons and is closing in on her fifth tour of every state.
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According to MSN.com — “Your curated collection of the best in trusted news, weather and sports…” the over/under this season for UMass football wins is 4.5. Betting on in-state games is prohibited in Massachusetts, but if you can find that number at Bobby V’s in East Windsor, run, don’t walk and bet the under.
The Minutemen should handle Sacred Heart and Stonehill but where’s the other three wins? Everyone thinks Sacramento State will be a pushover, but according to rivals.com the Hornets had the 52nd-best recruiting year and UMass didn’t even make the list.
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Last Friday, Montague’s Brock Hines got up at 4 a.m., flew to Atlanta and drove to Augusta to watch the second round of the Masters, then drove 145 miles back to Atlanta and watched the Braves beat Cleveland, 11-5.
“Love the stadium,” he texted. “The place is sold out and there’s a ton of energy. They moved out of Fulton to Cobb County because this is where all the season ticket holders live.”
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During the Mets game on Sunday a loud, booming noise reverberated throughout the stadium.
“Was that Artemis II?” asked Mets radio analyst Keith Raad.
“I thought somebody tried the shrimp in the press room,”said longtime play-by-play voice Howie Rosie.
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SQUIBBERS: Colrain’s Hannah Gilbert is pitching up a storm for the Mass. College of Liberal Arts Trailblazers in North Adams. A graduate of Franklin Tech, at this writing the freshman righthander is 6-5 with a 2.88 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 60.2 innings pitched. … The UMass hockey team might have the sniper it sorely lacked last season. Maxim Masse, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound right wing scored 53 goals and had 53 assists in 63 regular season games for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League. … Kudos to former NMH coach Jeff Matthews (DA ’91) who coached the Amherst College women’s team (21-3-6) to the D-III Frozen Four where they were beaten, 3-1, in the semis by host Wisconsin at Rivers Falls who went on to win their third straight title. … Garrett Crochet’s 10-run implosion in Minnesota on Monday came on the heels of a quality start against the Brewers. In horse racing that’s called a bounce. Speaking of which, handicapper John Dobrydnio is taking notes and watching replays to give us the Derby winner two weeks hence. … You didn’t need AI to find John Stacy in Boston on Opening Day. Stacy was in Section 13 for the 37th straight year. Not to be outdone, Florence’s Mike Noonan was at his 58th Fenway opener. “Attendance was under 9,000. How many who were there are still alive? I figure about 100.” … White Sox catcher Kyle Teel is expected to be in the lineup by late May after pulling a hamstring in the WBC. Teel was part of the deal to get Garrett Crochet, and Boston GM Craig Breslow reportedly tried to re-acquire Teel during the offseason. All would be forgiven if he had. … The NFL draft begins Thursday, and ESPN’s Mel Kiper predicts the Patriots will take Akheem Mesidor, a 25-year-old defensive end out of the U. … That one-foot putt Tommy Fleetwood missed for double bogey on the 17th hole Sunday cost him $7,400 in earnings. When Jack Nicklaus was asked how he missed a two-foot putt the Golden Bear answered, “The same way you do.”