Sometimes it only takes one game.

One game to turn everything around and put a slow start behind you.

Massachusetts football wide receiver Sadiq Palmer had that game against Coastal Carolina last Saturday.

The junior hauled in a season-high 139 reception yards in UMass’ (2-6) 24-13 loss to the Chanticleers (4-3) at McGuirk Alumni Stadium and hopes to bring this breakout performance into these last four games of the season.

“I’m just gonna keep working hard and keep working on the things I need to work on and get open and the rest could be history,” Palmer said.

The Red Bank, New Jersey native didn’t feel like he did anything different in preparation for Coastal Carolina, rather, just focus on goals he set for himself at the beginning of last week.

“I just tried to focus on my techniques,” Palmer said. “My coach came up [to us] at the beginning of the week and he had us write down what we thought we had to work on in the passing game and the running game. I think I put down getting off the ball and just looking every catch it.”

“I was just trying to focus more on like running my routes and getting off the ball so I could get open so I could be a target. It wasn’t really anything that I did special, I was just trying to focus on my technique more than anything.”

With senior wideout Andy Isabella putting together a season for the ages for the Minutemen and garnering a lot of attention from the opposition at the same time, Palmer’s emergence can spell good things for the Minutemen offense.

“Sadiq is a good player,” coach Mark Whipple said. “He’s made some clutch catches and had a good game. He’s done good… It’s not just one player, it’s the entire team. We just got to find a way to get into the end zone.”

Senior quarterback Andrew Ford suffered an injury in the game against the Chanticleers and isn’t likely to play this week at Connecticut, meaning senior Ross Comis will be under center.

Despite the switch, Palmer feels just as good with Comis calling the shots as he would with Ford.

“I’m very confident in Ross because he’s more mobile so he moves around a lot,” said Palmer. “He gets it to the open person. We’ve been working, all the way back in the summer, even before that in spring ball, so I’m confident he’ll go out there and do what he needs to do.”

No. 6 also noted how he prefers mobile quarterbacks because it allows him more freedom in the form of scrambling.

“We actually work on the scramble drill, we call it the scramble drill, when the quarterback breaks the pocket, one receiver makes sure he’s low, one is in the middle and one goes high, so I just try to be where I need to be so I can make the play,” Palmer said.

With UConn now on the docket, Palmer has the chance to build upon his strong outing and give the UMass offense some more help in its remaining schedule.

Ryan Ames can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @_RyanAmes.