UMass' WR1 Might Lead CFB in Touches This Season
Don’t make me run. I’m full of chocolate!
- Uter, The Simpsons
Would you believe me if I told you that one of the most productive WRs to ever play CFB came through UMass recently? It’s true. Andy Isabella torched the FBS in 2018 with a 102 reception, 1698 yard and 13 receiving score season. Add on another 11 carries for 79 yards and a rushing score and what you have is wicked sick.
While that staff regrettably might no longer be with the program, the new staff have shown a willingness (probably due to necessity, more on this later) to feature it’s best players on offence.
What’s more, UMass—a team that is entering the MAC next year—came into the spring with the expectation that they’d be a heavy run team built around returning 1000-yard rusher Kay’Ron Lynch Adams. Here’s a snippet from a UMass report earlier this spring before the transfers:
“[Lynch-Adams is] a great kid, works hard and he has talent. He rushed for over 1,000 yards last year,” Brown said. “And the other guy, Desrosiers, he’s gonna have a huge year. It’s nice when you’ve got two of them. I think the [wide receiving corps] is gonna be surprisingly good, I just don’t wanna put too much pressure on them.”
You’ll notice that both of the runners mentioned there now play elsewhere. How’s that for having the rug pulled out beneath you in your first year on the job? While head coach Don Brown’s been with the program since 2022, new OC Shane Montgomery joined this past offseason after spending two seasons with Buffalo (2021-22). The departure of the top two runners suggests to me that there will be a lot of pressure on the passing game now to move the chains.
From the same report, some mention of the QB room:
One player who missed out on the fun Tuesday was starting quarterback Taisun Phommachanh. The redshirt senior missed time last year dealing with a knee injury, but returned toward the end of the year to finish it out under center. After a small surgery to clean up the damage, Phommachanh feels healthy right now.
The plan for the spring is to keep him sidelined as a precautionary measure while he works on rehabbing and strengthening his leg.
“We’re bringing him along real slow and being smart,” Brown said. “I’m not a doctor I just do what [the trainers] tell me to do. Obviously we’re taking all the precautions necessary to make sure we got a healthy Phommachanh come the fall.”
Several other quarterbacks impressed with the increased reps, especially redshirt freshman Ahmad Haston – who appeared in three games last year for UMass. Brown said he saw “six or seven throws” that really stood out to him among the five quarterbacks who threw on Tuesday.
The fact that they have already settled on who their guy is at QB is a plus in my mind. Phommachanh—who began his career at Clemson—wasn’t great last year, but that’s also a function of playing on a team like UMass. As he enters his second season as the starter, there will hopefully be some improvement, and better yet: he might not have much choice but to target today’s player on virtually every play.
Coaching & System
WR1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 9.26 — OC: 11.321 (half ppr)
Don Brown returned to the program in 2022 after a lengthy tenure of defensive coaching across the FBS. He originally served as the head coach of the Minutemen from 2004-2008 after a four year stint with Northwestern. Interestingly, he’s also spent time in head coaching positions within baseball and basketball (no, that isn’t a joke). He spent time as an assistant with both Hartford and Yale in the 80s and 90s coaching in basketball and baseball. I guess you could say he really is New England man.
Now here’s a stat that will blow you away: during his five seasons with UMass in the 2000s, his programs produced five straight 1000-yard rushers, and three 1000-yard receivers. Take it in, read that last sentence again if need be. One of those receivers, a name some of you may recognize in the NY area: Victor Cruz, who eventually caught lightning in a bottle with the NY Football Giants, caught 71 passes for 1064 yards and six scores with UMass. The next leading receiver that year finished with 50 catches for 895 yards and eight scores.
The previous season (2007), UMass’ offence produced two 1000-yard receivers under Brown. JJ Moore caught 80 passes for 1100 yards and five scores, while Rasheed Rancher caught 49 passes for 1007 yards and nine scores. Of course, these seasons are outside the sample of my tables, so these stats won’t be reflected in the patterns you see below.
However, you can still see that Brown’s WR1 target share has been pretty good the last two seasons, particularly in 2023, nearly hitting 30% share. The OC, Montgomery, is not far behind him with a 29.2% target share for his Charlotte team in 2018. The other two seasons in the sample where he served as OC saw target shares around 25%, which is what we typically look for with the WR position. Even the WR2s average above 20% target share some seasons under this staff.
From that lens, this profile is similar to an article that I wrote recently on Vanderbilt sophomore Junior Sherrill. The input volume is typically good in the system, the question is on the efficiency side of the equation. Still, I bet you weren’t expecting that level of track record at the WR position from this staff when you started reading this article.
What’s more, the fact that the staff will use Simpson on the ground as well makes him all the more appealing as a ‘do it all’ type of commodity for a team that will be playing from behind a lot this year.
In terms of play calling tendencies, both coaches skew heavier run, with each averaging around a 58/42 run/pass split.
UMass as an offence were slow last year, checking in at 93rd in the FBS with an average of 27.5 seconds per play. I would have liked to see a higher pace there for a team playing from behind a lot. That being said, the previous season they averaged a blistering 23.6 seconds per play, so it’s hard to tell where Brown’s program will land this year. We want it fast and concentrated, baby.
Anthony Simpson (5’11, 180)
2023 STATS: 57 (96)-792-3 (14 PPG)2
Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be paid to a player is what opposing coaching staffs say about him. UConn head coach Jim Mora’s staff showed interest in Simpson during the transfer process last summer, but Simpson had apparently made up his mind to stay with Brown and play to the north. Mora offered up these quotes on the New England star:
He’s a really good football player. He’s dynamic. He can run, he catches in traffic, he’s good on the jet sweep stuff. I think he’s a really good football player and someone we really have to make sure we have a plan for. I like him a lot.
His own head coach said this during the offseason:
[Simpson’s] A complete dude.
Indeed, Simpson is coming off a quietly productive season, nearly hitting the 100-target club in the receiving game. He was also given 11 carries for 93 yards and a score, an eerily similar stat line to Isabella’s 2018 season (COINCIDENCE??). Here’s what Simpson had to say:
I felt the season was really productive. I came here to help the program and make plays and be useful on the field, be able to help the team any way I can and I feel like they gave me opportunities to do that.
One of the highlights of the UMass season was Simpson’s 140 yard performance vs. Toledo:
Simpson caught seven passes from Phommachanh for 140 yards, including the 71-yarder, and 73 yards-after-the-catch against Toledo on Oct. 7.
“I think I’ve showed my versality as a player, how dynamic I can be with the ball in my hands,” Simpson said, “my big-play ability.”
Simpson was originally a three star rated ATH coming out of the PREP ranks in the NY area. He originally committed to and played for the Arizona Wildcats (2021-2022) before transferring back closer to home.
Here are a couple of notable accoladed from his HS career:
Also competes in track. Ran an 11.52 100 as a junior and a 6.79 60 as a senior.
Finished his senior season at Bloomfield (Conn.) with 1,242 rushing yards, 1,249 receiving yards, and 45 total TDs,
Simpson averaged eight targets per game last year with Phommachanh at starting QB, and that was with Kay’Ron Adams being the main man on the offence. Now, the UMass rushing attack is in flux, and save for a nice TE pick up via Dominick Mazotti by way of SJSU, there aren’t many options here for the Minutemen. Tulsa transfer Cookie Desideiro got the bulk of carries in the spring game, but it remains to be seen if a workhorse emerges this year.
Closing
First and foremost, I love the versatility that Simpson brings. I always say that I love WRs who get rushing usage as well, and Simpson checks that box. If you’re going to take a shot on a player who’s on a doormat program, he oughta be a guy who does everything for them, and Simpson fits that description.
The concerns with his profile revolve around the QB play and overall frequency of scoring that the UMass offence will be able to support. They play three (yes, three) SEC teams this year (for some reason). They also play a steady diet of MAC teams to even it out. In fact, they don’t play an SEC team until Oct. 12th, so unlike a lot of these G5 players, September could actually be very fruitful. They open with EMU, Toledo, Buffalo, Central CT (FCS), Miami of Ohio, and NIU before they get to Mizzou. In all six of those opening games Simpson will be live for a big day.
Now here’s the craziest part of this article: Simpson has no ADP data according to Campus2Canton, meaning he is going undrafted in almost every draft. This is a WR coming off a 14 PPG season already, and will be relied on (probably) even more than last year. I like Simpson as a late round target in both bestball and standard formats.
Normally, with a player like this I’d say he’s more a bestball asset, but given that we will know which games on his schedule are no-goes (SEC opponents), and which are full-goes (MAC opponents) I think he provides just as much value in standard formats. Is he another Andy Isabella? Probably not. Could he go over 1000 yards total this season? Certainly. ◾
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Sample of 2018-2023.
1PPR.