Offense improved in UMaine football’s second scrimmage

ORONO, Maine —- First-year University of Maine football coach Joe Harasymiak said his offense showed noteworthy improvement from the first scrimmage to Sunday’s second scrimmage as the Black Bears prepare for their Sept. 1 opener at the University of Connecticut.

“I thought the explosiveness of our offense came out today,” said Harasymiak, whose team’s first scrimmage was on Aug. 13. “The backs played well, the offensive line had a good day. They had an attitude to them.

“The defense responded at times. It was just the big plays they gave up, and we’ll get that straightened out,” he added.

“Overall, it was nice to see the offense come together. It was probably their best day so far,” he said.

“We had a lot of energy,” said senior quarterback Dan Collins, who tossed three touchdown passes and will be the starter in the season-opener. “We played really fast.

“I was real happy. We still made mistakes. We still have work to do. We have some finetuning to do. But we’ll get better from watching the tape,” he said.

He was pleased with the running backs and said the offensive line “really opened some holes.”

“Max Andrews and Josh Ingalls really stepped up,” added Collins.

Holden’s Andrews, a senior who played at Bangor’s John Bapst High School, had been a tight end but was moved to tackle this season, and he also has taken snaps at center.

He was the center on Sunday after junior Dan Burrows suffered an ankle injury.

Ingalls, a senior from Wells, is a tackle.

Starting tackle Jamil Demby has been sidelined by a strained knee ligament and will miss at least another two weeks.

Harasymiak said he didn’t think the injuries suffered by Burrows or running back Zaire Williams (knee) were serious.

“[Williams] banged up his knee a little bit. He made a nice cut on a screen play and landed on it when he was tackled,” said Harasymiak, who pulled Williams after he got hurt. “We wanted to error on the side of caution. We know what he can do.”

As far as Burrows, Harasymiak said “someone rolled up on Danny’s ankle. But I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.”

Harasymiak said another plus was the kicking game.

“I thought we kicked pretty well. Derek Deoul’s first punt was a good one,” said Harasymiak. “And I think we made all of our [placement kicks] but one.”