Walt Bell knows who will start at left tackle and who will start at long snapper whenever the season begins for the UMass football team.
Without hesitating, Bell said Larnel Coleman will block for the quarterback and Evan Deckers will take the snaps on special teams.
Short of those two positions, there are a lot of decisions that need to be made between now and the season’s first official kickoff.
Before he can sort out his depth chart, Bell is giving his team a crash course in Football 101.
“The things we’re doing you can’t skip, I’ll put it that way,” Bell said in a virtual conference call Monday.
Since announcing its intent to play fall football a week ago, UMass has gone into overdrive to squeeze as much in as it can in as little time as possible. In the last week, Bell said, the team had two practices, a down day, a mini scrimmage and situational work.
But the emphasis has been on fundamentals.
“Blocking, tackling, the physicality required and the callousness required to sustain the game of football,” Bell said. “Some limited or reduced scheme, but really just football fundamentals, making sure that if we are called upon earlier than we anticipate that our kids are at least in a position to play good football.”
For as young as the Minutemen are, Bell said he thought the team was in a good place despite the ups and downs of 2020.
“Our kids are excited. We’re here,” Bell said. “We’re in a good little battle rhythm right now in terms of practice and body weights and meal checks and academics and all the things that we have to balance, but I don’t necessarily know if there is a perfect recipe for 12 OTAs, four fall camp practices, pause, you’re never ever going to play football again to oh, now you’re going to play football again.”
The most challenging aspect of preparing for a season is not knowing when it will start. Last week, UMass Athletic Director Ryan Bamford said he hoped to play anywhere from three to six games with a starting point of mid-October. Bamford said Monday he hoped to have an announcement within the next few weeks.
A starting date would give Bell, a self-described type-A personality, a target.
“That has to do with picking your football team, how much physicality can you handle, where we need to be from the ability to play a certain number of reps from a conditioning standpoint,” he said. “Long-range planning is the most difficult part right now. Where we are right now we feel good.”
SIZE MATTERS — Bell said the Minutemen will look different at kickoff.
“It’s a completely different group physically, it’s a completely different group from a recruiting standpoint,” Bell said. “It’s really a different team and obviously one that looks much more like the vision that we have. We’re not there yet, but it looks much closer to what our long-term vision for the program is moving forward.”
Bell said 60 scholarship athletes have gained 690 pounds, despite the late start — players didn’t start arriving until late June.
“That’s one advantage of having the No. 1 on-campus dining in the country — we can grow them,” Bell said.
The size has translated to the football field.
“The biggest difference in the level of physicality is so much different. Just how much bigger, how much stronger, how much more durable,” Bell said. “Practice actually sounds like a practice now. To me that’s the most exciting thing more than anything else. The level of physicality you’re able to maintain and create at practice is much different than it was a year ago.”
QB ROOM — Five quarterbacks — six if redshirt sophomore tight end/QB Josiah Johnson is included — combine for 10 games worth of experience under center.
Redshirt junior Andrew Brito is the only QB to have started a game. He started six of the nine games he appeared in last season.
Redshirt senior Mike Fallon appeared in one game last year when he replaced an injured Michael Curtis against Akron.
Redshirt freshmen Luke McMenamin and Garrett Dzuro did not play last season. Will Koch is a true freshman. Johnson played in all 12 games as a tight end. He appeared in four games on special teams as a true freshman.
“Much better than we were a year ago and to me that’s the biggest thing – improvement,” said Bell, describing the unit.
TESTING — Bell said his players were not among the 13 students who tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to the athletic department, as of Monday the football team has been tested 2,180 times with only two positive results.
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. Follow on Twitter @mikemoranDHG.