ORONO, Maine — Brandon Briggs isn’t perfect.
He has missed two extra points this season.
But the strong-legged University of Maine kicker, who is in his fifth year at the school, has made four of his five field goals including his last four and he has 12 touchbacks on 31 kickoffs.
He has the third-best field-goal percentage in the Colonial Athletic Association (80 percent).
The former Thornton Academy of Saco kicker has supplied the Black Bears with a weapon they didn’t have a year ago when they went a league-worst 1-for-7 on field goals. They were 12-for-21 in 2015 (57.1 percent).
That forced UMaine to try to pick up first downs in third-and-long and fourth-and-long situations rather than attempt a field goal.
Briggs kicked two 37-yarders last Saturday, including the game-winner with 14:02 left in the fourth quarter, to give UMaine a 12-10 road win over Albany.
He also missed an extra point but it didn’t come back to haunt him because Albany kicker Ethan Stark missed a 44-yard field goal attempt with 4:36 remaining.
“That was definitely in the back of my head,” said Briggs. “That’s all I could think about.”
“He has been a really bright spot for us,” said UMaine head coach Joe Harasymiak. “Obviously, we’ve got to clean up the extra points. It’s not good for a Division I team. We can’t have that. If we had lost 13-12, it would have been a tough one.
“The two big field goals,” Harasymiak added. “Those were huge for him.”
Briggs joined the team a year ago after earning a spot during an open tryout.
He hadn’t kicked since he graduated from Thornton Academy, four years earlier. But he had seriously considered kicking in college.
“I looked at a bunch of schools, including Maine. But I decided (kicking) wasn’t for me,” he said.
He focused on his studies but decided he wanted to return to the field.
“I missed it,” said Briggs.
He impressed the coaching staff enough with his leg strength and accuracy to earn a roster spot and handled some kickoffs at the end of last season.
“That meant everything to me. I still had the touch. It felt good to back on the field again,” said Briggs.
“Technique-wise, I had to work on it. I had to get back into the groove of it,” said Briggs.
He lifted weights, kicked and worked out during the summer and it has paid off.
“It was obvious that he did a lot of work and he brought his game to the next level. He has taken it very seriously and has come along very well,” said specials teams coordinator Nick Charlton.
Briggs’ 12 touchbacks have been a weapon for the Black Bears and his kickoffs have carried an average of nine yards farther than last year’s kickers.
“He exudes a lot of confidence. No moment is too big for him,” said Charlton.
UMaine redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Ferguson said having a reliable field-goal kicker has been huge.
“We want to score every time we have the ball and having someone being able to kick a field goal is great. You know he can get the job done,” said Ferguson.
Briggs didn’t start kicking until his junior year in high school.
“I played one year of youth football in sixth grade but I played soccer my whole life. I quit soccer after my sophomore year (at Thornton Academy) because all my friends played football and they told me they were desperate for a kicker,” said Briggs.
He became the Trojans’ kicker and they won the 2012 Class A state title.
Briggs loves the challenge of kicking a field goal.
“I’m always hoping they call my number,” said Briggs.
He is irritated by the two missed extra points. Freshman Kenny Doak, the starter at the beginning of the season, missed three PATs and was 3-for-5 in field goals before Briggs won the job.
Briggs is perplexed about consistency among the kicking disciplines.
“I can kick a deep field goal so why can’t I kick a 20-yard extra point?” posed Briggs. “It is definitely going to change. Extra points should be automatic.”
“He has never missed an extra point in practice. It’s all about being focused,” said Charlton. “His confidence isn’t an issue. He made two clutch field goals last weekend. It’s about going through his technique and doing the right things.”
Briggs and the Black Bears host William & Mary at noon on Saturday.
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