We’re onto Week 5 in my look into the biggest changes on each roster the Tigers will go up against this football season.
We started with a look at Central Arkansas, which you can find here, and then we looked at the other side of the Border War, which you can find here.
We looked at the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, which you can find here and last week we got into conference play with a look at South Carolina, which you can find here.
Now, we're onto UMass and Week 5.
Let’s get started with the most important losses from last year’s roster.
Biggest losses
Jalen John, running back
The Minutemen were a heavily run-based team for most of the season and John led the way.
In 10 games, he totaled a team-high 583 rushing yards and five touchdowns, both team highs. Add on his 17 catches for 119 yards and he was one of the key producers on the UMass offense.
But now he’s on roster at Coastal Carolina for his senior season playing for his fifth team in five years and leaving a hole in the Minuteman backfield.
CJ Hester, running back
Hester was the other main guy in the UMass backfield, totaling a team-high 119 carries for 529 yards in 11 games played and reaching the end zone four times.
But like John, Hester hit the transfer portal and is now on roster at Michigan, leaving the Minutemen with more than 1,000 rushing yards to replace.
Jakobie Keeney-James, receiver
With the team’s focus on running the ball, there weren’t a lot of receiving yards to go around and Keeny-James soaked up most of them.
He had 50 catches, twice as many as the next leading pass catcher, for 839 yards, almost three times as many as the next guy, along with a team-high six touchdowns.
Keeney-James was the main threat to look out for on the UMass offense, but now he’s trying to make the Detroit Lions regular-season roster.
Jalen Stewart, linebacker
The Minuteman defense had a couple of standouts, one was Stewart, who led the team with 77 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and two batted passes.
But with his eligibility used up, UMass will have to have a new face leading the defense.
Gerrell Johnson, linebacker
That new face won’t be Johnson, either, after he was second on the team with 74 total tackles, including 2.5 for loss and half a sack to go with two batted passes and two quarterback hits.
His eligibility was also up after last season.
Biggest additions
Brandon Rose, quarterback
The Minutemen turned to freshman AJ Hairston under center by the end of last season and he is returning with four games of experience that include 480 passing yards and five touchdowns through the air.
But UMass also turned to the portal and added Rose from Utah.
Rose was a three-star pro style quarterback coming out of high school in the class of 2022, then redshirted in 2022 and did not play in 2023. Last season, he played three games and started one for the Utes before suffering a season-ending injury.
In limited action, he completed 19-of-36 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing 11 times for 66 yards.
Rocko Griffin, running back
With the need to replace a lot of production among the running backs, UMass turned to an experienced option to fill the backfield. Griffin is entering his sixth year of college football with two full seasons played in 2021 and 2023.
In 2021 at Vanderbilt, he piled up 517 yards on 145 carries with four touchdowns. After three years at Vandy, he transferred to UTSA, where he put up 483 yards and six scores on 91 carries in 2023.
He suffered a season-ending injury in 2024, granting him a second injury redshirt (along with 2022) so he is still listed as a redshirt junior in Year 6.
Nick Hawthorne, linebacker
With UMass needing some new faces in the linebacker room, the Minutemen added Hawthorne from Boise State.
Hawthorne experienced the College Football Playoff from the sideline as a redshirt freshman last season. He did not play in his lone year in Idaho.
Coming out of Texas, Hawthorne was a two-star corner/receiver, then moved to linebacker when he got to Boise.
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