The University of Massachusetts football program continued to be a landing spot for former Syracuse football players as two more ex-Orangemen will be wearing maroon this fall.

Wide receiver Dan Sheeran and linebacker Mike Mele were roommates at Syracuse and have both transferred to UMass.

Mele, a 6-foot, 218-pound linebacker from Sea Girt, N.J. will be a junior. He started all 12 games for the Orangemen last year and had 72 tackles.

Coming out of Manasquan High School, Mele was rated the No. 50 weakside linebacker in the country. He'll likely compete for a starting job at UMass, which returns only one starting linebacker - Josh Jennings.

Sheeran, a 6-foot-3, 211-pound junior, will be the second former Orangeman in the Minutemen's wide receiver corps, joining Jeremy Horne. Sheeran caught two passes for 31 yards last year for Syracuse.

He was slated to be moved to defense with the Orange. He'll compete for time at UMass with Horne, all-conference standout Victor Cruz, Joe Sanford and Julian Talley,

Former fullback Breyone Evans and wide receiver Adonis Kinsey also began their careers at Syracuse before transferring to UMass.

DEPARTING - Former Amherst Regional standout Anthony Rouzier elected not to use his final year of eligibility after completing his degree requirements. Defensive lineman Ray Jones, who transferred to UMass from Delaware, linebacker Terrance Farris (who had 28 tackles and three sacks), and cornerback Rey Goodwin (seven tackles) are all not returning as well.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/category/sports/umass-sports.