Massachusetts football head coach Don Brown announced Monday afternoon that former four-star recruit Taisun Phommachanh will be at the helm for the Minutemen in their season opener on Saturday in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they take on New Mexico State. Phommachanh spent three years at Clemson before playing for Georgia Tech in 2022. He completed two passes in five attempts with an interception in his year as a Yellow Jacket.
“It’s not a scenario where one guy won the job and the other guys didn’t really play exemplary, but I’m very happy and comfortable with the other guys as well,” Brown said. “[Phommachanh] can run, he can throw it … we made the decision that he’s going to get us off on the right foot. He’s very controlled, got a nice way about him … he’s determined. He’s very determined to help UMass football be successful.”
Last season the public didn’t learn who would start at quarterback for the Minutemen until kickoff at Tulane; a season that saw just four passing touchdowns from a rotating door of three signal callers. Phommachanh, who beat out Western Carolina transfer and redshirt senior Carlos Davis, junior and longtime Minuteman Brady Olson and incoming freshman Ahmad Haston, looks to stabilize a position that hasn’t had a definitive QB1 in the past three years. He leads a new-look offense with several transfers, recruits and players who formerly played differing positions littering both sides of the football.
Gino Campiotti is one of those players, transitioning from starting quarterback (which he held for the first half of last season) to tight end. Campiotti played tight end at Northern Arizona before heading to junior college to play as a quarterback, eventually finding his way to UMass. As a six-foot-three-inch, 215 pound tight end, Campiotti and the Minutemen hope to make use of his speed as a receiving threat.
“[Campiotti] has gone from quarterback to tight end and really, he’s taken to the position,” Brown said. “We feel good about his development and what he brings to the table … he’s an athletic guy.”
With moving pieces all over the field, Brown emphasized that a major factor in constructing this UMass roster was having depth at every position, and also seeking out players that have played in college programs before.
“We’ve gone out of our way to develop depth and accrue a number of guys at each position so that [our] depth chart isn’t just a single layer,” Brown said. “That’s where you get in trouble, and that’s kind of the area we were stuck in last year. We’re much deeper on both sides of the ball and on special teams.”
The Minutemen are facing an Aggie team coming off one of their best seasons in recent memory, finishing with a record of 7-6 and qualifying for a bowl game which they won, defeating Bowling Green 24-19. NMSU averaged 25.46 points per game in 2022 while holding opponents to 23.92. Comparatively, the Minutemen averaged 12.50 points per game and allowed 31.08 points per game.
‘[NMSU head coach] Jerry Kill does a great job, I think it was 2007 we coached against each other,” Brown said. “Good football coach, better person. As honest as a heart attack he’s a good man and does a great job coaching young people. We’re going to face a well-coached team.”
Kickoff takes place at 7 p.m. in Las Cruces on Saturday, August 26 and can be viewed on ESPN as part of its Week 0 coverage.
“I think we’re vastly improved, but now we have to prove that,” Brown said. “Guys are healthy … we feel good about where we are offensively. I feel like I’m a cheerleader telling everyone how much we’ve improved but we have to prove it. That’s the challenge in front of our guys.”
Johnny Depin can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Jdepin101.
