AMHERST, Mass. - After a 1-11 finish last season, the 2023 UMass Amherst football team has taken steps forward.

Earlier this month, the Minutemen won back-to-back games for the first time since 2018.

"I think that's come solely from the fact that we have an extremely resilient group of men here," said offensive lineman Cole Garcia. "There's not a lot of football programs that could be facing 1-7 in the face and come back out and swing."

"Enough was enough," said running back Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams. "We had enough of being a laughing stock or somebody that people could look over and I feel like when Coach Brown came in, he told us, 'We're gonna turn this thing around.' And I feel like this is a really big step towards doing it."

Lynch-Adams has played a big role this season. He surpassed 1,000 yards rushing earlier this year, becoming only the second UMass player in the FBS-era to do so in a single season.

"I feel like the offensive line really just kind of grew together and opened up some lanes for me to hit," Lynch-Adams said. "And I feel like our togetherness and work ethic together kind of helped build this up, which lead to this breakthrough for us."

The rebuild began last year when head coach Don Brown returned to the program's sidelines, and continued with a speech that went viral this past spring. Garcia, a sixth-year senior, delivered a message inspired by best-selling book "The Coffee Bean."

"We were really facing a lot of adversity coming into the offseason coming into in January," Garcia said. "And it's a message that I've carried with me for the last three or four years ever since that message was delivered to me. And as soon as Coach Brown gave me the opportunity to address the team, I knew that was something they needed to hear."

At 3-8, UMass will host its season finale Saturday against the University of Connecticut.

It will be Garcia's last time stepping onto the football field as a collegiate athlete. While it will be an emotional finale, he said the lessons the game has taught him will be with him forever.

"It's everything that a man should be wrapped up into one game," Garcia said. "And how you handle yourself and how you conduct yourself, not just with the plays you make, but how you show up to the facility every day, how you go out to that practice field everyday. That will be my biggest takeaway from football is that it turned me into a man."