UMass RB Transfer Rocko Griffin Ready To Rock
UMass running back transfer Rocko Griffin has been a bright spot early in spring practice.
AMHERST, Mass. - Rocko Griffin has played a lot of football for a lot of teams in different parts of the country, but the UMass running back transfer sees it all as the same.
“I feel like football is just football no matter what conference you are in,” says Griffin, who began his career playing three years for Vanderbilt in the SEC before spending the last two at the University of Texas at San Antonio of the American Athletic Conference.
Griffin noted that new UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak and his position coach, Jeremy Larkin, both came to Amherst after spending time in the Big Ten.
“A lot of different styles of football, but the end of the day football is football, so let's just play the game,” the 5-foot-9, 200-pounder said.
There has been one difference between Amherst and his previous stops, the weather.
“It is definitely a big difference from where I was at San Antonio and being from South Georgia,” he laughed. “But honestly it's been good. Football is football. Being in the bubble does help a lot, but it's starting to warm up now, so it's feeling similar.”
Griffin said he felt drawn to UMass when he was in the Portal.
“Honestly, I felt like it was just God telling me to be here,” he said. “Coach Harasymialk coming in, a lot of new changes coming in, culture. I felt like the right place to be.”
One of the first things Griffin wanted to know about as he did his research on the Minutemen was what kind of role he could have on special teams.
“I just know special teams is a big part of going to The League,” he said. “Special teams is a big part of making the roster, so being able to of course run the ball, but show a lot of versatility on special teams as well.”
He has experience doing a variety of things on special teams at his previous stops, including returning, running down on kicks and blocking.
“Anywhere I can just be out there to support and help the team,” he said.
But Griffin was brought to Amherst to tote the rock and through one week of spring practice, he has impressed onlookers in a major way.
He’s proven he can do it in the best conference in the sport as Vanderbilt’s leading rusher back in 2021, when he notched a pair of 100-yard outings against Stanford and Ole Miss and another 98-yard outing against Tennessee.
Some would think if he could do it there, against the type of competition, he should have a good chance to do it for the Minutemen.
Griffin would agree with them, but maybe for different reasons because, of course, “Football is football.”
Minuteman Command does receive a referral commission when you make a Homefield purchase through links on our site. But this comes at no additional cost to you and we wouldn’t be recommending Homefield unless we were fans of their products ourselves. Again use the promo code COMMAND15 to receiver 15% off your first purchase.