ORONO, Maine — Football punters can find themselves in precarious situations, especially when their back foot is just inches away from their own end zone.
Opponents are going to pin their ears back and sprint full speed to try to block the punt or at least pressure the punter into a poor kick to give their team better field position.
But don’t expect that type of pressure to faze UMaine punter Anthony Pecorella.
He has already beaten an aggressive and rare form of cancer through four intense rounds of chemotherapy and is now scheduled to undergo a bone marrow transplant after the football season to cure a rare, genetic immune system disorder.
To prepare for the transplant, he goes down to the Boston Children’s Hospital once a month to receive a three-hour infusion of immunoglobulins.
“It’s crazy to think that for the first time in my life, I have an immune system,” Pecorella said,
He will punt and serve as the place kick holder in the Black Bears’ season opener Thursday night at Towson University. Then, next Monday, he will head down to Boston for his sixth infusion.
He was diagnosed with X-linked lymphoproliferative disease, known as XLP, in February and could have decided to call it a career and had the stem cell transplant soon afterwards.
“But I really wanted to play one last year with these guys. I met with five or six different doctors all over the East Coast to set up a plan where I could play. And I prayed on it a lot,” said Pecorella, who said his faith in God has also been instrumental in his survival. “My parents [Anthony and Marisa] said it was my decision and to do whatever made me happy and that they would support me.”
While getting the monthly infusions, he also has to undergo a series of blood tests. If his levels “seem a little too high, I’ll have to stay and have the transplant,” Pecorella said. The transplant will be followed by six weeks in the hospital.
To say he is resilient would be a gross understatement.
He was 22 years old when, in July of 2023, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Burkitt’s lymphoma after undergoing a tonsillectomy. He thought he was healthy.
He had just graduated from the University of Maryland after punting for the Terrapins for four seasons.
He wound up undergoing chemotherapy on the pediatric ward of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, where many of the children were much younger than him.
He said they served as inspirations and played a major role in his surviving the chemotherapy, which he described as feeling like you are “pregnant and have the flu and food poisoning all at the same time. I will never be pregnant but I’ve had the flu and food poisoning.”
Pecorella knew why he was there and what needed to be done to survive, but he said there were three- and four-year-old children who didn’t know that they were “quite literally having poison put into their bodies to save their lives.”
“It really gives you perspective because they showed up every day with a smile on their faces,” he said. “That’s the same mentality I bring out to practice and to games. I never have a bad day. Those days I spent in the hospital really put things into perspective. You have to come out and enjoy [life] because you really don’t know what tomorrow brings.”
“What we go through every day with practice and school is hard,” Pecorella, 25, added. “But with what these kids have to go through in the hospital every day, they would kill to have our schedule.”
During his chemotherapy, he befriended a three-year-old girl named Eli Delgado who was also going through chemotherapy. She had leukemia.
He was so impressed with her spirit and positive attitude, he kept in contact with her.
Unfortunately, she died but at her service, he promised her parents that as long as his story was alive, hers always would be, too.
“She was such a wonderful person,” said Pecorella, who wrote her a letter on the one-year anniversary of her passing to tell her how much he missed her and what she meant to him.
During his ordeal, Pecorella got involved with Team IMPACT, which pairs college athletic programs with children with life-threatening illnesses and disabilities.
It was a collaboration between student-athletes and children to help take their minds off their illnesses or disabilities and inspire them while also supplying them with a caring support group.
He received inspiration from a 13-year-old boy named Cal, who had an autoimmune condition and bonded with Pecorella and his Maryland teammates. After transferring to Stony Brook, he and his Stony Brook teammates were matched with Milo, a 14-year-old with spina bifida, who was also an uplifting source.
Cooper, a teenage boy from Maine, has a neurologic disorder and is partnered up with Pecorella and his UMaine teammates in Team IMPACT.
Pecorella spent two years at Stony Brook, but due to the chemotherapy and recovery, he never played in a game. So he still had eligibility remaining and was invited to come to UMaine and punt by special teams coach Spencer Carey.
He knew little about UMaine or the state, but he came for a visit in January, 2025 and “when I met with Coach [Jordan] Stevens and Spencer Carey, all I wanted was an opportunity to play, and they said they would give me every opportunity to do so.”
“I fell in love with the team and the program,” said Pecorella, a native of Malverne, New York, on Long Island. “And the people here are second to none. It’s crazy coming from New York. You walk down the street in New York, no one is asking how your day’s going. Everyone has their head down and they are on to the next thing. You’re walking through Orono and everyone wants to genuinely know how you’re doing.”
“It’s a breath of fresh air,” he added.
The coaching staff has made a lasting impression on him.
“I’ve been in college football a long time, and I’ve seen it both ways. And these men, top to bottom, truly care more about you as a person than just as a player. They want you to be successful both on and off the field,” he said.
He has made a huge impact on his teammates as well as his coaches.
“He is truly an inspiration to each and every one of us,” said redshirt junior offensive tackle and co-captain Anthony Iliano. “He puts things into perspective for us.”
“If you’re having a rough day in school or practice, you think about what he’s been through, the adversity he’s had to go through and the battles he has fought,” Iliano added. “He is a very strong-willed person and an inspiration. He is a super-positive guy. I look up to him.”
Redshirt junior defensive end and co-captain Kye Pressley agreed with Iliano, saying you would never know what Pecorella has been through when you interact with him.
“He goes into every day positive. He’s so happy, jolly. He brings out the energy in everybody else,” Pressley said.
Stevens called him a “terrific young man with a great attitude and great perspective.”
“He has been a true inspiration to us as a team and he has been a full go at practice every day,” said Stevens. “He has been so consistent day in and day out. We are here for him. We are mindful of when he can go [full speed] and when he needs to slow down, but there hasn’t been any slowing down from him throughout training camp, which has been awesome to see. We love him and are so excited he’s on our team. He is a great leader and a mature guy to have on the team.”
This is Pecorella’s eighth college season, and he is coming off a strong first campaign with the Black Bears, averaging 40.5 yards per punt and putting 15 of his 50 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
“He has a heckuva leg,” said Stevens.
Pecorella averaged 42.1 yards per punt for his 80 career punts at Maryland and put 31 inside the 20-yard line.
His parents and twin sister, Alessia, have been a wonderful support system for him, Pecorella said.
“We have been through hell and back a few times and when I’ve been going through it, I’ve leaned on them as much as possible. My parents haven’t missed a game in eight years,” he said.
He also said Ryan Taylor, UMaine’s director of sports medicine and head trainer, and Jessica Drew, assistant trainer, have been “so nice and have been there for me every step of the way” and he had equal praise for the staff at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“I love them all tremendously,” he said.
Pecorella is looking forward to the season and would also like to get a chance to punt at the professional level after this season.
Cal, the teenager with an autoimmune condition who connected with Pecorella and his Maryland teammates, will be coming to the opener at Towson University, and Pecorella is looking forward to seeing him.
“I have been fortunate to have relationships with all of the [Team IMPACT children’s] families,” he said.
Pecorella said he feels as healthy “physically and mentally as I’ve ever been.”
“God puts us in places we’re supposed to be even though we don’t expect it,” Pecorella said. “I wouldn’t wish cancer on anybody, but I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the experiences I’ve gone through. I’ve learned from them.”
And he said being able to call on his experiences to help others is “such a special thing.”