Between the five of them, they have compiled 101 career starts, and that is one reason why Nick Charlton is so eager for his second season at the helm of Maine football.

The Black Bears offensive line will be among the most seasoned in all of FCS, which should only bolster the team’s chances for a return to the playoffs.

“We actually have seven guys that have all started games up front,” Charlton said, “and four guys who have started a dozen or more in the league. We bring ‘em all back.”

The five with the longest track record and that filled the depth chart most frequently last year are senior Liam Dobson, junior Michael Gerace, senior Chris Mulvey, junior Matthias Staalsoe and junior Tyler Royal.

Dobson, a 6-foot-3, 340-pounder, has played tackle and guard during his time at Maine, and he earned first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association honors as well as third-team All-American accolades from STATS FCS as a junior. Mulvey, a center, anchors the bunch with a team-best 32 starts already under his belt.

“At least since I’ve been here a lot of the conversations have begun with our skill players,” Charlton, a former assistant with the Black Bears for four years before his promotion last season, said. “But we feel good about what we have up front right now.”

And he’s hoping the continuity of a knowledgeable and tested offensive line translates to an improved rushing attack as well as a regularly padded pocket for sophomore quarterback Joe Fagnano to throw from.

Maine slipped to 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the CAA last year after reaching the FCS national semifinals and winning the league outright the year before. The Black Bears and James Madison are the only members of the conference to take the CAA crown outright since 2015.

Due to the league’s rotating schedule, the two sides haven’t met since 2017, but this fall JMU is scheduled to host Maine on Oct. 31.

“There’s weapons on offense,” Charlton said, “but I’m very excited to have a returning quarterback and that many guys return up front. I think that’s where it starts.”

Fagnano started six times last year as a freshman. He took the No. 1 signal-caller job after former starter Chris Ferguson, who has since transferred to FBS Liberty, got hurt. And Fagnano didn’t show any first-year flaws while thriving as the offense’s decision-maker. He threw for more than 1,800 yards and 17 touchdowns compared to only three interceptions in the role.

“When we were able to put in new schemes and things he could do well and perform well,” Charlton said, “I think we learned pretty quickly that his ability to truly drop-back pass and play action in the passing game was a lot more advanced in game situations than even we anticipated. We were able to put more in with him offensively, which definitely was great and a welcome surprise. He rose to the challenge.”

The graduations of play-making wide receivers Earnest Edwards and Jaquan Blair leave the toughest voids to fill, according to Charlton. To do so, he thinks a combination of Devin Young, the backup to Edwards last season, and senior Andre Miller along with a few transfers should help do the job.

From the transfer portal, Maine landed former Rutgers running back Elijah Barnwell, former Rutgers wide receiver Jalen Jordan, former Connecticut wide receiver Zavier Scott, former Robert Morris tight end Steve Petrick and former BYU defensive tackle Austin Chambers.

Charlton said Scott has the skill set to handle all the jet motions and pre-snap maneuvers Maine likes to utilize on offense, and that Barnwell, Jordan and Petrick could impact the offense right away. No Black Bears running back carried for more 531 yards last year and Barnwell was a former two-star prospect by Rivals.com. Petrick and returning Maine tight end Shawn Bowman should pair nicely at the position.

“[Petrick] can do different things,” Charlton said. “And because we want to be able to be multiple in our offense – I think that’s a big part of who we are – we don’t just want to be in one personnel grouping and get stuck in that.”

Just like Charlton will lean on his veteran offensive line, he’ll likely do the same with his linebackers on defense since senior linebacker Deshawn Stevens is returning. Stevens, who is doing well with his rehab and on track for the fall, according to the coach, suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the opening game of the 2019 campaign. He had 120 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and nine sacks as a sophomore two years ago.

Charlton said it took his team time to learn how to play without Stevens in the middle of the defense last year and added that only midway through the year did the team start playing well.

Maine won four of its last five contests last year in a late-season attempt to reach the postseason.

“It was a ruptured Achilles 15 plays into the season,” Charlton said. “It was tough and it was tough from a leadership standpoint, and it was also difficult in terms of personnel because you had to replace the MIKE [linebacker], which is our quarterback on defense, but having Deshawn back is huge. He’s an outstanding player, but he’s a true leader and the guys respect him.”

In addition to Stevens, Maine plans to use junior Ori Jean-Charles exclusively on defense this coming season. Jean-Charles doubled as a linebacker and tight end last year, and became the first player since Stanford’s Owen Marecic did it in 2010 to score a touchdown on offense and defense in the same game. Charlton said Jean-Charles is expected to fill the SAM linebacker spot. Maine returns the team’s second-leading tackler from last year, junior WILL linebacker Adrian Otero.

“We have a lot of sophomores and juniors who have played a lot of football in this league and against FBS opponents,” Charlton said. “So we feel like we have a lot of experience and that it’s almost similar to when we were going into 2018. I was the offensive coordinator at the time and we had a lot of guys who were in those types of roles and had played, but then needed to move into leadership positions and be the guy. I think in the second part of last year that some of our young guys were forced to do that and now they have that experience, which is encouraging.”