Cole McCubrey missed his coaches, missed his teammates and most importantly, missed hitting.
But it’s been just over a week since UMass announced its intent to play fall football, and while there is no schedule yet, the senior linebacker is excited nonetheless to be back.
“Because we weren’t together for so long you don’t realize how much you miss the day-to-day connections with the coaches, the players,” McCubrey said during a virtual conference call following practice Tuesday night. “It’s so good to be back and be able to have that again.”
It’s been an up-and-down ride for the football program during the pandemic. Spring practice was canceled as players were sent home and left to work out on their own. It would have been the second spring under coach Walt Bell.
“Just try to find anything, whether it would be yoga or you try to find a gym anywhere you can,” senior linebacker Mike Ruane said. “You scratch and crawl for anything you can get. I was blessed to have a good setup. I know a lot of guys were doing anything they can.”
Players returned in late June and workouts began in July with an uncertain eye toward the season. UMass had originally planned to play fall football, but announced in early August it was postponing to the spring. UMass’ schedule took a safety-size hit as teams either canceled their season or conferences elected for conference-only schedules.
“It was sad,” Ruane said of watching the season fall apart. “We all saw it coming because all the other conferences were canceling and we just thought we knew we were next. I’m glad we’re back and I’m happy to be back.”
When conferences started to return to the fall, UMass jumped back in.
“It’s been a big adjustment, especially going from we started to play then we weren’t going to play and now we’re starting to play again,” McCubrey. “It’s honestly exciting. It feels like football. You’re fully practicing, you’re hitting each other again, you’re in the locker room again. It feels good to be back.”
Ruane said the situation brought on by the pandemic has brought the team closer.
“It’s been nice to be able to talk back and forth about how we’re feeling, just express those things,” he said. “I honestly think that even though it’s been a roller coaster, the emotions have really brought us together. I feel this is the closest this team has been.”
As two of the most experienced Minutemen, McCubrey and Ruane have put 2019 behind and have focused on leading their young teammates.
“We got a lot of new faces that you guys will see soon. We’re going to come out with a new attitude this year,” Ruane said.
Ruane stole a line from Patriots coach Bill Belichick in describing that new attitude.
“Be way more assignment oriented, just everyone be able to just do your job every play and with that just comes effort,” Ruane said. “With doing your job, just bringing that effort every play. … It’s shown in these live practices.”
Those live practices have included hitting, which suits McCubrey just fine.
“We were doing a little short-yardage (Tuesday) and some goal line and it was great to finally get back after it,” he said. “Obviously we were hitting our guys but it’s going to be exciting when we start playing again.”
Despite no official game announcement, it doesn’t matter who the Minutemen line up against, McCubrey is ready to play anybody.
“Especially after practicing, we just want to play someone else,” he added. “I love hitting our guys but it’s going to feel so much better going against someone else and compete.”
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. Follow on Twitter @mikemoranDHG.