UMass Arrives in the MAC Betting on a Portal Overhaul to End the Nation's Longest Skid
Massachusetts hit rock bottom in 2025, going 0-12 and fielding the least productive offense in the country. The Minutemen finished last nationally in scoring at 11.1 points per game and last in total offense at 247.5 yards, while the defense surrendered 38.6 points per game, the worst mark in the FBS. UMass carries the nation's longest active losing streak, 16 games, into a new era.
The program formally joins the Mid-American Conference in 2026, and second-year coach Joe Harasymiak has responded to the wreckage with a top-to-bottom roster refresh built almost entirely through the transfer portal. The headliner is new quarterback Pop Watson III, but the makeover runs from a new offensive coordinator through nearly every position group. The preseason consensus slots UMass at the bottom of the MAC, but there is, at minimum, nowhere to go but up.
Offense
William "Pop" Watson III takes control of a dormant attack that has to improve almost by default. A Massachusetts native who starred in Springfield, Watson spent his time at Virginia Tech mostly as a reserve, starting twice in 2024 and flashing enough dual-threat ability to intrigue. He never won the permanent job in Blacksburg, but his mobility should open up more possibilities than UMass had a year ago. RJ Johnson III is the listed backup.
T.Y. Harding returns as the likely top target after missing the final nine games of last season. He gets help from Joe Griffin Jr., Watson's former high school teammate, who comes back to his home state following stints at Boston College and Wisconsin. Regarded as the most highly rated transfer UMass reeled in, Griffin caught six touchdowns across the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Boston College before an injury-plagued run with the Badgers. Devin Matthews adds depth on the outside. New coordinator Max Warner, who developed an All-America tight end at Bowling Green, should feature a pair of big-bodied targets at the position in seniors Max Dowling and Reece Adkins.
The backfield leans on two newcomers, FCS transfer Jordan Washington from Murray State and Justin Williams-Thomas from Marshall. The sources differ on who profiles as the lead back, with one placing Washington atop the depth chart and the other projecting Williams-Thomas as the starter, so expect a committee to sort itself out early. Either way, both bring higher upside than what UMass ran out last fall.
The line needed a rebuild and got one. Greg Knox arrives as an FCS transfer from McNeese, Brock Taylor is back after starting four games last season, and Peyton Miller and Aitor Urionabarrenechea return inside. Jaxson King factors into the tackle mix, and Zachary Franks is back after an injury cost him all of last season. The two sources shuffle several of the tackle and guard assignments, so the final alignment across the front is unsettled, but the group is meaningfully deeper and more experienced than the unit that helped produce the nation's worst offense.
Defense
The front is where Harasymiak, a defensive-minded coach who built his reputation on aggressive units at the FCS level, invested most heavily. Four-star edge rusher Andrew DePaepe transfers in from national champion Indiana and, along with his brother William DePaepe, brings difference-making talent and depth to the front four. Joshua Nobles, viewed as potentially the team's best player, returns after missing all of last season with injury. Zachary Betts adds to the edge rotation, with Tim Passmore Jr. and Aubrey Melvin working inside. Any progress from a defense that allowed a nation-worst 38.6 points per game starts up front.
This is the most established group on the roster. Tyler Martin is an All-MAC candidate coming off a season with better than 100 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery (the two sources list him at 103 and 104 stops). Timmy Hinspeter was on a similar pace, averaging close to 10 tackles per game across seven starts before a season-ending injury, and his return gives UMass a productive, experienced pairing in the middle. Khari Bendolph adds depth.
Both starting safeties are back in Zeraun Daniel, a ballhawking presence who logged 75 tackles with 2.5 for loss, and Kendall Bournes. At corner, transfer Isaiah Reed turned heads in the spring and is joined by Raheim Sexil, while TJ Magee returns after missing the final nine games last season and doubles as a punt returner. The unit has more returning bodies than most spots on the roster.
Kicker Derek Morris is the steadying veteran, having connected on 10 of 16 field goals including 3 of 5 from 50-plus and twice breaking the program's mark for longest make, at 53 and 55 yards. Australian punter Edward Phillipson takes over the job, continuing a pipeline that has served UMass well. Magee and Harding give the return game a pair of capable threats.
Overview and Prediction
The bar for improvement could hardly be lower, and the early schedule offers a real chance to change the story. UMass opens at Rutgers before a soft stretch that includes FCS opponents Sacred Heart and Stonehill plus fellow FBS newcomer Sacramento State, games in which the 16-game losing streak, whose average margin of defeat sits near 27 points, should finally end.
The preseason consensus pegs the Minutemen last in the MAC, in the neighborhood of 13th, and near the bottom nationally. That is a fair reflection of how thin and how beaten this roster was a year ago. Yet the volume of portal additions gives UMass a floor it did not have, and a healthier season would let the Minutemen be competitive on more Saturdays than the record suggests. The make-or-break is Watson: if he lives up to expectations and the injuries relent, this team can hang around in MAC games rather than get run off the field. That would count as genuine progress in year one of conference play.