AMHERST — It’s year No. 47 for Don Brown as a football coach, but as the head man for UMass came down the hallway for his season-opening press conference at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center, he sounded like a kid ready for their first day of school.

Refrains of “yeah buddy!” and “handle our business” have rained down throughout preseason camp. And on Monday, Brown showed off his trademark spunk as he fielded questions from the media ahead of UMass’ opener at home against Eastern Michigan on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

“You only get one opening day every year,” Brown said. “And I think I’m in year 46 [47]. I say that and I’m just like ‘wow.’”

It doesn’t exactly take a trained ear to hear Brown on the practice field. He’s seen barking orders and demonstrating defensive drills. Now in year No. 3 in his current stint at UMass — and year No. 8 in total — he says he has no plans of stopping.

“Like my wife said, ‘what are you going to do, retire and sit at home?’” Brown said. “As long as I have the thirst for it and I’m able to provide leadership and do a good job coaching the guys, I’ll probably keep doing what I’m doing. If I feel I’m hurting the players, time to go.”

While Brown, FBS’ second-oldest coach at age 69, contends to defy Father Time, Minutemen starter Taisun Phommachanh knows his run as a player is coming to a close. The fifth-year quarterback said he’s been reflecting on the eve of his final college football season.

“Time flies,” Phommachanh said. “I remember when I was just a freshman at Clemson, I was getting ready for my first game, and now it’s my last season. So it has definitely hit home for me knowing I have a couple games left in college and I want to make every one count, so I’m ready to go.”

In addition to reminiscing on their football pasts, Brown and Phommachanh turned their focus to their first game week of the season. The Minutemen wrapped up preseason practice last week and are now on their in-season practice schedule.

“After three-plus weeks of preparation, it’s nice to be in game week,” Brown said. “This week, at least historically, has gone extremely fast.”

Phommachanh was a full participant in preseason camp after he missed all of spring football as a precautionary measure. He injured his knee at Auburn in Week 2 last season, which forced him to miss three games and severely diminished his running ability in the seven games after he returned. He spent the preseason wearing a brace on his knee and said Monday that he plans to continue wearing it during the season.

While last year’s No. 1 receiver Anthony Simpson returned, every other pass catcher from 2023 departed, along with No. 1 and No. 2 running backs Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams and Greg Desrosiers. Phommachanh has spent the preseason working with new offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery on a new offense.

“We’ve been working all summer for this,” Phommachanh said. “And it’s finally here, so now we’ve got to go out and take that preparation that we did and perform.”

The Minutemen have a fair amount of newcomers this fall, but now in year No. 3 back in Amherst, Brown said he’s excited to work with the players that have been at UMass since he arrived. Familiarity breeds success, Brown said. And with a few exceptions, the Minutemen made it through camp with clean bills of health.

“I think one thing we’ve done a good job with is we’re in a pretty good spot health-wise,” Brown said. “…we’re anticipating a full-scale group as we move through the week for practice.”

The UMass season opener sits less than a week away, but the national college football schedule has already begun. Georgia Tech kicked off the Week 0 slate by upsetting No. 10 Florida State in Dublin, Ireland over the weekend. Phommachanh and the Minutemen were watching.

“You got to right?” Phommachanh said. “College football coming up, it’s finally here, they kicked off on Saturday. It was just good to see them dudes out there playing and hear the bands going. It’s that time of year.”

Connor Pignatello is a Daily Hampshire Gazette sports reporter. He can be reached at cpignatello@gazettenet.com