University of Maine coach Jack Cosgrove and football coaches across the country will have their fingers crossed today as they await word from players they have been recruiting in recent months.

Wednesday marks the beginning of the National Letter of Intent signing period, which runs through April 1.

UMaine, which has landed two strong recruiting classes in a row, hopes to bolster its roster with another talented group. Among those expected to commit is Bangor High place-kicker Nick Achorn.

Achorn, a former soccer player who joined the Rams football team as a sophomore, is excited about the possibility of walking on and eventually playing for the Black Bears.

“I’m going to have to work real hard to start or get any kicks in a game,” said Achorn, a NEWS carrier who also is a member of Bangor’s top-seeded basketball team this winter.

Achorn, who has attended kicking camps, worked with former UMaine kicker and coach Chris Binder, who was on Bangor’s staff last fall. He plans to study engineering.

“Maine has like the best engineering program in New England,” said Achorn, who had hoped for the opportunity despite not hearing from the Bears staff until fairly recently.

“I’m really proud to do it,” he said of attending UMaine.

There’s also a chance Craig Parcells, the 6-foot-6, 270-pound tight end from Millburn, N.J., might commit to play for the Bears. Parcells is the nephew of Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells.

Recruiting has always been a challenge for UMaine, primarily because of its location and climate. Winning back-to-back Atlantic 10 championships and making consecutive trips to the Division I-AA national quarterfinals have made that job easier, according to Bears associate head coach Bobby Wilder.

“The No. 1 thing we talk to the kids about is every year having a chance to compete for the Atlantic 10 championship,” Wilder said. “If we do that, we’re automatically in a position where we’re competing for a national championship.”

The nature of recruiting at UMaine has continued to evolve since the opening of Morse Field at Alfond Stadium in 1998 and the subsequent reinstatement to the full complement of 63 scholarships. Those factors have enabled the Bears to attract players that once might not have seriously considered UMaine.

However, Cosgrove said recruits often are won over after visiting Orono.

“Once we get them on campus, we have a tremendous chance of getting them,” said Cosgrove, who credited UMaine players, coaches, professors and administrators for helping teach recruits about the university.

“It really comes down to people,” Cosgrove said. “We do things I think are pretty unique and have been huge factors in our gaining an edge against other schools that we’re competing against.”

These days, the Bears even have the luxury of holding onto a few scholarships until shortly after the initial signing date, when some borderline I-A players and other recruits don’t sign with their first choices and go back on the market.

UMaine is expected to sign three instate players today. It appears to be getting harder for Mainers to earn playing time for the Bears.

“Our goal is to get the best players out of Maine and we feel like each and every year we’ve done that,” said Cosgrove, who admitted the talent pool in Maine is tiny compared to, say, the 191 high schools in eastern Massachusetts.

The UMaine staff has been forced to work a little harder during its postseason recruiting phase after assistant coach Matt Griffin, the recruiting coordinator, took the head coaching job at Tennessee-Martin.

That meant splitting up Griffin’s considerable responsibilities among the other coaches.