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Arel Gordon walks around campus with headphones in ears, listening to the sounds of R&B and Reggae music. He keeps his presence low key until he steps on the football field.
Don’t let his 5’9” 170 pound- frame deceive you. Arel Gordon may be on the small side, but he’s fast, he’s tough, and he’s fearless.
“You have to have this fearlessness about you to play the game that he plays at his size,” said head coach Jack Cosgrove. “Arel’s that fast guy that can run away from people … but he’s fearless.”
The fearlessness is what helped Gordon garner Atlantic 10 Special Teams Player of The Week honors after UMaine’s win over Northeastern last week after totaling 146 yards on four kickoff returns. The sophomore has received this award twice in the 2004 season and three times since wearing the blue and white.
“I always like seeing the recognition on Mondays,” said Gordon. “I feel like our special teams has made a complete turnaround from last year. It just shows you how much our work is getting noticed.”
Gordon believes that the recognition will help him get closer to a goal he’s had since day one – being an All Atlantic-10 selection.
Gordon has pursued another goal for the season, as well.
“This year I was looking to have about 20 catches, which I’m getting close to,” he explained. “Basically, I wanted to be on the field more, and I think I’ve accomplished that to my liking.”
Last season, Gordon saw most of his playing time on special teams, seeing few reps at the receiver position.
This year, the coaching staff wants Gordon on the field as much as possible.
“Each and every game we keep talking about more ways of getting [Gordon] involved in our offense,” said Cosgrove. “As he grows, we’re kind of growing and expanding as an offense. The more he can do the more we can do.”
Gordon has been a productive part of UMaine’s offense, gaining 541 yards for the team this season on kick returns, including one touchdown. Gordon’s 28.6-yard average for kickoff returns ranks him seventh in 1-AA football.
The Black Bears recruited Gordon out of the Aquinas Institute in Rochester, NY. UMaine teammate and fellow receiver junior Kevin McMahan both hailed from the institution, where they played on the same championship team in 2002.
“It was a pretty easy and obvious decision to recruit Arel,” said Cosgrove. “The question was, could we get him.”
Gordon was offered a scholarship from conference rival University of New Hampshire and was being courted by other A-10 schools as well. Gordon’s success in track also brought him attention from a number of different colleges.
“Track made me a lot better at football, and that’s why I started to run track,” said Gordon. “But my passion laid with football. I wouldn’t want to do what I didn’t love for four years of college.”
Even with Gordon’s success off the field, his number one focus is academics. He wants to leave UMaine with a degree in advertising and the knowledge to be successful in the business world.
“Anything with football is frosting on the cake,” he said. “The degree is always there.”
