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Maine Football Continues Spring Practice
April 8, 2005 ORONO, Maine - University of Maine football team continued spring drills on Friday afternoon at Alfond Stadium. The focus of the two-hour practice continued to be on the basics as the team worked in shoulder pads and shorts. "We added some things today so we made some mental mistakes," said head coach Jack Cosgrove. "You feel like you are making progress and starting to get good at what you know then you add something and it gets challenging. The effort was good and I think we are continuing to make strides with the team in that way. Sunday we will get another chance to put the ball down and play some scrimmage football and see if we have made some advances that way." One of the areas that is a focus this spring is the kicking game. The Black Bears are losing Mike Mellow, who handled punting duties for four seasons and kicking duties for three seasons. In his place will be Rocco Navarro (Portland, Maine) at punter and Sean Garvey (Farmington, Conn.) and Bobby Donnelly (Westbrook, Maine) at placekicker. "We are going to have a new kicker and a new punter for really the first time in four years," said Cosgrove. "That will be a big change, not only the performance level, but the handling of the pressure of those situations. Those are going to be concerns for us until we actually get in the game and do it. I like the way we are kicking the ball, we are getting better. Also tied into this is we are breaking in a new long snapper for the first time in four years. That operation is something we have taken for granted over the past couple of years with Mike Mellow and Rob Brooks. We have some talented kids at the positions, but right now it is in a competition phase." The team will practice in full pads on Sunday, April 10 at 12:55 pm to complete the second week of spring practice. For more information about Maine Athletics, please visit www.GoBlackBears.com.
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