Punter, kicker to leave Black Bears

ORONO – The kicking game for the University of Maine football team was in a developmental stage during the 2005 season.

That is likely to continue next year.

Starting punter Rocco Navarro of Portland and place-kicker Matt Voliva both have announced their intention to leave the Black Bears program.

Navarro, who was a junior this fall, is scheduled to graduate in May. Rather than return for his fifth and final year of eligibility, he is planning to pursue an internship at the University of Southern Maine.

Navarro averaged only 35.7 yards on 57 punts in his first season of action with UMaine. He ranked last among all regulars in the Atlantic 10.

That means the Bears’ top returning punter is starting quarterback Ron Whitcomb. He averaged 32.1 yards on 12 punts this season, although most of those kicks were “quick kicks” made out of the shotgun formation to prevent opponents from setting up returns.

Voliva also punted four times for a 29.2-yard average.

Voliva won UMaine’s place-kicking job after Bobby Donnelly went 1-for-4 on field goals early in the season. He wound up converting 13 of 15 PAT kicks and went 0-for-2 on field-goal tries.

Voliva reportedly has decided to transfer to a school closer to his home in Piscataway, N.J.

Those developments would appear to leave Donnelly as the leading candidate to handle both positions. The Westbrook native, who will be a junior next season, saw his first collegiate action in 2005.

Donnelly converted 12 of 12 PATs before relinquishing the job to Voliva. However, he continued handling kickoffs for the Bears for the duration.

The only other kicker in the program is first-year man Marcus Mustin, who hails from Clemmons, N.C.