ORONO – Last September, Bobby Donnelly sat in the stands at Alfond Stadium to watch the University of Maine football team’s home opener.

This Saturday, the sophomore from Westbrook will be the Black Bears’ place-kicker as they open the 2005 season against perennial Division I-A power Nebraska in Lincoln.

Donnelly and junior punter Rocco Navarro of Portland make up an all-Maine kicking duo that will make its Division I debut in front of some 78,000 fans at Memorial Stadium.

“I’m trying to stay as far away from that nervous feeling as I can,” said Donnelly, a recruited walk-on who has spent most of the last two seasons as the backup to graduated kicking specialist Mike Mellow.

Nervousness would be expected, especially since Donnelly has played in only three football games – all of them during his senior year at Westbrook High School in 2002.

“The football team was struggling a little bit and they saw me play saw and said, ‘you want to come out and try to kick?’ I said yeah,” explained Donnelly, a rangy 6-foot-1, 180-pounder who was a three-year defensive starter on the Blue Blazes’ soccer team that won the Southern Maine Activities Association regular-season title his senior season.

UMaine head coach Jack Cosgrove knows the only way to overcome the team’s kicking and punting inexperience is to get them into game situations.

“We’re going to find out when it’s time to play the game whether we can punt and kick in a game situation,” Cosgrove said. “It’s really going to be a learning experience for us. Bobby has competed well in the kicking spot to this point and Rocco’s done a nice job punting.”

Donnelly has toiled for two years learning the techniques and nuances of place-kicking from Mellow. Now, it’s his turn.

“Following in footsteps is really the best way to put it,” Donnelly explained. “Mellow really laid the road down and I just tried to do what he did. I just kept learning from him.”

He also benefited from extensive training under the guidance of strength and conditioning coach Will Biberstein.

Donnelly almost gave up on his dream of kicking at UMaine. Last season, after a dismal training camp that eroded his confidence, Donnelly left the team for a week or so.

“I was in the stands for the first home game against Northern Colorado and it wasn’t right, me being there,” he said.

Determined to get back on track and rejoin his teammates, Donnelly went to Cosgrove and vowed to rededicate himself.

“The family atmosphere was what really drew me back,” he said. “I just worked hard and at the end of the spring things were looking good.”

Donnelly went into training camp vying for the place-kicking job with redshirt freshman Sean Garvey, who recently left the team.

“The past couple days going out there I haven’t missed, so I’m feeling pretty good about things,” Donnelly said, his thoughts trained on Nebraska.

“As to what to expect, I’ve never really been in a situation like that before, so we’ll see what happens,” he said. “Nothing changes; you’ve just got to go out there and do your job.”

Navarro has some collegiate experience on which to fall back. In 2002, he was the punter and place-kicker as a freshman at Division II Bryant College (now university) in Rhode Island.

However, Nebraska will be a completely new experience.

“The atmosphere’s going to be totally different. I’m just anxious to get out there,” he said Wednesday evening.

Navarro said last September’s game at Montana, which featured a boistrous crowd of 23,228 at cozy Washington-Grizzly Stadium, should help ease the transition somewhat.

“Now I’m stepping into playing in front of almost 80,000, so it’s going to be kind of a rude awakening,” he conceded.

The 5-11, 208-pounder attended prep school for a year before attending Bryant. He walked on at UMaine, then sat out 2003 under NCAA transfer rules. He spent the last two seasons as Mellow’s understudy.

“It’s definitely been worth the wait,” said Navarro, a a two-time all-state kicker at Portland High in 1999 and 2000. “It’s been a long road.”

Navarro, who found he didn’t want to study business at Bryant, instead moved closer to home. Two seasons preparing in the wings have helped him solidify his punting efficiency.

“One of the main things I’ve been working on is my consistency,” Navarro said. “A lot of it was just little things like ball drops, foot placements, not getting discouraged if I shanked a kick or whatever; just keeping my composure.”

Bouncing back mentally after a subpar kick has been another point of emphasis.

“Now if I kick a bad kick, I’ve just got to forget about it and move on to the next kick,” he said. “I think I took a lot of strides in that area, more the mental aspect.”

Navarro and Donnelly credited freshman Matthew Voliva with coming in and competing for both kicking positions, thus helping them improve.

“He’s kicking really well,” Navarro said of Voliva. “He’s still young. I think he’s got a bright future ahead of him.”