AMHERST — When head coach Walt Bell describes the culture he is trying to build at UMass, he might as well list the attributes that James Bowe Jr. possesses.
Bowe didn’t make much of an impact on the football field outside of special teams during his first three seasons with the Minutemen, but that has changed this season. He’s moved from linebacker to safety and earned a starting job in a crowded secondary filled with young, talented players. But what Bowe brings to the field is secondary in Bell’s eyes than what the Miami native brings to the UMass locker room.
Bell joked about wanting 40 different James Bowe Jr.’s in various shapes and sizes not because he’s a superstar athlete, but the embodiment of the hard-working, overly optimistic personality Bell wants his team to adapt.
“Just from a leadership perspective, he’s one of our older kids that’s doing an unbelievable job,” Bell said. “Since we’ve been here, his excitement, the way he handles his business, the way he approaches work every day with a smile on his face. We always joke about relentlessly positive, and he is that guy.”
UMass safeties coach Jason Tudryn said there’s always a moment for a coach when they witness their players accepting and rising to the role they want to play on the team. That came early for Tudryn with Bowe as the senior naturally gravitated to taken on more leadership as a senior in a secondary filled with first- and second-year defensive backs.
Although three of the four starting defensive backs are seniors, Tudryn said Bowe has done a great job at setting an example for the younger players and producing the results to prove that the hard work does lead to success on the field. Bowe said he wants to make himself as available as he can to his younger teammates and be the person they turn to if they have any questions about life, school or football.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys and obviously everybody needs someone to look up to and somebody to come to if they’re having troubles on defense,” Bowe said. “I just try to be there for my teammates as much as possible and that helps me both on and off the field.”
Bowe was always an undersized linebacker under the previous staff, and while it worked on special teams, it didn’t help him produce during his limited defensive snaps. The transition to safety was probably the best move for Bowe, although he admitted he liked being in the box and the physicality of playing linebacker. But that nose for the ball and desire to tackle makes him a good fit at safety in Bell’s defense.
He recorded a season-high five tackles against Akron on Saturday because he was active near the line of scrimmage and was able to plug into the gaps in the scheme against the run. It’s a luxury Bell said the coaches try to play with when it comes to getting Bowe involved in the defense.
“Within the system, we can put him in different places,” Bell said. “Have him in the back end, have him near the line of scrimmage, and some of those things fit his skills, so it’s a good system fit for him.”
Where Bowe has excelled the most, though, is being able to keep the defense organized from his spot in the secondary surveying the entire field. Bowe said he has become much better at diagnosing plays and route combinations since he began working with Tudryn and the defensive coaches in January. That work, Tudryn said, allowed Bowe to make those responsibilities the strength of his game through five weeks of experience in the system.
“As a safety, we always talk about being the quarterback of the defense,” the Northampton native said. “Obviously the quarterback’s got to know everybody else’s responsibility, and he’s taken a really strong role in making sure he understands what the linebackers are doing, where the run fits are.”
CHERRELUS FINDS GROOVE — It was hard to miss redshirt sophomore Claudin Cherrelus on the field last Saturday against Akron. The linebacker might have only made three tackles officially, but he was in the mix quite a bit against the Zips and was a major reason the Minutemen were able to contain the Akron rushing attack.
Bell called Saturday the best game Cherrelus has played for the Minutemen, and it wasn’t hard to see why. The Golden Gate, Florida, native made two of his three tackles behind the line of scrimmage, which included his first collegiate sack. He said he bulked up during the offseason and he’s been playing with more confidence, two key factors in his improvement since last season when he made just 14 tackles despite appearing in all 12 games.
“I just feel like I needed to get in my playbook more and get in the weight room more and gain some weight,” Cherrelus said. “I was a smaller linebacker last year playing at like 205 for most of the season, but the confidence level is what I needed. Last year, I used to hesitate and doubt myself, and now I’m just playing way faster.”
BRITO PROGRESSING — Redshirt sophomore quarterback Andrew Brito returned to the practice field in a limited capacity on Wednesday. He was able to throw with the quarterbacks and took part in some individual drills throwing to receivers, but Bell said the quarterback still has to stay asymptomatic in the coming days to be fully cleared.
“He’s still in the protocol, but today he was allowed to be physically exerted,” Bell said. “That’s one step forward, but it’s kind of like Chutes and Ladders, you keep going then something bad happens and you (go back).”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.