With a second straight 0-3 start under its belt, the Massachusetts football team travels to face No. 20 Missouri on Saturday. With an extra week off after a 47-7 loss to Iowa, the Minutemen (0-3) look to pull off an unlikely upset against a tough Tigers (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) team.
“We have to make Missouri earn everything they’re going to get,” Massachusetts head coach Joe Harasymiak said. “We got to make sure that we play a clean game and try and get it to somewhere we can execute with an opportunity to put some pressure on them.”
UMass looks to AJ Hairston to lead its offense in Memorial Stadium, giving the redshirt freshman quarterback his first start of the season and fourth of his collegiate career. This stop in the Minutemen’s quarterback carousel comes after Hairston replaced Grant Jordan late against the Hawkeyes.
Hairston went 4-of-8 for 55 yards in Iowa City, bringing his career totals to 564 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions.
UMass’ receiving core will also depend on new faces for production, with T.Y. Harding now officially out for the season and Jake McConnachie questionable after not playing in Iowa.
“Guys like Donnie Gray, [Jacquon Gibson], [Kezion Dia-Johnson] will have to step up,” Harasymiak said. “One thing that’s getting challenged here is not only the depth of the roster, but ultimately the talent.”
On the other side of the ball, the Minutemen’s secondary continues to work through a long string of injuries. TJ Magee, Ryan Barnes and DD Snyder are out for Saturday, while Zeraun Daniel, Kendall Bournes and Jeremiah McGill are questionable.
As a team built with 37 transfers, constant rearrangement of UMass’ depth chart could tear down the continuity that the program is trying to build early in the season. The Tigers have an opportunity to take advantage of the Minutemen’s jumbled state with a transfer class that has paid dividends to the program’s initial success.
Beau Pribula and Kevin Coleman Jr. have become the new offensive duo in Columbia, Missouri, replacing the combo of Brady Cook and Luther Burden III that moved on to the NFL.
Pribula, a Penn State transfer, has completed over 72 percent of his passes for 962 yards and eight touchdowns with two interceptions. Coleman Jr., who formerly played for Louisville and Mississippi State, now leads the SEC with 27 receptions and leads the Tigers with 278 receiving yards.
Additionally, Ahmad Hardy, a transfer from The University of Louisiana at Monroe, leads the SEC with 79 carries for 600 yards as Missouri’s lead back.
Damon Wilson II leads the Tigers defensively, totaling a career-high 3.5 sacks in four games after transferring from Georgia. Zion Young has two sacks attacking from the opposite defensive end, making for a dangerous pass-rush duo.
UMass will have its hands full facing such a talented and coordinated group, similar to its matchup last year against Missouri. This is a return trip after the Minutemen hosted the Tigers last season, losing 45-3 in front of a packed crowd at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
This year, UMass hopes its new roster translates to a shocking result in its first trip to Missouri in program history.
The game will be available to watch live on ESPNU, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Tym Brown can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @tym_brown1.
