Image courtesy of Maine Athletics

Maine was the first of the three New England schools to take part in CAA virtual Media Day on Tuesday morning. Here’s what head coach Jordan Stevens, QB Derek Robertson and linebacker Vince Thomas had to say:

OPENING THOUGHTS FROM STEVENS

“Really excited about this season coming up and the progress we’ve made as a team, really the last eight months working together. The commitment, the competitiveness our team has shown…I’m really looking forward to getting out and starting preseason camp next week. We have a challenge right out of the gate playing at FIU. We have a challenging first half of our schedule before we get into CAA play. Really looking forward to seeing this team take the next step from last year. A lot of new people, a lot of new faces. Our focus is really on coming out and finishing those games we weren’t able to finish last year. I think that speaks to our culture and what we’ve developed here. I think we’re going to be on the other end of a lot of those and that just speaks to the confidence that we’re approaching the season left.”

ON IF THE CULTURE IS WELL ESTABLISHED NOW IN YEAR 2

“Really love the way this team goes about their business, I love the way they work. These two guys on here today, Derek Robertson, Vince Thomas and our other captain who’s not with us Kevin Jones – amongst some other guys – have really taken ownership of this team. They’ve really increased the accountability of this team from top to bottom. That’s something you can hear. You can see it, you can feel it and I think those are the signs that we’re going in the right direction. I’m excited about the group.”

ROBERTSON ON HOW MUCH THE EXPERIENCE LAST YEAR HELPED

“Yeah, that experience was definitely huge. Any experience you can get – especially a league like the CAA – any game experience is definitely going to help.I’m excited to build off that experience. We’ve got a new team this year obviously, a new team every year and we can’t wait to get going here in the next week or so.”

THOMAS ON THE DEFENSE AND HIM BEING A LEADER

“It’s really about having confidence in the work that we’ve done through the summer and the past years that we’ve had. I’m pretty excited to get started with these guys. They’ve worked really hard and I think we’ll be relentless to the ball.”

STEVENS ON THE OFFENSE

“Up front, just getting Kevin Jones back – a guy that’s just been really consistent in everything he’s done on the field and off the field – Dave Gross has shown he can be a dominant player coming back. Guys like Darius Bell who had a big role last year after getting healthy towards the end of the year. Good to see him, he’s going to be in a starting role now. Really looking forward to that group coming together and taking the next step because we were certainly thin at that position a year ago. I feel better about our depth there. Starting with Derek here, Derek has shown tremendous leadership and maturity that’s led the offense. Excited to see Derek and Montigo Moss. Guys like Tavion Banks, who played a role last year, but I think you’ll see his role increase based on the summer he had and the training he’s done. Excited about that side of the ball.”

STEVENS ON REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

“Our goal as a program is to win a championship. So, we compete to win. We compete to do everything. Anything we’re doing, we’re going to compete to win. When you look at this season, we’re going to have a plan. We’re going to come out and be sound. We’re going to be physical and we’re going to do it the way we know that will get us the result we want. Very optimistic with us showing improvement from last year. I have no doubt about that.”

ROBERTSON ON FIXING THE ONE-POSSESSION LOSSES FROM LAST YEAR

“We obviously know last year we were on the wrong end of a couple close games. We’ve kind of learned from that, moved on from that and we’re on to this season. We feel like with the work we’ve put in and building relationships with the guys on the team that we’ve done all off season, we feel like those games we didn’t finish off the right way last year, we can do this year. We feel real confident going into the season for sure.”

ON IF PRESEASON COACHES POLL WILL SERVE AS MOTIVATION (MAINE PICKED 13TH)

Thomas: “Definitely. I think anytime you see those rankings as a competitor and an athlete, seeing those rankings…being down that low is never something that you want to see. We’re competing to be No. 1. That’s what we’re fighting for every day. It’ll give us a chip on our shoulder. If you look at us and think ‘they don’t have it, they’re not going to be anything,” I promise you, you’re going to be wrong.”

Robertson: “For sure. Obviously, they’re preseason rankings for a reason, though. Everyone’s got to go out there and play every single game. Like Coach said, our No. 1 goal the University of Maine is to win a championship. We’re going to go out every single day and compete no matter what our ranking is. We can’t wait to do that.”

STEVENS ON WHAT AREAS NEED TO IMPROVE IF MAINE IS GOING TO TAKE ANOTHER STEP FORWARD

“On both sides of the ball, just being more efficient on first and second down. We need to be better earlier in games. Second and third quarter, we need to show improvement there. Just being able to sustain a level of play throughout the game. We played really well in pressure moments, but we need to be more efficient in first and second down so we have more advantageous situations on those third downs. That goes on defense as well. That’s been a big part of our focus as a team this offseason on both sides of the ball. No matter what happens, we’re playing the next play. We’ve got a job to do, a job to execute and we’ve put a real focus on that.”

STEVENS ON ANY INJURY UPDATES

“We’re in good shape right now. Just really proud of the guys and the work this summer, the commitment to the process of improving every day. The commitment to each other and that’s been seen with the shape we’re in. I think that was a point that was made. Going down to the first game at FIU, weather wise, we need to be in great shape. We can’t rely on camp to do that. Our training has led to that and we’re healthy right now.”

STEVENS ON THE DEFENSE

“We’ve got some young guys…a lot of guys where their roles are expanding, which I’m excited to see. Darius McKenzie, Christian Thomas at linebacker as well along with Vince here. A lot of those guys have played on Saturdays, but their roles will expand this year. Kahzir ‘Bugs” Brown has really done a great job attacking his rehab from his injury, he’s a guy that certainly has a presence based on his size, athletic ability and technique. He’ll provide some experience and some leadership out there as well. Up front, guys like Josh Lezin who have been here since 2018. So, he’s played a lot of football…just looking for guys to take the next step in their game and mature across the board.”