|
 Maine Football Begins Spring Practice
April 1, 2005 ORONO, Maine - University of Maine football team participated in the first of fifteen spring practices on Friday afternoon at Alfond Stadium. Despite the cold and damp conditions, the team worked for just over two hours in helmets. The team will have meetings on Friday night and return to the field on Saturday morning at 8:25 am. "It was a very good first day," said head coach Jack Cosgrove. "They were very enthusiastic and excited to be out here. I thought we accomplished a lot more in a non-pad day than is normal for us. We tried to do some new things, some more competitive things, and they did a nice job with it in terms of playing smart. It was very productive for us. "These first three days of practice we are looking to getting them acclimated to what the practice routine is. If you set a great tone on how you want to practice, it becomes routine and a way of life. If you have to keep coaching the practice attitude and the practice progression, then you are not making the kind of steps you want to make. We have a pretty ingrained mindset on what a Maine football practice is like, but for the younger guys sometimes because they have not been as intuned with it in the fall, this is the first time in that real competitive battle. There is more at stake for the younger guys because they are not on the scout team anymore or being redshirted - they are competing for jobs. It is 155 days to Nebraska - that gets the motor running pretty good and there will be competition out here." In other news, Nebraska announced that the Huskers' 2005 football season opener with Maine on Saturday, Sept. 3 has been set for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium. The evening opener will mark the third time in the past four years the Huskers' home opener has been played at night. In addition to last year's opener with Western Illinois, the Huskers' 2002 season opener with Arizona State was played at night. The time for the Nebraska-Maine game could change if it is chosen by the Big 12 Conference and its TV partners as a televised game for that day.
|
