St. Paul's School grad Corcoran catching on at UNH
Sep. 21—DURHAM — It wasn't all bad for the University of New Hampshire football team last weekend.
Despite dropping a 45-27 non-conference decision to North Carolina Central on Saturday night, UNH seemed to find another productive receiver. Redshirt freshman Joey Corcoran caught seven passes for 81 yards in the loss. UNH quarterback Max Brosmer targeted Corcoran on 13 of his 45 passes.
"I trust that I can catch the ball and help this team, so whenever my opportunity came, I trusted what I could do and I took what I learned from the older (wide receivers) as well," Corcoran said.
UNH (2-1, 2-0 CAA) will be hoping for more production from Corcoran when it travels to Towson (2-1, 0-0 CAA) on Saturday. The Tigers are coming off a 65-7 loss to West Virginia, after they opened the season with victories over Bucknell (14-13) and Morgan State (29-21).
Corcoran, who lives in Montreal, played at the St. Paul's School in Concord before he enrolled at UNH, which was the first school to extend a scholarship offer to him. He said he played primarily defensive back until his junior year at St. Paul's, when he was used as a receiver.
Corcoran didn't catch a pass in UNH's opener, a 31-21 victory over Monmouth, but his effort against N.C. Central was the second consecutive week he was a big part of the offense. He had five receptions for 34 yards and a touchdown during UNH's 28-23 victory over Albany in Week 2.
"I knew what I could do all along, but I knew I had to learn," Corcoran said when asked about his learning curve since he arrived in Durham. "I knew I had to gain that experience and when they were ready to give me that chance I told them, 'You can count on me.' Let's hope that they can continue to.
"Coming off a tough loss, we just have to keep our heads up and focus on Towson this week."
Corcoran is part of a receiving corps that has become one of the deepest units on the team, even with wide receiver Andrew Edgar still sidelined with a tight hamstring. That group includes true freshman D.J. Linkins, who caught two TD passes in the loss to N.C. Central.
Linkins, who played at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., had no receptions in UNH's first two games.
"We're absolutely going to see more of (Linkins)," UNH coach Rick Santos said. "Being a true freshman and how he's acclimated himself into our system ... he's been making those plays all camp. We just had to make sure he had the confidence and conviction in himself to go in and do it in a game situation. He proved that he did.
"The unit overall just has this kind of selfless mentality where they don't really care who's in there as long as we're getting production. ... We have different packages for each of those guys to get them on the field in different ways.
"We're going to continue to play guys who produce. There's always going to be bright spots we can pull from, even in a loss."
