DURHAM – A few newcomers – redshirt freshman Joey Corcoran, true freshman DJ Linkins and graduate student Heron Maurisseau – have helped form a promising passel of pass catchers for the University of New Hampshire football team offense and sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer.
Corcoran leads the team with a dozen catches, had a team-high seven last week and caught Brosmer’s first scoring pass of the season at UAlbany on Sept. 10.
Maurisseau and Linkins each had big games in last Saturday’s 45-27 setback against North Carolina Central in Wildcat Stadium.
They will be among the Wildcats looking to help the team bounce back from the loss Saturday at Towson University at 4 p.m. in Johnny Unitas Stadium.
UNH and Towson are each 2-1 overall. The Wildcats are 2-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association, and the Tigers are playing their first CAA game.
Towson opened the season with a 14-13 win at Bucknell, beat Morgan State, 29-21, and lost an FBS game at West Virginia, 65-7, last week.
Brosmer hit career highs in completions (26), yardage (296) and touchdown passes (four) against North Carolina Central. He also had an interception returned for a TD on UNH’s second possession that helped put the Wildcats in an early 14-0 hole.
The defense had trouble getting off the field throughout the game, and the Wildcats never managed to get the game back to even.
Brosmer called the loss “a great wakeup call” and liked the way the team kept battling back.
“It’s all mindset,” Brosmer said. “They didn’t let up at all. I really like that from our receiving corps. The O-line, too.
“Having the drive to keep going when you’re down – that’s the biggest part is to keep going. Keep going, keep going and keep going. Don’t look at the clock. Just go score points. Next play, next play.”
Corcoran is 6-foot-2 and 201 pounds out of Montreal and first played wide receiver in his junior season at St. Paul’s School in Concord. His seven catches against North Carolina Central went for a game-high 87 yards.
“Joey’s a student of the game,” said UNH coach Rick Santos. “I think he’s got a knack for understanding how to use leverage, how to get into a DB’s blind spot. He’s got elite body control, can really jump. It’s good to get him going.”
Brosmer targeted Linkins twice last week, and he made a couple of nice, contested catches, each for a touchdown in the second quarter.
A rangy 6-foot-4 and 196 pounds from District Heights, Md., Linkins caught the first in traffic near the goal line and got into the end zone for a 15-yard score in the opening seconds of the quarter. He pulled in the next while crossing into the middle of the end zone for a 2-yard TD in the closing moments of the half.
“DJ practices like a pro,” Santos said. “He was making it hard for us not to put him on the field. We always preach that the guys that practice the best are going to find their way into the game. He’s a prime example of that.”
Brosmer’s first TD pass of the day was a bomb to Maurisseau, a transfer from Bellport, N.Y., by way of the University of Connecticut, on a play that covered 49 yards. Maurisseau got behind the defender and made a pretty catch as well, and the play stands as UNH’s longest of the season thus far.
The final scoring pass came on a fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 8:20 left in the game, and senior Sean Coyne twisted from outside to inside to pull the ball in.
Coyne had five catches for 36 yards against North Carolina Central and Maurisseau, who did not have a catch in the first two games, had three for 62 yards.
Junior tight end Kyle Lepkowski, who has been slowed by injury, is second on the team in catches with 11 for a team-high 152 yards. Junior running back Dylan Laube has 10 catches for 123 yards.
Game notes: Junior linebacker Bryce Shaw leads UNH with 21 tackles, sophomore linebacker Ryan Toscano has 19 and grad student defensive tackle Niko Kvietkus has 14. … Brosmer has completed 55 of his 94 passes (58.5%) for 641 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions. … Laube leads the CAA at 168 all-purpose yards per game. … Transfer quarterback Tyrell Pigrome has completed 42 of his 75 passes (56%) for Towson for 411 yards and three scores with one interception. He also is the team’s second-leading rusher with 148 yards. … Pigrome started his collegiate career at Maryland and spent a season at Western Kentucky. Coming into this season, he had passed for more than 3,000 yards and 13 touchdowns and rushed for more than 700 yards and eight TDs in his career. … D’Ago Hunter scored Towson’s points against West Virginia on a 96-yard return on his team’s first kickoff return of the game.