UM grid practice begins New faces abound; injuries hit secondary

ORONO – There were plenty of new faces to mix with the veterans Friday as the University of Maine football team braved a chill wind and mud season to begin spring workouts.

Third-year Black Bear head coach Kirk Ferentz is hoping to blend his 70 returning players into a cohesive unit by the annual Blue-White game May 2 at Alumni Field.

Among the new faces are defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan, who arrives after five years at Georgia Tech, and secondary coach Tim Pendergast, recently hired out of Northwestern. With rewritten offensive and defensive playbooks, Ferentz believes the program is ready to bounce back from a pair of 3-8 seasons.

“We’ve got some good people coming back, although we’ve got some injury problems,” said Ferentz. “We expect to be improved.”

Ferentz said Emilio Colon, who started nine games at quarterback last fall as a freshman, completing 53 percent of his passes for 1,325 yards with two TDs and 13 interceptions, enters spring workouts as the No. 1 signal-caller.

Pushing Colon for the starting QB job are redshirt sophomore (this fall) Joe Marsilio, junior Jason Cue, a transfer from Division I-A Rutgers; and redshirt freshman Gary Greaves.

“I think we’ve got four guys who can play the position,” said Ferentz, who hopes one of the four will be established as the starter entering camp in August. “It’s going to be a fun position to watch. There’s going to be great competition.”

What won’t be fun to watch is Maine’s secondary. Veteran cornerbacks Bill Curry and Anthony Jackson both underwent off-season shoulder surgery and will be held out of contact. Safeties Fred Guions and Rob Pauleus both had offseason knee surgery and won’t practice at all. Even cornerback Larry Jones, who can practice, had arthroscopic knee surgery in January.

“It’s going to be tough to practice, we’re so thin back there,” said Ferentz.

Strong points of the team, according to Ferentz, include: Redshirt senior tailback Ben Sirmans, who takes over for graduated backs Carl Smith and Paul Capriotti. Sirmans, a 5-foot-9, 210-pound power back, has rushed for 908 yards and scored 12 TDs in three seasons. Inside linebackers Dan Girard and Ross Fichthorn, and outside backers Jemal Murph, Lorenzo Harris, Ako Stafford, and Al Hall. Veteran defensive linemen Corey Parker, Jed Wehrman, Todd Park, and Fred Harner. Veteran offensive linemen Dan Jones, Dave Clark, Dick Donahue, and Paul Fuller. Returning receivers Shawn Campbell and Mark Shaw at tight end, and wide outs Tony Szydlowski, Frizell Davis, Ken Squires, and Steve Cates.

Ferentz said Rob Tubbs has been switched from receiver to backup tailback. And the coach hopes kicker/punter Jeff Mottola can bounce back from a sub-par junior year.