FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[GroundandPound]

Correction three Tufts brothers 6-4: 285, 310, 320.

[quicksilver]

The Maiava brothers are actually triplets from Hawaii of Samoan extraction, who ended up playing hich school football in Wyoming. None of them saw much action in their first two years but perhaps that will change now that they are juniors.

[Charlie]

The Maiava brothers are actually triplets from Hawaii of Samoan extraction, who ended up playing hich school football in Wyoming. None of them saw much action in their first two years but perhaps that will change now that they are juniors.

I find it interesting that Tuts has Three brothers playing on team. Trinity has two brothers the Robby Mandel & Cooper Mandel and another two brothers Joseph Toyias & John Toyias playing on the same team. It is rare that you see brothers playing on the same teams so to have two sets of brothers is unique.

[NESCACFball24/7]

Tufts will actually have 5 sets of siblings on the team this year. The Maiavas(Triplet OL), The Ferrelli's(freshman and senior Lb and junior db), The MaCleans (sophomore twins wr&qb), The Rios's (SR DE& freshman wr), and the Richardson(Freshman Db & SR WR)

The Maiava brothers are actually triplets from Hawaii of Samoan extraction, who ended up playing hich school football in Wyoming. None of them saw much action in their first two years but perhaps that will change now that they are juniors.

I find it interesting that Tuts has Three brothers playing on team. Trinity has two brothers the Robby Mandel & Cooper Mandel and another two brothers Joseph Toyias & John Toyias playing on the same team. It is rare that you see brothers playing on the same teams so to have two sets of brothers is unique.

[Charlie]

Tufts will actually have 5 sets of siblings on the team this year. The Maiavas(Triplet OL), The Ferrelli's(freshman and senior Lb and junior db), The MaCleans (sophomore twins wr&qb), The Rios's (SR DE& freshman wr), and the Richardson(Freshman Db & SR WR)

The Maiava brothers are actually triplets from Hawaii of Samoan extraction, who ended up playing hich school football in Wyoming. None of them saw much action in their first two years but perhaps that will change now that they are juniors.

I find it interesting that Tuts has Three brothers playing on team. Trinity has two brothers the Robby Mandel & Cooper Mandel and another two brothers Joseph Toyias & John Toyias playing on the same team. It is rare that you see brothers playing on the same teams so to have two sets of brothers is unique.

Wow that is unique for sure

[lumbercat]

Bodes well for the program- for upperclassman to have younger brothers also coming to Tufts it certainly confirms that the older brothers are having a very positive experience.

[nescac1]

Siblings at Nescac football programs are actually not unusual at all (though 300 lb triplets are unusual anywhere!).  Some other current examples are the Sheskeys, Smiths and Dehmels at Williams and the Harmons, Schianos and Monteleones at Amherst. 

[GroundandPound]

   After NESCACFball24/7 just made us aware, Tufts Football is a brotherhood, seriously, it is! Football players commonly refer to their teammates as their brothers.  This is done because the players work hard together towards a common goal and watch out for each other on and off the field.  They become close, win or lose, they train, practice, and play the game of football together.  If you hear a Tufts football player refer to a teammate as a brother, however, it appears that there is about a 11% chance that the teammate referred to is actually his brother, assuming a roster of 100 players.  Tufts has twelve players who have brothers on the team. 
   As enlightened by NESCACFball24/7, Tufts football has five sets of brothers on the roster. 
   The Tufts actual brotherhood consists of the following:
   The Maiava brothers are triplets and rising junior offensive linemen who were born in Hawaii and played high school football in Laramie, Wyoming.  With only two returning starting offensive lineman remaining on the roster, there appear to be three offensive line positions open to competition. It appears Matthew (6'3" 310), Micah (6'4" 320) and Michael (6'4" 285) will be competing for playing time with the several other possible starters. I am hoping they all get to play together before they graduate.  If they do, the "Jumbos" will truly be gigantic.
   The Ferrelli brothers are a trio from Tampa, Florida.  The oldest, Richie, is a rising senior linebacker, Henry is a rising junior defensive back, and Johnny, the youngest, is an incoming freshman linebacker. 
   Aidan and Colin MacLean are sophomore twins from Florida. Colin is a wide receiver and Aidan is a quarterback.   
   Javier and Matt Rios are from Massachusetts.  Jaiver is a senior defensive end and Matt is a freshman receiver.
   Jaden and Ty Richardson are from San Mateo California.  Jaden is a senior wide receiver and Ty is a freshman defensive back. 
   I am hoping all sets of brothers get a chance to experience playing together in the same game at some point during their college careers.  I suspect there will be some opportunities for the Tufts coaching staff to play Matthew, Micah, and Michael at the same time, maybe on the extra point team.  Heck, maybe Aidan MacLean can get some reps in at quarterback with Colin MacLean playing receiver before they graduate.  Better yet, how about a punt return team (at least on one occasion) with eleven of the twelve brothers on the field at the same time? I suspect this would be some kind of record.   The Maiava's could play up front with Javier Rios at defensive end.  Richie and Johnny Ferrelli could play at inside linebacker, and Henry Ferrelli and Colin MacLean could line up at  outside linebackers.  Ty Richardson and Matt Rios could line up as corner backs, and Jaden would do a great job returning the punt.  Just a thought, but how cool would that be?   

[Johnny Eph]

For me Life should be about what is......

Exciting / Entertaining / Imaginative:


I had mentioned 3 keys to a successful Offense post snap was trying to get a numbers advantage, an angles advantage and a spacing advantage. Western Kentucky showed prolific in creating some serious space and numbers advantages all over the field and giving their QB all kinds of options. They were well known for running 4 Verts more than any other team in the country. They could also start in a Double Stack and motion to the Triangle and / or start in Trips and motion to the Triangle / Wide bunch. In the Triangle they would have one receiver run the corner route, one guy run the 1st square-in and the last guy run the 2nd square-in. Then they would switch it up and all 3 guys would switch the route responsibilities to keep the D on their toes. However, most importantly the key was the speed unto which they would get lined up and snap the ball. Within 10 seconds or less the ball would be snapped. The imagination with all the different screens and motions with the speed of play was as entertaining as it gets in the Passing Game.



On the Flip...... Life can also be about what is

Uninteresting / Humdrum / Blah / Big Yawn


For me for example it would be a ball control , time of possession , clock whore Offense that plods along.

[nescac1]

Speaking of Tufts, one first-year to watch in NESCAC is TB Aidan Heaney.  He was massively productive for one of the best programs in New Jersey and there is a big hole at TB for Tufts with Tyler Johnson graduating.  Aundre Smith will surely pick up a lot of those carries but Heaney, bigger and with a different running style, may be able to be a power back complement to him from day one. 

[GroundandPound]

I just watched some of his HUDL.  I agree, he could have an impressive freshman year.   

[lumbercat]

Hard pressed to remember 3 more impressive FY QBs coming into the same NESCAC program in the same year.
Williams is bringing in a very strong recruiting class especially at the QB position-

Owen Johansen 6'2" 215 Northport NY
Drew Renzella 6'2" 200 Williston Northhampton, Ma.
Owen McHugh 6'0" 185 Milton, Ma.

7 QBs in camp- should be very competitive-QB reps will be a precious commodity in preseason.

2 other solid FY QB recruits already moved to TE and DB.

Coach Raymond adhering to the old recruiting approach of recruiting a surplus of QBs as fine athletes and move them to other positions.

[NESCACFball24/7]

This may explain their lack of talent at skill positions. Bringing in 5 qbs at a school that already has so few kids they can bring in just seems like an inefficient way of recruiting. That's almost 1/3 of the class.

Hard pressed to remember 3 more impressive FY QBs coming into the same NESCAC program in the same year.
Williams is bringing in a very strong recruiting class especially at the QB position-

Owen Johansen 6'2" 215 Northport NY
Drew Renzella 6'2" 200 Williston Northhampton, Ma.
Owen McHugh 6'0" 185 Milton, Ma.

7 QBs in camp should be very competitive-QB reps will be a precious commodity in preseason.

2 other solid FY QB recruits already moved to TE and DB.

Coach Raymond adhering to the old recruiting approach of recruiting a surplus of QBs as fine athletes and move them to other positions.

[lumbercat]

It is potentially inefficient if kids can't adjust to other positions of grow distraught and leave the program.
However we've seen this script perennially in the NESCAC where former QBs go on to excel at other positions.

[nescac1]

Three of the five QB recruits (McHugh, Johansen, and Carroll) were all multi-positional two-way stars in high school, and Baker was a huge dual-threat QB who may have been a best-athlete-in-a-small-school type recruit who always projected best as a tight end at the next level even though he was a very successful H.S. QB.  So it's not like all five of these guys were recruited as QBs or at least exclusively as QBs. 

And Williams did seem to bring in a lot of other really strong skill guys in the class -- two notable RBs, another TE, and a number of receivers, including a few who were widely coveted in NESCAC -- many of whom I expect will see time this fall. 

The returning QBs are mostly dual-threat types as well, so I'm sure a few will be converted to WR or DB.  Likely no more than 5 end up in the QB depth chart.