2008 CAA FOOTBALL PREVIEW: MAINE BLACK BEARS
A year after logging three wins in its final four contests, Maine will be looking to carry the momentum in to the 2008 season. The Black Bears return 21 players who started at least one game during in 2007 and combined for 162 starts.
Head Coach Jack Cosgrove has seen several of his defensive standouts go on to have successful NFL careers, and this season he has another NFL hopeful leading his defense. Senior defensive end Jovan Belcher returns in 2008 after earning a pair of All-America honors last season. Belcher leads the defensive unit which has ranked among the nation’s top third each of the last three seasons. The West Babylon, N.Y., native earned second-team honors from the Associated Press and third-team honors from The Sports Network in 2007, and enters 2008 as the league’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Belcher’s All-America notices in 2007 mark the first time since the 2005 season Maine has a returning All-American.
Along with Belcher, who led the league in sacks and tackles for loss in 2007, the Black Bears’ defensive unit will benefit from the return of Jonathan Pirruccello, Jordan Stevens and preseason all-conference linebacker Andrew Downey.
The Black Bear passing attack should continue to build off the success it tasted near the end of last season, as the team returns both quarterbacks and 72.5 percent of its pass receptions from 2007. Junior Michael Brusko and sophomore Adam Farkes will battle it out for the starting quarterback spot for the second-straight year. Brusko led Maine to three wins last season, while Farkes led the Black Bears to a come-from-behind 20-14 win at Northeastern. Farkes started the middle six games of the season as he began to develop a strong rapport with wideout Landis Williams. Williams led the team in receptions (38), yards (481), average yards per catch (12.7) and touchdowns (6). Five of his six touchdown receptions went for at least 20 yards. Maine also returns three of its top four pass catchers from a season ago.
Preseason all-league tailback Jhamal Fluellen returns for his senior season in 2008, and will be looking to build off one of the most productive seasons by a running back in school history. Fluellen earned 2007 Third-Team All-CAA honors after he rushed for 1,052 yards, becoming just the eighth back in school history to top 1,000 yards on the ground in a season. Backing up Fluellen will be sophomore Jermaine Henderson, who saw extensive action over the final few games of 2007. He rushed for 51 yards in back-to-back games versus Rhode Island and Towson, while also registering his first career touchdown -- the eventual game-winning score against the Tigers. The backs will run behind an offensive line that returns a pair of starters, including Second-Team All-CAA pick Ryan Canary. The Black Bear offensive line paved the way for Maine to finish fourth in the league in rushing in 2007.
New on CAASports.com this season is The CAA Football Pressbox. Located as a button on the homepage as well as in the menus down the left-hand side of the football page, The Pressbox is the official source for all CAA Football information. Check The Pressbox
each week for updated team-by-team weekly releases, two-deep charts,
league and team stats as well as other "media-type" information. CAA
Football plans to archive the conference's weekly releases throughout
the 2008 season, in addition to archiving each team's home-game
flipcards in a printer-friendly format. Also available on the site are
coach and player pictures and each team's logo and helmet illustration.
Check The Pressbox every week to find in-depth information that all CAA Football fans can't live without.