ORONO, Maine — It is no secret that the University of Maine football team has been doing some rebuilding this season.
The Black Bears, who went 10-3 while winning the Colonial Athletic Association championship and earning a spot in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs last year, sustained heavy graduation losses.
Coach Jack Cosgrove and his staff said goodbye to 20 seniors, many of whom played important roles on the squad.
Thus, perhaps it should come as no surprise that UMaine — which takes a 2-3 record (1-1 CAA) into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game at Stony Brook in New York — is relying heavily on the contributions of many underclassmen this fall.
What has been fairly unusual is the number of young players who have been thrust into the lineup in 2014. The Black Bears thus far have utilized the services of 21 players who are in their first or second year.
That includes six freshmen who were in high school at this time last year.
“We have had to ratchet up more first-year guys than we have in the past,” conceded Cosgrove, who is in his 21st season as UMaine’s head coach.
The rookies have made a combined 19 starts, with eight of them having played in every game to this point.
The Black Bear “cubs” include starters in left tackle Jamil Demby, right tackle Isaiah Brooks, tailback Nigel Beckford and tight end Jeremy Salmon, along with backups in linebackers Zach Hume, Benjamin Davis and Austin Brown, wideout Jared Osumah, quarterback Drew Belcher, cornerbacks A.J. Dawson, Najee Goode and Tayvon Hall, safety Darius Hart and defensive end Jean Point-Dujour.
Their inexperience, individual and collective, has been obvious at times.
“We think our guys are going to get better as a result of their experience,” Cosgrove said. “There’s growing pains, but it’s part of the process.”
The learning curve is particularly steep for the half-dozen true freshmen who are contributing. That group includes Beckford, Belcher, Dawson, Demby, Hart and wide receiver Micah Wright, who has been sidelined by a shoulder injury.
Cosgrove explained that UMaine prefers to hold out first-year players. Most often, a year of seasoning in the program yields a player who eventually becomes a more savvy fifth-year senior.
Then there are seasons, such as this one, when the short-term benefits of utilizing players outweighs the long-term approach.
“We’d rather not do that,” Cosgrove said.
“Playing a true freshman is a hard decision to make because it goes against our philosophy to redshirt,” he explained. “But it’s not a hard decision because some players are ready to play.”
Cosgrove said several factors, including injuries, lack of depth and undeniable ability, can all open the door for contributions from a first-year athlete.
To put the freshman dynamic in perspective, Demby is the first rookie offensive lineman to start for UMaine since Josh Spearin in 2009. Among defensive backs, Dawson and Hart are the first freshman regulars since Darlos James, also in 2009.
The freshman contributors have demonstrated some intangibles in addition to their talents.
“These guys are ready to play and they all have a competitiveness, a drive, a maturity to be good,” Cosgrove said.
Thus, he has been trying to maintain a different mindset as his younger players blend in with the veterans and learn on the fly.
“That’s why the word patience is so important,” he said. “Sometimes you can get frustrated with the lack of success, but I think we’re well aware that these young men are competing and working real hard to get better.”
This year’s influx of young talent is a contrast to last year, when Salmon was the only freshman to play, in great part because of his abilities as a long-snapper.
“We’re excited about the two classes we have had the last two years,” Cosgrove said. “Last year was more volume, 28 [freshman] guys. This year we have 17. There’s some guys we’re very excited about.”