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| Don Brown led UMass to wins in four of the final five games in 2004. |
Chat Live With Football Coach Don Brown, Thursday at 2 p.m.
Ask your questions now!
UMass head coach Don Brown will be here to take your questions on Thursday, August 25 at 2 p.m. (ET). Brown is entering his second year as the head coach at UMass. He coached UMass' defense in 1998-99 in helping the Minutemen to the '98 national championship.
The UMass football season kicks off on Thursday, September 1 at Richmond. The Minutemen take on the Spiders in a 7 p.m. start.
Ask your questions right here. Submit them now for Coach Brown to answer.
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Don Brown: Hello UMass fans it's nice to be here for this chat on UMassAthletics.com. We just finished up our preseason camp this morning. Now our players have the next 48 hours off before they return on Saturday morning as we get ready for our Richmond week. We open with the Spiders on Thursday night down in Richmond on Sept. 1. Fire away with the questions. |
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| Stan (South Hadley_: How has camp been so far in terms of interesting developments. What can we expect from the Minutemen this season? |
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Don Brown: Usually when you go through a training camp and you have 24 practices usually you have some down ones. I can think of periods when it wasn't great, when the guys wore down, but we really have not had any down days. I have been pleased with the overall camp. We have tried as a coaching staff to practice properly when I was extremely humid. We used the night-time practice opportunities.
There really have not been any surprises. Some of the freshmen are really good players. I think Rasheed Rancher has done a good job as a receiver taking the step from scout team player to being on the varsity field. Sean Calicchio has gotten over the learning curve in the offensive line and can contribute. Matt Lawrence coming in from UConn - certainly he has not exceeded expectations, but he has met those expectations. I have been really happy with Tim Day, he has done a good job running the offense for the most part.
On defense, Sean Smalls is a really good player in the secondary. We will not redshirt him. George Byrd is in the mix at linebacker. Matt Stolte, a true sophomore has put himself in the mix on the defensive line. David Burris has had an outstanding camp, but expected him to. I think the things that are strong on the team are the receiver corps, the secondary, our offensive line. I think our defensive line is vastly improved. |
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| Tom (Ormond Beach, Florida): With the addition of transfers and freshman it appears the the defense will be much improved against the run and the offense should be successful moving the ball. |
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Don Brown: Obviously, we have increased our size strength and capabilities this season. We played two freshman walk-ons last season in David Burris and Wilner Alexis, both started for us. After a year in the weightroom and knowing that he came in as a defensive lineman, he has been very explosive. Patrick Powell, the transfer from Maryland, has helped us at the defensive line position. John Hatchell has solidified us at nose tackle. Jason Leonard has had a good camp. Justin Schweighardt is faster than he was a year ago and he's back-up by Matt Stolte. Keron Williams is Keron Williams and the nice thing is Burris cane play there as well. We feel we have seven or eight players who can play up front. |
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| Mark - Amherst: Which freshmen this year can we expect to see play instead of being redshirted? |
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Don Brown: You will see Sean Smalls in the secondary. He has been very impressive and has great understanding. Also you can see George Byrd as a linebacker, he will be in the mix as a true freshman coming out of Florida. |
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| Tom (Ormond Beach, Florida): I believe we have addressed the defense and offense deficiencies from last year via transfers & freshmen . . . Great Job! My concern is the penalty problems we had last year. Do you see a significant improvenment this year? |
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Don Brown: We had an incident early in camp and I jumped in a straightened things out and we have not had any problems since. I certainly have in no shape manner or form, made the point that we need to be aware of penalties and I this team is a year older, a year more mature, but again, that's why we go play the games Sept. 1. We are still an excitable bunch and will play with our hair on fire, but maintain our poise. |
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| Harvey Borkin, Washington D.C.: Coach Brown,
All winning programs, especially those with new coaches, need support from their alums. Have the U Mass alums stepped up and given their financial suppport or have they merely made promises. Ralph Friedgen from nearby Maryland said that there was no way he could have been sucessful without the finances promised and delivered by his alums. Please list some areas that are in need of help from the alums. |
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Don Brown: We had our most successful golf tournament on August 1 with the Friends of UMass Football in Haverhill, Mass. We raised the most money we ever raised. Those guys have been tremendous. Over the last few years their contributions have helped us get a state-of-the-art weight training facility as well as a state-of-the-art video coaching system for scouting and game planning with laptop computers. Our alums just continue to help us do our job better. We continue to contact more alums as they can help us keep the UMass football program heading in the right direction. |
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| Sam Clemson, SC: Did Tony Nelson qualify and is he currently enrolled at UMass? |
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Don Brown: Tony Nelson, out of Maryland, is dealing with the NCAA Clearhouse and we are doing everything possible to go through the process to get him here prior to the start of school. |
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| minutemenfan: How are you going to use R.J. Cobbs? |
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Don Brown: R.J. has had a tremendous camp at wide receiver after a tremendous spring. He is a great talent and is working hard. He can take a three-yard gain and make it a big gain. He can get over the top. He is just an explosive player. You will see him touch a lot of parts of our football team in terms of his presence all around. |
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| Joe (south windsor, ct): You helped coach UMass' defense in its championship season. Do you see some or any resemblences in this year's team compared to the team in the '98 season? |
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Don Brown: I don't think you can make any comparisons, because we have not played a game. I wouldn't dare make any comparisons. Where those guys walked being National Champions, I wouldn't dare, we have not walked yet. |
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| Clark (Fitchburg): Can you rank your top 3 teams you ever had? Where does this team fit in? |
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Don Brown: The top three teams would be the 1989 Yale team which I worked with. Defensively, we were in the top teams in the country. The 1998 UMass team, the national champion team as well as the 1999 UMass team are in there. Also the 2002 Northeastern group which won the A-10. I guess that's four, but I would say those teams. |
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| Steve (Boston): With the mounting injuries to the offensive line who do you see filling those holes any why? Do you have any defensive lineman who could meet you needs and could see playing time? |
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Don Brown: The offensive line is a strength of the football team. They are well coached. They have played together and have an understanding of what we are trying to do. It has been a little unsettled with a couple of nagging injuries, but we are hoping that will straighten itself out in the next few days. We moved freshman Chris Dijak to the offensive line early in camp, but right now, I wouldn't say we are going to do that right now. |
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| Bill (Shrewsbury): What's going in with Richmond, they seem to being moving that QB Tutt around. What are your plans for defensing them. |
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Don Brown: Richmond is a good football team. They certainly beat us a year ago. Stacy Tutt is a major athlete, an NFL type athlete. They have kind of kept us guessing where he's going to play, receiver or quarterback. That has been an issue, but they have two transfer receivers. They have an all-conference running back. They have a lot of returners on both sides of the ball. We know we have our hands full in an A-10 opener on the road at their place under the lights on Thursday night. We will have to be at our best and be ready to go. |
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| Steve kanaracus lowell: What is in store for Chirs Zardas |
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Don Brown: Chris is a freshman out of Wakefield and St. John's Prep. He was injured in an all-star game at the end of his high school career and really has not been on the field during camp. We like him a lot but it will be the future before he is making contributions. |
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Don Brown: Thanks so much for all the questions. Sorry I could not answer all of them, but I have to get back to Richmond prep work. I look forward to seeing you at our home opener on Sept. 17 vs. Albany under the lights at McGuirk. Thanks again. |
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