ORONO — The University of Maine football team will be without its top wide receiver for the first two games of the season.
Micah Wright, a sophomore from Newark, New York, has been suspended for a violation of the school’s student-athlete code of conduct. Wright was arrested for disorderly conduct in May by Orono police while attending an off-campus party.
At the time the university “interimly suspended” Wright from the team. The University of Maine Student Conduct Office in the Division of Student Life made the two-game suspension official Monday.
Wright led the Black Bears with 61 catches for 818 yards and five touchdowns last year. He was a second-team selection on the Colonial Athletic Association’s all-conference squad.
Wright will miss Maine’s opening game Thursday at Connecticut and the Sept. 10 game at Toledo. Both games are against FBS opponents, the division higher than FCS Maine.
“Obviously when you lose someone like that, yeah, it’s going to hurt,” said Joe Harasymiak, the Black Bears’ rookie head coach. “But I think the group (of wide receivers) that we have, and the opportunity that some of those guys are probably going to get now, it’s probably going to be a good thing … I’m excited to see some of those other guys now develop and grow. Once we have him back, it will hopefully only benefit us.”
Wright is still able to practice with the team and has been playing on the scout team simulating UConn wide receiver Noel Thomas, who caught 45 passes last year.
“He knows that he screwed up,” said Harasymiak. “You can’t be a Division I football player and do that kind of stuff.
“I think Micah has handled it the best way you can.”
Dan Collins, Maine’s starting quarterback, said other receivers will have to step up in Wright’s absence.
“It’s next guy in,” said Collins. “Everyone will tell you that, whether it’s Saturday or Sunday. There’s another guy behind him that wants to play as much as he does. We’ll be right there.”
Maine also will be without punter James DeMartini for the UConn game. He also has been suspended one game for a violation of the university’s student-athlete code of conduct last spring. DeMartini, a senior from Haddon Heights, New Jersey, is eligible to return for the Toledo game. He averaged 40.7 yards per punt last year and placed 20 of his 57 punts inside the 20-yard line.
He will be replaced by Derek Deoul, a redshirt freshman from Washingtonville, New York.
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