The Massachusetts football team got its second win of the season in large part due to Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams having the best game of his collegiate career against the Army Black Knights. The redshirt junior finished the day with a career-high in both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns with 234 and three, respectively.
“[Lynch-Adams] is just playing at a high level,” head coach Don Brown said. “He’s not the biggest guy in the world, but he just finds a way to make people miss; a lot of yards after contact.”
Lynch-Adams got off to a quick start on the first drive of the game. The running back took his first carry for a quick 14 yards up the right side.
After another chunk gain on the ground by feeding number 15, UMass (2-7) fed the ball to Lynch-Adams again, for the third time of the drive, up the middle. Bouncing out to the right side, the redshirt junior used his vision to get free down the right sideline. Staying in bounds with great speed, 34 yards later, the Minutemen had their first points of the contest from the rushing touchdown.
“I was ready to roll,” Lynch-Adams said. “Once I get my first big carry, I’m like ‘Alright yeah I’m in my zone.’ … Once I got in that rhythm, I was ready to go.”
The second drive of the game for UMass featured more action for Lynch-Adams, being patient behind the offensive line, waiting to find a hole to hit and smashing through it. The running back took his next touch, jump-cutting to the outside and getting 33 yards on the run. The next play went back to Lynch-Adams up the middle where he spun off an ankle tackle and punched in for another six.
“The offensive line was really climbing and doing what they were supposed to do,” Lynch-Adams said.
After getting a drive off to rest, the Minutemen threw Lynch-Adams back out on the field to go back to work to start the second half.
The junior running back jump cut multiple times on the first second-half play from scrimmage for UMass, splurging for 15 yards. Lynch-Adams captured his career high in rushing yards in a game a few plays later, head faking and juking his way down to the four-yard line for an eight-yard gain.
“[Offensive coordinator] Steve Casula’s killing [Lynch-Adams] on the headset because he’s not getting [upfield],” Brown said. “But he has a great knack for jump-cutting and getting back vertical.”
Lynch-Adams was looking for the endzone but had the ball punched out by an Army (2-6) defender at the six-yard line. Before the Black Knights could react and jump on the ball, the running back pounced on the loose ball, keeping possession for the Minutemen down to the three-yard line.
The extra effort to recover the fumble paid off a play later, with Lynch-Adams being fed a handoff on an inside zone to the left side. After stalling briefly, he launched through a hole made by the UMass offensive line for a three-yard touchdown; his third of the game.
Having 34 carries in a game was something that Lynch-Adams hadn’t experienced since his high school days, but he isn’t afraid of being the bell cow back in the offense for the Minutemen.
“You’ll never complain when you’re getting the ball,” Lynch-Adams said. “If you don’t get the ball, you’re going to complain about it. Anytime they call my number I’ll be ready.”
The performance against Army for Lynch-Adams was more of the same for his 2023 season, coming into the game with 692 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. Now added with the stats from Saturday’s contest, he has 926 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the year.
UMass relied heavily on its star running back to get its second win of the season and will most likely continue to do so for the rest of the year. The next test will be against Merrimack on Saturday, November 4. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game can be streamed on ESPN+.
“[Lynch-Adams] is one of those guys, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to give us an opportunity,” Brown said. “That’s being him in a nutshell.”
Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @mikecmaynard.
