Massachusetts Minutemen Football Preview for 2012

The Massachusetts Minutemen appear to have an extremely tough year ahead of them. They join the MAC in 2012 and they will not have any FCS opponents on their schedule. Their schedule is so brutal this year that they'd be lucky if they could win one particular game in 2012.obat tradisional maag

New head coach Charley Molnar steps in soon after spending the previous two seasons because the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. His experience will certainly enable and he will have an skilled team to perform with as he has 14 starters and 42 lettermen coming back.obat tradisional maag ot08

Offense

New offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek will have his perform reduce out for him as he steps into a difficult situation where they have only five starters coming back and they are going to come into a new conference where the competition is considerably more fierce and competitive. UMass place up 25.2 points and 360 total yards/game final year and they are going to be lucky if they could duplicate those numbers in 2012.obat tradisional maag ot09

Their only consolation is the fact that they have an skilled quarterback returning in junior Kellen Pagel. Fighting for his spot inside the starting lineup is sophomore Brandon Hill, who threw for 598 yards and 3 touchdowns to 3 interceptions while generating 3 starts also.

The Minutemen shed their top guy at running back in Jonathan Hernandez. Their next-leading rusher is senior Alan Williams, but he will likely be a back up inside the backfield to talented Michigan transfer Michael Cox.

The receiver position seems to be the greatest query mark heading into the new season. They shed their top four pass catchers and their only major returnee is junior WR Rob Blanchflower. Senior Andre Hill and Chase Danska figure to be the new starters and they nabbed talented Virginia Tech transfer Jerome Lewis at tight finish, likely generating him the recipient on the most targets this season.

Their offensive line figures to be powerful in 2012 as they have eight of their top ten returning up front. This unit returns four starters, 85 career starts, and averages 308 pounds across the board. A pair of third-team All-CAA linemen in senior LT Nick Speller and senior RG Stephane Milhim will lead the way for this improving unit.

Defense

The Minutemen gave up 27.9 points and 365 total yards per game final season defensively. The step up in competition may well prove to be a challenge, but they definitely possess the personnel to enhance on this side on the ball with nine starters coming back. Their new defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian is really a verified commodity with 38 years of experience, including ten as a DC.

With 3 starters returning at the defensive line, this unit will need to continue to be solid. They've junior DE Brandon Potvin, senior DT Charles Thompson and junior DT Kevin Byrne because the starters. They also add Pittsburgh transfer Bernardo Nunez to start at DE inside the new 4-3 scheme.

The loss of Tyler Holmes looks to draw a large blow at linebacker as he was the major tackler for the team for 3 straight years. They do return four of their top six linebackers, including junior OLB Tim Brandt, senior MLB Perry McIntyre and senior OLB Chad Hunte. This unit will need to the moment once again be solid in spite of the departure of their top guy.

The secondary has seven players returning who has starting experience from final season. Major the way will be junior CB Antoine Tharpe, sophomore SS Ed Saint-Vil and senior FS Darren Thellen.

MAC East Prediction - 7th Location

The Minutemen can revel inside the truth that they have come in to join the MAC at a time where you'll find some fairly poor East teams. They could overtake Buffalo or Akron to get out on the basement on the division, but I just do not consider they could do it. They will have to face the top two teams out West in Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, and they play them on the road. They will also be playing their house games at Gillette Stadium, that is 94 miles away from campus. Consequently, this team looks to be a lock to finish last-place inside the East in 2012.