UMass football coach Walt Bell refuses to dwell on the off-the-field issues his team has faced this year.
He knows how much time his team has lost on the field and that includes this week with the Minutemen holed up in isolation, waiting for a healthy green light to return to practice.
The Minutemen are fresh off a 41-0 season-opening loss to Georgia Southern, and while Bell would love to get his team back at practice, safety protocols from the university and state have forced the team to quarantine for one week.
The Minutemen need three sets of negative tests before they can return to action. Bell said Monday’s tests were negative. The team was tested on Wednesday and will be tested again on Friday. While Bell is concerned about his team being idle for the week, there’s no point in worrying about it he said.
“Everyone’s got problems and most are glad you have them,” said Bell, a phrase he has often repeated this fall. “Whenever we get our opportunity to go practice and improve we’ll do so.”
Bell said the Minutemen will hold virtual meetings during the week, but that will only go so far. The team has had online meetings since March.
“We need the physical repetitions badly,” Bell said.
GAME TAPE — With a game in hand and time to review, Bell touched on the positives and negatives when he met with the media virtually on Wednesday.
“Defensively I thought we were much better at the point of attack on the line of scrimmage than we were at any point a year ago. Some of that is coaching, some of it is recruiting, some of it is strength and conditioning, but just in terms of the line of scrimmage, I’m really pleased with the defensive line and the front seven,” Bell said.
“Some of those young edge players created some explosives there, especially in the high red (zone) when they hit the option throwback we got a guy counted for him. He comes off the option thinking it’s going to be an option not just really sticking to your man. Couple issues with dives, inside having the quarterback, outside having the quarterback and the pitch. … Things that you kind of expect with a young defense.”
Bell was pleased his young secondary got the necessary repetitions it needed. Freshman safety Te’Rai Powell, freshman defensive back Cody Jones and redshirt freshman cornerback Josh Wallace, who played multiple positions, each had about 50 snaps. Freshman lineman Viczaril Alobwede played about 40 snaps, while redshirt senior Avien Peah, who moved to the defensive line after missing last year with an injury, showed improvement in his first game action since 2018.
Bell said Georgia Southern’s defensive ability on the line made it tough for the Minutemen to establish the run.
“Huge respect to those guys. They had a great plan,” Bell said. “It was a little bit of a blender inside, there was a lot more movement than we expected and we didn’t handle it well. That’s somewhere we’re going to have to improve because once you put it on tape you know you’re probably going to see more of it moving down the line. Hopefully, when ever we are able to get back to practicing, we’ll be able to dedicate a large chunk of time to it and continue to improve.”
SCHEDULE — UMass announced a third game on Wednesday. The Minutemen will play at Liberty at noon on Nov. 27. UMass was originally scheduled to play the Flames before it postponed its season in August. UMass Director of Athletes Ryan Bamford said UMass has an obligation to play all previously contracted games, if possible. Liberty had an open date so the game was booked.
UMass announced on Friday that it will play No. 22 Marshall on Nov. 7.
Bell was excited for the opportunity to play a pair of Group of Five programs.
“Two great opponents, but again, anybody, anytime anywhere,” he said. “We want this football team to have the opportunity to play and we’re very appreciative of the administration for getting that done for us.”
Bamford said he is in discussions with Florida Atlantic for a possible game this fall.
Liberty’s athletic director is Ian McCaw. McCaw was the AD at UMass from 2002-2003 and the AD at Baylor from 2003-2016.
QB TRIO — Redshirt senior Mike Fallon started on Saturday, and was followed by redshirt sophomore Josiah Johnson and freshman Will Koch. Neither of them won nor lost the job at this point.
“We’ll continue to allow those guys to compete,” Bell said. “I think they all put good things on tape, I think they all put things on tape they’d like to have back. We’re excited to get back on the practice field and find out who can go earn the job for the long term.”
INJURY UPDATE — Bell said sophomore safety Tanner Davis hurt his shoulder against Georgia Southern but returned to the game. Redshirt junior Javon Turner (lower leg) and redshirt sophomore lineman Uchenna Ezewike (foot) were feeling better this week.
Bell said the health of his team can be attributed to a number of factors.
“I think it’s more mature, physical bodies, all the work we got in pre-spring and the work we had leading up to the game,” he said. “Although we did not get a lot of practice time, we were able to have some really physical practices, so from a physical contact standpoint we felt like we were decently prepared, obviously not where we want to be. I think that is a direct corralation to us being healthy. Now some of that is luck, too, and we all know that.”