Jordan Stevens was raised in the small Franklin County town of Temple, and the former Mt. Blue High School of Farmington standout always wanted to play football for the University of Maine.
He attained his dream, had an outstanding all-conference career as a defensive end at UMaine and is finishing up his fourth season as the head coach at his alma mater.
And he was just named to the UMaine All Quarter-Century Football Team for players from 2000 until now.
The players will be honored at the annual UMaine football alumni dinner at the Stockyard Restaurant in Brighton, Massachusetts, on June 27.
The four UMaine head coaches in this century — Jack Cosgrove, Joe Harasymiak, Nick Charlton and Stevens — nominated players they coached, and the team was selected by the longtime UMaine football broadcast team of Rich Kimball and Bob Lucy.
“It is certainly an honor,” Stevens said. “I grew up revering Maine football. To be recognized amongst all those names I knew growing up or I knew when I was in high school [is special]. Even the players I’ve coached or been on a team with or seen from afar when I was away.”
The man behind the All Quarter-Century team is Mike DeVito, whose stellar UMaine career was followed by an impressive nine-year run as a defensive lineman in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs.
He had 112 tackles and 16 sacks at UMaine.
DeVito, the UMaine football team’s director of player development and a professor in the school’s philosophy department, credited former Kansas City Chiefs teammate Jeff Allen with turning him on to the idea.
“He is a good friend of mine, and he posted a newspaper article celebrating his being picked to the University of Illinois’ All-Quarter Century team. I thought we had to do the same thing. It is such a great idea,” said DeVito.
DeVito said they like to have a theme for the annual UMaine football alumni dinner. The last two years have honored the former Black Bears who went on to play in the NFL and the league championship teams from the 2000s.
He said he was “blown away” by being included on the second team with former teammate Stevens, and DeVito said he stressed to Kimball and Lucy that it was important to him that he himself not be included on the team unless they felt he deserved to be on it, not because he was organizing it.
“Anyone who knows Rich and Bob knows how serious they would take this and they wouldn’t pick me if they didn’t feel I was worthy to be on it,” said DeVito. “They know this program inside and out.”
DeVito pointed out that the criteria was strictly limited to their playing days at UMaine, not what they did afterwards.
“It is such a good group. It really does represent Maine football. When you think about Maine football, these are the guys you think about. The first team defense could play in the NFL right now and they’d be fine,” said DeVito.
Headlining the first team are wide receiver-kick returner Earnest Edwards, running back Marcus Williams, defensive end Pat Ricard and linebacker Stephen Cooper.
Edwards, who played at UMaine from 2016-19, owns the school record in receiving yards (2,641), kickoff return yards (2,311), kickoff returns (90) and return touchdowns (6), and he is second in points scored with 222 behind kicker Sean Decloux’s 230 points.
His 198 return yards against Colgate is the single game record.
Williams is the school’s all-time rushing leader with 3,940 yards and in 100-plus yard rushing games with 19. He is fourth in scoring with 210 points.
Cooper amassed 374 tackles including 57 for lost yards and 25 sacks. He also had seven interceptions.
Cooper went on to have an impressive nine-year career in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers.
Ricard had 208 tackles and 18 sacks for the Black Bears and has been a six-time Pro Bowl fullback for the Baltimore Ravens. The nine-year pro recently signed to join former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who is the new head coach of the New York Giants.
One player who is still playing college football was included on the second team in the person of safety Devin Vaught, an All-CAA second team pick this past fall after finishing second on the team in tackles with 60 and was second in the CAA in interceptions with three.
Vaught has transferred to Michigan State.
“I have always held Devin in high regard. He is one of the best tacklers and one of the smartest defensive backs I’ve ever been around,” said Stevens.
Here is the list:
FIRST TEAM
Offense
Quarterback: Jake Eaton
Running backs: Royston English, Josh Mack, Marcus Williams
Tight end: Justin Perillo
Wide receivers: Earnest Edwards, Christian Pereira, Micah Wright
Offensive line: Ryan Canary, Jamil Demby, Chris Howley, Bruce Johnson, Ben Lazarski
Defense
Line: Trevor Bates, Dennis Dottin-Carter, Matthew King, Patrick Ricard, Kayon Whitaker
Linebackers: Stephen Cooper, Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga, Sterling Sheffield, Jermaine Walker
Secondary: Trevor Coston, Dave Cusano, Kendall James, Brandon McGowan, Jerron McMillian
Special teams
Kicker: Sean Decloux
Punter: Mike Mellow
Returners: Earnest Edwards, Arel Gordon
SECOND TEAM
Offense
QB: Marcus Wasilewski, Warren Smith
RB: Pushaun Brown, Jhamal Fluellen, Jared Turcotte
TE: Chad Hayes, Shawn Bowman
WR: Damarr Aultman, Montigo Moss, Landis Williams
OL: Liam Dobson, Michael Gerace, Joe Hook, Michael Leconte, Peter Richardson
Defense
DL: Michael Cole, Brendan Curry, Mike DeVito, Charles Mitchell, Jordan Stevens
LB: Donte Dennis, Andrew Downey, Taji Lowe, Adrian Otero
Secondary: Manauris Arias, Jarrod Gomes, Manny Patterson, Daren Stone, Devin Vaught
Special teams
K: Kenny Doak
P: Kash Kiefer
Returners: Lennard Byrd, Trevin Ewing