In hopes of avoiding the scheduling headaches caused by class conflicts and field availability, University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove moved the Black Bears’ spring practice sessions to 5:45 a.m. this year.

The coach was concerned there might be some eye-rubbing and yawn-stifling between snaps, but his players generally arrived for the sunrise sessions ready to go.

“We didn’t have any problems with guys being there on time and practicing hard,” he said. “That was a good sign right in itself.”

Cosgrove and his staff got a number of other good signs during the three-week practice session that wrapped up last Friday, especially from a number of local players, including one walk-on who spent last fall videotaping the team.

The graduation of Bobby Donnelly and departure of Devin McNeill left a kicking void this spring, so John Moloney, a former Mt. Blue star kicker and receiver, climbed down off the video lift. During the annual Jeff Cole Memorial Scrimmage on April 26, the Maine Maritime transfer converted five of six field goals and kicked himself into the Black Bears’ kicking picture, which will also involve three freshman additions, including Thornton Academy kicker Chris Gennaro.

“It’s a great story. He just kind of sheepishly said, ‘Do you think I could get a shot?'” Cosgrove said. “He joined us in the off-season as a walk-on and he really did a great job. He earned the respect of his teammates and all of us in what he did.”

Moloney has been reunited with his former Mt. Blue teammate, Jordan Stevens, who is moving to defensive end after starting the final 10 games of the 2007 season at linebacker. Stevens finished 11th in tackles among Continental Athletic Association underclassmen and fourth on the team with 69 as a sophomore.

The 6-foot-2, 242 pound Stevens started opposite All-American Jovan Belcher – the CAA’s leading sacker last season (10.0) – in the scrimmage and showed the switch is paying off with a sack.

“We kind of have (Stevens) on the Matt King plan from a couple of years back,” Cosgrove said, referring to the linebacker turned defensive end who was a 2006 All-American. “Jordan was a big, big linebacker, and he would have been right at home in the middle of our defense playing the ‘mike’ (inside) linebacker. But our goal is to get our best 11 on the field, and we really felt moving Jordan gave us a chance to get a kid on the field at the ‘mike’ linebacker position and for him to really excel opposite Jovan Belcher on the other end. I think he’s really going to be a guy who catches people’s attention this year on our defense.”

Stevens also joins Leavitt product Jonathan Pirruccello on the defensive line. The nose tackle emerged as a solid run-stopper his junior season and will be the backbone of what Cosgrove hopes will be the defense’s strongest unit in 2008.

“He’s really become a very good player in this league,” Cosgrove said. “I know he didn’t get a lot of postseason accolades, but I think John’s season got better and better, and a lot of coaches in the league were talking about him at the end of the year.”

Another local changing positions is Lisbon’s Levi Ervin, who is moving from safety to linebacker for his sophomore season to take better advantage of his athleticism and run-stopping talents.

“Levi was a big safety. Now he’s a regular-sized linebacker,” Cosgrove said of the 6-foot-2, 213 pound Ervin. “He’s excited about playing linebacker because he’s an aggressive kid, and he’s up closer to playing and defending the run, which is more natural for him.”

No doubt Ervin has already had his share of violent practice collisions with Lewiston’s Jared Turcotte, who has the inside track at the starting H-back position after being redshirted for his freshman year.

“He’s an awful big back when you really look at it. He’s 235 pounds now,’ Cosgrove said. “He runs well. He can catch the football. He can block. He can do a lot of things, and I think he’s earned an opportunity already this spring to be in our very prominent thoughts for the fall.”

Turcotte helped make his case for the starting role in the scrimmage when he took a 16-yard pass from starting QB Adam Farkes into the end zone.

Cosgrove said the Maine coaching staff has seen the kind of development they were hoping for from the 2007 Fitzpatrick Trophy winner when they redshirted him.

“He has been able to take everything he learned last fall with the weight-room stuff, and he has really been impressive on the football field this spring,” he said. “He’s clearly a leader, a guy who not only wants to be a good football player, but a good student. He’s a good person and clearly wants to be in a leadership role. Those are outstanding attributes and things that I think are going to allow him to be very successful here.”

Coming off a 4-7 season (3-5 in the CAA), Maine will return 15 starters for the 2008 season – six on offense, eight on defense and punter Kash Kiefer. Players report for fall practice on Aug. 3, and the season begins on Aug. 30 at the University of Iowa. The Black Bears’ home opener against Stony Brook is Sept. 13.