There was a phrase Massachusetts football coach Don Brown continued to use during his press conference on Monday ahead of the Minutemen’s opening game of the season against New Mexico State: prove it. 

Brown and his staff went into the offseason with the focus of adding game-ready players in hopes of jumpstarting the program’s turnaround, and after adding 22 transfers — 13 coming from Power Five programs — on paper UMass looks like it’ll be putting a better product on the field than it did last fall. 

The key phrase there is on paper. The Minutemen are 3-37 over the last four years, going 1-11 in three of those seasons while finishing 0-4 during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. Last year UMass was outscored by a margin of 373-150. 

It’s on the Minutemen to go out there and prove they’re making strides and aren’t the UMass of old by adding more tallies in the win column during the 2023 campaign, which kicks off on Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN against the Aggies. 

“I feel like I’m a cheerleader telling everyone about how much we improved,” Brown said, “but now you have to go out and prove it. That’s the challenging part.

“Like I told the guys, it’s time to put up or shut up,” Brown added. “We’re not going to talk about it. We’re going to be about it.”

Upgrading the offense was a clear priority for Brown after finishing last in scoring in addition to having the sixth-worst passing offense and being the fourth-worst in converting third downs across the FBS last fall.

Former Clemson and Georgia Tech quarterback Taisun Phommachanh will lead the unit to open the season, with Brown announcing him as the week one starter on Monday. The former four-star recruit is entering his fifth year playing college football and has thrown for 204 yards through the air and run for 206 yards in that time frame. He spent his first three years with the Tigers before transferring to the Yellow Jackets in 2022. 

“His play was exemplary,” Brown said. “He can run, he can throw it. We just made the decision that he’s going to get us off on the right foot. We felt at this time he was the guy to go with.” 

Phommachanh will have what UMass believes to be an upgraded group of skill players around him. 

George Johnson led the Minutemen with 28 catches and 402 yards last year after transferring from Michigan and will likely be the top weapon for Phommachanh this season. 

Mark Pope, who started his career at Miami before spending a season with Deion Sanders at Jackson State, Anthony Simpson (Arizona), Christian Wells (Appalachian State) and Shawn Harris Jr. (Stony Brook) are the transfer receivers that UMass brought over through the portal, with Brown saying he hopes that they’ll have more speed on the outside to threaten defenses with. 

Johnson, Pope and Simpson were listed as the starters in the depth chart the Minutemen released this week.

“If you said to me what is the No. 1 thing that we’ve done with the receiver core is we’re much faster,” Brown said. 

Gino Campiotti, a converted quarterback, is listed as the starting tight end. He’ll be backed up by Williston product Eni Falayi and Duke transfer Matt Smith. Kay’Ron Adams, who ran for 335 yards as Ellis Merriweather’s backup a season ago, will be the starting tailback on Saturday. Greg Desrosiers Jr., Arizona transfer Jalen John and Buffalo transfer Jackson Paradis will also figure into the backfield picture. 

UMass also brings back a good chunk of its line from a year ago. If the depth chart holds true, Jonny Hassard will be protecting Phommachanh’s blindside with Cole Garcia, Josh Atwood and Marcellus Anderson making up the interior and Ethan Mottinger holding things down at right tackle. 

“I think we’re vastly improved,” Brown said of his offense. “Now we have to prove it. We signed a number of new receivers, a tight end, a running back. Guys are healthy. We really feel good about where we are offensively. Now we just have to go out there and prove it.”

One place Brown said he feels the Minutemen have improved is their depth, an area he felt they were short on a season ago. That depth should give offensive coordinator Steve Casula more options to work with when injuries inevitably accrue during the season. 

“We’ll definitely be different,” Brown said. “We’re healthier and have a number of running backs that can jump in and do a good job. We have a number of receivers we can put in the game and at tight end, we have Matt and Gino. We’re in good shape. We’ve gone out of our way to develop depth and accrue a number of guys in each position so that your depth chart isn’t just a single layer. That’s usually where you get in trouble and that was an area we were stuck with a year ago.” 

Just like it did on offense, Brown feels UMass added more depth to its defense. The Minutemen brought in 10 players from the portal to that side of the ball, nine coming from Power Five programs. 

Gerrell Johnson returns at linebacker and will be joined by Arizona transfers Jerry Roberts Jr. and Tyler Martin in the middle of the defense, which figures to be one of the stronger units on the roster. 

“That group was a pretty solid group,” Brown said of his linebackers. “We lost [leading tackler Jalen] Mackey but Jerry Roberts fell into our laps to join [returning junior] Jalen Stewart. Gerrell is coming along and Myles Turner is coming along. It’s nice when you’re talking four to five guys for two spots. We feel good about it.”

Cornerback Jordan Mahoney — who was named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list — headlines a secondary that surrendered 175.2 yards per game through the air a season ago, the ninth-best number in the FBS. The Minutemen will have to replace Josh Wallace at corner, who transferred to Michigan.

Arizona transfer Isaiah Rutherford will be that guy to open the year, starting opposite Mahoney at corner. Michael Oppong and Nahji Logan will play the viper spot in Brown’s defense, a key position that can play a number of different roles on any given play. 

Te’Rai Powell and Tyler Rudolph will start at safety with plenty of depth behind them. 

“I think we’re much deeper,” Brown said of his defense. “Our first-level guys a year ago, there were some key subs, but now I just think we’re much deeper. We’re not going to be afraid to make substitutions and trust the guys that are on the field to do a good job.” 

Improvement up front will only allow the secondary to shine brighter. UMass struggled to generate pressure up front last year, finishing with just 18 sacks as a team. In terms of stopping the run the Minutemen allowed 194.3 yards per game on the ground, which ranked 114th in the country. It averaged six tackles per loss per game. 

Getting more penetration will be something the Minutemen need to improve on, and that will start on the edge with Marcus Bradley and Louce Julien. Billy Wooden and Huge Klages will be tasked with holding up the middle. Bradley — a four-star recruit out of high school who transferred from Vanderbilt last year — finished last season with 2.5 sacks, the most of any returning player. 

All in all, UMass went into the offseason with a fresh, and needed, approach of adding players who would be ready to play right off the jump, unlike a season ago when Brown and his staff were simply looking to add talent even if they weren’t quite ready to go right away. 

“We’ve picked up a number of guys,” Brown said. “In getting these players the whole scenario was try to get a little bit older, a little bit more mature. I’ve said this before but my first year we just tried to get as much talent as we could accrue. This year was trying to get guys that have been in college programs that are making a change and most of them looking for playing time. That’s what we did. I think that’s helped us.”

When the Minutemen take the field on Saturday in Las Cruces, N.M. it will look like a brand new UMass team. All the changes lead to optimism that this is the year the Minutemen can take some real strides forward, though as Brown said, we’ll find out once the games begin. 

“We think we’ve made the biggest change with our roster,” Brown said. “With the new players we have and obviously some of the veterans... Our changes have to come when the game starts. That’s what we’re excited about. I’m anxious to see how these guys compete and play. I think we’re going to get a great effort for our guys. Period.”

NOTES: When asked which players have “surprised him in camp” he mentioned Jerry Roberts and Jalen John, two former Arizona players. … UMass will square off against five teams — New Mexico State, Miami Ohio, UConn, Liberty and Penn State — that made bowl games in 2022. … Are the Nittany Lions the best team the Minutemen have faced since going up to the FBS? There’s a case for it. Penn State returns a loaded roster and is ranked No. 7 in the country to open the year. The 2018 Georgia team, who was No. 5 in the country when UMass played them, probably holds that title right now. … Vegas has UMass’ win total set at 2.5, meaning the Minutemen would need to match their win total over the last four years to cash that over. … UMass will head to Jordan-Hare Stadium to square off with Auburn on Sept. 2. It’ll be the 11th meeting the Minutemen have had against an SEC school since 2012, UMass going 0-10 in those contests. Don't let the record fool you though — the Minutemen have generally been competitive against the top conference in the country. They hung around against Texas A&M last year (20-3), played close games against Tennessee (17-13) and Mississippi State (34-23) in 2017, were within striking distance against Florida (24-7), Mississippi State (47-35) and South Carolina (34-28) in 2016 as well as with Vanderbilt in 2014 (34-31) and 2013 (24-7). Vegas has UMass as 39.5 point underdogs against the Tigers next week.

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