Minutemen have to reload; Defense, QB Coen may be forced to carry the load.

• Position: SPORTS

Byline: Bud Barth

AMHERST - After averaging 31 points and more than 400 yards per game last season, the University of Massachusetts football team - its offense ravaged by graduation except for the return of record-setting senior quarterback Liam Coen - might have to lean heavily on a veteran defense to become the first UMass team to make three straight appearances in the NCAA Championship Subdivision playoffs.

The Minutemen, ranked No. 5 nationally in The Sports Network preseason poll, have spoiled their fans the last two seasons, going 23-5 with a 15-1 league record and making it all the way to the NCAA championship game in 2006. But they'll be hard-pressed to repeat this season with only four starters returning on offense, while also breaking in a new placekicker.

"We're going to have a lot of new faces on offense," admitted coach Don Brown, the former David Prouty High mentor, whose team opened yesterday with a 28-16 win over Albany. The Minutemen will open Holy Cross' season on Saturday at Fitton Field.

"Our receiver corps will not be household names, but I still think we have some very talented young men who can help us," Brown said. "Our offensive line might be the biggest (it's) ever been, and defensively we've got eight starters back. Special teams is a big question mark for us."

Coen, whom Brown called the best quarterback in UMass history, has been tabbed the Colonial Athletic Association's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder, a Payton Award candidate in last year's 10-3 season and one of the favorites to win it in 2008, holds almost every UMass passing record after throwing for 30 TDs last season and more than 3,000 yards two years in a row.

But with the Minutemen's top three wide receivers gone, including 1,000-yard men J.J. Moore and Rasheed Rancher, the pass-catching load will fall largely on the untested duo of junior Jeremy Horne (just 12 receptions in 2007 after transferring from Syracuse) and senior Victor Cruz.

Senior tight end Ian Jorgensen, a devastating blocker at 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, had only 15 catches last season, although five were for touchdowns. Fighting for playing time behind him is 6-foot-6 sophomore Andrew Krevis of Northbridge.

The situation in the running game isn't much better. With the departure of Matt Lawrence, who supplied 71 percent of last year's rushing yards (1,680 of 2,376), junior Tony Nelson will take over as the No. 1 tailback. The fullback spot will be a...